Strawberries political wire12/31/2023 ![]() He said for growers, who can spend $35,000 an acre to plant strawberries and another $35,000 per acre to harvest them, gene-edited strawberries could reduce the risk of a crop failure. Nelson said the goal of the partnership with Simplot is to improve the horticultural performance of strawberries, enhance pest and disease tolerance and resistance. Steve Nelson, president and chief executive officer of Plant Sciences Inc., said the company over the last 35 years has developed five distinct breeding populations of strawberries that do best in various growing areas and climate types. The company is also using that gene editing technique on potatoes. Now, more than 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 million kilograms) of the potatoes are sold in some 40 states and 4,000 supermarkets and 9,000 restaurants.Ĭole said the company submitted information to the Agriculture Department that determined the gene editing being used on strawberries replicates a natural process and doesn't need regulatory approval before the strawberries are brought to the market. Food and Drug Administration approved a previous gene-modifying technique on Simplot potatoes. There is no evidence that genetically modified organisms, known as GMOs, are unsafe to eat, but changing the genetic code of foods presents an ethical issue for some. "We have the opportunity to do that with this technology." "It's the same technology we're working on with potatoes," said Doug Cole, director of Marketing and Biotech Affairs at Simplot. The strawberries will contain genes from only strawberries, selecting desirable traits that have been cultivated over decades. Simplot and Plant Sciences officials said genetically modified strawberries will help reduce waste, and make them available to consumers much of the year. ![]() ![]() But consumers discarded an estimated 35% of the crop due to spoilage. ![]() growers produced $2.2 billion in strawberries in 2020, mostly in California, according to the U.S. Simplot Company and Plant Sciences Inc., both privately-held companies, said they expect to launch the first commercially available, gene-edited strawberries within a few years. ![]()
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