This year's Nobel Laureate discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlying autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.  Yoshinori Ohsumi was born 1945 in Fukuoka, Japan. He received a Ph.D. from University of Tokyo in 1974. After spending three years at Rockefeller University, New York, USA, he returned to the University of Tokyo where he established his research group in 1988. He is since 2009 a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

FAO's Mountain Partnership and Slow Food have launched a voluntary product label for mountain goods that's meant to improve market access for small highland producers from developing countries and highlight mountain products as distinct and sustainable.

After three months of field trials which started in April 2016, Bt maize (MIR162) was harvested in Dak Lak and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provinces in Vietnam. After the harvest, the seeds were destructed following the regulations implemented by the government. Representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other local agencies ensured that all biosafety guidelines in planting and harvesting GM crops under testing were followed.

New analysis by WHO shows that negative or ageist attitudes towards older people are widespread. They also negatively affect older people’s physical and mental health. Fully 60% of respondents in the WHO "World Values Survey" reported that older people are not respected.

Scientists from the University of Adelaide discovered that a protein that regulates salt balance in animals works similarly with plants. Their findings which are published in the Plant Cell and Environment journal may help scientists modify plants to respond to high salt and low water conditions.

The Australian Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) invites comments from the public to assess license application DIR 150 from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to conduct a field trial of genetically modified (GM) potato with disease resistance.

Arctic Fuji apple with nonbrowing characteristic is now commercially approved in the U.S., according to Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc. (OSF). This new apple variety is just like other conventional Fuji apples sold in the market, but it resists browning when the flesh is cut and exposed to air. Thus, the new trait displaces the need for preservatives.

The agricultural sector must transform itself not only to achieve food and nutrition security for all, but also to help address global challenges such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance, FAO Director- General José Graziano da Silva said today.

Some NAC transcription factors play crucial roles in abiotic stress response. The team of Lei Huang from Zhejiang University in China recently characterized a rice stress-responsive NAC gene, ONAC095, and explored its role in drought and cold stress tolerance.

The European Commission on September 16, 2016, has authorized the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified (GM) maize Bt11 x MIR162 x MIR604 x GA21, four related GM maizes combining three different single GM events (Bt11 × MIR162 × MIR604, Bt11 × MIR162 × GA21, Bt11 × MIR604 × GA21, MIR162 × MIR604 × GA21)