An international research team from Cornell University, The University of Western Australia, and The Australian National University have identified the genetic mechanisms behind the production of Victorin, a deadly toxin that causes Victoria blight of oats, a disease that wiped out oat crops in the U.S. in the 1940s. The researchers found that Victorin is encoded by a small gene that exists as multiple copies buried in highly repetitive and rapidly evolving regions of the genome.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General, QU Dongyu, called on G20 members to address the impacts of COVID-19 on agri-food systems by boosting farmers' productivity, scaling up social protection mechanisms, and investing in digital innovation. "It is essential for the G20 to keep working on preventing this health crisis from becoming a global food crisis," said Dongyu.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an unprecedented demand for rapid diagnostics. CRISPR-Cas-assisted nucleic acid detection assays have been found to be helpful because of their well-designed detection mechanism, fast assay time, and low reaction temperature. To further improve the technique, powerful, digital-based detection has been integrated.

The Federal Government of Nigeria is counting on agricultural technology to help deliver food security solutions and address challenges brought by climate change. In his speech during this year's Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB)-Nigeria Media Awards, Nigeria‘s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Alhaji Sabo Nanono stressed that the country is relying on the contribution of genetic modification (GM) technology to improve the quality of food crops and benefit the Nigerian community.

Widespread male migration from rural areas is one of the most important forces shaping agrarian transformation in Nepal. One particularly important area affected is the governance and management of local public goods, especially irrigation systems. Given the crucial role of irrigation in agricultural productivity and food security, attention to gender in irrigation governance is not only necessary for existing systems, but also opens potential new opportunities for sustainable and inclusive development in rural Nepal.

To help stakeholders understand the impact of genetically modified (GM) crops on the environment, a technical forum on Greener Greens: Environmental Impact of Biotech Crops will be held on November 23, 2020, 2-4 PM (GMT+8) via Zoom. The technical forum is one of the activities for the 16th National Biotechnology Week (NBW2020) in the Philippines. The NBW2020 celebration is led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in collaboration with other government agencies and partner institutions.

The Australian Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) invites comments from the public to assess license application DIR 176 from PTM Solutions Australia Pty Ltd to conduct a field trial of white clover genetically modified for increased condensed tannins in leaves. The field trial is proposed to be conducted in up to four sites per year, with a maximum total area of one hectare per year, over five and a half years. Sites will be selected from 117 local government areas. The GM white clover grown in this field trial would not be used for human food or animal feed.

Researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife have made a discovery that will help fight fastidious pathogens costing U.S. agriculture billions of dollars annually. For years, research scientist and associate professor Dr. Kranthi Mandadi and his colleagues at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension in Weslaco have been working on developing new biological technologies to fight fastidious or "unculturable" pathogens. Now they have developed a new screening method to expedite solutions for citrus greening and other ‘fastidious' diseases.

When the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened in 2008, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) then based at Tel Hadia, just outside Aleppo, Syria, was among the first genebanks to deposit safety duplicates of its seeds. The ICARDA genebank had the largest collection of crop diversity from the Fertile Crescent, including barley, durum wheat, faba bean, chickpea, and lentil. Little did the Seed Vault's creators realize that the first withdrawal of seeds would come so soon.

The global CRISPR gene editing market is increasing gradually with a healthy compound annual growth rate of 23.35% from 2019 to 2026. The market growth is attributed to the growing prevalence of cancer worldwide and the expanding application of CRISPR technology by various academic institutions. These data are included in the market report released by Data Bridge Market Research.