Gene-edited crops in the product pipeline

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Gene-edited crops in the product pipeline

Many gene-edited crops are said to be coming through the product pipeline.

Dr. Wayne Parrot, testified at a Senate Ag Committee hearing on biotech innovation earlier this month saying there are tomatoes adapted for use in vertical gardens for urban areas and edited rice that shows improved yields in field trials.

“With my colleagues at the University of Georgia we are working on a switchgrass that yields twice as much.”  

Parrott says gene editing is superior technology, “It’s an evolving technology but where it stands at the moment, it is far better than anything we’ve ever had before on the removal of unwanted traits.”

Parrott says there are crop genes that limit yields, nutrition, and seed size that can be removed through editing.

{photo by Genetic Literacy Project}