On the sunbaked fields of Southern Spain, a new kind of maize is growing. It looks like any other crop - but inside, it holds technology that could transform the future of agriculture.
Changing weather patterns, evolving regulations and rising pest and disease pressures are presenting farmers across Europe with new, tough challenges and farming is harder today than it has been, or perhaps needs to be.
To strengthen strategic autonomy, the EU is encouraging European innovation across the agri-food system, supporting the development of resilient crops and sustainable farming methods.
One such innovation is now being trialled in Spain by Corteva, a global agricultural technology company. Corteva’s gene-edited maize varieties are designed to better adapt to extreme conditions and deliver more consistent yields, resulting in more affordable domestic production, even in less favorable soils and climates.
What is gene editing?
Gene editing is a technology that allows scientists to make small changes to a plant’s own DNA without inserting DNA from a different species. Gene editing works within the plant’s own DNA to delete, edit or move a gene to help the plant grow stronger – by making it more resistant to diseases, pests, insects or weeds or to conditions like floods and droughts. Gene editing does what farmers have been doing for centuries – breed better plants – but does it faster, cheaper and more effectively.
The pressure on Europe’s food system
Southern Spain is already experiencing the kind of environmental stress other regions will soon face. “Every time it rains, it rains more than it should,” says Pedro Fernández, a farmer from the Seville area. “There are long periods of rain and many droughts. Add to that the fact that there are new pests – it can be difficult to produce well.”
“One of the many problems posed by extreme weather conditions is that they can lead to complete harvest losses,” says Frank Röber, Europe Breeding Alliances Lead at Corteva. “Taken in the aggregate, that has an impact on food security.”
For farmers like Fernández, gene editing could be a much-needed solution. “With gene editing we will have more food security and be able to take better care of the environment,” he says. “If we do things right, we have a great future ahead, but first we have to accept the new technology.”
A precise approach to plant breeding
Corteva is investing almost €3.5 million every day in research and development, with the La Rinconada research center in Seville, Spain, and its Eschbach Research Center in Germany at the heart of efforts to advance gene editing technologies.
To translate this research into practical results, the company tests its innovations through trials in real-world conditions. In Seville, Corteva is field testing their gene-edited maize, with this summer’s performance demonstrating how edited crops may perform under future climate pressures.
“Gene-editing allows us to create more genetic variation,” explains Röber. “It can be used to stop negative or enhance positive genes to get better on-farm performance.”
Opportunities across all crops
Gene editing offers exciting opportunities for innovators of all sizes, in both the private and public sectors. In addition to developing more robust crop varieties, plant scientists are using the technology to develop products such as disease-resistant potatoes.
Across Europe and beyond, scientists are demonstrating the potential of gene editing to enhance crop performance and resource efficiency. At the UK’s Rothamsted Research, for example, scientists have developed wheat with enhanced qualities now moving from small field trials to larger on-farm and other testing. They have also bred a barley variety that stores roughly twice as much fat as conventional types, making it a more energy-dense feed that could help reduce emissions from grazing animals by enabling them to get more energy from the same amount of feed.
Elsewhere, Tropic Biosciences’ work on gene-edited Cavendish bananas illustrates how targeted edits can help everyday bananas new taste better and last longer, reducing food waste.
The bigger picture
For Europe, technology arrives at a pivotal moment. Gene editing could help balance strategic autonomy with sustainability, but its future depends on how regulation evolves - and how quickly public trust can follow.
Despite the European Commission proposing a comprehensive legal definition of gene editing (NGTs, New Genomic Techniques) in 2023, the regulation is still under negotiation and has not been formally adopted into EU law. In early 2025, the EU Council endorsed a draft that treats gene-edited plants similarly to those bred conventionally, while distinguishing them from those involving more complex changes, but final agreement among lawmakers remains pending.
As the debate continues, billions in research, the resilience of Europe’s farms and the productivity of the agricultural system hang in the balance. What happens next will determine whether gene editing remains a scientific promise or becomes a cornerstone of European agriculture, and the European economy.