Thursday, February 15, 2024 — 1:40 – 2:20 p.m.

The powerful technologies of genetic engineering have delivered substantial benefit to farmers over the last 25 years. However, the vast potential of the technology remains unrealized, mostly due to regulatory hurdles and public perception, which were critical of old school add-a-gene approaches. Whereas these ‘transgenic’ methods were both safe and effective, they typically relied on incorporation of foreign genetic materials in random locations within the plant’s DNA. The new technologies employ site directed nucleases, the formal term for what is familiarly described as gene editing. If yesterday’s techniques were like putting a new book on the library shelf, today’s techniques are akin to visiting the library and erasing a few letters to change the meaning of an important text. In other words, this molecular surgery can remove specific letters from the billions of letters in a plant’s DNA library, introducing precise changes that parallel what nature does over thousands of years. This seminar will describe what these technologies are, their relative benefits and risks, and how producers can best communicate these concepts to policymakers, stakeholders and social media audiences.