The technique has great potential to improve agriculture crops.Ottawa—Gene-editing may finally be in line for proper international recognition of its potential following German Agriculture Minister Julia Klockner's statement that the technique should be used on farm crops.“It's encouraging to see European government officials speaking positively about plant breeding,” says Ian Affleck, Vice-President of Plant Biotechnology with CropLife Canada. That stance is a turnaround from European action to ban genetically modified crops, “which was a legal, not a scientific decision.”Speaking to a conference in Berlin, Klockner said farmers should have access to genome-editing as a means of innovation in agriculture. Her comment was in response to growing support in Europe for gene editing, which could enable the development of creating allergen-free foods.Since its development nearly a decade ago, gene editing has come under attack from the same anti-agriculture groups that oppose GM crops. Health Canada has been developing guidelines for gene-editing, generally known by the name Crispr, and clarified guidance is expected this year, Affleck said. Like GMO crops, any gene-edited varieties should undergo a full evaluation by Health Canada to assure the public.“The focus has to be on the safety of the product,” he said. Gene-editing offers the potential of a wide variety of crop varieties to cope with climate changes and regional growing conditions. “The biggest challenge facing growers is finding crops with effective disease resistance.”Gene editing could be a boon for fruit and vegetable growers and smaller farms, he said.Calyst, a U.S. company, has developed a lot of plant varieties though gene-editing that should interest consumers. “Our specialized process reduces saturated fats in soybeans and soybean oil and eliminates the need for hydrogenation that produces trans fats. In the future, our goal is to use this same technology to help reduce gluten, grow crops with more fiber and address food allergies by naturally eliminating allergens from crops. Other crops in our pipeline include high fiber wheat, high-oleic/low-linoleic soybean, improved quality alfalfa, cold storable potatoes and reduced browning potatoes.”CropLife and farm groups that support gene edited crops have tried to get the current and former government to come out in support of the technique and change the regulatory system so applications for approval of a new variety aren't buried in dilatory paperwork.While gene editing is poised to transform agriculture around the globe, “Canada is falling behind some of its global competitors that are acting decisively on creating timely, predictive approaches to regulatory oversight to products of gene editing,” CropLife has warned.The Canadian Seed Trade Association has also called for changes to the existing regulatory system for plant breeding. “It lacks clarity, service standards and is prohibitively expensive for smaller and medium sized companies due to the uncertainty of timelines and data requirements.“Given Canada's reputation for ag innovation and our history of success in exporting products of biotechnology, we should be standing at the forefront, championing and encouraging the adoption of the newest tools that will drive innovation in seed and grain crops.Soy Canada said “Canada is seriously falling behind in the approval of plant breeding technologies such as gene editing, which offers big opportunity in soybeans and many other crops. There is real uncertainty in the scientific and research communities now as to what kind of regulatory environment those products are going to face.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.