The Scientific American released the 2016 issue of worldVIEW: A Global Biotechnology Perspective. It features the worldVIEW Scorecard, which ranks countries according to their biotech involvement and innovation. The United States remains on top of the list since the Scorecard started in 2009.

A new technology that detects aflatoxins on location, can save lives and open export markets for African and Asian countries. The rapid test kit device is also affordable at under US$ 2. This exciting advancement combined with a mobile extraction kit that will be ready in two months, will be the first portable cost-effective way for farmers and others to detect aflatoxins instantly.

A FAO-UNHCR handbook offers a new tool for helping displaced people access fuel for cooking food while reducing environmental damage and conflicts with local communities. At the end of 2015, over 65 million people worldwide were displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence or human rights violations, many living in refugee camps or improvised settlements, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

A year after the genetically modified Friendly™ Aedes mosquitoes were launched in Piracicaba, Brazil, the Epidemiologic Surveillance service released new data which showed a 91% reduction in dengue fever cases in the CECAP/El Dorado District. Dengue fever cases decreased to just 12 in 2015/2016, against the 133 cases in the previous year. According to Epidemiologic Surveillance,

Herbicide resistance has been blamed to glyphosate use in genetically engineered crops. However, the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) reports that herbicide resistance predates genetically engineered crops by 40 years. According to a WSSA press release, while 2016 marks only the 20^th anniversary of glyphosate resistant crops, 2017 will mark the 60^th anniversary of the first reported herbicide resistant weeds.

A team of researchers from the Noble Foundation, University of Minnesota, and the National Center for Genome Resources reports new developments in sequencing the alfalfa genome on July 13 at the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

Agriculture is known to be the most influential driver of global deforestation, but positive interactions between agriculture and forestry are achievable and necessary to build sustainable agricultural systems and enhance food security. This is the main point of the publication titled The State of World Forests (SOFO), released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The report was launched during the 23^rd Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO).

The Society of Non-research Professionals (SINoP) at the international Rice Research Institute (IRRI) held two succeeding activities within a week to help respond to the needs of a community on the slopes of Mt. Makiling and provide its members with financial literacy training. Mt. Makiling is a dormant volcano near IRRI's headquarters in Laguna province on Luzon island in the Philippines.

 

In light of the 50th anniversary of the Department of Animal Health (DAH) within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) was honoured with the “the Memorial Medal for the development Cause of Viet Nam Agriculture and Rural Development” for supporting the prevention and control of the Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) since 2006 in Viet Nam.

Millions of people facing hunger in South Sudan will be driven to the brink of catastrophe if renewed flashes of violence derail the fragile peace process, FAO said today. The Organization called for calm and stability, warning that if peace does not hold, the human costs of recent fighting in Juba will be compounded by deepening hunger across the entire country.