b'I N D U S T R Y N E W S Delivering the news you need to know. Submissions welcomeemail us at news@seedworldgroup.com. Two UC Davis plant scientists, Venkatesan Sundaresan and Imtiyaz Khanday, won a $500,000 VinFuture Special Prize for developing self-cloning hybrid crops that can keep high yields across generations. Their method uses CRISPR to stop meiosis and acti-vates the BBM1 gene so eggs form embryos without fertilizationmimicking natural apomixisallowing farmers to save reliable hybrid seed instead of buying new seed each year. First shown in rice in 2018 (and later extended to crops like maize, with progress in sorghum by others), the work could boost sustainable food production and especially benefit smallholder farmers.Cover crops deliver major environmental benefits (healthier soils, cleaner water, less nutrient loss and USDA NASS forecasts 2025 crop productiongreenhouse gases) but are used on only ~5% of U.S. farmland despite billions in federal cost-share incen-with corn up and soybeans/cotton down vs.tives. A new University of Illinois study finds that 2024: corn +13% to 16.8B bushels, soybeansinvesting in farm demonstration networks can speed adoption: a phased Wisconsin program was linked -2% to 4.30B and cotton -8% to 13.2M bales.(using satellite/remote-sensing data) to a 50% increase Planted acres are estimated at 98.7M for corn,in cover-crop usefrom 6% to 9%within four years, with bigger gains within 510 km of demonstration 81.1M for soybeans and 9.30M for cotton, withfarms. yields projected at 186.7 bu/ac (corn), 53.5 bu/ac (soybeans) and 861 lb/ac (cotton). Researchers at UC Davis have developed CRISPR-edited wheat that can make its own nitrogen fertilizer by boosting production of apigenin, a natural BioLumic is expanding its light-activated corn xTraits into South Americaplant compound released into the soil. Extra apigenin via early testing with GDM and collaboration with Tropical Melhoramentoencourages soil bacteria to form biofilmssticky, low-& Gentica (TMG) to speed field evaluation in key corn regions. Grooxygen coatings that enable the bacteria to fix nitro-Alliance will provide regional seed production and nursery support,gen into a form the wheat can use. The breakthrough complemented by off-season nursery work in Chile for year-round hybridcould cut fertilizer costs and reduce environmental development. In Brazil, Grupo Scheffer will run multi-location trials acrossimpacts, with major potential savings at scale and big Mato Grosso and nearby areas, with Safra/Safrinha testing in 2026 andbenefits for farmers in regions where fertilizer is often 20262027 data guiding commercialization. unaffordable.Andrea Eveland at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is leading aCoreWellness (Hardcore Peanut Butter) and three-year, $2.5 million DOE-funded project to better understand sor- AgriNetica (a BetterSeeds division) announced a part-ghums genetic resilience to environmental stress as a bioenergy crop.nership to commercialize what they describe as the The multi-institution team will combine genomics and gene editing withfirst allergen-less peanut, created with advanced high-resolution field phenotyping, remote sensing and GeoAI at field sitesgenome editing to sharply reduce allergenic proteins in Missouri and Arizona to link genes and traits to real-world performancewhile keeping taste and nutrition. The product line is under drought and heat. planned under a new brand, Nurtured Nuts, targeted to launch after an expected FDA review next year, A University of Illinois PNAS study shows extreme weather in one statewith future formats like bars, powders and snacks. The can disrupt U.S. interstate ag trade and ripple into food manufactur- companies also noted additional retail-scaling sup-ing. The researchers estimate a 1% rise in drought cuts commodity-stateport and early investment backing as they prepare for exports by ~0.5%0.7% and reduces food manufacturing output bycommercialization. SW~0.04%, highlighting the need for better multi-state planning and infra-structure despite overall supply-chain resilience.46/ SEEDWORLD.COMFEBRUARY 2026'