Bejo takes advance on gene editing authorization in EU

Vegetable seed breeder Bejo will explore the possibilities of new 'gene editing' breeding techniques. To that end, the company has signed an agreement with Corteva Agriscience and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

This gives Bejo access to the legal property of CRISPR-Cas9. "We would like to use gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9 as an addition to traditional breeding in order to be able to work in a more targeted and faster manner," says Bert Schrijver, Director of Research & Development at Bejo. "The technique is a tool for developing new properties such as disease resistance or drought and salt tolerance. And the technique may offer possibilities for resistance to insects."

Gain experience
With the agreement, the company anticipates the broad discussion raging in the EU about the authorization of new breeding techniques. Current European legislation offers the possibility to use the techniques for research, but commercial crops may not be marketed. "Bejo has a lot of 2-year-old crops in the program. Developing a new variety easily takes 10 to 15 years. That is why we now want to gain experience with the new techniques, so that if the legislation changes, we can respond more quickly", says Writer. He emphasizes that the company only focuses on gene editing - which is a faster and more targeted form of traditional breeding - and not on genetic modification (GMO) in which genes foreign to crops are used for a desired variety characteristic.

Should gene editing remain prohibited in the EU, Bejo does not intend to use the technology for countries outside the EU. "Bejo does not want to run the risk that our products will still be illegally placed on the European market in a roundabout way. It is therefore a risk to invest in gene editing now, but as a breeder we are used to dealing with these kinds of risks," said Mr. Writer.

Jurphaas Lugtenburg

He is a market specialist in grains and other agricultural commodities at DCA Market Intelligence. He also focuses on onions, potatoes, and roughage. Jurphaas also runs an arable farm in Voorne-Putten (South Holland).

j.lugtenburg @boerenbusiness. Nl

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