Seeds of Innovation

BioLumic CTO Jason Wargent assesses UV light seed treatment on rice.
BioLumic CTO Jason Wargent assesses UV light seed treatment on rice.

By Jason Wargent, Ph.D

(November 19, 2024) - One of the great tenets of science is that the world-changing ideas we do not yet have in our hands today; we may invent tomorrow. In the history of seed trait innovation, nobody has embodied this ethos more so than Dr. Norman E. Borlaug.

It was an honor to be an invited speaker on the ‘AgTech Unleashed: Innovating Across the Agribusiness Chain’ panel at the recently held Borlaug Dialogues hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, IA, a gathering of world leaders focused on the global future of food security. Attending the Dialogues was an immensely inspiring experience from the thought-provoking speakers, our interesting panel discussion, and the many conversations with delegates from countries around the world, including heads of state. It was very clear that one of the goals that unites all present is dedication to innovation.

New ideas in seed trait innovation represent a significant opportunity to solve challenges in food security on a large scale, across continents and nations. But ideas, like seeds, must be carefully nurtured, from concept to reality.

The Untapped Potential of Plants

The last few decades of innovation in agriculture have been largely focused on applications and technologies external to the plant, including chemistry that combats disease and pests, nutrient inputs and genetically modified traits from other organisms.

But what about the potential within the seed itself?

Within the relatively short time span of agricultural production, it’s easy to forget that plants have spent millions of years evolving. Those millions of years equal millions of pathways to create new crop traits. While the great success of the hybrid breeding programs of the last 100 years – exemplified by Dr. Borlaug and his dwarf wheat breeding program, have given us a taste for the potential of seed trait innovation, those gains are just the beginning of realizing the incredible genetic potential of plants.

Climate Change Changes Our Seed Trait Targets

Climate change has affected the landscape of seed trait innovation - there is no such thing as a ‘normal’ season anymore. Today’s 10-year-long breeding efforts are conducted against the backdrop of a moving target. Regulatory burdens further extend the development timeline of most traits, by which time the ‘climatic goalposts’ for the trait will have moved.

Climate change demands a need for co-benefits, or stacked traits, across the supply chain. For example, at BioLumic, we are developing traits in forage crop species such as pasture grasses and corn silage that increase yields and lipid concentrations within the plant. Higher lipid concentration supports more efficient digestion when those forages are consumed by cattle and sheep, resulting in reduced methane emissions. With one trait process, we can now deliver co-benefits for the farmer and the supply chain in ways we hadn’t previously considered. Moreover, our traits are not encumbered by regulatory hurdles compared to genetic modification or chemistry.

Putting into place technologies that can co-provide for productivity, resiliency, and other benefits – such as reducing agriculture’s impact on climate change while also feeding into a farmer’s profitability, is a huge, untapped opportunity for the entire food chain.

Nurturing Innovation for Tomorrow’s Seed Traits

Ideas and concepts are critical to moving the needle on innovation, yet many ideas disappear before we know if they have potential. This can be a constraint within the AgTech space, which has inspired many innovations, yet in reality, only several innovation areas receive significant commercial attention today.

At BioLumic, we use light signaling to unlock new genetic trait expression in plants, an idea that sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. But it is these out-of-the-box new ideas that we need for the next generation of innovation leaps in seed trait development. Today’s ‘science fiction’ can become tomorrow’s science facts.

Before Dr. Borlaug, few thought that wheat grown in food-insecure regions like Mexico and India could surpass the 10-bushel-per-acre yield barrier. His achievements revolutionized seed trait potential and opened the door to opportunities in agricultural production not even considered before.

As many of us gear up for the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Field Crop Seed Convention this December, let’s recognize that the need and opportunities for new seed trait innovation are boundless – and have never been more important for our future. As Dr. Borlaug himself is a testament to, it only takes one idea to change everything.

About the Author

Jason Wargent, Ph.D., is the founder and Chief Science Officer of BioLumic, where he leverages UV light technology to enhance crop performance and sustainability. A professor and entrepreneur-in-residence at Massey University in New Zealand, Wargent's research focuses on how UV light treatments can improve plant growth, yield, and disease resistance. His innovations in photobiology have led to significant advancements in seed trait technologies, boosting agricultural productivity and sustainability.

Editor's Note: This article is part of an editorial series in partnership with AgTech PR.

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