Page 12 - Breeding Edge ebook

He says they are “hopeful that regulatory concerns would be minimized and we could move forward.
There are certainly a lot of positive things you could do with CRISPR.”

He points out that, though CRISPR may spell less regulation, the breeder still must know the gene or
genes to be removed or changed, and what the results should be, in order to succeed.

So, Brummer advises, “the availability of CRISPR doesn’t so much speed up, but adds variability
to genetics in the breeding program. You still have to go through the field testing, make sure that
the yields are high, and produce the seed for farmers. So, there are still a number of years, in any
event, you’ll have to go through to get a new variety.”

“Whether it’s trans-genes, genetic markers, or other technology,” he said, “these are all tools that are
added to an existing plant breeding pipeline. And that pipeline is sort of our new cultivar delivery
process. Maybe you can accelerate parts of it, or you can bypass parts of it, but, by and large, you still
have that same pipeline . . . and all that stuff has to, in some sense, happen.”

Advances in breeding almost always start out as controversial. Note that a century ago, some prominent
scientists continued to condemn Mendel’s 19th century findings as fraudulent, charging that his results
were fudged to conform to the numbers he anticipated in his pea experiments.

And even now, some strains of transgenic corn and soybeans have still not been approved in some
foreign markets – despite years of solid performance in the U.S. So, gaining acceptance by U.S and
foreign governments for new gene-edited products is an ongoing challenge for all involved.

But failure to explore these new breeding techniques should not be an option, says Illinois pork producer
Thomas Titus.

“It would be irresponsible not to continue to research and explore the possibilities with these new
precision breeding tools” both for farm animals and humans, Titus said. “Think of the
opportunities this holds for human health and the ability to eliminate certain diseases.”

A rising tide of farm production challenges

Breeders don’t rest. Their fight to keep farm plants and animals healthy and productive is nearly always
a catch-up game or rear-guard action. So, crop and livestock breeders can never secure enough tools,
and are always looking for new ones to counter the latest threat from pests or disease or to boost
production to help producers remain efficient and keep up with competition.

But while much of crop and livestock breeding means playing defense, the demand side of world
agriculture is not sitting still either. Human population is climbing toward 9 billion by mid-century and
folks have an increasing appetite for more diverse and nutritious foods.

Besides the prospect of more and more people to feed, the world’s breeders are trying to find farmers
new answers as they continue facing an array of ever-mounting production challenges:

• More crops and livestock on fewer acres: Available arable crop and pasture is declining as urban
areas expand and industries take over farmland, so crop yields have to rise, and animals produce
more meat, milk and such from available forage and feed.

• More crops with less later: Fresh water available to farms is declining as urban and industrial uses
claim more water and aquifers are drawn down to keep food production going, and as climate

10 www.Agri-Pulse.com