The Netherlands is known for its greenhouses and its seed production. A tour on the third day of the World Seed Congress concentrated on both of those leadership positions for the country.

At the Syngenta Tomato Vision seed research facility near Amsterdam, the company screens around 800 potential varieties of tomatoes each year, of which two or three will end up as options for growers.

WATCH: Tackling the labour crunch with robotics

The company is helping to test a robotic tomato picker made by Pittsburg startup Four Growers. In a row of the research tomatoes, there could be 40 different varieties. Geoffrey Hipps, a technical sales representative for Syngenta, said they are finding that there are differences in the ability of the automated system to harvest some varieties of tomatoes.

Syngenta is known for its specialty tomato varieties, namely the small, sweet, snacking tomatoes growing in popularity. The labour to harvest small tomatoes individually is greater than for large tomatoes so the automated system is finding a place there.

The first commercial system for Four Growers has been installed in a greenhouse in Canada.

The biosecurity is incredibly high at the facility, which meant visitors could not take any cameras into the facility. No video of the vacuum-based robot could be taken.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus is the largest disease concern for tomatoes and is taking up a significant amount of Syngenta breeders’ time as they work to breed resistance.

Cut lettuce a seed development priority

At the Rijk Zwaan seed research greenhouse, south of Rotterdam, the company has 500 varieties of lettuce for sale, and it continues to screen for new varieties all the time.

There is more lettuce being grown in greenhouses, especially in Europe. Spain, which supplies European supermarkets with lettuce in the winter, struggles with a changing climate, said Bauke van Lenteren, a marketing specialist with Rijk Zwaan.

Greenhouse vegetable production is mostly moving to hydroponic production and that’s what is tested at Rijk Zwaan’s large research facility.

The company is also responding to the increased demand for cut lettuce which consumers can pick up in stores and throw directly into a salad. The company has developed a conventional trait that helps lettuce grow more uniform leaves, which the lettuce processors like as it makes the final cut product more uniform.

The post Dutch greenhouse seed production aided by technology appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

There are now enough of the major crop-producing regions in the world with a pathway to market for gene-edited crops to start to drive new products.

This is expected to create a race to market for products, which will not have to go through the arduous, costly and time-consuming pathway for genetically modified crops.

The critical difference is that gene-edited crops involve turning on and off genes within the genome of the crop, without introducing genes from other species, as has been the case for genetically modified crops.

Canada is now green on global maps shown at the World Seed Congress in Rotterdam. There’s regulatory certainty for gene-edited crops after regulations were announced in April. That means Canada can play a part the rapid growth of innovation around the world.

It’s been a lot of work for Canadian seed and crop groups to continue to push the need for clear gene-editing regulations.

Krista Thomas, vice president of trade policy and seed innovation with the Canadian Grains Council said the outcome of the Canadian process yielded a good result.

“I think Canada’s regulatory approach for gene editing is the best in the world because it’s pragmatic and it’s science-based and it maintains a product-based approach,” she said at the World Seed Congress where she was a panellist in a session on the state of gene editing regulations around the world.

Watch: John Greig reports from day two of the World Seed Congress

There are already signs that a lot of the innovations will come early on from new companies, such as Pairwise in the United States. Pairwise is a six-year-old North Carolina company that now employs 120 people and is working to submit early products into the newly created regulations in countries around the world.

Pairwise was the first to have a gene-edited produce crop go to market in the United States, with its mustard greens in 2023. The company aims to make fruits and vegetables more attractive to people, such as working to create a pit-free cherry. Pairwise is also working on higher-yielding corn, with an about 10 per cent increase, after only two years of development, said Dan Jenkins, vice president of Regulatory and Government Affairs for Pairwise.

Other parts of the world are also growing their ability in gene editing. In Africa, there’s a concerted effort to develop the lab and human capacity to work on gene editing, with eight countries in the African Union with regulations that allow gene editing.

Europe targets microplastics in seed coatings

New European regulations are pushing seed companies to find ways of coating seeds without using materials that end up as microplastics in the environment.

Microplastics occur when plastics break down and are persistent in the environment, meaning that the polymers aren’t soluble in water and don’t degrade. There’s increasing concern about the volume of microplastics being found in the environment around the world.

Polymers are used to help ensure the crop protection product flows precisely onto the seed and then sticks to the seed. They also help reduce dust from the products as the seeds run through a planter, said Rob Pronk, global marketing manager with Incotec, which provides seed treatment products to seed companies.

The agriculture sector is a small contributor to microplastics, but “we feel responsibility to do something about this,” says Bert Compaan, research manager of seed pathology at Bejo Zaden, a Dutch seed company. He is on an International Seed Federation committee that created a position paper on microplastics in seed treatments that calls for the elimination of the practice.

