In the past 2 years, almost 100 00 SmartSettTM seedlings of cultivars Q196A and Q205A and seedling selections 85N1205 and 87A1413 have been produced for planting in the central region. These seedlings were produced using SmartSettTM technology, a new direct-regeneration tissue-culture system. This system uses the leaf whorl material above the apical meristem of the sugarcane stalk as the starting material to produce plants in tissue culture. Depending on the cultivar, the leaf whorl from each stalk will usually produce between 400 and 2500 seedlings, a 20- to 125-fold increase over the number of plants from a stalk. The SmartSettTM system produces seedlings ready for planting in 3–4 months. SmartSettTM seedlings are planted from seedling trays into furrows using a water-wheel vegetable planter. The SmartSettTM system offers a new, rapid method for the distribution of new or replacement cultivars to the industry, especially where supplies of planting material are limited. In the central region, this has been orange-rust-resistant agronomically elite genotypes, and in the future, this could include canes containing genes for disease and pest resistance or value-added products, such as the precursors for plastics, industrial or therapeutic proteins, or other sugars.