How biotechnology is bringing new futures, fast

He was asked to tell a story about the link between society and biotechnology. Plant Science director Richard Harrison will give this lecture at F&A Next, the international food & agri innovation summit in Wageningen. As he strongly underlines the need for more knowledge about these topics, Harrison is motivated to share his perspective. “If we want to know what the importance is of biotechnology for our food of the future, our starting point must be a dialogue about what type of food and farming system we want. To realise the ambitions of growing the bioeconomy, production of food, fuel and raw materials, in Europe and carve out a competitive advantage, we need to do that now,” he explains. 

So then, what is the farming system of the future? Harrison sketches an attractive perspective. “There is room for a diversity of different farming systems, appropriate to the region and local economy, but all systems need greater diversity. For example, in the rotation of crops and in the diversity of the surrounding landscape, so that functions like pest control, sustaining pollinators and healthy soil can be supported. The former century has been about efficiency, simplification and scale, resulting in the ability to feed an increasing world population, but with costs to the environment and to biodiversity. Part of the crop diversification will come from new demands from the bioeconomy, like replacing fossil fuel-derived products with bio-based alternatives.” The question behind this, according to Harrison is: “How do we divide the limited space for cropland or other forms of biobased production of food or materials, what choices do we need to make to ensure optimal use of precious biological resources? Some choices are more efficient than others, and we need to understand that as a society. Not all things that are ‘green’ are sustainable.”

In these systems, the promises of modern biotechnology can be used in combination with other approaches. But first, what do we mean by biotechnology? It is about the use of living micro-organisms or essential components from these microbes. Modern-day applications are, for example, the production of medicine by micro-organisms, or modifying the DNA of cells in targeted ways, using molecules from specialised bacteria.

We live in exciting times, as new rules on precision-bred crops are about to be accepted in Europe. Precision-bred plants, with only small insertions off new DNA or with genes, like those already present in varieties or wild types from these crops, will no longer be classified under current strict rules for genetic modification. These techniques, alongside others will enhance both the speed and accuracy of the breeding process. “At the moment, the policy tailwind is pointing the same way as the science.” This also highlights that these techniques often evoke questions among consumers, about safety, ethics and authenticity. Discussions about these topics still need to be embraced as well, but seen in their fuller context.

Harrison emphasises the power of biotechnology, especially when combined with other modern techniques. “This has been elaborated on in the report from Peter Wennink, which was published in December last year.” In this report, Wennink advises the Dutch government on how to invest in the economy, so that the Netherlands, together with Europe can remain strategically relevant and autonomous. He identifies four domains we should invest in, three of which are particularly relevant for advancing in agricultural technology: AI, energy technology, and biotechnology. “Domains the Netherlands already has a strong and unique basis for.” The stakes are clear, the European bioeconomy is already worth over €800 billion a year, and the cost of ceding that position, or continuing with the status quo, is even higher.

Knowledge and the ability to use it are growing fast these days, explains Harrison with an example from abroad: AlphaFold. It is an open-access AI system, developed by Google, open access, that accurately predicts how proteins fold into their 3D structure and interact with each other or DNA. “Decennia of molecular research combined with AI, makes this possible.” An example of a company using these techniques is the international start-up Resurrect Bio.  They are now able to predict which resistance genes in plants against pests and diseases have broken and how they can be engineered to function again.”

These are also steps that democratise research, Harrison continues. “Knowledge and techniques are becoming more widely available and more affordable.” An example closer to home, by researchers from Wageningen University & Research, is the CRISPR4ALL project. “CRISPR-Cas9 is the molecule that helps with precise modification of DNA in plants, micro-organisms, even animals and humans. A different version of this molecule, ThermoCas9 is now being further developed to do this even better. And the team behind this wants to make it more widely accessible, not through costly royalty payments, but through affordable licensing, even for small businesses.” 

Many of these techniques now come together. “And they do not just add up, they reenforce each other. This opens up many opportunities, for improved crops, for new foods, for a more circular economy. Even for the development of new orphan crops, that will add to the regional diversity of farming systems.” Orphan crops are plants that are only known as food crops in limited regions or long ago and that have hardly been domesticated.  “There are over 30,000 edible plants on our planet, but only a fraction of these feed humanity” says Harrison.

A start-up in Wageningen, Aardaia is working on a fascinating, historically used European orphan crop called aardaker. It is a tuber from the legume family. This means it is a nitrogen-fixing species, improving the soil and as a tuber it resembles potatoes. However, where a potato is starchy, the aardaker is very protein rich. The vegan two-star Michelin restaurant ‘De Nieuwe Winkel’ is already serving it. “Before, developing a completely new crop would take over fifty or even a hundred years, now this innovation horizon can be wound down to just five or ten years. Even without genetic modification, just with advanced techniques like genome sequencing, high-throughput phenotyping, speed breeding and genomic prediction. This opens up new possibilities for investors that feel much more comfortable with these timelines.” And moreover, it shows that it is now possible for small companies to do this, further democratising innovation. 
The opportunity of biotechnology also stretches beyond plants. Alternative proteins produced by precision fermentation, like dairy proteins without the cow but directly from cleverly designed bacteria, sit on the same technology curve. Therefore, they belong in the same investment conversation, as the Dutch sector’s Food 2040 flagship already recognises.

Harrison is preparing his message for the audience of the F&A Next Summit: Investors and corporates come to hear about projects from start-ups and scale-ups, bringing them together. “Do they realise this is happening now? For decades, biotechnology for agriculture was a difficult sector for investors, because timelines were too slow for this type of investment. That is completely changing now, particularly with the advances that AI is also bringing. Taking this together creates so many new opportunities, in line with Wennink’s report.”
Then, wrapping up his message: “The technology is not the finish line. The real finish line is the conversation we still need to have about what kind of food system we want, and who it is for, where the hard trade-offs are and how we need to understand this as a society. We should be having that conversation now, while we invest, not instead of investing.”