200 influencers from seed companies, plant breeding companies and plant-based food companies took part in this year’s biennial Crop Innovation & Business. The venue, the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam, combined with a great line up with speakers presenting valuable views and the presence of people from all through the value chain made the meeting a valuable returning event for people to meet.
Digitization
A subject frequently popping up was ‘data’. It’s impact on R&D, cultivation and breeding is expected to make a gigantic leap during the coming years. In crop innovation, advanced phenotyping and genotyping will be more and more in the focal point of strategic choices in developing breeding strategies. Peter Eckes, president of BASF Bioscience Research stated that BASF hired more than one hundred people for ‘digital tools’ last year. And the disruption caused by digitization will have its impact throughout the supply chain, from precision agriculture all the way to making choices and consumers’ buying processes.
Future of our globe
Another central theme of CROP IB 2019 was sustainability of plant production worldwide. Many external factors urge for the development and use of varieties that can help to secure future plant production, for food and non-food applications.
Clive Gristwood, EVP R&D – Foods & Refreshment at Unilever, spoke about the positive impact sustainable farming can have on 1) long term food production capacity, 2) reduced emission of greenhouse gasses 3) deal with climate change, thus contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
Neal Gutterson, CTO of CORTEVA Agriculture showed his companies ambition to help farmers to do their job even better than they do now, aiming for healthy food and a healthy planet.
The winner of the Pitch Contest, Novihum showed its drive to contribute to the sustainability of crop production through their stewardship in making and keeping crop soils in top condition. For that, they developed a stable humus concentrate that aims to provide an organic reservoir like those at the heart of the best soils.
Ultimate breeding tool
Speakers and other participants agreed that most recent next generation sequencing techniques are a powerful tool to improve breeding in speed and effectivity, all the way throughout the breeding process. Using genome insights is now within reach for the majority of breeding companies, from the use in the selection of parents to the screening of potential varieties. Arjen van Tunen, CEO of KeyGene argued that the great speed and low costs of generating genome insights may even allow for using genome insights for plant breeding purposes in plant species where it was not really feasible until now.
Impact of EU regulations
Beat Späth presented EuropaBio’s view on the impact of the EU on the use of technology in global crop innovation. He gave special attention to the consequences of the ruling by the European Court of Justice on gene editing. The following panel discussion, led by Niels Louwaars, Plantum, dealt with the impact of the regulatory landscape on the seed industry, the value chain & society. The range and exchange of the views of Paresh Verma, Bioseed (India); Beat Späth, EuropaBio; Stefan van der Heijden, Royal van Zanten; Max van Hooren, University of Amsterdam; Filip Cnudde, Corteva Agriscience and Vonnie Estes, Technology Produce Marketing Association showed mutualism within seed business, while also showing marked differences when viewed from a PhD-student, a seed or a (vegetable) trade perspective and from Europe, India and US viewpoints where different societal debates take the fore. Neither the debates, nor the solutions, are exclusively technical!
Plants, plants, plants
The increasing request for plant-based food by consumers, retailers, chefs and other important players is another often heard phenomenon in the ambition to preserve our planet for future generations. Food stuffs will be made using plants instead of animal husbandry products. This seems to be much more than just a hype: it will be a license to produce in the near future. The shift is clearly illustrated by the success of non-dairy ice cream. What started small, at for instance Ben & Jerry’s, is now becoming mainstream.
Partnering
During Crop Innovation & Business 2019, the collaboration of partners belonging to the same or different business was often described as a prerequisite to achieve real leaps in crop innovation, helping the world to make agriculture more sustainable. Informal meetings, like Crop Innovation & Business itself, strengthen the interactions and can be a good basis for many future interactions and collaborations in crop innovation.
Attending next time
In 2021 the next edition of Crop Innovation & Business will be organized, inviting more European seed and food companies to participate and benefit from this growing valuable network. People who missed this year’s event who want to make sure to get an invitation can send a mail to info@cropib.com
Submitted by Herco van Liere & Erik Toussaint of KeyGene
