Current challenges and future perspectives of plant and agricultural biotechnology

• Novel molecular breeding tools present solutions for food security in changing environments.
• Quantitative screening methods for crop line selection might bridge the genotype–phenotype gap.
• Crop biotechnology and biomaterials production can enhance ecological sustainability.

Advances in understanding plant biology, novel genetic resources, genome modification, and omics technologies generate new solutions for food security and novel biomaterials production under changing environmental conditions. New gene and germplasm candidates that are anticipated to lead to improved crop yields and other plant traits under stress have to pass long development phases based on trial and error using large-scale field evaluation. Therefore, quantitative, objective, and automated screening methods combined with decision-making algorithms are likely to have many advantages, enabling rapid screening of the most promising crop lines at an early stage followed by final mandatory field experiments. The combination of novel molecular tools, screening technologies, and economic evaluation should become the main goal of the plant biotechnological revolution in agriculture.