Grafting is an agricultural practice that dates back nearly 3,000 years when people from ancient China to Greece realized that joining a cut branch from one plant to the stalk of another could improve crop quality. Recently, a study conducted by researchers from the Salk Institute and Cambridge University has shown that grafted plants share epigenetic traits. The team discovered that the two grafted plants keep their original genomes and do not share DNAs, but epigenetic information is being communicated within the plant.

An international team of researchers from the University of Turin (Italy), and the University of California Davis (USA) has sequenced the genome of globe artichoke. The globe artichoke was domesticated in the Mediterranean region, with Italy as the top producing country and has the richest primary gene pool. The globe artichoke genome assembly covers 725 of the 1,084 Mb genome. The sequence codes for about 27,000 genes, which were also structurally and functionally annotated

ISAAA releases annual report in 2015. The report features the efforts and accomplishments of ISAAA for 2015 as its contribution for the global populace. ISAAA continues to feed the world with knowledge, strengthen skills, and unify voices with the hope that crop biotechnology will provide solutions to the most pressing needs of farmers, consumers, and the whole community.

With rapid economic growth and expanding urban populations in Viet Nam, demand for food has been increasing at a fast pace in recent years. Poultry is an important source of animal protein in the country. According to 2014 figures from the Hanoi Trade Department, approximately 4 650 000 kg of poultry meat is consumed monthly in Viet Nam’s capital Hanoi.

Since 2010, FAO has been the leading agency delivering technical assistance within Viet Nam’s National Target Programme on the New Rural Development (NTP-NRD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and 4 other UN agencies (UNESCO, UNIDO, IOM, and UNV). The project “UN Support to the National Target Programme on the New Rural Development”

The United Stated Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its food and feed safety assessment of the second generation of J.R. Simplot's Innate® potatoes. The FDA concluded that the Russet Burbank Generation 2 potatoes are not materially different in composition, safety, and other relevant parameters, from any other potato or potato-derived food or feed currently on the market.

Land plants get a large portion of their mineral nutrients through their relationship with soil fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. Despite decades of research, many of the genes required to form this relationship remain elusive. A new study conducted by researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) has uncovered genes that plants use to form symbiotic relationships with fungi.

Researchers at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission have updated a 2008 JRC study that analyzed the global pipeline of genetically modified (GM) crops that were expected in the market in 2015. The paper, published in Nature Biotechnology, describes GM crops in the pipeline from 2008 to 2014, and shows the global situation of GM crops in development, with the objective of describing the medium-term innovations in the food, feed, and industrial sectors.

FAO 15 January 2015, Berlin - Providing healthy diets for the world's growing urban population requires forging stronger links between rural producers and urban markets and building food systems that are more socially inclusive, environmentally sound and less wasteful, FAO Deputy Director-General for Natural Resources, Maria Helena Semedo, said today.

If you’re on a diet in 2016, restricting your carb intake might be on your list of New Year’s resolutions. But around the world, demand is on the rise for starch and other forms of carbohydrate, as incomes rise and consumer preferences change. It might seem strange that demand for a starchy root crop would increase with higher incomes. It might seem strange that demand for a starchy root crop would increase with higher incomes. But the multiple applications of cassava in diverse markets have helped it fight its reputation as an economically ‘inferior’ commodity.