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Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today issued a statement making it clear that USDA does not regulate, or have any plans to regulate, plants produced through new breeding tools such as genome editing, as long as they are not plant pests or developed using plant pests.

Ensuring that U.S. farm productivity keeps growing at its robust clip will take a whale of a lot of doing, say experts in crop and livestock production and research.

The lineup of All-Star speakers for the Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit continues to grow.

The chief scientist at PepsiCo, the largest U.S. food company, is challenging American agriculture to “dig in” and take greater steps to help provide nutritious, affordable food to a world population that will surpass 9 billion people by mid-century.

Historically, farmers and ranchers have looked to USDA and their universities to develop the “next big thing” in plant and animal breeding, but exciting new players are emerging.

Americans are easily riled about genetically modifying crops, even though they know little about the science. So, what about consumer understanding of a new and much different approach to precision breeding called gene editing?

Those who see gene editing as a key component of agriculture’s future want to make sure that the regulations written for it do not stifle its promise.