Campaan was part of a panel at the ISF’s World Seed Congress recently in the Netherlands.

The European Union’s legislation on microplastics was passed in October 2023 and gives companies five years to find replacements for products without active ingredients and eight years for the polymers in crop protection products.

New agreement targets illegal seed use

The global seed sector getting serious about the use of illegal seed.

A memorandum of understanding was signed at the World Seed Congress involving 13 organizations from around the world focused on stopping the illegal use of seed.

The group includes the Seed Association of the Americas, where Canada is a member.

While there is some concern about farmers saving privately developed seeds in Canada, the challenges in Canada pale compared to other parts of the world. Canada is unique in that much of the wheat seed grown in Western Canada is from public breeding programs.

There’s more concern with non-farmers who are collecting and reselling seed for their profit.

Antonio Villaroel, managing director of Gestión de Licencias Vegetales (GESLIVE), an organization in Spain, said that of 750 cases his group has taken to court over the past 30 years, only about 12 were farmers.

Of greater concern are other industry sellers of illegal seed including some cooperatives, grain traders and seed dealers.

In Brazil, Diego Risso, executive director of the Seed Association of the Americas, says about 40 per cent of soybeans planted could be illegally grown.

The announcement was made at the International Seed Federation’s World Seed Congress where deal-making on seed is common, with a large room with 300 tables kept busy over three days.

Marco van Leeuwen, outgoing president of the ISF, says that the organization also has work to do to clean up what happens around the congress, and companies and individuals who are found to support the sales of illegal seed won’t be allowed at the congress.

The post Gene editing race, illegal seed use in crosshairs at World Seed Congress appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The World Seed Congress is on in Rotterdam, Netherlands with a discussion of the major issues facing the seed and crops sector.

The event brings close to 2,000 people together from around the world, including seed production companies, national trade associations and researchers. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands even showed up to open the congress by planting some seeds.

The major issues on the agenda include the challenges that the decline in free trade and globalization brings to major suppliers of seeds, the acceptance of gene editing and the technology involved in that process.

Seeds move from everywhere to everywhere

The move from free trade to tit-for-tat application of sanctions and increased use of non-tariff trade barriers has made business more challenging for seed companies, which have global supply chains.

Marco van Leeuwen, president of the International Seed Federation and managing director of the Rijk Zwaan vegetable seed company says the company is buffeted by increasing disputes among countries that decide to impose sanction or to not to trade with each other. He also says that during the COVID pandemic, countries identified domestic food production as a strategic priority. That included seeds. However, that’s also meant that some countries have closed their border to some seed imports.

“We breed varieties in country one, we test varieties in all the countries with the appropriate climatic conditions, and then we have to produce seeds, which we do again in other countries,” said van Leeuwen.

Then, those seeds are brought back to one country for packaging and distribution.

There’s about eight times more seed movement between countries than just 20 years ago, said Michael Keller, executive director of the International Seed Federation.

Food and Agriculture Organization working quicker

The sense of urgency to move food aid quicker, including the means for areas in crisis to grow food, requires the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to work more efficiently.

The FAO’s Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol told a press conference at the World Seed Congress that as part of the United Nations, the FAO has similar attributes to the UN such as being “highly bureaucratic, deeply institutionalized and very complex”.

But the American from a seven-generation farm in Indiana, said there’s need for speed and agility in managing food aid.

“There’s no more time for competition, there’s no more time for stepping over one another. There’s no more time for turf battles,” she said.

FAO is promoting science and technology as a way to more quickly get food to people.

“I would not say that science and innovation five years ago, 10 years ago were some of our biggest messages to the world’s agricultural leaders. Today it’s undeniable,” Bechdol said.

Gene editing is not the same debate as GMO

A panel of researchers and companies working on gene editing said there’s a long way to go until there’s wide acceptance of gene-edited crops. However, the debate isn’t as polarized as  when genetically modified crops were introduced.

Genetically modified crops involved moving novel genes into new species, whereas gene editing involves turning genes already in an organism on and off.

There’s less trepidation about working with genetics than in times past, but there are also significant global issues that can be helped by gene-edited crops. Securing food supplies and managing climate change are among issues that resonate with consumers.

Ania Lukasiewicz of Wageningen University said that some gene therapies that use gene editing technologies are being accepted, and that should help the acceptance of gene editing in other areas.

Claudia Hallebach, general counsel and head of global IP for KWS Group said that experience will help convince people. Take them to a field of sugar beet destroyed by a virus and the public will have both an emotional and scientific understanding of the impact of gene editing.

The post World Seed Congress addresses global supply chain challenges  appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.