From farmers to bioengineers: Sowing genes, harvesting molecules

Twenty-first-century agriculture faces major challenges that urgently need to be answered. In the last decade, new breeding technologies have been developed that can help meet these challenges. These technologies are not only more accurate and efficient, but are also simpler and more accessible, which will facilitate the progressive democratisation of agricultural biotechnology. In this text we discuss future agricultural development in terms of technological democratisation and regulatory relaxation. In this scenario one would expect an increase in the diversity of cultivated varieties and species, the strong development of biofactory crops and, in the long term, the emergence of increasin…