Europe took a big step toward coordinating the long-term development of plant science research today (June 24) with the launch in Brussels of a "vision paper" prepared by the new Technology Platform on Plant Genomics and Biotechnology, which is being supported by the European Commission.

The document, "Plants for the future: a European vision for plant biotechnology towards 2025," has been developed by leading representatives from the research community, the food and biotech industry, the farming community, and consumer organizations.

It addresses three key challenges: "Securing a high-quality, safe, and diverse food supply through sustainable agriculture; replacing fossil-fuel based non-renewable products with bio-products from renewable plant resources; and maintaining the competitiveness of European agri-food industries."

Chris Lamb, director of the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom, told The Scientist that the vision paper and the work of the technology platform will be vital to ensure that European research can meet these challenges in a way that maximizes the continent's scientific and economic competitiveness in this field.

"If we don't have a concerted joined-up forward look and strategic plan for this sector, we will bit-by-bit lose economic competitiveness, not only relative to the US and Japan, but also to emerging giants in plant genetics like China and India," Lamb said.

Some key players in the technology platform are the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO), the European Association for BioIndustries (EuropaBio), the Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the European Union (COPA), and the European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC).

The recommendations in the vision paper are very general at this early stage. They emphasize the need for the technology platform to broaden, to include all key stakeholders, and for it to work to ensure that European research avoids fragmentation and exploits the possibilities for international collaboration. The need for political and legislative coherence is also identified as a key part of keeping European plant science research on the right track.

One challenge in broadening the technology platform is the desire to include environmental groups, which are largely very critical of plant biotechnology, especially in the area of genetically modified crops.

"We haven't really succeeded in getting environmental groups involved right now," Waldemar Kütt of the European Commission told The Scientist, "but that opportunity is open to them." All stakeholders are invited to participate in the advisory council and working groups of the platform, which become fully operational in the second half of 2004.

Pete Riley, a food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth (FoE) was unenthusiastic. He told The Scientist: "This initiative is in great danger of repeating the mistakes the biotechnology industry has been making since 1998 of trying to dress up GM crops as an essential part of a sustainable agricultural economy in Europe."

Riley expressed FoE's general wariness about joining initiatives that they feel may be dominated by the biotech industry's agenda, but he said they will carefully consider any invitation they receive.

Karin Metzlaff, executive director of EPSO, explained to The Scientist that EPSO and EuropaBio "will now produce a long-term strategic research agenda, first of all working together with [the key stakeholders] in all member states to establish some consensus."

Metzlaff hopes that by establishing broad consensus before making definite proposals, they will avoid the problems typically experienced in the European Union when groups suggest a way forward only to run into a range of different objections in various member states.

The detailed strategic research agenda and an accompanying action plan should be ready by the end of this year.