1. Sign up for PlantLink Day “New techniques, new terrain: Sweden’s role in agricultural innovation” – 10 December, Lund

Europe’s agricultural landscape is changing rapidly, driven as much by sustainability and ecological priorities as by technological breakthroughs – new gene-editing technologies have been approved, and breeding methods are advancing alongside the push for greener, more resilient farming. How can Sweden and the Nordics stay relevant in this fast-evolving, competitive market?

This year’s PlantLink Day theme is “New Techniques, new terrain: Sweden’s role in agricultural innovation”. The programme brings together leading voices in gene-edited crop research and industry, updates on the latest regulatory guidelines, and local farmers’ perspectives on modern agriculture and public perception of new genomic techniques.

Confirmed speakers: Henrik Brinch-Pedersen (Aarhus University); Anja Persson (Gunnarshögs Gård); Annelie Carlsbecker (Genetiknämnden); Jens Sundström (SLU Uppsala)
When and where: 10 December, 12-16:30, Lund University

More information and registration

2. Register for Primärt – Forum för hållbart lantbruk conference – 25 November, SLU Alnarp

Welcome to a conference on sustainable agriculture within crop, horticultural and animal production. The theme of the conference is innovation, with topics including climate adaptation, crop diversification, digitalisation, the next generation of farmers, and the cost of sustainability.

Listen to knowledgeable speakers, take part in in-depth thematic discussions, and ask the difficult questions together with other farmers, researchers, advisors, public officials and industry stakeholders who are working in various ways to increase sustainability in agriculture.

The conference is held in Swedish with some elements in English. Participation is free of charge.

More information and registration

3. Join The Seeds of Resilience conference – 21-23 October, Malmö

The conference brings together researchers, decision-makers and young scientists from the Nordic countries and across Europe to safeguard crop diversity and plant genetic resources – the foundation of climate-resilient, nutritious crops that remain underused. It aims to strengthen collaboration across research, breeding, policy and industry to accelerate crops that support sustainable farming, healthy diets and long-term resilience.

Key topics include: One Health and agrifood resilience; conservation of plant genetic resources (AI and new techniques); pre-breeding; phenotyping and characterization, including crop wild relatives; new breeding technologies; agroecology and crop diversity (including underutilized crops); and resilient food systems.

The conference is organised in collaboration between NordGen, the Nordic PPP for pre-breeding, EUCARPIA and SLU. There is no conference fee for PhD students and postdocs.

More information and registration

4. European Parliament adopted EU regulation on New Genomic Techniques

On 17 June, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2026/1388 on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their products, and amending Regulation 2017/625. This followed a 2018 ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU that classified gene editing under existing rules for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), after which the European Commission proposed in 2023 to ease these rules to harness the potential of gene editing for competitiveness and food security.

The regulation establishes a two-tier system: NGT1 plants, considered equivalent to conventionally bred varieties, are exempted from GMO authorisation and labelling requirements (aside from seed labelling), while NGT2 plants, involving more complex modifications, remain subject to the existing GMO framework, including risk assessment, authorisation and labelling.

The text was published in the Official Journal on 26 June 2026 and will apply from 17 July 2028, giving the sector a two-year transition period during which the European Commission will develop the necessary implementing and delegated acts.

You can read more on the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) website.

5. EPSO launched new group: ‘AI in Plant Science’

Following approval at its General Assembly in June, EPSO (European Plant Science Organisation) has announced the launch of a new Working Group on ‘AI in Plant Science’, which will hold its first online meeting on 9 October to discuss next steps towards establishing a ‘Virtual Institute for AI in Plant Science’. The Working Group is chaired by Björn Usadel (FZ Jülich, DE), Agnieszka Golicz (WUR, NL) and Filippo Biscarini (CNR, IT).

EPSO member organisations are invited to nominate 1–2 expert scientists to join the group and to confirm participation in the first meeting.

Read more

6. Biodiversa+ seminar: Nature-based solutions for a biodiverse and just future – 16 October

How do we ensure that nature-based solutions deliver lasting results for biodiversity and climate while advancing justice and human rights?

Join us for a hybrid event at SLU Alnarp showcasing four research projects funded under the Biodiversa+ BiodivNBS call (DEFEND-BIO, GREENHANCEnbt, inSALSA, WildCrop) . Just before the UN Biodiversity COP17 in Yerevan, this event will discuss a shared challenge: strengthening, scaling and governing nature-based solutions so they work for present and future generations of people and other living beings.

