The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) bestowed the 2016 Borlaug CAST Communication Award to Dr. Kevin Folta, Chair of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Through the annual award, CAST recognizes science or agriculture experts who demonstrate an exemplary ability to communicate through various forms of media.

Of the many elusive grails of agricultural biotechnology, the ability to confer nitrogen fixation into non-leguminous plants such as cereals ranks near the very top. Doing so is a huge challenge because legumes partner with bacteria called rhizobia in a symbiotic waltz that enables plants to draw sustenance from the air and transcend the need for environmentally harmful chemical fertilizers.

Region-wise Program Improvement Plans for target crops – groundnut, chickpea, cowpea and common bean – were presented at a recent Tropical Legumes (TL) III Genetic Gains workshop. The workshop used the results of the Breeding Program Assessment Tool (BPAT) as a resource to help guide breeding programs in improving their targeting, speed, scale, efficiency,

“If this ship sinks, there won’t be any chocolate in Europe” – To close the European Cocoa Forum held on 15 and 16 September 2016 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the European Cocoa Association invited the leaders of the European chocolate industry to have dinner on a cruise. As we left the harbor, the ship was suddenly more exposed to the sea and some started to fear for the future of the chocolate supply.

For the past two-plus, numerous CIP officials were present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Piura, Peru, which concluded September 27. For the past two-plus, numerous CIP officials were present at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Piura, Peru, discussing food security and climate change.

Depression is an illness that can happen to anybody. It causes mental anguish and affects people’s ability to carry out everyday tasks, with sometimes devastating consequences for relationships with family and friends. At worst, depression can lead to suicide. Fortunately, depression can be prevented and treated. Today, on World Mental Health Day, WHO is launching a 1-year campaign: Depression: let’s talk.

Women constitute half of Bangladesh’s 160 million human resources. About two-thirds (53 million) of them live in rural areas and eke out livelihoods from agriculture. More than half of the country’s agricultural labor force are women. They are involved in all agricultural activities, although most common activities are postharvest operations, homestead production, and livestock and poultry raising.

Building strong alliances among legislators across the world is vital to making headway on hunger eradication, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said on Monday, as he underscored the agency's continued support to fostering global exchanges between lawmakers. "Our objective is simple: to ensure that food and nutrition security is placed at the highest levels of the political and legislative agenda," Graziano da Silva said, speaking at a special event on the role of parliamentarians in the Zero Hunger Challenge held at FAO headquarters.

Ethiopia is about to complete one of the largest and most successful  seed distribution campaigns in the country's history, aimed at helping farmers to stay on their feet in the face of a blistering drought caused by El Niño, FAO said today. More than 32 000 tonnes of seed have been distributed to around 1.7 million food and nutrition insecure households across Ethiopia's six major regions by the Government,

The Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) and EuropaBio organized a seminar entitled Unshackling Innovation: Will Europe block or enable GM crops? at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on September 27, 2016 to discuss concerns on genetically modified (GM) crops. Europe helped invent agricultural biotechnology, but has done more than anyone else to thwart genetically modified crops. Will Europe's cold shoulder prevent urgent agricultural modernization in developing countries?