Dong Thap Muoi Agricultural Research and Development Centre will held the 30^th anniverasy in April 18, 2013 in Vinh Hung, Long An. The centre previously named Jute Research Centre for Southern Vietnam, it was established by Minister of Agriculture via the decision of 120/NN-TC/QĐ, issued in April 18, 1983

LEGATO which stands for  Landscape use intensity and Ecological Engineering Assessment Tools for risks and Opportunities in irrigated rice based production systems (www.legato-project.net ) was launched in 2011  in Penang, Malaysia.

 Former governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, on 27 March 2013 urged President Goodluck Jonathan, to approve the Agricultural Biotechnology Bill earlier passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly

Washington State University will lead a $16.2 million project to develop wheat varieties that can better tolerate high temperatures found in most of the world's plant-growing regions. The project will focus on the North Indian River Plain, home to nearly 1 billion people.

As the world celebrated Earth Day on April 22, 2013, thousands of participants attended the 2013 BIO International Convention held in Chicago, Illinois, USA . According to a Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) article, the Convention was fit to the occasion, since agriculture has helped revolutionize farming and made it more environment-friendly. Aside from the farmers' contribution in increasing food production, they were also able to conserve water, preserve soil nutrients, lessen the need for pesticides, and reduce carbon emissions through biotech crop adoption.

The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, a Group of 8 (G8) initiative, is planning to invest US$380M in Mozambican agriculture to lift three million people out of poverty by 2015, said US Ambassador to Mozambique, Douglas Griffiths, during the formal launch of the alliance in Mozambique.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU) has released a press statement on the implications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for trade and the developing countries.

An international team of scientists led by Zhangjun Fei of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) at Cornell University, New York; Yongsheng Liu at Hefei University of Technology; and Hongwen Huang at South China Botanical Garden, has sequenced and assembled a draft genome of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis).

Researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders working under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project from Mali, Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria have converged on the campus of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan on 22nd April 2013 for their annual review and planning meeting.

The Philippine Association of Research Managers, Inc. (PHILARM) comprised of heads of research institutions and state universities and colleges, project and study leaders, and researchers, were briefed on the role of biotechnology in advancing social and economic responsibility in local R&D during a  session in their 23^rd PHILARM National Convention. The convention was held on April 16, 2013 at Villa Caceres Hotel, Naga City, Philippines.

Tom Billington, farming since 1970 in south Twin Falls, Idaho, said that for farmers to survive, they must adapt to modern times and technology. His farm got a boost with the use of genetically modified (GM) seeds which he said helped him stay competitive in a demanding industry.

Virus diseases are one of the important limiting factors in tomato production in Thailand. Genetically modified (GM) tomatoes can be used to effectively control viral infections. However, resistance in transgenic tomato is shown to be virus specific. Gene stacking is an alternative approach to develop tomato lines with multiple viral resistances.

New Cornell line of onions that boast of aroma, mild flavor, and crispy texture has been developed by scientist Professor Martha Mutschler in partnership with executive chef Steve Miller. The new onion varieties have longer shelf life and stay crispy and intact when cooked in soup or chili or when grilled.

USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the 2012 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative's Food Security program awarded US$ 5.5 million to Kansas State University research team led by Barbara Valent. The team will develop novel disease control strategies to world's most important staple crops rice and wheat against blast disease.

Forests, trees on farms and agroforestry are critical in the fight against hunger and should be better integrated into food security and land use policies, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today at the International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition in Rome (13-15 May).

The “Conference of Ecological Engineering and Honey Bee Conservation”  in My Tho was jointly organized by the Southern Regional Plant Protection Center and Vietnam Beekeepers’ Association (VBA) to discuss how ecological engineering would benefit bee keeping

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Syngenta International AG to improve agriculture and food security activities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Murdoch University researchers have developed an environmentally friendly gene silencing method to control Root Lesion Nematodes, plant pathogens known to reduce yields of major crops such as wheat and barley by 15 percent or more.

After years of suffering from blight caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, American chestnut trees may rise again through genetic engineering. Dr. William Powell of the State University of New York and Scott Merkle of the University of Georgia started the search for genetic protection for the American chestnut tree in 1990

A collaboration by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) in California and the University of Washington has led to an improved workflow for genome assembly that the team describes as "a fully automated process from DNA sample preparation to the determination of the finished genome."