b'With Over 8 Billion Mouths to Feed, Its Time to InnovatePlant breeders across all seed sectors are getting innovative and creative to feed the globe.Alex MartinWHETHER OR NOTthe worlds populationWe use tubers from the plants that we plan the is growing exponentially or growing at a slowernext year to produce another plant, Gagnon says. rate than projected, its safe to say one things forUsually, one plant will produce around nine or 10 certain: as of Nov. 15, 2022, there were over 8 bil- tubers each season. Each year, you have a multi-lion mouths to feed on the planet.plication of 10 times the amount of seed that you For most people, thats a near impossiblecan grow the following year. From one seed pod, number to picture. But for the seed sector whosyou can obtain somewhere between 100-400 true been hearing about the threat of 9 billion peoplepotato seeds, which is much higher than the cur-globally by 2050, its just another reality check. rent multiplication we have with tuber seeds.When we talk about food insecurity, weAs the potato sector works on bettering breed-know that over 828 million people worldwide areing, the seed sector isnt far behind. Companies like hungry, says Sarah Evanega, lead of StakeholderPairwise have been actively investing in new tech-Communication for Pairwise. They dont havenologies to get over that nutrition deficiency issueSarah Evanega is lead of enough caloriesbut when we look at nutrition in particular, Pairwise has been actively workingStakeholder security, the numbers are even more staggering. in the realm of gene editing to help.Communication for In the U.S., fewer than one in 10 adults eats thePairwise.Plant Breeders Stepping Up to the Task recommended daily amount of fruits and veg-To tackle the growing population, plant breeders areetables. Theres a lot of social reasons for that, using every tool in their toolbox they possibly can.Evanega says. But, plant breeding can also play In the potato realm, that means looking intoa role in removing those barriers to vegetable and breeding options like diploid potato breeding,fruit consumption.which speeds up potato breeding from the tradi- In the case of snackable fruits, like blackberries, tional, tetraploid cultivars.Evanega notes that one barrier is that people dont The main thing that will change in the next fewlike the seeds in the berries. Gene editing would yearsand its currently happeningis that ourprovide an easy solution for that by creating a vari-tetraploid cultivars that are grown all around theety of seedless blackberries. One of the examples world are being replaced by diploid potatoes, saysPairwise is working on is a better tasting, gene Sam Gagnon, a PhD student at Laval Universityedited leafy green mix called Conscious Greens.Sam Gagnon is a PhD and leading breeder with Progest 2001, noting thatThis is a very nutrient-dense green thats beenstudent at Laval one reason breeders are moving towards diploidsimproved for flavorits taking an already nutri- University and leading is due to the amount of junk DNA accumulatedtious food and removing the barriers, she says.breeder with Progest in tetraploid cultivars. The junk DNA doesntFor gene editing, this is just the tip of the ice- 2001. typically affect the cultivar because it has enoughberg. Evanega believes there will be many more copies of various genes, Gagnon says.applications in the future, and itll be a wonderful But, when you start doing crosses betweentool to help feed 10 billion people by 2050.ON THE WEBWHERE tetraploids, you start seeing those traits that are lit- We need tools, and CRISPR is one of those erally lethal to the plant come out in the progeny,much-needed tools that are going to help us accel- Make sure to listen to the full he adds. Thats why we see such slow progresserate innovation in crops and increase efficiency,conversation from our Seed s episode at: youtube.com/with tetraploid breeding currently. she says. The speed of crop improvement is goingSpeakIn addition, diploid potatoes also produce trueto be critical to help us keep pace with the chang- watch?v=3J2YR06bd1c. potato seeds, which have a better potential ating climate and the growing population.SWfeeding third-world countries. Why? True potato seeds can be a little more reliable than tuber seeds. 8/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2023'