they using biotechno how to speed up a process - cross breeding.lin edwards is the head of vegetables. >> we take samples from plants, extract the tna and -- d.n.a. and characterise it to see if it has breeders or properties that we are looking for. >> edwards launched the market assisted breeding programme for vegetables and fruits in 2009. what is a genetic marker. >> it is a little stretch of d.n.a. acting as a sign post telling us about what is going on in the genetic neighbourhood in the plan. >> are you om? >> no, we are diagnosing it. sampling it like a blood test, characterise the sample but never change the plant. >> an important distinction for monsanta, a company that has tape a lot of heat for its genetically engineered commodity crops becoming a sim gore for anti-act visits. >> g.m. is a wonderful way to deliver things. i wish there was more public understanding so we had that whose. by the time you add the regulatory cost and time, the economics are not with us today, which is unfortunate. >> paul gets is a plant geneticist at uc davi