Life started in the sea. The earth's surface is mostly ocean, which has the most ancient and most diverse forms of life. Thus, the marine environment is the treasure throve of biological and chemical diversity among all types of ecosystems. It has a wide variety of living organisms, from bacteria to eukaryotes, as well as unique chemical compounds which are of great importance to medicine,

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO Panel) has published the Scientific Opinion on the safety of genetically modified insect resistant and herbicide tolerant cotton GHB119 (Unique Identifier BCS-GHØØ5-8). Application EFSA-GMO-NL-2011-96 was submitted by Bayer CropScience AG, and the scope is for import, processing, and food and feed uses of cotton GHB119 within the European Union (EU), but excludes cultivation in the EU.

Countries and international organizations need to make "tremendous" efforts and increase their investments to improve national statistical capacities to monitor progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda. This was the key message delivered by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva today at the start of the 7th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics, organized by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in collaboration with FAO and taking place in Rome (26-28 October).

Some 56 participants from 12 countries convened in the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in Serdang, Malaysia to facilitate the participation of Asian scientists and stakeholders in the upcoming Meeting of the Parties (MOP 8) and Conference of the Parties (COP 13) in Cancun, Mexico.

The 2016 World Food Prize laureates Drs. Maria Andrade, Howarth Bouis, Jan Low, and Robert Mwanga were honored during an awarding ceremony on October 13, 2016 at the Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. before an international audience. Drs. Andrade, Low, and Mwanga of the International Potato Center (CIP) were recognized for their efforts in developing "the single most successful example of biofortification"

Micronutrient malnutrition because of iron and zinc deficiencies is a serious public health problem in low-and middle-economy countries worldwide.  In India alone, about 80% of the pregnant women, 52% of non-pregnant women, and 74% of children in the 6-35 months age group suffer from iron deficiency.  About 52% of children below 5 year are zinc deficient.

Controlling levels of individual fatty acids in soybean oil can be used to increase its shelf-life, frying stability, and nutrition. In previous studies, soybean lines with knockout mutations within fatty acid desaturase 2-1A (FAD2-1A) and FAD2-1B genes were generated, resulting in oil with increased levels of monounsaturated oleic acid and decreased levels of linoleic and linolenic acid.

Scientists at Washington State University developed a technique to boost the quality and yield of soybeans. Their findings, published in Current Biology, could eventually help address the critical need to feed the growing human population and at the same time protect the environment.

Increases in rice consumption in Africa have outpaced the continent’s rice production, according to Jason Beebout, the leader of a capacity-building project for Africa being supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). “This is why there is a need for training programs aimed at increasing rice production beginning with the seed sector,” he said.

The pledge to eradicate hunger and poverty must go hand in hand with rapid transformations of farming and food systems to cope with a warmer world, FAO said today in a new report. Agriculture, including forestry, fisheries and livestock production, generate around a fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture must both contribute more to combating climate change while bracing to overcome its impacts, according to The State of Food and Agriculture 2016.