The John Innes Centre (JIC), based on the Norwich Research Park, is a partner in four collaborations awarded a total of more than £4m in the latest round of Defra's Farming Innovation Programme.

Researchers are using precision breeding techniques such as gene editing to develop crops with disease resistance, climate resilience and better nutrition - in a much faster and more targeted way than traditional breeding, but without introducing genes from other species.

As a hub of excellence in this fast-developing area of crop science, the JIC, along with its academic, agricultural and industrial partners, is "seizing the opportunities for innovative biotechnology and farming solutions".

Two of the successful projects involving Norfolk-based researchers will help farmers tackle major disease challenges for oilseed rape and sugar beet - which are both under increasing threat from pests and diseases following the withdrawal of environmentally-damaging chemicals.

Another project will help to bring gene-edited Vitamin D-enriched tomatoes to market for UK consumers, while another aims to engineer dandelions to provide a sustainable homegrown source of rubber, using aeroponic cultivation in indoor farms.

Prof Cristóbal Uauy, director of the John Innes Centre, based on the Norwich Research Park (Image: JIC)

JIC director Prof Cristóbal Uauy said: “We are delighted to be partners in four of the projects chosen in the Farming Innovation Programme precision breeding initiative.

"The fact that our scientists and their industry partners have performed so strongly in this funding round is an endorsement of the John Innes Centre’s value as a hub of precision breeding expertise.

“The four projects, all quite different and on different crops, reflect the UK’s ambition to leverage new precision breeding technology for rapid crop improvement and innovation.

"With these enterprises we will help protect two major agricultural crops from damaging diseases, enhance the nutritional content of the world’s leading horticultural crop, tomato, while supporting an agri-tech project involving a completely new UK crop, dandelion."

He added: "While the science itself is fascinating, the real-world impact these innovations could have on society, agriculture and farmers cannot be underestimated."

The use of these techniques to bring foods to market has been enabled by the government’s Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023.

Defra's Farming Innovation Programme is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Farming minister Dame Angela Eagle said: “Innovation is central to a more productive, resilient farming sector. This funding will back new ideas farmers can use on the ground to cut methane and fertiliser-related emissions, strengthen crop resilience and improve nutrition.”

The four successful projects featuring the JIC and its partners are as follows.

Sugar beet plants with virus yellows disease in a BBRO field trial (Image: BBRO)

This project, worth £1.7m over three years, is a partnership between the group of Prof Steven Penfield at the John Innes Centre, British Sugar and Tropic Biosciences, also based at Norwich Research Park.

The project will use gene editing technology to build genetic resistance in sugar beet crops to virus yellows disease, viewed as an "existential threat" to production, potentially causing huge yield losses and costing growers millions of pounds.

Prof Penfield said: “This welcome investment will help us to apply our precision breeding expertise in protecting sugar beet, which is so critical as a break crop, a source of sustainable fuels and a key ingredient in a future, greener biotech economy.”

Dr Rachel Wells studying oilseed rape plants at the John Innes Centre in Norwich (Image: Newsquest)

This £2.5m three-year collaboration includes researchers in Dr Rachel Wells' group at the John Innes Centre, the University of Hertfordshire, crop breeders and farmers.

The project will use gene editing to build resistance against several damaging diseases of oilseed rape including light leaf spot (LLS), a disease that cost growers an estimated £300m in 2022.

LLS-Erased project lead Tom Allen-Stevens of BOFIN (British On-Farm Innovation Network) said: “This project is game-changing for farmers. It will put precision-bred oilseed rape technology on to their farms for the first time across Europe.”

Norwich scientists have produced a gene-edited tomato enriched with higher levels of vitamin D (Image: The Quadram Institute)

This £1.1m three-year project aims to commercialise the Sunshine Tomato, a gene-edited vitamin-enriched tomato aimed at addressing the global health challenge of vitamin D deficiency.

The tomato, produced by the group of Prof Cathie Martin at the John Innes Centre, is set to become one of the first food crops approved under the UK’s new precision breeding legislation.

This latest project will help to ensure consumers will reap the benefits with new products planned, including fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and plant-derived vitamin D supplements. The project also received a financial contribution from John Innes Enterprises, the commercial arm of the John Innes Centre.

Dr Jonathan Clarke, on behalf of John Innes Enterprises, said: “This innovative project aims to show that by using gene editing we can improve the nutritional composition of a staple, widely consumed horticultural crop as part of a longer-term strategy to improve human health.”

The John Innes Centre is working on a project to breed dandelions as a source of latex (Image: Newsquest)

This £2.4m project brings together Norwich Research Park-based startup company QuberTech, the John Innes Centre and its Germplasm Resources Unit, and LettUsGrow, a specialist in aeroponic indoor cultivation.

This consortium will precision-breed dandelions, which naturally produce latex/rubber in their root system, using soil-free aeroponic farming systems.

Dandelions produce levels of latex in their roots that, historically, were seen as too low to be commercially viable and environmentally sustainable.

However, the JIC says this innovation offers "a sustainable UK-based supply of a valuable global commodity which is at risk due to climate change and supply chain vulnerabilities".

Dr Neil Clelland, co-founder of QuberTech, said: “This grant will fully support QuberTech’s technical and commercial milestones, enabling us to build a new, domestic rubber supply that strengthens UK resilience, supports sustainable agriculture, and demonstrates how novel precision-bred crops can deliver real economic and environmental benefits.”

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