The Plenary Committee of the CTPS takes stock of the 2019-2024 term of office
Meeting on 23 May 2024 for its last session before the renewal of the CTPS, the Plenary Committee drew the main conclusions of the 2019-2024 term of office. Paying tribute to the efforts of all the stakeholders involved in the CTPS, the Sections and Inter-Section Commissions and the Scientific Committee, the Plenary Committee noted that all 31 actions of the SPAD 2 plan had made progress during this term of office, with some particularly noteworthy developments: taking into account the challenges of organic agriculture, recognising the managers of genetic resource collections, raising the awareness of the Sections on the subject of the diversity of species and varietal profiles, diversifying the criteria used for evaluating varieties in line with the varietal innovations proposed by breeders and the criteria objectively assessed by the Sections, and regular requests to enlighten the French authorities on the challenges of the current regulatory changes impacting the varieties, seeds and seedlings sector.
The Minister, Marc Fesneau, took the opportunity to express his support for the work of the CTPS. The DGAL also informed the members of the Plenary Committee about the progress of regulatory work on genome editing (NGT) and plant reproductive material (PRM), and shared an assessment of the activation of the CASDAR Connaissances call for projects, since the redesign of the PNDAR model and the disappearance of the AAP Seeds and Plant Breeding. The members of the Plenary Committee were able to take this opportunity to note the low take-up of this funding window, and would like to see this window reactivated by project sponsors, in the interests of the development of variety evaluation methods.
Finally, the Scientific Committee was able to report on the progress of these reflections in the context of the referral sent to it in autumn 2023, to enlighten the Plenary Committee on the way in which the variety evaluation carried out within the CTPS could better consider the challenges of adapting to climate change.
In conclusion, the Chairman of the Plenary Committee of the CTPS thanked all those involved in the work of the CTPS for their commitment.
