Copa-Cogeca, Europatat, Euroseeds, Starch Europe and CESPU‘s have issued a new joint statement on New Genomic Techniques in potato breeding.
They point out that potatoes are the fourth most important food crop in the world after corn, rice and wheat and play an important role in Europe and worldwide in ensuring food security. In this context, new genomic techniques (NGTs), like genome editing, lead the way for trait improvement in potato breeding, provide tools for precise and robust breeding approaches and contribute to food security given the importance of the European potato breeding sector worldwide.
The organisations say that innovation in potato breeding can contribute to the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. “We support the conclusions of the Commission study on NGTs stating that the current GMO legislation in the EU faces clear implementation challenges and is no longer fit for purpose,” they say. “We strongly welcome the Commission’s intention to initiate a short-term policy action on plants derived from targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis. We hope that such a policy initiative will create a more enabling and innovation-friendly environment for products resulting from these breeding methods, while maintaining the high standards of EU food and feed production.”
The organisations also point out that most of the world’s existing potato breeding programmes are situated in the European Union (some 83 per cent), and that out of the 157 private companies which are active in potato breeding globally, 150 are situated in the European Union (96). The majority of these private potato breeding companies fall into the category of small and medium sized enterprises.
According to the signatories of the statement, new genomic techniques can improve the environmental sustainability of the crop in the face of climate change and contribute to the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies.