b'this revolutionary technology, Krieger adds. One of the biggest advantages across all crops is that it allows us to develop prod-ucts faster to respond better to grower and market needs.He says genome editing can save considerable time to develop updated disease resistance traits, react faster to new strains and to help growers minimize crop loss. Syngenta Seeds owns proprietary HI-Edit technologyor haploid induction editing. HI-Edit combines CRISPR with the reproductive process of haploid induction (HI) that occurs natu-rally in hybrid crops, Kreiger says. It allows breeders to modify crops at various stages in the seeds research and development process, reducing the substantial cost and time associated with trait introgression.One of the key benefits of gene editing tools, such as CRISPR, is its ease of implementation. This means that up-front investment costs dont hinder small entities to develop innovative products. This enables many players active in vegetable breeding such as public sector institutions, smaller companies, and start-ups to leverage these tools to conduct research and develop improved crops, says Ruthner. Theres no question that gene editing meth-ods are widely accessible, evident by the number and diversity of gene edited crops, including vegetables under development.However, the breeding of new varieties is a multi-year long pro-cess. Latest breeding methods such as genome editing can speed up this process and make it more efficient. Conventional plant breeding involves the crossing of one line with another, often with an objective to move a new trait into an elite background, says John Lindbo, a senior biotechnology man-ager at Sakata. Often times, the trait we are moving is coded by a gene that has a very small difference in DNA sequence from the same gene in the elite background. Gene editing has the potential to edit the sequence so that only the targeted gene is changed.While gene editing is not yet being widely used in the vegetable sector, Lindbo adds that there is still a lot of work to discover new promising gene targets to work with and some concerns about whether the typical consumer is ready to accept products created with this technique.Breeding TechniquesWhen it comes to plant breeding, Ruthner emphasizes that this requires foresight and innovation because the breeding pro-cess can take years of a selection and performance evaluation before a new variety is ready for the market. I believe that one of the best ways to gain consumer trust is to speak about the benefits that new products can bring to them, he says. This could certainly be an advantage for the vegetable seed sector as their products are directly consumed so any improved characteristics, such as nutrition profile, taste, shelf life, etc. are immediately visible to the consumers.Lindbo adds that breeding is a messy process where a lot of unintended and undesirable genes or DNA sequences can get moved into a new plant along with the one or two genes the breeder really wants.The breeders job, he says, is to keep the genes he/she wants and get rid of the undesirable ones. This process takes many years, lots of land, water and other resources to grow largeSakata broccoli seed passes through milling equipment.numbers of plants needed in traditional breeding. IMAGE COURTESY OF SAKATA74/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2022'