Obtaining seeds and plant improvement contributed to the Spanish economy a gross added value (GVA) of close to one billion euros in 2019 alone, according to the first study on the social, economic and environmental contributions of this sector, carried out by the Cerdá Institute.

In his presentation this Wednesday, the general director of the National Association of Plant Breeders (Anove), Antonio Villaroel, stated that "vegetable improvement is a fundamental part of the solution for human nutrition" and has ensured that "there is still room for ” to continue improving its contribution to agriculture.

In this sense, he has demanded that the European Union (EU) go one step further to be able to apply genomic editing tools in plant breeding, which from his point of view have "enormous potential, are more precise and it is a more safe" for obtaining new varieties of seeds.

The president of Anove, Julián Arnedo, has given as an example that the research to obtain new seeds by the conventional method lasts about six years, and with genomic editing, "which has already been used in the development of vaccines against covid and that many times they are identical to those that occur in nature”, “it would be shortened to one”.

"Obtaining seeds is essential for modern agriculture" and to face its challenges, among which he mentioned "climate change or population growth", "which will subject resources to unprecedented stresses in the history of The humanity".

Arnedo has also highlighted from the study the 50% increase in world agricultural productivity in the second half of the last century thanks to plant improvement.

The report "Social, economic and environmental contribution of the breeder sector" which, according to the director of the Prospective Area of ​​the Cerdá Institute, Miguel Hernández, "shows, out of prudence, the most conservative results", highlights the "high impact" of this sector throughout the agri-food chain.

Its conclusions include that companies and public centers dedicated to plant breeding contributed to the Spanish economy between 1990 and 2017 with the generation of a total GVA of 16.697 million euros and the creation of 428.000 direct, indirect and induced jobs. in that period.

The document highlights that last year companies in the sector invested 20% of their turnover in research, development and innovation (R + D + i) and that their results are essential to produce in a sustainable way and to achieve the objectives of the Green Pact European.

To evaluate the environmental, social and economic impact of the business of obtaining improved seeds, it focuses on tomato, common wheat, corn and blueberries.

Regarding the tomato, it confirms that the plant improvement resulted in a saving of 375.000 tons of fertilizers and 1,71 million kilos of phytosanitary products between 2011 and 2016, and 427 million cubic meters of water in the period 1990/2017; In Spain, the yield per hectare has increased from 25 to 85 tons between 1970 and 2018.

In cereals, the improvement in seeds has allowed the national production of common wheat to grow by 11,5% (17,7 million tons between 1990 and 2018) and that of corn, by 10,5% (400.000 tons more in that period). same period).

In the case of the cultivation of blueberries, the Cerdá Institute has also verified the increase in production, which totaled 160.000 tons between 1995 and 2018; improvements in plant breeding for this red fruit have led to an annual contribution of 10.802 tons, according to Anove.