Every day, Anicet Mbida makes us discover an innovation that could well change the way we consume.

This Tuesday, he is interested in a technique developed by InnerPlant, a Californian startup.

She has created plants that are genetically modified to change color when they are not well thanks to fluorescent proteins they produce when under stress.

The innovation of the day could allow everyone to have a green thumb.

These are plants that send out a light signal as soon as they have a problem.

An example: if your yucca or your ficus starts to lack water, it will produce a slightly orange glow to warn you.

If it lacks nutrients, the soil is not rich enough, it will be a blue light.

Suddenly, there is no more risk of making a mistake.

No need to be an expert like Laurent Cabrol anymore.

It is the plant itself that will alert you very clearly to the problem with a color code.

All you have to do is follow the instructions.

But how does the plant manage to shine?

Everything is natural.

The plant's DNA was simply edited to produce fluorescent proteins when under stress.

They are therefore genetically modified plants.

Note also that the glow is not visible to the naked eye.

You are not going to suddenly end up with a yellow or blue Yucca.

You need glasses or a special camera to see the color changes.

It is a technique developed by InnerPlant, a Californian startup.

It is starting to be tested on a large scale on tomato and soybean crops.

What interest for farmers?

In principle, they have a green thumb.

That is true.

But since the plant immediately warns when it is in pain, it allows intervention much faster than using conventional drought or pest sensors (they can take weeks to signal a problem).

The main objective remains to prevent farmers from wasting water or pesticides by watering or spraying only the plants that really need it.

I told you about it.

This is called precision farming.

It's very trendy right now.

Except that here, we do it with GMOs.