Gene Editing: Pathway to Progress

In today’s episode, we look into the path forward for gene editing in agriculture. What will that look like for farmers and for consumers? In our last episode we clarified some of the key differences between gene editing and transgenic crops, or what most know as GMOs. Transgenic crops have been widely adopted over the past 30 years, but very few gene edited crops are currently on the market. Why is that and what will it take to make this technology more widely available? To tackle these questions and others, we are joined by Corteva Agriscience global leader of regulatory and stewardship Reza Rasoulpour. He’s a molecular and cellular biologist by training who has been with the company for over 18 years.Reza describes Corteva’s newly launched Genlytix gene editing ecosystem designed to accelerate sustainable agriculture, specifically in seed and biological products. “When you think about gene editing, anyone can gene edit. I mean, it's almost a democratized type of technology, It's really accelerated plant breeding. So the only way to maximize the value for everyone in agriculture is to be more vocal and take a much more collaborative approach… It would be a shame if misinterpretation and the wrong kind of assumptions for this type of technology led to regulators or others inhibiting the opportunity for local solutions to local problems.” - Reza RasoulpourHeather Hampton Knodle is a fourth generation farmer in south central Illinois. She joins the episode as well to pose some of the questions she has as a farmer and mother thinking about the future. Heather poses important questions about this technology and some ideas she has for real problems on the farm that this technology might help to solve down the road. Some Takeaways from this episode include:Gene editing is following the same process as traditional breeding, just a lot more precise. Reza uses a book analogy to describe the difference between putting two books together in hopes of some of the words ending up in the right place (traditional breeding) vs just finding one word in the book to change out to get a desired outcome (gene editing). This is a fundamentally different technology that will require a different approach. I was surprised at how accessible these tools are, and it makes sense that the tool itself is not going to be what is proprietary for companies, so working together collaboratively through an ecosystem like Genlytix could be really powerful. Scientists have been working on gene editing in agriculture for over a decade, and the big catalyst will be global regulatory approval. Reza emphasizes the need to continue the positive momentum in this area. There is a lot happening in the world, but the ramifications for putting these tools in the hands of farmers given the current stakes are just too significant to be put on the back burner. Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich and Grant Bolton edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions.