Common use of Accelerating the Path for Technology Introduction Clause in Contracts

Accelerating the Path for Technology Introduction. Rice and wheat productivity gains in Asia through the Green Revolution played a central role in advancing food security, both through increasing the availability of these staple foods and through increasing small ▇▇▇▇▇▇ incomes. As we look at the remaining global challenge of food security, South Asia remains a center of attention, representing the largest number of food insecure people in the world, and sustainable productivity gains in rice and wheat remain critical components of the solution. Arcadia technologies offer tools to increase productivity of these crops, particularly in light of increasing resource constraints and climate change. Nitrogen fertilizer drives crop productivity. While adoption levels in Asia are high, they come at significant costs in the form of government subsidies and environmental impacts including water contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. As outlined in the first grant, Arcadia’s NUE technology represents a significant opportunity to improve both crop productivity and environmental sustainability. Through a combination of climate change and growth in urban and industrials sectors, water resources in Asia are under growing constraint. Development of drought and water stress tolerance crops will be important to sustaining yields and particularly critical in the case of rice where a shift towards reduced flooding and even direct seeded rice is underway. Through our commercial partnership, Arcadia and Mahyco are committed to the continued development of these technologies for commercialization in Asia. The potential value of these traits to farmers in Asia are substantial. […*…] To accelerate the introduction of these technologies, we will begin development of the regulatory work that is common across all countries and initiate collaborations in Bangladesh and Indonesia. Increasing the familiarity among the scientists and policy makers who will determine the path for transgenic crop introduction will build the foundation for introduction of NUE and ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ and wheat. As we have seen in India, the commercialization of transgenic food crops such as brinjal has been more difficult than predicted and commercialization of transgenic rice in China has stalled due to opposition to biotechnology. As the timeline stretches out the number of years before a GM product reaches the market, it significantly increases the risk to commercial companies. By initiating collaborations with public research institutions in two important markets outside of India, Arcadia will enhance the technical expertise and understanding of transgenic rice among the scientists, regulators, and policy makers who will play leading roles in making decisions about the commercialization of the technologies funded under the current grant. Bangladesh and Indonesia represent a strategic overlap in the goals of both Arcadia and USAID. As one of the major food security focus countries for the U.S. government’s food security initiative, Bangladesh is also likely one of the first markets for commercialization of the current generation of Arcadia technologies for NUE, WUE, and salt. Importantly, Bangladesh provides a valuable real world environment for testing salt tolerance traits in rice. Much of the academic research on salt tolerance has been with simulating conditions that likely do not replicate the type of salt stresses experienced in farmers’ fields. […*…] A collaboration with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute will allow us to harness BRRI’s expertise in testing rice under natural salt stress to more accurately screen for commercially viable levels of salt tolerance. While Indonesia is not a food security focus country, an estimated 87 million people remain food insecure and rice prices impact this number. Climate change models predict decreases in rice harvests due to changes in rainfall patterns, pointing to the need to increase the drought tolerance of rice and deploy other technologies to sustain yields. As an important member of ASEAN, Indonesia is a likely leader in the advancement of transgenic crops within South East Asia. Indeed it was the leadership of Indonesian scientists to reach out to Arcadia following a presentation at an APEC meeting that sparked our proposed collaboration. The proposed partner, the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Development (ICABIOGRAD), plays a central role in evaluating transgenic crop applications under the Indonesian regulatory system. Collaborative research between Arcadia and ICABIOGRAD will allow field evaluations that will accelerate introduction of NUE rice.