Biotech specialty crops—fruits and vegetables, tree nuts and nursery crops—face unique regulatory challenges, but there are opportunities to improve the regulatory system to help support this important sector of the U.S. agricultural economy, according to participants at a recent workshop, co-sponsored by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). In January 2007, the Pew Initiative and APHIS co-sponsored a two-day roundtable discussion to illuminate the challenges biotech specialty crops encounter with the regulatory system. Proceedings from that discussion, Emerging Challenges for Biotech Specialty Crops, are now available on the Pew Initiative's website.
Highlights include: