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1
Plants for the Future

• Healthy, safe and sufficient food and feed
• Develop and produce safe and high-quality food
• Create food products targeted at specific
  consumer groups and needs
• Produce safe, high quality, sufficient and
  sustainable feed
• Sustainable agriculture, forestry and landscape
• Improve plant productivity and quality
• Reduce and optimise the environmental impact of
  agriculture
• Boost biodiversity
• Enhance the sustainability and aesthetical value
  of the landscape
• Green products
• Plants as a basis for renewable resources
• Plant-based pharmaceutical and diagnostic
  products
• Competitiveness, consumer choice and governance
• Vibrant basic research
• Human resources, infrastructure and networking
• Public and consumer involvement
• Ethics, safety, legal and financial environment

2
Sustainable agriculture, forestry and landscape

• Improve plant productivity and quality
• Reduce and optimise the environmental impact of
  agriculture
• Boost biodiversity
• Enhance the sustainability and aesthetical value
  of the landscape
• (1) There is still an urgent need for the
  sequencing and annotation of further important
  crop genomes.
• (1) Research into mechanisms - Development of new
  traits
• (1) Development of new methods and production of
  breeding stock with new/improved properties.
  Note Basic gene pool and methods should be
  brought as close as possible to the breeders.
• (1) Yield yield stability are very complex
  traits. Especially, GxE for yield is highly
  important and needs regional analysis from crop
  to crop.
• (1) Introduction into local germplasm (partially
  together with breeders e.g. in projects) -
  Validation in new genetic background
• (1) SME plant breeders are to introduce improved
  traits/novel alleles into regionally adapted cvs,
  especially cereals, oilseed crops, legumes.

3
Sustainable cont.

• Improve plant productivity and quality
• Reduce and optimise the environmental impact of
  agriculture
• Boost biodiversity
• Enhance the sustainability and aesthetical value
  of the landscape
• (1,2) Molecular breeding microbial ecology
  tools should be combined with sustainable
  management of agro- and phyto-chemicals for the
  improvement of cropping systems to obtain
  self-protected elite cultivars with
  site-effective plant microbial communities.
• (1,2) Research into and development of modern
  tools for forest tree breeding and selection to
  improve both, wood/fibre quality and growth,
  under abiotic/biotic stress and/or low input
  conditions.
• (1,2,3) Genomes of crop, orphan and related wild
  species must be searched for functional genetic
  markers (gene resources or expressed sequence
  tags ESTs) useful for marker assisted selection
  to derive varieties with novel qualities and
  tolerance or resistance to biotic (pest
  disease) or abiotic stress.

4
Sustainable cont.

• Improve plant productivity and quality
• Reduce and optimise the environmental impact of
  agriculture
• Boost biodiversity
• Enhance the sustainability and aesthetical value
  of the landscape
• (1,2,4) The new knowledge of plants is to be
  integrated into current and future
  agro-ecosystems by regarding its agronomic,
  ecological, and social-economic impacts.
• (2,4) Sustainability pillars (economy
  environment society) require more input
  especially towards
• - Effects of plant research on environment
• - Solving societal problems (disparities,
  urbanization, income, abandonment of land use)
• (2,4) Better economics of plant production
  strengthening farms. Note The solution is not
  only to improve plants for higher productivity,
  but to improve the productivity of agricultural
  systems with respect to sustainability, e.g.
  minimum tillage, low input, more crops or wider
  rotations.

5
Sustainable cont.

• Improve plant productivity and quality
• Reduce and optimise the environmental impact of
  agriculture
• Boost biodiversity
• Enhance the sustainability and aesthetical value
  of the landscape
• (4) The multifunctionality of the landscape, in
  providing habitat for plants wild animals, and
  its role in the water cycle and for recreation
  have to be considered.
• (4) Following smart breeding methods allows to
  avoid transformation breeding and addresses
  public concern for GMO-free food and non-food
  products.

6
Jürgen K. Friedel

• The new knowledge of plants is to be integrated
  into current and future agro-ecosystems by
  regarding its agronomic, ecological, and
  socio-economic impacts. Impacts of a further
  intensification of agricultural production on the
  multifunctionality of agro-ecosystems, on the
  environment and on interactions with the
  socio-economic systems have to be addressed.
• Molecular breeding tools can be used to obtain
  elite cultivars and effective plant
  micro-organism symbioses, e.g. with arbuscular
  mycorrhizal fungi.
• Only along with a consideration and improvement
  of the cropping systems, the management of agro-
  and phyto-chemicals and the development of
  self-protected plant varieties are promising
  approaches.
• The multifunctionality of the landscape, e.g. in
  providing a habitat for plants and wild animals,
  its role in the water cycle has to be considered
  as well as its importance for human recreation.
•  The request of parts of the public for GMO-free
  food and non-food products can be considered by
  smart breeding methods using techniques of
  molecular biology e.g. for developing markers
  avoiding transformation breeding.

