Day 3 of BIO Digital put a focus on agriculture—with headline speakers Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and CRISPR pioneer Dr. Jennifer Doudna discussing how biotechnology can make agriculture more sustainable and resilient.
“In reality, we are a health department,”Secretary Vilsack told BIO’s Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, explaining how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) focuses on rural health, environmental health, and the health of animals, plants, and people through nutrition efforts.
A priority for USDA is promoting the acceptance of biotechnology in agriculture abroad, “reaching out to other like-minded countries that understand and appreciate the role of science,” he said.
BIO agrees: “When major trading partners such as China, the EU, or Mexico delay biotechnology risk assessments and approvals or intentionally malign technology, the global marketplace is reluctant to accept new technology,” we said in a recent letter to Secretary Vilsack and U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai.
He also addressed U.S. regulation of new animal feed additives that could reduce methane emissions of cows—something we covered last week. “Our regulatory system treats this as a pharmaceutical product” instead of a supplement, which delays approval and deployment—and gives other countries a competitive edge.
“Over the next few years, we’re going to see a rapid acceleration of the use of CRISPR in agriculture,”said Nobel Laureate Dr. Jennifer Doudna in her fascinating live keynote.
It could make crops more resilient in the face of climate change: CRISPR is “a precision tool. Plant breeding has been going on forever, certainly as long as there have been humans,” she said—watch here.
The bottom line: “We are now in a sustainability revolution—and the planet is running out of time,” said Beth Bannerman of Amyris. “With biotechnology, we have the ability to create ingredients, for example, using far less water and far less land.”
