Biography
Biography: Andy Renz
Abstract
Agricultural Biotechnology is far more than herbicide tolerant or insect resistant crops, although these two are key traits with multiple products in the market today. Driven by the realization that agricultural productivity will not suffice to feed the growing world population, and enabled by break-through advancements in genome sequencing and synthetic biology, new product concepts, approaches and traits have been developed. Disease resistant crops can now be developed through novel molecular breeding technologies such as genomic selection, and through transgenic approaches. Biologicals add a completely new dimension to the field of disease resistance in crops. Yield-enhanced crops and crops with improved abiotic stress tolerance are being developed by multi-nationals and start-up companies. To successfully develop products for this complex trait, a combination of molecular breeding, omics, synthetic biology, advanced phenotyping and precision agriculture is necessary. Biologicals have been developed that show promising effects on crop productivity in the field. The development of quality-improved crops has been challenging, and it now facilitated by progress in synthetic biology and genome editing. Future trends in AgBiotech may include integrated solutions of today’s AgBiotech approaches. In the biologicals field, these may include integrated products for improved crop-microbiome interactions and combinations of biologicals with agrochemical products. For yield-enhanced and stress tolerant crops these may be multi-gene stacks with precise genomic integration through genome editing, in combination with modern breeding-derived traits. Both, GM and non-GM products may be possible.