Speakers: Elin Weyler (Formas), Lovisa Lagerblad (Naturvårdsverket), Claudia Ituarte-Lima (Lund university), Geovana Mercado (SLU), Sajeevan Radha Sivarajan (SLU), Johan Stenberg (SLU)

More information and registration

7. Join Plant Biologicals Network symposium – 10 November

Join researchers, companies, advisors, farmers, regulators and innovation professionals for a day on the latest developments in plant biologicals and sustainable agriculture.
Highlights:

• From idea to start-up in biologicals — with speakers from Collaborome and Agrobiomics
• Biologicals for nutrient use efficiency and soil health
• Regulatory initiatives for biologicals in Europe
• From lab to field: making biologicals work in practice

Plus flash talks, poster presentations, networking, and a Collaboration Exchange/Open Space session linking academia, industry, regulators and agriculture. Participation is free and open to all!

Learn more and register

8. Third Cellular Agriculture Conference – 8-9 October, Lund

Join to hear insights and research findings on various themes such as: Engineering microbial cell factories, Raw materials and pretreatment, Fermenting blue biomass, and From reactor to reality.

The conference brings together researchers, industry, and other stakeholders to present recent work and discuss current developments in cellular agriculture. The aim is to enable exchange across disciplines and reflect on the current state of the field.

More information and registration

9. SLU Breeding Network early career symposium – 7-8 October, SLU Ultuna

This meeting, “Breeding for Extreme Environments,” brings together early-career researchers at SLU to explore how breeding can address the challenges of extreme and changing environments through keynote talks, poster sessions, interactive roundtables, and plenty of networking. The programme covers precision breeding tools (including the new EU NGT legislation), resilience to biotic threats, and resilience to environmental extremes, and much more.

Registration closes 28 September – learn more and sign up

10. SciLifeLab conference: Integrating Scales in Planetary Biology – 28-30 October, Uppsala

The conference gathers researchers and stakeholders across disciplines to explore how biological processes, from cells to ecosystems, shape the resilience of life on a changing planet, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration between scientists, industry, funders and policy-makers. It builds on the 2025 EMBO workshop “Integrating Cell and Planetary Scales to Address Climate Resilience” (Lisbon) and features scientific talks, round tables, a Pitch Slam session, funder/policy panels, and networking, with invited speakers including Margaret McFall-Ngai, Alexandra Worden, Detlev Arendt and Anna-Liisa Laine, among others.

The registration closes on 14 October!
Find out more

11. Join course: Applied AI for permaculture – 26-29 September, Vejle, Denmark

Most AI training teaches people to use the tools. This course teaches you to build your own, and to govern the software your practice already runs on. Participants learn what these models are and how they reason, then move from basic use to custom tools and on to agents they direct themselves.

The tools are aimed at real professional work: turning survey and site data into usable records, structuring land and plant management information, keeping documentation coherent.

The course runs firstly onsite and continues online with a couple of sessions until 4 November, led by a permaculture educator and eco-innovator Moli G. Ott. There are still slots to sign up!

More information

12. Bertebos prize seminar: Wheat and Related Crops: Closing the yield gap – bridging science, breeding, and societal impact – 20 October

The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA), in collaboration with the Bertebos Foundation, arranges a symposium to highlight how integrating advances in science and breeding can contribute to meeting global food demand as production environments become more variable and constrained. The symposium will explore how scientific innovation can be translated into resilient crop cultivars that generate tangible benefits for society.

The program spans genetic discovery, gene bank conservation, and trait development, as well as the broader societal context in which new cultivars are deployed, including a lecture by this year’s recipient Professor Curtis Pozniak, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

The programme takes places in Stockholm and virtually. Sign up no later than 13 October!

More information

13. Join CPSC seminar: The Programmable Era of Life – 13 November

Professor Caixia Gao (guest researcher at PLEN) will speak on how genome editing, directed evolution, and de novo protein design are pushing crop improvement from breeding on random variation toward predictable, programmable design. Her group’s work spans precision genome editing (including TranC, a compact Cas9-independent editor, and PrimeRoot for large-fragment DNA insertion), AI-guided protein and chromosome engineering (AiCE for protein directed evolution and Precise Chromosome Editing), and in planta directed evolution and programmable immunity (GRAPE and Synthetic Plant Immune Receptors), applied to traits like powdery mildew resistance in wheat and herbicide tolerance in rice.

When and where: Copenhagen Plant Science Centre (CPSC) auditorium, Copenhagen; 13 November, 9-10:00

More information

14. Fungi Festival 2026 – 26-27 September, Copenhagen

CPSC’s Fungi Festival returns with over 20 Danish organizations from universities, industry, and start-ups. Explore a fresh mushroom exhibition, talks and posters (in English and/or Danish) covering topics from fungi-based milk and biopesticides to medicinal mushrooms, plus family activities for kids. Free and open to all!

More information

15. 5th International Conference: Management of Genetic Biodiversity by Plant Breeding and Sustainable Agricultural Technologies – 19 November, Bucharest

16. 7th International Symposium on Biological Control of Arthropods – 26-30 October, Kenya

17. Do plants know we’re here? – listen to BBC podcast featuring PlantLink’s director!
 

18. Open positions

19. Welcome to Patrik Stolt – the new leader of SLU Partnership Alnarp