AGENT coordinating partner IPK participates in brief policy paper for Digital Sequence Information

Last week, our partner Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) co-published an impactful policy brief tackling the challenges and opportunities that digital sequence information (DSI) presents for the agriculture sector. Titled “Generation, use and sharing of digital sequence information in crop improvement”, the text explores how DSI could be used in combination of phenotypic data to identify more easily relevant genetic data affecting the characteristics of given species. In addition, the text highlights how specific bioinformatics can improve genomic selection processes in breeding endeavours and select more effectively the most promising parents to create new varieties. Ultimately, this allows for a rich pool of data gathered and structured around qualitative traits. The document further identifies key stakeholders in the generation, processing and use of digital sequence information (DSI), allowing for a better overview of current practices and opportunities between the different actors. The paper ends with an explanation of the challenges that data processing and sharing presents, and how current data fragmentation only proves the necessity to come up with more solid and structured data systems for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA). To know more about this Policy Brief, read the text on the Open Knowledge website.