The US Department of Agriculture has given the green light to five CRISPR-edited plants in the last couple of years. See the table below, published by Nature Biotechnology this month. CRISPR is set to make its commercial debut in fields in 2020, with DuPont Pioneer’s waxy corn, and hopes are high that gene editing will give us the chance of rewriting the GMO debate.

The first edited crop due to hit the market in late 2018, however, was developed by using the older TALEN technology. No doubt, CRISPR pipeline will grow bigger soon, as many agricultural applications are being studied worldwide, according to a review published in Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. China ranks first and is focusing on rice, USA comes next with a special eye on maize.