7
Julia Neuwirth
Allgemeine Anmerkungen

• Im Sinne der 3 Säulen der Nachhaltigkeit
  (Wirtschaft, Umwelt und Soziales) kommen
  insbesondere folgende Themen in der SRA zu kurz
• Auswirkungen der Pflanzenforschung auf die Umwelt
• Lösung von sozialen bzw. gesellschaftlichen
  Problemen, wie z.B. Disparitäten, Abwanderung,
  Einkommen, Aufgabe der Flächenbewirtschaftung
• Fokus erweitern um seltene Ackerkulturen und
  alternative Landbewirtschaftungsformen

8
Julia Neuwirth cont.
Anmerkungen zu Ziel 1

• Der Bedarf an Lebens- und Futtermitteln,
  erneuerbaren Energieträgern und anderen land- und
  forstwirtschaftlichen Rohstoffen sollte durch
  extensivere Bewirtschaftungsweisen gedeckt
  werden.
• Um den Bedarf zu decken, ist nicht nur die
  Produktivität von Kulturpflanzen bedeutsam,
  sondern auch deren Distribution, Vermarktung,
  Verarbeitung und Konsumption.
• Bei den konkreten Forschungszielen sollten
  seltene Ackerkulturen einbezogen, nachhaltige
  Bewirtschaftungsmethoden erprobt, die
  Interaktionen von Kulturpflanzen mit der Umwelt
  und soziale, ökonomische und ökologische Effekte
  ihres Anbaus erhoben bzw. abgeschätzt werden.

9
Julia Neuwirth cont.
Anmerkungen zu Ziel 2

• Verschiedene Formen der Landbewirtschaftung
  sollen hinsichtlich des Ressourceneinsatzes, der
  Pflanzen- und Bodengesundheit untersucht werden,
  um darauf aufbauend Bewirtschaftungsmethoden mit
  geringen negativen Umwelteinflüssen zu entwickeln
  (z.B. Fruchtfolgen).
• Erprobung von Effekten neuer Landbewirtschaftungst
  echnologien auf die Bodenqualität (z.B.
  Bodenverdichtung, Erosion, Nährstoffverfügbarkeit)
  .
• Konkrete Forschungsziele Einflüsse verschiedener
  Landbewirtschaftungsmethoden auf Pflanzen- und
  Bodenqualität, optimierte Grünlandbewirtschaftung
  unter Berücksichtigung von Multifunktionalität
  und Biodiversität, sozioökonomische und
  ökologische Wirkungen neuer Bewirtschaftungsmethod
  en.

10
Julia Neuwirth cont.
Anmerkungen zu Ziel 3

• Konkrete Forschungsaktivitäten
• Nicht nur die Auswirkungen des Anbaus der
  wichtigsten Kulturpflanzen auf die Biodiversität
  erforschen, sondern auch jene der seltenen
  Kulturpflanzen berücksichtigen.
• Feststellung des potenziellen und des
  gesellschaftlich erwünschten Ausmaßes an
  Biodiversität sowie Grundlagenforschung zur
  Evolution von Biodiversität.
• Entwicklung von Landbewirtschaftungsmethoden mit
  positiven Auswirkungen auf die Biodiversität und
  deren ökonomische und soziale Effekte.
• Entwicklung eines Pflanzenproduktionsschemas, das
  Bewirtschaftung, Ernte, Verarbeitung und
  Entsorgung berücksichtigt und sich positiv auf
  die Biodiversität auswirkt.
• Risikobewertung der unerwünschten Ausbreitung von
  neuen Kulturpflanzen in der Umwelt, Entwicklung
  von Kontrollmechanismen.

