PHARMA DOWN ON THE FARM

The Nobel-winning CRISPR gene-snipping technology has worked its way into leading-edge medicine, from editing out the malaria-spreading gene in mosquitoes to treating sickle-cell anemia.

Next, it’s going to work on our crops.

“The most widely impactful applications of CRISPR in the near term, for many of us, are going to be in the agricultural sector,” Jennifer Doudna, CRISPR’s co-inventor, said in a recent interview on the Babbage podcast.

Agro Scientists already are altering food plants’ genomes chemically, but those changes often are random instead of precision-guided. 

Also, chemical changes can target only one genetic alteration at a time. To make several changes means a lot of time and several procedures, each one introducing the risk of a genetic mistake.

With CRISPR, several changes can be made at once, saving time and slashing the risk of errors. 

Inari Agriculture is putting CRISPR to work boosting the yields of corn, soybeans, and wheat—the world’s three most widely-used staple crops— and developing strains that use water and nitrogen in the soil more efficiently.

The company says within two years, it will introduce its new, improved soybeans to U.S. farmers who will be able to boost their yield using fewer resources. 

Mustard greens have proven to be at least as nutritious as kale or spinach, but come with a bitter, harshly spicy taste. Pairwise, a North Carolina venture, has edited the greens’ genes to soften the flavor.

The company also plans to use CRISPR in its quest to develop seedless blackberries that can flower in six weeks with no thorns on the branches.

TreeCo, also in North Carolina, is barbering trees’ genetic structures to speed breeding tenfold while improving resistance to drought and pests.

The company also can adjust fiber content to the needs of specific industries and make it faster and less energy-intensive to turn the trees into cardboard or toilet paper.

TRENDPOST: The world faces a dilemma: there are more people to feed with less land, unreliable water supplies, and an increasing proportion of depleted soils.

Using non-chemical gene editing to adapt crops to this new, harsher world will be key to resolving that dilemma.

CRISPR’s applications in worldwide agriculture will gain speed as these early ventures prove the technology’s usefulness.

There will be some outcry over “genetically modified foods” but the urgency of feeding a growing population with fewer resources will roll over any protests.