Earlier this week, I was delighted to be brought up to speed on the latest developments in plant breeding.
We badly need innovations in this space, without them we in Europe will slip further and further behind in our ability to produce crops competitively.
We have already seen what the judicious transfer of genetic material from wild potatoes to domestic Irish varieties can do.
The Teagasc trial of a few years ago cut down on the need for a blight spray from 12 applications to one. Yield and biodiversity levels were fully maintained.
The latest proposals from the European Commission are building on the science used in that demonstration where if everything goes according to plan, we should be seeing within perhaps as soon as five to seven years specific traits occurring in wild barley plants such as rhynchosporium resistance, or septoria in the case of wheat being transferred into commercial crops.
Ironically, some of the impetus behind this development is the EU Farm to Fork target of large reductions in the use of plant protection products as well as fertilisers.
China and the US have at least equivalent capacity already in place, as well as embracing the full power of genetic modification across species
Other possible traits that should be able to be incorporated include nitrogen fixing in cereals on the lines of clover, as well as enhanced pod shatter resistance in the case of oilseed rape.
There is now a clear impetus behind the development and use of this technology, which is fundamentally different from the more widely known genetic modification that transfers genetic material from different species to the host plant, something which does not occur naturally.
China and the US have at least equivalent capacity already in place, as well as embracing the full power of genetic modification across species.
From a national perspective, two points should be made.
It is fortunate that through Teagasc we have kept fully abreast of this area.It would seem a logical negotiating stance for the Irish Government to resist the removal of necessary active ingredients for Irish crop production until varieties with appropriate resistant traits are available. We have seen what good science can achieve with the development of the COVID-19 vaccines. Commercial availability of this new technology is possible within the next five to seven years. We must press on.
Earlier this week, I was delighted to be brought up to speed on the latest developments in plant breeding.
We badly need innovations in this space, without them we in Europe will slip further and further behind in our ability to produce crops competitively.
We have already seen what the judicious transfer of genetic material from wild potatoes to domestic Irish varieties can do.
The Teagasc trial of a few years ago cut down on the need for a blight spray from 12 applications to one. Yield and biodiversity levels were fully maintained.
The latest proposals from the European Commission are building on the science used in that demonstration where if everything goes according to plan, we should be seeing within perhaps as soon as five to seven years specific traits occurring in wild barley plants such as rhynchosporium resistance, or septoria in the case of wheat being transferred into commercial crops.
Ironically, some of the impetus behind this development is the EU Farm to Fork target of large reductions in the use of plant protection products as well as fertilisers.
China and the US have at least equivalent capacity already in place, as well as embracing the full power of genetic modification across species
Other possible traits that should be able to be incorporated include nitrogen fixing in cereals on the lines of clover, as well as enhanced pod shatter resistance in the case of oilseed rape.
There is now a clear impetus behind the development and use of this technology, which is fundamentally different from the more widely known genetic modification that transfers genetic material from different species to the host plant, something which does not occur naturally.
China and the US have at least equivalent capacity already in place, as well as embracing the full power of genetic modification across species.
From a national perspective, two points should be made.
It is fortunate that through Teagasc we have kept fully abreast of this area.It would seem a logical negotiating stance for the Irish Government to resist the removal of necessary active ingredients for Irish crop production until varieties with appropriate resistant traits are available. We have seen what good science can achieve with the development of the COVID-19 vaccines. Commercial availability of this new technology is possible within the next five to seven years. We must press on.
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