11
Julia Neuwirth cont.
Anmerkungen zu Ziel 4

• Nur den ästhetischen Wert einer Landschaft
  anzusprechen, ist zu wenig. Vielmehr ist die
  Landschaft ein Ort des Wirtschaftens und des
  Lebens und ihr Erscheinungsbild stellt das
  Produkt dieser Tätigkeiten dar.
• Evaluierung von Risiken für heimische Arten durch
  den weltweiten Handel mit Zierpflanzen.
• Grundlagenforschung zur Neuanlage,
  Wiederherstellung und Pflege von Habitaten.
• Entwicklung von Monitoring- und
  Managementmethoden, um die Koexistenz von
  konventioneller und biologischer Land- und
  Forstwirtschaft sowie von anderen
  Landnutzungsformen mit gentechnisch veränderten
  Pflanzen zu ermöglichen.
• Forschungsfragen Einflüsse neuer
  Bewirtschaftungsformen auf die Landschaft und
  deren Multifunktionalität, effiziente
  Fördermaßnahmen zur Erreichung von
  Naturschutzzielen, Mehrfachnutzung von weniger
  wertvollen landwirtschaftlichen Nutzflächen,
  Erzeugung typischer regionaler Produkte,
  Entwicklung innovativer und nachhaltiger
  Produktionsketten (inkl. Recycling), Produktion
  von erneuerbarer Energie.

12
Arthur Spiegler
As we already decided at our meeting, please
change the order in the headline to "Enhance
the sustainability and aesthetical values of the
landscapes" Goal four can not be dealt with
satisfactorily without meeting the requirements
of the goals one to three. Nor can it be handled
without considering the human and the
socio-economic and ecological factors. Now some
basic facts to be taken into account - Every
change of agriculture unavoidably causes a change
of landscape-ecology and in consequence also a
change of the landscapes view, the aesthetics of
landscape. - Therefore, it is essential to
identify the essence, the character, the values
and threads of the landscape. These measures are
the preconditions of sustainable landscape
maintenance (landscape preservation and
development). Conclusions - Change is immanent
to landscapes. Thus it had been in the past,
occurs nowadays and will be so in the future. We
must allow the change but under the conditions of
the preservation of the landscapes values.
13
Hermann Bürstmayr
Goal 1, Del 1 Yield and yield stability are
very complex traits, differing from crop to crop.
Especially for yield GxE is of high importance,
therefore analysis of such a trait is only
possible crop by crop and regionally
!!! Important role of SME plant breeders, any
improved traits or novel alleles (obtained by
using genetic transformation or classical
genetics) need to be introduced into regionally
adapted cultivars, especially for cereal crops,
oilseed crops, legumes. Goal 2 Del 2 Improve
tolerance and resistance to pathogens and other
biotic factors Plays a key role in sustainable
agriculture in the future and should receive much
attention in the whole context !
14
Felix Fuchs / Josef Schmidt

• A breeders comment to challenges one and two
• In challenge one Healthy, safe and sufficient
  food and feed the draft is missing the point
  that this platform should deal primarily with
  plants as objects of research (food implies a
  slightly different focus and may have its own
  technology platform and thus socio-economic
  background).
• Crop plants must first be healthy and second
  they should provide healthy food and feed (or raw
  material for other use).
• The second aspect is considered in goals one and
  three with high quality food and feed,
  respectively. Missing in the draft is the
  exploitation of crop plant (and related wild
  species) genomes for functional genetic markers
  (gene resources or expressed sequence tags
  ESTs) useful for marker assisted selection and
  smart breeding for varieties tolerant or
  resistant to biotic (disease, also pests) or
  abiotic stress.
• In challenge two Sustainable agriculture,
  forestry and landscape goal two indeed refers to
  the importance of developing self-protecting
  plants, but only from the environmental point of
  view.

15
Felix Fuchs / Josef Schmidt cont.

• To summarize
• There is still an urgent need for the sequencing
  and annotation of further important crop genomes.
• Comparative genomic approaches may be helpful to
  enhance progress in genome mining of alternative,
  minor and orphan crops.
• This work should form the first goal in
  challenge one paving the ground for the other
  goals described to provide Healthy, safe and
  sufficient food and feed.
• From the point of view of a crop (or seed)
  producer, more emphasis must be laid into the
  development of well performing plants under
  biotic and abiotic stress as well as low input
  conditions.

16
Josef Schmidt
FOREST-BASED SECTOR TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
(FTP) Strategic Research Agenda (Juni / November
2005) 5 Value Chains Forestry (Securing
sustainable wood and forest biomass supply),
Forest and landscape management with respect to
Climate Change, multifunctional management of
forests, Economic viability of forests) Wood
products (New surface performances, Mechanical
and chemical bonding, Smart and substitutional
performances) Pulp and Paper industry (New
products and substitution of fossil based
materials, Waterless papermaking, Significant
reduction of energy demand, New pulping
processes, Mineral use in pulp and paper
technology) Bioenergy (Optimized raw material
supply systems for production and energy),
Optimized cascade-utilization of forest resources
and forest products, Enhancing conversion
technologies for bioenergy production. Holistic
models for optimized raw material utilization at
European level) Specialities/ New Business (Wood
refinery concept, Wood constituents as chemical
feedstock, Cellulose a multipurpose polymer,
Advanced man-made wood)
17
Josef Schmidt cont.

