b'To Stay Resilient, Seed Needs to DifferentiateAt the World Agri-Tech Summit, Cortevas CEO discusses where the future of seed innovation lies.Alex MartinWHY DO WEas a sector need to continuously innovate? Itshelp reduce disease pressure on crop varieties. not a question you might often think about, but agricultureWith gene editing, we can identify genes that will protect the and the seed sector have unique challenges that most industriescrop, amplify them and move them to an optimal location so we dont have to think about, let alone deal with every day.can accelerate hybridization, he says.Think about climate change, food security and the energy transition. For Chuck Magro, it seems obvious that the seedFocus on Collaboration and Innovationsector and ag tech sector need to continue to build up resiliencyThough new tools are fantastic, theres one other solution to tackle these challenges.imperative to help create a more resilient industry: partnerships.Im very proud to be part of the agriculture industry. Today,Collaboration and partnerships are no longer nice to have, we feed more people on less land with less natural resourcesMagro says. Theyre absolutely mission critical. We believe that and less emissions than we ever had before, Magro, Cortevawe need to spend more time working with the entire value chain, Agrisciences CEO, says during a session at the World Agri-Techincluding the startup community, to build an ecosystem of like-Summit in San Francisco, Cali. More people around the worldminded organizations who believe in working together.will sit down to a full plate of dinner, and thats because of all ofEspecially with the banking issues surrounding Silicon Valley you in the room and because of what our farmers do aroundBank, Magro believes that collaboration and investment in the world every day. But, we have challenges and Im certainlyagriculture are going to be imperative going forward to maintain grounded in those realities. resiliency in the sector. Its never been a more complicated time to farm, he says,Access to capital is a concern today. Access to capital, adding that there are new threats to growing, including newespecially for this group, is the lifeline of innovation, he says. weeds, insects and diseases.The macroeconomic volatility that were currently experiencing, along with the banking situation we just saw, has the potential Finding New Solutions to Challenges to stifle innovation in agriculture, and we cannot allow that to To retain resilience, Magro says agriculture and the seed sectorhappen. I see a great deal of opportunity for us to work together need to continue to change and grow. One change hes noticed ison a whole host of issues and opportunities.SWa change in the global goal of agriculture. Instead of solely focus-ing on feeding the world, a new goal for companies is feeding and fueling the world in a sustainable way. That means, biofuels and biologicals alike are going to become more important technologies for agriculture. Our solutions are less intensive than fossil fuels, Magro says. But, in addition, biologicals are helping to do this in a more sus-tainable way. Biologicals is the fastest growing segment of the crop protection industry. By the time we get to 2035, biologicals will represent 25% of the global market.While Magro doesnt believe biologicals will replace traditional chemistry, he believes that to fight the new pests, diseases and weeds, growers need every tool possible to help the battle. With new biologicals and a new focus on biofuels, wheres the next step in productivity to propel the industry forward?We believe its gene editing, Magro says. It has the poten-tial to make very precise changes where we can turn on and off genesits a faster and more cost-effective way to do breeding with no foreign DNA.For Magro and Corteva, gene editing really has endless applications. It can help reduce corn stature, which is a bigger discussion topic among growers, and it can 14/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2023'