The European Union’s goal of achieving 25% organic agriculture by 2030 is ambitious, but researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed in organic farming to make this target more sustainable. NGTs, also known as gene editing, involve subtle genetic tweaks that can help develop crops that are climate-resilient, produce higher yields, and require less fertilizers and pesticides.

Currently, 10% of EU farming areas are organic, but these farms often require more land to grow the same amount of food. This means that expanding agricultural land could lead to biodiversity losses, negating some of the environmental benefits of organic farming. Researchers suggest that by allowing NGTs in organic production, farmers can increase crop yields while maintaining their environmentally-friendly practices.

The EU institutions are currently debating how to regulate NGTs, which did not exist when the EU legislation on GMOs was adopted in 2001. A proposal from the European Commission suggests allowing NGT usage in conventional but not organic farming. However, researchers argue that this creates a hurdle for identifying, labeling, and tracing NGTs in food products.

Researchers also note that NGTs are still not well understood by consumers, who often confuse them with traditional GMOs. This confusion can lead to unnecessary labeling and regulation. By defining and regulating NGTs separately from traditional GMOs, the EU can create a more efficient and effective regulatory framework for this technology.

Ultimately, researchers suggest that the decision to allow NGTs in organic farming should be made by the organic farming and consumer communities through democratic processes such as citizens’ juries or food councils. This would ensure that any new technologies are aligned with the values and goals of organic consumers and farmers.

By embracing gene editing in organic farming, the EU can create a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly agricultural landscape while also supporting innovation and progress in this sector.

In a surprising discovery, researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have found that a mutant protein that helps plants fight off disease may actually contribute to their aging process. This counterintuitive finding challenges the long-held assumption that resistance to disease would result in a longer lifespan for plants.

The research team, led by Graduate School of Agriculture student Tomoko Matsumoto and Professor Noriko Inada, discovered that thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants with the mutant Actin Depolymerizing Factor protein (ADF) turn yellow sooner than their wild-type counterparts. This accelerated aging was observed not only under normal conditions but also when subjected to dark conditions.

Professor Inada explained the significance of this research, saying, “ADFs are involved in leaf aging, disease response, and plant growth control. Further elucidation of the function of ADFs can help contribute to crop yield improvement and enhanced sustainability of agricultural production.”

This study sheds new light on the complex relationships between a plant’s defense mechanisms and its overall health span, highlighting the need for further research into the roles of ADFs in plant biology.

As the world grapples with the challenges of a changing climate, a renowned expert in crop sciences is sounding the alarm about the need for urgent and consistent effort to “future-proof” our crops. Stephen Long, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has spent decades studying photosynthesis and finding ways to improve it. In a review published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, he provides an overview of key scientific findings that offer a glimmer of hope.

Long highlights the devastating effects of climate change on crop growth, development, and reproductive viability. Higher temperatures, more frequent and longer droughts, catastrophic rainfall events, and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are all taking a toll on plant health. While some regions may benefit from certain aspects of climate change, many others will suffer potentially catastrophic declines without prolonged intervention.

By 2050-60, crops will face a significantly different environment than today, with atmospheric CO2 projected to reach 600 parts per million. Extreme heat, droughts, floods, and other climate-related events are already disrupting agricultural systems. Projected temperature extremes and climate instability will further reduce crop yields, exacerbating starvation, political unrest, and mass migration.

However, Long notes that it may be possible to alter crops in ways that allow them to persist and even thrive despite the challenges. Researchers are evaluating the heat-, drought-, and flood-tolerance of different varieties of specific crop plants, identifying those with potentially beneficial attributes. Discovering the genetic traits that confer these benefits will enable scientists to develop crops through plant breeding and/or genetic engineering that can better withstand extremes.

Long’s research has already yielded promising results, such as finding rice varieties that can survive up to two weeks of submergence during periods of intense flooding, while other varieties are more heat-tolerant. Plants must contend with the increased drying capacity of the atmosphere as temperatures rise, drawing moisture out of plant leaves through tiny pores called stomata. This reduces plant water-use efficiency, straining already scarce water resources.

In laboratory and field experiments, researchers found that increasing the expression of a gene for a sensor protein in plants reduced water loss through stomata without interfering with photosynthesis. The result was a 15% improvement in leaf-level water-use efficiency in field-grown tobacco and a 30% decrease in whole plant water use.

Researchers have also found ways to reduce the density of stomata on rice and wheat leaves, improving water-use efficiency by 15-20% without decreasing yields. High carbon dioxide levels can alter plant physiology, sometimes beneficially boosting photosynthesis but also detrimentally changing metabolic control.

Long points to remarkable progress made in research on maize, nearly 80% of which is used in ethanol production and to feed animals, not humans. Between 1980 and 2024, U.S. maize yields doubled while sorghum improved just 12%. The success in maize is the result of massive investments from large multinational companies.

However, without similar investment on the public domain side of the equation, Long writes that it’s hard to see how opportunities for future-proofing our crops can be implemented at the scale necessary. Without urgent and consistent effort, we risk losing valuable crop varieties and facing catastrophic declines in food production.

The stakes are high, but so is the potential reward. As Long emphasizes, investing in research and development of climate-resilient crops can help ensure a more food-secure future for generations to come.