52 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2019 WORLD STATUS Belgium tests CRISPR-enhanced maize while Ghana develops new drought-tolerant seed varieties to improve food security. BELGIUM FLANDERS INTERUNIVERSITY Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) has been granted a permit for its field trial with maize plants that contain small surgical CRISPR-induced heritable changes. Obtaining this permit allows VIB to continue the field work that was already initiated in 2017. A European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling of July 2018 triggered a decision by the Belgian authorities that such a CRISPR experiment requires a permit. Before the ruling, this was not the case. The ECJ decided that small herit- able changes (so-called mutations) induced through CRISPR are not exempt from the GMO legislation, even though the same mutations elicited via ionizing radiation or chemicals do not need to follow these rules. VIB is happy to have been granted the permission but regrets that the CRISPR mutants from a legal point of view are treated differently than indiscernible tradi- tional mutants for which a permit is not required. Dirk Inzé, scientific director of the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology: “There is worldwide consensus that CRISPR-modified crops are at least as safe as traditionally generated mutants.” GHANA THE COUNCIL FOR Scientific and Industrial Research – Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), has developed new drought-tolerant seed varieties to improve food security in the country. The new varieties to withstand all weather and ensure year-round agricultural production are to complement the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs program — for enhancing food security and job-creation as well achiev- ing the Ghana Beyond aid initiative. The new maize, rice, soybean, sorghum and ground- nut drought-tolerant foundation seed varieties — tested and proven to increase yield of about 20% more than the existing varieties — have been produced in quantity and distributed to certified seed input dealers to be made available to farmers for their crop production. ISRAEL PLANTARCBIO, an Israeli agritech startup company, and ICL Innovation, announced they have signed a collaboration agreement for the development of innovative crop pro- ductivity enhancers for agriculture. The agreement was signed following a proof of concept that was performed by the companies in 2018. As part of the collaboration between the companies, PlantArcBio will use its discovery capabilities to identify biological targets and by using innovative techniques, will bring about improved crop productivity in various crops for global agriculture. Targets that will be successfully identified as possessing a positive impact on crop produc- tivity will be integrated in the ICL development pipeline for continued development and formulation. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K AWB_Germination-July2019-outline.pdf 1 12/06/2019 9:49:12 AM