• ) This implies that the forestry, pulp and
  paper, and bioenergy sectors ask technology
  platform Plants for the Future to specifically
  include
• Research into and development of modern tools
  for forest tree breeding and selection to improve
  both, wood/fibre quality and growth, under
  abiotic/biotic stress and/or low input conditions.

18
Birschitzky, Lafferty Löschenberger

• Vorab ist festzuhalten, dass wir uns inhaltlich
  der Stellungnahme Bürstmayr anschliessen.
• Zur Diskussion über Gentechnik möchten wir
  festhalten, dass für uns als Getreidezüchter
  Forschung auf diesem Gebiet erst dann wieder
  prioritär erscheint, wenn (durchaus in Abstimmung
  mit kritischen NGOs) ein gesellschaftlicher
  Konsens oder zumindest eine Mehrheit für die
  Nutzung der grünen Gentechnik besteht.
• Grundsätzlich sehen wir die Forschung in der/für
  die Pflanzenzüchtung in 4 Stufen, von denen keine
  vernachlässigt werden darf - sonst gibt es keine
  praktische Auswirkung
• Erforschen von Mechanismen Entwicklung neuer
  Merkmale (Research into mechanisms -
  Development of new traits)
• Entwickeln von neuen Methoden und Erzeugen von
  Grundlagenmaterial mit neuen/verbesserten
  Eigenschaften (Development of new methods and
  production of breeding stock with new/improved
  properties)
• Übertragen in lokal adaptierte Genetik
  (teilweise gemeinsam mit Züchtern z.B. in
  Projekten) Validieren im neuen genetischen
  Hintergrund (Introduction into local germplasm
  (partially together with breeders e.g. in
  projects) - Validation in new genetic background)
• Kombination mit anderen Leistungseigenschaften
  in Hochleistungssorten (privatwirtschaftliche
  Aufgabe der Züchter) (Combination with other
  yield characteristics in high yielding cultivars
  (breeders commercial interest and work))

19
Birschitzky, Lafferty Löschenberger cont.
ad 1 Grundlagenmaterial und Methoden sollen
möglichst nahe an die Züchter herangebracht
werden. (Basic gene pool and methods should be
brought as close as possible to the breeders.) ad
3 Der dritte Punkt gehört wesentlich dazu und
bedeutet noch nicht Züchtung im engeren
Sinn. Dabei ist unserer Meinung nach von der
Wissenschaft stärker als derzeit ein
mulitfaktorieller Ansatz gefordert, d.h. ähnlich
wie in der praktischen Züchtung von Sorten, wo
wir bis zu 30 verschiedene Merkmale (diverse
Resistenzen, Ertrag, Qualität in allen ihren
Facetten, agronomische Merkmale) gleichzeitig
berücksichtigen müssen, sollte dabei darauf
geachtet werden, dass mit dem Einkreuzen neuer
interessanter Eigenschaften nicht zuviel
unbrauchbare Genetik mitgeliefert wird, was eine
Entwicklung von vermarktbaren Sorten um viele
Jahre verzögert bzw. unmöglich macht. (A
multifactorial approach is mandatory to integrate
diverse traits simultaneously without ad 4 Erst
Punkt vier ist Aufgabe der Züchter (nur diesen
können sie sich leisten)
20
Krafft
Plants will be increasingly used as raw materials
because they are relatively cheap to produce and
renewable. Farm economics of plant production
need to be strengthened. Example USA In the past
years low soil tillage or no soil tillage systems
have been successfully introduced in the US
basically to prevent soil erosion, but today it
is proving to be the more economic production
system. I believe the solution is not only to
improve plants for higher productivity, but to
improve productivity of the agricultural system.
Farms and growers are part of the system and
their needs must be recognized. Agricultural
research is required complementarily to plant
research. More crops or wider rotations may be
one of the options as mentioned. However the
research target must be formulated as better
economics of plant production. Use of fertilizer
and crop protection is expensive. Less use is
more economic. Plants as cost effective raw
material will convince industrial players and
create more use of plants in new areas as it
becomes the better and more economic solution.