Economic and environmental impacts of disease resistant crops developed with cisgenesis

In the recent Study on the status of new genomic techniques under Union law and in light of the Court of Justice ruling in Case C-528/16 regarding the Status of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) under Union Law, the European Commission defines NGTs as techniques which are able to alter the genetic material of an organism, developed after the publication of the EU Directive 2001/18/EC (European Commission, 2021). Last year, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission published two reports on the technological stateof-the-art and on current and future market applications of NGTs (Broothaerts et al., 2021; C. Parisi & Rodriguez-Cerezo, 2021). Here, we present two case studies on crops with improved biotic resistances which were developed with a NGT. Namely, cisgenic potatoes with resistance to Phytophthora infestans and cisgenic apples with resistance to Venturia inaequalis. We will discuss the potential advantages of cisgenesis in tackling challenges breeders currently face in the development of varieties with improved biotic resistances, and assess potential impacts that these varieties could have for the European agri-food system.