CropLife worries about Environment Canada ‘over-reach’

Jun 28, 2023

It didn’t get a lot of press, but last fall the federal government took a stand to support Canada’s agriculture industry.

In December, the United Nations held a biodiversity conference in Montreal. The participants signed an agreement, called the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework, to protect nature and reverse biodiversity loss.

Leading up to the final agreement, some countries were pushing for a 50 per cent reduction in pesticide use worldwide.

But Canada said “no.”

“To Canada’s credit, including our environment minister, standing up and saying that arbitrary use-reduction targets for pesticides is not the way to go — that (it) would impact productivity,” said Pierre Petelle, president and chief executive officer of CropLife Canada, which represents the crop protection and plant breeding industry.

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Video: Democratizing Gene Editing - Pairwise’s Vision for the Future of Agriculture

Pairwise has built its business around an idea that runs counter to how many companies approach innovation: make transformative technology easier to access.

In this Seed World interview, CEO Tom Adams discusses why broader access to gene editing could speed crop improvement, expand innovation opportunities and help agriculture address emerging challenges. He explains why Pairwise believes no single company can solve all of agriculture's problems alone—and why making advanced breeding technologies available to more organizations could accelerate progress across the industry.

The conversation explores how consumer trust influences technology adoption, why innovations like pitless cherries and seedless blackberries matter beyond convenience, and how future crop improvements could help address labor shortages, automation, harvest efficiency and other production challenges. Adams also shares his perspective on what the industry may be underestimating about the next wave of gene editing innovation.

Watch the full interview to hear why Pairwise believes agriculture is approaching an important inflection point for gene editing, and why the pace of innovation over the next decade could surprise the industry.

Topics Covered:

o Democratizing agricultural innovation

o Consumer trust and technology adoption

o The business case for sharing innovation

o Expanding innovation beyond major crops

o Next-generation breeding technologies