OF ALL the emerging technologies that could be used to improve the safety of
genetically modified crops, perhaps the most promising is one
that would let crops clone themselves, as many wild plants do already.
This phenomenon, called apomixis, could not only slam the door on accidental
gene transfer, it could also benefit farmers—especially the poorest
ones—because they could save seeds each year from the same elite plants
and replant them.
“Apomixis is a winner from all perspectives,” says Brian Johnson, an advisor
of the British government. “We look at it as one of the ultimate genetic
isolation…
