Forum

Tuesday, October 10 • 8:30 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.

Endangered Foods - Saving Your Breakfast

Organizer: Ray Shillito, Bayer, U.S.A.; E. Pearce Smith, Eurofins GeneScan, U.S.A.

Sponsored by: Biotechnology Division; Oat and Barley Committee

Session Type: Forum

Plant breeding tools for genome editing Innovation, such as CRISPR and other modern approaches to molecular breeding, offer the ability to speed up the solutions for agricultural crops under challenge. This half-day Forum will focus on the traditional breakfast ingredients that are under threat from disease vectors – plant pathogens that are not readily identified. These threats are acting as stressors on the food supply chain, and are particularly relevant to ingredient supplies.

The recent movie, Food Evolution describes traditional, and new genetic engineering approaches such as gene editing, that have the exciting capability to solve issues seen as “threats”. Modern technologies have saved Papaya production in Hawaii, and are now improving bananas, apples, potatoes and other crops. Present ongoing threats are citrus greening (urgent in oranges) and Panama disease in bananas. In addition, there are challenges to raisin, almond and other ingredient production.


The forum will review diseases that affect key crops. World recognized experts will identify and share their thoughts on the solutions and the new technologies that are saving the time-tested components of your breakfast and other meals.


The forum will finish with a discussion around global regulatory acceptance of the new approaches, solutions that will affect their introduction, and activities to mitigate the hurdles.


Key Learning Objectives:

  • Understand how diseases are threatening some key ingredients
  • Understand how modern breeding can contribute to the quality and variety of your breakfast and other meals
  • Communicate about modern technologies to others.
  • Communicate about modern technologies such as CRISPR to others

Featuring:

Plant diseases threatening some favorite breakfast foods, Timothy Murray, Washington State University, U.S.A.

Barley and oat resistance breeding: using new tools to complement the old ones, Aaron Beattie, Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Banana Splits From Its Extinction Cycle, Alan Chambers, University of Florida, U.S.A.

Citrus Greening a Case for the Necessity of Biotech Tim Eyrich, Southern Gardens Citrus, U.S.A.

Emerging threats to crops that provide breakfast Wayne Parrott, University of Georgia, U.S.A.

Preventing food waste and improving the consumer experience – nonbrowning Arctic® apples, Jennifer Armen, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, CANADA

New Potato Varieties for Reduction of Inputs and Food Waste, Tracy Rood, J.R. Simplot Company, U.S.A.

Discussion on consumer and food industry acceptance, Les Copeland, Editor in Chief, Cereal Chemistry, Australia