Dear readers of European Seed,
Over the past year, we have shared hundreds of stories with you. Some were well read, some a bit less, and some just went through the roof. Let’s look at what were your most favourite stories on European Seed of the past year. Check out the full articles by following the link! From 10 to 1, here’s our list of the best viewed stories.
10: Towards a Concept of “Better Farming”
May 2021
Our regular columnist David Zaruk writes about thought provoking topics in his ‘Risk Corner’ column. In 2021, David wrote a of a trilogy of columns reassessing how our food and agricultural systems need to evolve. Given the environmental stresses of organic food production, in this second part of the trilogy, he looks at an alternative called ‘Better Farming’. Read his tips on how to integrate the food and agriculture chain.
https://european-seed.com/2021/05/towards-a-concept-of-better-farming/
9: PASTUTARIAN: The 9th Vegetarian-Type That Will Rock Our Eating Traditions
January 2021
Plant-based food is trending and reflects especially youngster’s wish to save the planet from overheating and resource depletion. And the new trend-setting lifestyles come in different sizes, so you can pick whatever suits your taste. We have everything from raw vegans, who only consume unprocessed plant foods to the flexitarians, who eat mostly vegetarian but may be willing to eat animal products occasionally. In total there are no less than eight classes of plant-diet lovers. Find out what the new 9th vegetarian type is, and how long it will take until you become one.
8: Euroseeds 2021, Here We GROW Again!
September 2021
One of European Seed’s INSIDERS, Corteva Agriscience, writes about the past year and how we were unable to meet in person due to the pandemic that still affects us all. Well, things did change during the time of the Euroseeds congress in Prague in Oct. 2021. Corteva was excited to be there, with its full SAT Team, meet in person, shake hands, bump elbows or just look each other in the eyes and say “hello” and engage in a nice face-to-face conversation.
https://european-seed.com/2021/09/euroseeds-2021-here-we-grow-again/
7: Green Deal Could Open the Door for New Genomic Techniques
May 2021
New genomic techniques (NGT) could be the key to helping European farmers and policymakers in the European Green Deal, which calls for dramatic changes to agricultural production, among other industries, to reduce the impact of Climate Change. Some of the proposed changes, including the Farm to Fork Strategy, suggest reducing pesticides by 50 per cent, reducing fertilizer by 20 per cent and increasing acres farmed with organic methods to 25 per cent of arable land. The New Genomic Techniques could be the ticket to keeping farmers more profitable and crops safer under these potential new requirements.
https://european-seed.com/2021/05/green-deal-could-open-the-door-for-new-genomic-techniques/
6: Why We Built the New Seed Company LIDEA, Part 1
January 2021
For many years, the seed companies Euralis Seeds and Caussade Semences Group had long-standing partnerships, and in 2020, both companies decided to form a new seed company called LIDEA. Find out more from the CEO of the new company about the reasons why these two companies decided to build this partnership, and which are the three key pillars of a seed company.
https://european-seed.com/2021/01/why-we-built-the-new-seed-company-lidea-part-1/
5: Holy Grail or Mission Impossible? The Continuing Range of Exciting Developments in Hybrid Wheat
October 2021
Question: What is the most widely grown crop in the world? Wheat! Many different varieties of this crop are grown on a whopping 215 million hectares per year. Eaten by 2.5 billion people, it supersedes maize or rice as a source of protein in low- and middle-income nations and is second only to rice as a source of calories. But what about hybrid wheat? It has been tried and tested for almost 90 years, but large-scale adoption is yet to come. Find out where things stand with hybrid wheat after reading how four leading hybrid wheat developing companies tackle the challenges.
4: Enforcing Plant Breeders’ Rights with the Help of Satellites
September 2021
Suppose one day it is possible to distinguish the most important Plant Breeders’ Rights protected potato varieties (or a variety of any other species) anywhere in the world by using remote sensing technology, and that it even is possible to distinguish seed potato fields from ware potato fields of a certain variety. If it turns out to be possible then this could be a very helpful enforcement instrument in the fight against illegal multiplication and to enforce Plant Breeders’ Rights, for instance, by monitoring the farm saved seed acreages in a certain part of the world.
https://european-seed.com/2021/09/enforcing-plant-breeders-rights-with-the-help-of-satellites/
3: Defining Organic: 50 Shades of Green
March 2021
When David Zaruk’s “Risk-Monger’s Dirty Dozen” list of pesticides used in organic farming was published, he had broken a taboo. Before that 2015 article, most people wrongly assumed ‘organic’ meant completely ‘pesticide-free’. Today the word organic has become much more elastic as markets increase, new technologies challenge organic farming practices, and a public has become more concerned about purpose-built food. In this column, David introduces a series of opaque definitions of ‘organic’, concluding that simply identifying it against conventional agricultural techniques, is counterproductive.
https://european-seed.com/2021/03/defining-organic-50-shades-of-green/
2: Plants are Talking. To Grow Food Sustainably, Let’s Listen in., A European Seed Innovation Webinar
March 2021
Did you know that plants use fast electrical signals to control development and defence? In this webinar, you’ll learn how these signals can be decoded using machine learning and used to breed and grow better plants.
1: 20 Most Innovative Plant Varieties
April 2021
The best-read story, by a longshot, was our annually recurring story in the ’20 Most’ series. This year we looked at which exciting new plant varieties came out in the year before. Did you know that the annual number of new varieties arriving on our European plates over the past few years has been hovering around 3,500? That is almost 10 new plant varieties per day that are added to the toolbox of farmers to grow and on the plates for consumers to enjoy. To get a feel for the most innovative varieties, we asked hundreds of seed companies for their nominations. Out came a wonderful list of innovative new plant varieties in a whole range of different crops.
https://european-seed.com/2021/04/the-20-most-innovative-plant-varieties-2020-1-5/
