GEnZ Explorer: A Tool for Visualizing Agroclimate to Inform Research and Regulatory Risk Assessment

AFSI Newsletter - February 2024

Confined field trials (CFTs) of genetically engineered (GE) crops are used to generate data to inform environmental risk assessments (ERAs). Data from trials carried out in similar agroclimates could be relevant to risk assessments in countries other than those where the CFTs were conducted. Published in Transgenic Research, “GEnZ Explorer: A Tool for Visualizing Agroclimate to Inform Research and Regulatory Risk Assessment” describes the development of the Agriculture & Food Systems Institute’s GEnZ Explorer, a freely available, thoroughly documented, and open-source tool that allows users to identify the agroclimate zones that are relevant for the production of 21 major crops and crop categories, or to determine the agroclimatic zone at a specific location. The paper includes three specific case studies that demonstrate how the GEnZ Explorer can be used during ERAs to facilitate the transportability of CFT data or to inform the selection of future CFT locations.

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Case Study 1: Insect-Resistant Maize

Insect-resistant maize (MON89034) provides a useful case study of a GE event that has been tested and approved for cultivation in at least six agroclimatic zones across nine countries. In the paper, these locations are visualized in the GEnZ Explorer. No quantifiable differences have been measured among the CFTs, indicating that comparison between GE and non-GE varieties is not influenced by agroclimatic conditions in any of those zones.

Case Study 2: Virus-Resistant Cassava (VIRCA)

Cassava crops suffer important economic losses from cassava brown streak disease (CBSD). The VIRCA Plus project developed a GE cassava highly resistant to both viruses that cause CBSD, for which CFTs have been conducted in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. Using the GEnZ Explorer, it is possible to visualize the agroclimatic zones of these CFT locations and extrapolate that scientists setting up future CFTs might want to target locations in the Extremely Hot and Moist zone, a significant cassava production area where a CFT has yet to be conducted.

Case Study 3: Golden Rice

To address vitamin A deficiency, researchers have developed a GE rice that produces β-carotene, called GR2E rice (Golden Rice), for which CFTs have been conducted in the Philippines and Bangladesh. Using the GEnZ Explorer, the locations of GR2E field trials can be visualized across the Extremely Hot and Moist zone (8), and the Hot and Mesic zone (1). This visualization can help regulators understand the breadth of trials conducted and potentially help inform site selection for future CFTs.

Agroclimate has been identified as the primary differentiating factor between locations where CFTs are conducted. The GEnZ Explorer allows users to determine the common agroclimates in which a crop is produced and is based solely on measurable agroclimatic parameters and well-accepted cropping data. By providing a scientific basis for defining agroclimatic zones that is reproducible, publicly available, and without subjective bias, the tool can inform research and regulatory risk assessment of biotech crops.

Access the GEnZ Explorer

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