In addition to reducing poverty and hunger, agriculture can play a crucial role in making the response to climate change responsible and more effective, Maria-Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General for Natural Resources said today.
 

Plant biologists at the University of Illinois have identified the area of genomes within nitrogen-fixing bacteria in roots (rhizobia) that's being altered when the plant they serve is exposed to nitrogen fertilizer. Katy Heath, Illinois professor of biology, conducted the study with Christie Klinger and Jennifer Lau from Michigan State University.

A new tree of life, expanded by the discovery of more than 1,000 new types of bacteria and Archea for the past 15 years has been published. Researchers at University of California Berkeley have rearranged the tree for the new life forms.

“It is high time for Asia’s rice producers to not only benefit from the results of scientific rice research,” said Dr. V. Bruce J. Tolentino, deputy director general for communication and partnerships at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). “The rice-growing countries should also invest in the research that they benefit from.

"Pulses are good for people, and are good for soils," Eduardo Mansur, the head of FAO's land and water division, said today at an event that highlighted the promising future of edible seeds such as lentils, chickpeas and pigeon peas, all often neglected in the shadow of the world's major staple grains.

FAO 18 April 2016, Rome - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva today met Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera for talks that focused on rebuilding the country's agriculture sector and making it an engine for peace and sustainable development.

Launched today, World Meteorological Day, the four-year Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture is an initiative by the Rwandan government and partners to provide nearly a million farmers with timely access to essential climate information services in order to manage risk.

CIAT’s Colin Khoury has received the 2016 Hugo de Vries Award for his landmark doctoral thesis on changing human diets and the importance of wild plants to global food security. The annual award is a joint initiative of the Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands and the Hugo de Vries Foundation. It recognises important research related to botany conducted at a Dutch university

FAO 14 April 2016, Rome -- The ongoing spread of wheat rusts, a group of fungal plant diseases that stymy the production of the staple grain and other crops, is raising concern in Central Asia and the Middle East and sparking closer international collaboration to study, detect and prevent the threat from advancing further.

A team of researchers from Purdue University led by Richard Kuhn, director of the Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases (PI4D), with Michael Rossmann, Purdue's Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences has determined the structure of the Zika virus, which reveals insights critical to the development of effective antiviral treatments and vaccines. The research team identified regions within the Zika virus structure where it differs from other flaviviruses.