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The Dutch are far from the only researchers working on genetic enhancement of the world’s fruit and vegetables. Serious work is underway in Britain, Germany, New Zealand, and of course in the U.S., where Cornell University has long been a global leader. Plant pathologist Herb Aldwinckle has used genetic engineering to improve apple disease resistance for more than 20 years, as has Phil Forsline, curator of America’s largest apple germplasm repository in Geneva, New York, a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell. Forsline is also the research director of the USDA Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Geneva. The Dutch, he says are “right at the top of the field in Europe and throughout the world. They’re at the cutting edge of developmental genetics in apples. They’re the highest per capita consumers of apples in the world, and they’re conducting some of the most progressive research in apples.”
Of course, one might wonder why a tiny country like the Netherlands, with only 16.5 million residents, or less than 0.03 percent of the world’s population, has pushed itself into the forefront of solving all of these looming problems in the world’s food supply. The first clue is that Holland since its golden age in the 18th century has dominated European trade and today runs the world’s largest wholesale food exchange (followed by Shanghai). But that’s not all, says Willem Stiekema, director of the Wageningen University’s Center for Bio-System Genomics: “We Dutch are a different breed. That’s true. We are a rather inquisitive and experimenting people—so why not?”
Frank Browning has reported on science, social, and cultural matters for NPR since 1983. He lives in Paris but spends time in Kentucky, where he makes hard cider. He is the author of six books including The Culture of Desire and Apples: Story of the Fruit of Temptation.
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