EU Farmers Could Plant GM Crops by 2030 - EU Ag Newsletter #4

Maybe you are like me and somewhere around 2003 you gave up on the possibility of the EU ever joining the modern world of crop genetics. But a funny thing has started to happen recently, the situation is changing.

What caused the change? Maybe the ravages of years-long droughts? Perhaps the fact that decades of GM crops in other places have not caused issues for flora or fauna? Maybe the EU is tired of the brain drain of some of its best genetics minds moving abroad to build research and discover traits with more freedom to operate.

Whatever the cause, I'm here for it. And the acronym we all need to learn is... NGT.

New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) and the future of plant breeding in the EU

The European Commission has proposed regulations regarding plants obtained by new genomic techniques. But here is the key difference in this proposal compared with previous proposals. -> This latest proposal tries to create a path for people/companies/groups to actually adopt and implement the new technologies.

These rules are focused on the resulting products. Prior attempts at rule-making were focused on the mechanisms used to create the product (conventional breeding good, gene insertion bad).

Now we have a more nuanced and robust framework, which seems to be more future-proof. The resulting products are placed in two categories:

1. Category 1 NGT plants - ". Category 1 NGT plants are exempted from the requirements of the GMO legislation and are subject to the provisions applicable to conventional plants. However, they remain prohibited in organic production (Art. 5)"
2. Category 2 NGT plants- "In this case, the procedures of the GMO legislation apply with some adaptations:

- (i) section 1 (Art. 13) adapts the procedure in part B of Directive EN 15 EN 2001/18 for the deliberate release for purposes other than placing on the market;

- (ii) section 2 (Arts. 14-17) adapts the procedure in part C of Directive 2001/18 for the placing on the market of products other than food and feed; and

- (iii) section 3 (Arts. 18-21) adapts the procedure of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2033 for the placing on the market of GM food and feed. The main adaptations are a risk assessment based on Annex II to the present Regulation; the modalities to comply with detection method requirements in cases where it is not feasible to provide a method that detects, identifies and quantifies; and the possibility to tailor to the risk profile monitoring requirements and the need for regular renewal."

... okay, connecting the dots.

When the categories above reference the "GMO legislation", that is, ahem, difficult to follow and execute for a commercial product.

As it reads now, you are going to want to avoid having your new plant fall into Category 2.

This is all about Category 1 NGT Plants

That is it. This whole new opportunity is really about what plants result from using NGTs. And if those plants cannot be distinguished from plants developed through conventional breeding, or which could've naturally occurred through spontaneous mutation. If they are indistinguishable, the regulatory burden is light.

Using what we all know about the vast differences that can be directed with (thousands of years) of plant breeding, this proposed rule leaves enough space for innovation to occur in the EU. And this is a big change from where we have been the past twenty years.

The path forward for the proposed NGT regulations

The EU parliament will continue to work on this proposal in 2024. The work will break from approximately March until maybe November. Then (because of the EU parliamentary elections) there will be new people on the committees and the rule likely will not make it out of parliament until the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026. This is assuming that the newly elected members of parliament are also in support of this proposal.

On the European Council's side, the work can continue. But in the end, it has to agree with the legislation that will be read to Parliament, so it means both groups need to consult throughout the process. If the 2nd reading and approval by both the Parliament and Council could happen in 2026, the Act could be adopted.

THEN... there will need to be a set of secondary acts, laws, and rules that will focus on implementing the NGT Act. These will be detailed and will take time to work their way through committees and be implemented by national governments. That is the time between 2026 and approximately 2030. However as parts of the overall framework become set up, we could see parts of the new rules begin to happen in 2028. I imagine these might be in highly controlled environments like labs and segmented greenhouses.

...By 2030...

So yes, by about 2030 we could have plants created using NGTs planted, harvested, and processed in the EU. I am cautiously optimistic this will happen. But it is the EU... there is a big chance for some chaos to enter the rule-making process in the next seven years. Stay tuned.

A nice explainer video from the European Commission: