Many organic farmers want to cultivate vegetables free of artificial cell fusion. Cell fusion is technically interfering below the cell level and combines genetic information of different plant species. Therefore the technique is rejected for ethical reasons, because it does not comply with principles of organic farming, and has been banned by several private organic labels. Though, especially in Brassica vegetables and some chicory species, many cultivars on the market were produced this way. Therefore, farmers have difficulties to find out which cultivars are cell fusion-free, because the techniques are excluded from the GMO regulation and don’t have to be labelled.
Solution
A consortium of FiBL, Bioland, Naturland, Bio Austria, Bio Suisse, Demeter and BNN now published a list of vegetable cell fusion free cultivars, suited for organic production for Central Europe. By consulting the list, farmers can find out if the varieties they want to plant are included or if there are suitable alternatives. The list will be complemented with more cultivars, especially from the Mediterranean region.
Description
You can download the list for free in German and French: https://www.fibl.org/en/shop-en/1671-zf-freie-sorten.html
Further Information: FiBL breeding manual https://www.fibl.org/en/shop-en/1202-plant-breeding.html/ IFOAM-strategy on artificial CMS https://www.ifoam.bio/sites/default/files/cell_fusion_replacement_strategy_2017_for_website_upload.pdf/ IFOAM position paper: Compatibility of Breeding Techniques in Organic Sy
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