With the global population rapidly growing and our climate changing, two researchers from different continents are teaming up to jump start the next agricultural revolution.

Zach Lippman, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, partnered with Yuval Eshed, a plant development expert at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, to identify what’s needed to kickstart the next agricultural revolution. Their conclusion: gene editing.

Traditional plant breeding efforts require significant fine tuning to achieve the ideal characteristics.. Lippman and Eshed conclude that today’s gene editing technology will allow for “fast and accurate”  improvements which will help plants thrive despite challenges, like climate change, drought and disease.