Planning could lessen impact of urban sprawl

Aug 17, 2023

Pick any state and you are likely to find examples of urban sprawl, where farmland is being converted into subdivisions and industry.

And those examples are not just found around large metropolitan areas such as Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis and Des Moines. Ag land is disappearing around other growing cities throughout the Midwest.

A report written in 2022 from the American Farmland Trust suggests this trend is likely to continue. In the report, the organization said from 2001 to 2016, the U.S. lost or compromised 2,000 acres of farmland every day. If the trend continues, another 18.4 million acres will be converted between 2016 and 2040. That is roughly the size of the state of South Carolina.

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Video: Democratizing Gene Editing - Pairwise’s Vision for the Future of Agriculture

Pairwise has built its business around an idea that runs counter to how many companies approach innovation: make transformative technology easier to access.

In this Seed World interview, CEO Tom Adams discusses why broader access to gene editing could speed crop improvement, expand innovation opportunities and help agriculture address emerging challenges. He explains why Pairwise believes no single company can solve all of agriculture's problems alone—and why making advanced breeding technologies available to more organizations could accelerate progress across the industry.

The conversation explores how consumer trust influences technology adoption, why innovations like pitless cherries and seedless blackberries matter beyond convenience, and how future crop improvements could help address labor shortages, automation, harvest efficiency and other production challenges. Adams also shares his perspective on what the industry may be underestimating about the next wave of gene editing innovation.

Watch the full interview to hear why Pairwise believes agriculture is approaching an important inflection point for gene editing, and why the pace of innovation over the next decade could surprise the industry.

Topics Covered:

o Democratizing agricultural innovation

o Consumer trust and technology adoption

o The business case for sharing innovation

o Expanding innovation beyond major crops

o Next-generation breeding technologies