More than a third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions come from food systems. So now, there is a big push to make agriculture more sustainable. And seed technology has an important role to play.  

On today’s episode of State of Seed, we hear about the science behind three main types of seed innovation: traditional plant breeding, genetically modified seeds (or GMO seeds), and genome editing. What are the benefits and risks of these emerging technologies? And how could they reshape the future of food?

Host Laura Rosbrow-Telem speaks with some of the leading innovators in the seed world, including Richard Harrison, managing director of plant sciences at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands; Diego Risso, executive director of the Seed Association of the Americas; and Dan Jenkins, vice president of regulatory and government affairs at Pairwise, a U.S. startup genetically editing seeds. Olalekan Akinbo, Senior Program Officer of the Biosafety Program for the African Union Development Agency, also shared his perspective on genome editing during a panel at the centennial World Seed Congress. 

Special thanks to Thin Lei Win, whose journalism helped inform this episode.

State of Seed is a show from the International Seed Federation, with production services by FP Studios.