Finger millet is a major staple food in Africa. It is a good source of minerals, vitamins, and essential amino acids, and has resistance to drought and heat. Finger millet came from the hybridization of two different plant species. A polyploid, the size and complexity of its genome are thought to confer the broad environmental tolerance of finger millet, while making genome research extremely difficult.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a review of the pesticide risk assessment of the potential endocrine disrupting properties of glyphosate. The current assessment concluded that the weight of evidence indicates that glyphosate does not have endocrine disrupting properties through oestrogen, androgen, thyroid

Researchers at the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) developed a new variety of high yielding oat with increased levels of beta glucan. 

The new variety called Kowari is a dwarf-type oat that produces more beta glucan than other varieties.

The Non-Aligned Movement scientists acknowledged the importance of biotechnology during the technical meeting on Science and Technology in Zimbabwe on August 22-24, 2017. The meeting focused on its theme "Driving Value Addition and Beneficiation" with participating experts from Cuba, Egypt, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Francesco Saverio Tedesco works with a big gene. In fact, the human dystrophin gene, with its whopping 2.4 million nucleotides, is one of the largest found so far in nature. A clinician-scientist at University College London, Tedesco hopes to use gene therapy to replace a faulty version of dystrophin in people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. But the large deletions in some patients are too big to fix with gene editing, and the entire dystrophin gene is too large to fit inside the viruses normally used to deliver replacement DNA.

Global food prices dipped in August, mainly as the prospect of bumper cereal harvests pushed up expectations for larger grain inventories.

The FAO Food Price Index declined 1.3 percent from July, averaging 176.6 points in August.

The drop was largely driven by a 5.4 percent decline in the FAO Cereal Price Index, reflecting a sharp fall in wheat prices as the outlook for production in the Black Sea region improved.

ISAAA releases a new Pocket K titled Biotech-improved Animals. This mini publication presents GE animals that have been developed to address various concerns such as disease spread, food production, and environmental pollution. Examples of GE animals discussed were GM mosquito, GE salmon, glowing fish, eco-friendly pig, and bird flu-resistant chicken. Download a free copy from the ISAAA website.

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and other viral pathogens harm soybean production and often lead to significant yield loss and quality deterioration. Thus, scientists from Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China used RNAi-mediated silencing to control SMV. Their study is published in Transgenic Research. The researchers isolated a replicase gene from the SMV SC3 strain, driven by the leaf-specific rbcS2 promoter from common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), and introduced into soybean.

Agriculture Ministers from five countries in South America have urged the European Union (EU) and China to stop delaying GMO import authorizations. The Agriculture Ministers of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay participated in the XXXIV Regular Meeting of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS) in San Pablo, Brazil on August 29, 2017.

The Vegetable Industry Council of Southern Mindanao (Vicsmin) in the Philippines has expressed its full support for the commercial planting of Bt eggplant in the country. This came after Vicsmin officers and members signed a one-page manifesto of support during the roundtable discussion on Bt Eggplant held on September 4, 2017 in Davao City. Vicsmin, a non-profit organization that advocates policies beneficial to the vegetable industry in the region, has 40 active member institutions and 20 individual farmers.