Plant Genetics and Sustainable Agricultural Productivity

9 December 2020 - FAO North America and the CSIS Global Food Security Program held a private roundtable featuring a keynote address by Dr. Pamela Ronald, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at University of California Davis, followed by a discussion. The virtual session included a small group of government and non-governmental food and nutrition security experts.

During the session, Dr. Ronald emphasized that with rising land and water constraints, producing more with less is imperative. She noted that gene editing is one piece of the puzzle to achieve more resilient and efficient food systems by helping crops tolerate floods and droughts and become more nutritious. She highlighted successes in Bangladesh from a rice immunity gene she helped develop. 

Following her presentation, participants discussed the role of plant genetics in the biotechnology and agroecology debate, and how new technologies can contribute to greater food security and nutrition. The importance of building public trust and increasing support for public research was also underlined.