State of Seed

Could access to high-quality seeds be the secret ingredient to food security? And if so, what are the obstacles to getting there? On State of Seed, you’ll learn how better seeds could feed more people and help us fight climate change. Host Laura Rosbrow-Telem talks to a range of experts at the centennial World Seed Congress, tackling some of the thorniest topics. What is the science behind seed innovation and what are the risks and benefits? How consolidated is the seed industry? And how can we increase seed access to those most in need? State of Seed is a four-part series from the International Seed Federation, with production services by FP Studios.

Welcome to State of Seed, a four-part series about how seeds feed and sustain the planet in surprising and complicated ways. On this first episode, host Laura Rosbrow-Telem visits a Rijk Zwaan lettuce plant breeding facility in the Netherlands, watching seeds pollinate in real-time. She then goes to Rotterdam to attend the centennial World Seed Congress, an annual gathering of seed leaders. Here, she interviews Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Bechdol comes from a grain farming family, going back seven generations. She reflects on what the policy world misunderstands about agriculture and the key barriers farmers face in accessing quality seed.  State of Seed is a show from the International Seed Federation, with production services by FP Studios.

More than a third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions come from food systems. So now, there is a big push to make agriculture more sustainable. And seed technology has an important role to play.   On today’s episode of State of Seed, we hear about the science behind three main types of seed innovation: traditional plant breeding, genetically modified seeds (or GMO seeds), and genome editing. What are the benefits and risks of these emerging technologies? And how could they reshape the future of food? Host Laura Rosbrow-Telem speaks with some of the leading innovators in the seed world, including Richard Harrison, managing director of plant sciences at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands; Diego Risso, executive director of the Seed Association of the Americas; and Dan Jenkins, vice president of regulatory and government affairs at Pairwise, a U.S. startup genetically editing seeds. Olalekan Akinbo, Senior Program Officer of the Biosafety Program for the African Union Development Agency, also shared his perspective on genome editing during a panel at the centennial World Seed Congress.  Special thanks to Thin Lei Win, whose journalism helped inform this episode. State of Seed is a show from the International Seed Federation, with production services by FP Studios.