Farming systems in Ethiopia are plagued by soil-related problems which lead to poor productivity, declining soil fertility and soil erosion. Other common farming-related challenges include low fertilizer use and reduced farmlands because of population pressure. Government efforts to address these problems by importing fertilizer, creating a soil fertility atlas, and setting up fertilizer blend plants, have not led to significant increases in crop production in rural areas.

The rise of isolationism and protectionism, visible in the US withdrawal from multilateral trade and climate agreements, the UK’s “Brexit” from the EU, and growing anti-immigration rhetoric in developed countries, threatens to slow progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and improved food security and nutrition, according to the 2018 Global Food Policy Report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) today.

Water is essential for agricultural production and food security.  It is the lifeblood of ecosystems, including forests, lakes and wetlands, on which the food and nutritional security of present and future generations depends on. Yet, our freshwater resources are dwindling at an alarming rate. Growing water scarcity is now one of the leading challenges for sustainable development.  This challenge will become more pressing as the world's population continues to swell, their living standards increase, diets change and the effects of climate change intensify.

One of the primary requirements in commercializing a genetically modified (GM) crop is the proof of its substantial equivalence with its non-GM counterpart. In other words, substantial equivalence means that a new product such as a GM crop must be the same as the non-GM crop except for the traits that were enhanced, added, or removed through genetic engineering.

A team of scientists from Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa (UAS), Mexico, successfully developed a genetically engineered tomato that can help treat hypertension. Hypertension affects 30 percent of the world population, according to the World Health Organization. Thus, the researchers looked at scientific literature to search for proteins that help reduce hypertension and devised a way to incorporate the protein in tomatoes, which is a popular fruit globally.

Rich in natural resources, including fertile land, abundant water, and a wealth of biodiversity, coastal deltas across the tropics serve many nations as “breadbaskets” or “rice bowls.” Such is the case for Asia’s Ganges and Mekong River deltas, two of the world’s largest. Providing livelihoods for rural people, they also produce nutritious food (rice, fruit, fish, and shrimp) for hundreds of millions of consumers.

Health Canada has notified the International Rice Research Institute that it has no objection to the food use of Provitamin A Biofortified Rice Event GR2E (Golden Rice). The Department conducted a comprehensive assessment of this rice event according to its Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Novel Foods, which are based upon internationally accepted principles for establishing the safety of foods with novel traits.

The world needs to produce an estimated 60 percent more food by 2050 to ensure global food security, and it must do so while conserving and enhancing the natural resource base. Water is a major input in the provision of food – from production in the field through all the steps in the value chain. Water is also required to meet personal and household needs, for energy and industrial production, and to maintain important water-dependent ecosystems and ecosystem services.

GM canola was approved in Australia in 2003 after a science-based risk assessment. This was followed by moratoria imposed by state governments because of potential trade impacts, which lasted up to six years in the main canola growing states and ongoing in other states. USask's Scott Biden and colleagues used the Canadian GM canola adoption curve to estimate the potential environmental and economic benefits of GM canola from 2004-2014 if the moratoria were not implemented.

In a novel and large scale study, researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) have put together 40 years of data to quantify the benefits of Bt corn. Previous studies have shown the benefits of Bt corn adoption on pest management for pests like corn borer for years, but this is the first study to look at the effects on other offsite crops in North America.