Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7616 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2017 soil such as Verticillium and fusarium are also quite problematic. Downy mildew in spinach, bacterial leaf spot in peppers and tomatoes — those are just some of the many disease and pathogen problems that we are facing.” Marshall shares that the conventional solutions have been chemical control, which can be applied when needed and can address multiple issues. However, she said that it really restricts companies from the organic market and there are environ- mental risks associated with use, as well as additional costs. “Other ways we’ve tried to better manage these issues is to build the resist- ance into varieties and not be restricted to playing the organic market,” Marshall says. “But the problem with that is we deal with very specific races and spe- cific diseases and the cost can be quite expensive.” Marshall uses Downy mildew in spinach as an example. “The demand for organic spinach exploded in the early 90s,” she says. “Since that time, we’ve been challenged with trying to come up with ways to deal with the problem, and we are basically chasing resistance and the races pop up annually. “The future of organic spinach pro- duction is questionable. How long are we going to be able to keep up with the challenge of dealing with the resistance and come up with ways to handle that? Gene editing could provide the solution to having the stronger resistance to Downy mildew in spinach.” Marshall says gene editing can be used to enhance nutrition in many vegetables, so it goes beyond just dealing with dis- ease and pathogens. “This is a very excit- “It delivers exactly what we expect — precise targeted changes to genes.” — James Radtke ing prospect,” Marshall adds. “Lycosine and glucosimulates in broccoli, which can reduce chronic disease or slow disease such as cancer; Sulphurephane is a glu- cosimulate in broccoli and most us know that when we cook the broccoli, we lose the nutrient. So gene editing can actually help us solve that problem.” Consumer Acceptance? It’s obvious that gene editing could tackle many significant issues for growers, but can it overcome perceptions among consumers who don’t like the thought of scientists ‘tinkering’ with nature? Organic production prides itself on not using genetically modified plant mate- rial, but with the downy mildew problems experienced by spinach growers, might they embrace edited varieties? As a company that’s been doing gene editing for the last 15 years, Cibus lead- ers say they have no doubt in the safety of this advanced molecular tool. Radtke says Cibus was pleased with the USDA’s ruling in 2015 regarding gene editing. “It delivers exactly what we expect — precise targeted changes to genes,” he says. SW