Our new article "Genome-edited tree crops: mind the socioeconomic implementation gap" led by Manu from our group was just published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
The discussion about CRISPR/Cas genome editing (GE) is focused mostly on technical aspects, for instance to improve productivity and climate resilience in major tree crops such as cocoa, coffee, and citrus. However, the implementation challenges when bringing new GE varieties from the lab to the field are largely ignored by practitioners. We suggest a solution to minimize the socioeconomic impacts for farmers and avoid unnecessary updating of new varieties to newly evolving pest and diseases.
Figure design by Manuel Toledo Hernández.