b'from the definition of the breeding objective to trials within one year is a phenomenal pace for a breeding project.The first genome to be edited was a spring wheat variety.GERMAN PLANT BREEDERS ASSOCIATION Spring wheat has a shorter generation time than winter wheat,(BDP)BUNDESVERBAND DEUTSCHER and this translated into rapid project progress since the onset ofPFLANZENZCHTER E.V.the project in 2020. During the project, all project partners wereThe German Plant Breeders Association able to considerably increase their understanding of the underly- (BDP) represents the professional interests of ing CRISPR/Cas method. This is valuable to the men and womenits membersplant breeding companies for involved in plant breeding, since they need practical experienceagricultural plants, vegetables, ornamental to correctly assess the potential scope and to efficiently applyplants or grape vine, or seed traders. each of the available methods.Approximately 130 member companies are The findings have been immediately transposed also tobreeding or trading seeds of agricultural or winter wheat. Compared to spring wheat, winter wheat has ahorticultural plants, 58 of which are operating much higher relevance in German agricultural practice and, con- own breeding programmes. Most companies comitantly, also for German plant breeders. The work on winterare working with various crops. BDP works wheat has already been initiated, and as in the PILTON summeron national and European level for a legal wheat project, after the editing of the plant genome has beenframework that is best suited to promote plant successfully completed, the PILTON winter wheat project willbreeding and the seed industry as well as proceed to test the plants in the greenhouse for their tolerancefor the organisation of plant research, the against fungal pathogens.promotion of new technologies and the further A STEEP LEARNING CURVE enhancement of plant variety protection and seed marketing schemes.BDP has publicly communicated the project at a very early stage and in a very transparent manner. Such an endeavour always involves a certain risk. You never know the outcome of a research project. Thus, one of the things learned is that this whole pro-cess, despite all its efficiency, also takes time and money. Still, the sheer pace of the entire processfrom the editing process to cultivation trial of a genetically stable variety within one yearis an advantage in comparison to the many seasons of crossing and selecting needed for a plant variety to become genetically stable under conventional breeding. If we ever want to understand the complexities of the wheat genome, this speedup is indispensable.ACCESS TO GENOME EDITING METHODSAnother focus of the project is the additional issue of intellectual property rights and modes of access of plant breeding companies to patented CRISPR/Cas technologies. The project has analysed in detail the intellectual property rights involved. The licensing schemes of the respective patent holders and the requirements any prospective licensors must meet have been discussed in the light of the possibilities of the plant breeding companies in Germany. This led to follow-up questions that require further scrutiny. This is still an ongoing process. It is crucial to ensure broad access of plant breeders to these methods.As an intermediate result, we can conclude that new breed-ing methods do have great potential. They are not a miracle solu-tion, but they miraculously speed up the trial-and-error process that breeding intrinsically is. It is urgent to allow plant scientists and breeders to use them, so that they can gain the insights and experience necessary for their practical application. This requires general access of plant breeders to and a gen-eral understanding and acceptance in society for these methods. The German plant breeders will closely follow the current legis-lative revision process of the EU Commission.Editors Note: Ulrike Amoruso-Eickhorn is Head of Communication and Strategy at the German Plant Breeders Association BDPNew breeding methods have great potential. They are not a miracle solution, but they miraculously speed up the trial-and-error process that breeding PILTON Website https://pilton.bdp-online.de/?lang=enintrinsically is. Photo: Alexander SchlichterEUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 11'