An Idaho company that successfully brought genetically modified potatoes to the market announced an agreement to help a California-based plant breeding company grow strawberries they say will stay fresh longer and have a longer growing season.
J.R. Simplot Company and Plant Sciences Inc., both privately-held companies, said they expect to launch the first commercially available, gene-edited strawberries within a few years.
U.S. growers produced $2.2 billion in strawberries in 2020, mostly in California, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But consumers discarded an estimated 35% of the crop due to spoilage.
Simplot and Plant Sciences officials said genetically modified strawberries will help reduce waste, and make them available to consumers much of the year.
The strawberries will contain genes from only strawberries, selecting desirable traits that have been cultivated over decades.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a previous gene-modifying technique on Simplot potatoes.
Now, more than 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 million kilograms) of the potatoes are sold in some 40 states and 4,000 supermarkets and 9,000 restaurants.
Cole said the company submitted information to the Agriculture Department that determined the gene editing being used on strawberries replicates a natural process and doesn’t need regulatory approval before the strawberries are brought to the market.
The company is also using that gene-editing technique on potatoes.
Steve Nelson, president and chief executive officer of Plant Sciences Inc., said the company over the last 35 years has developed five distinct breeding populations of strawberries that do best in various growing areas and climate types.
He said for growers, who can spend $35,000 an acre to plant strawberries and another $35,000 per acre to harvest them, gene-edited strawberries could reduce the risk of a crop failure.
