For decades, these circles have been able to rely on the administration and politicians: The extension of the moratorium on genetic engineering every X years was almost a ritual act. The initial moratorium became a providurium. But since research with the gene scissors has also made quantum leaps in plant breeding, old certainties have been shaken.

The opportunities offered by targeted genomic breeding can no longer be denied, even in federal Bern, given the challenges of climate change and population growth: The Federal Council recently received a mandate from Parliament to present a draft law this year on how it intends to regulate the authorisation of new plant breeding methods. Such a text already exists in the EU. Plants and seeds into which no foreign genes have been inserted are to be authorised as far as possible.

New breeding technologies should not be left to ideologues

A new regulatory framework is therefore just around the corner. However, as Jürg Niklaus, President of the «Varieties for Tomorrow» association, says in an interview with «Schweizer Bauer», there is still «a lot of educational work» to be done by researchers and breeders. This is essential, especially in view of the initiative mentioned above.

Researchers such as Urs Niggli, organic pioneer and long-standing director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), have an important role to play here. He writes in the same issue that the topic of new breeding methods should not be left to ideologues: As a natural scientist, he does not understand why the new approaches to plant breeding should be judged differently than past interventions in plant breeding have been. After all, numerous scientific studies show that the risks for humans and the environment with the new breeding methods «are no different or greater than with the established, traditional breeding methods».

In his review article, Niggli speaks plainly: «You can spin it any way you like. New agronomic and technological solutions are also needed to maintain production at a high level and conserve natural resources such as soil, water, air and biodiversity.»

This clear judgement is particularly remarkable for someone who has dedicated his entire research life to organic farming. However, Niggli's article is not a complete rejection of organic thinking: in theory, it is possible to expand organic farming to 50 per cent globally without anyone having to go hungry, he continues. This «organic package» («eat more organic, less meat and leave less waste behind») is basically sensible and it works. «But it cannot be implemented in a free society», which is why it should be removed from the list of possible solutions for feeding the world, says Niggli.

The advantages of new breeding technologies are obvious

One wishes that other exponents of the organic landscape also had Niggli's sense of reality. After all, he writes, particularly with a view to those critical of genetic engineering: «The horror visions fuelled by the concepts of monopolisation, biopiracy, patenting, varieties from the laboratory, pollution through pollen dispersal or monocultures on an industrial scale will not come to pass.»

It is to be hoped that this sober, objective tone will set a precedent in Swiss politics and public opinion. Jürg Niklaus from «Varieties for tomorrow» also sees the first signs of this in an interview with Schweizer Bauer: he senses a certain openness to the new breeding methods as soon as their advantages are discussed. And these are also obvious according to the broad scientific consensus.