b'The ISF World Seed Congress Tackles Seed Regulations, Customer RelationsAt its first in-person conference since 2019, the International Seed Federation gathered to talk about major issues in the industry.Alex MartinIF THERES ONEcertainty in our industry, its that situa- pose essentially, says Bernice Slutsky, chair of the ISF coordina-tions are constantly changing. Policies are changing, rela- tion group on plant breeding innovation. Government policies tionships are changingand while a few years might not seemare always going to lag a little behind scientific advancement, but like a significant amount of time in the long run, theres beenin this particular area, its moving quite rapidly.plenty of changes since the International Seed Federation lastDue to the rapid nature of developing gene editing tech-met in-person. niques and technology, many regulations have needed to be Check out some of the highlights from their first in-person con- flexible and subject to change. ference in Barcelona, Spain, since their last conference in 2019.When most countries put policies in place, they were simpler applications of these newer technologies, she says. There are Future-Proofing Plant Breeding Innovation Regulationsways that you can integrate flexibility within a system that allows Plant breeding innovations are constantly changing, andit to evolve.because of that, regulations are changing just as fast when itOne way to future proof these policies is to show how tech-comes down to new technologies. Think just about gene editingnology is being used today, but also how it could be used in thewithin the last few months, both the UK and India have hadfuture.regulatory changes when it comes to producing gene editedThen, regulators can start thinking about breeding in the crops. context of what they have now and how they can interpret Now, the seed industry is looking to change the way govern- things, Slutsky says. Hopefully then they would not have to ments approach regulations on plant breeding innovation redo or regulate. specifically, to future proof them.From a company perspective, this not only helps understand This is something weve been discussing at ISFhow bestregulations, but it helps products get to market better.to future proof and continue to have policies that are fit for pur- Developing a product in our industry takes anywhere up to During Channel World Seed, Marc Cool and Bernice Slutsky talked future proofing regulations. 22/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2022'