Researchers at Monsanto are developing RNA sprays for plants to temporarily turn off the activity of certain genes. For instance, an RNA spray can be tailored to address insect infestation or a new type of virus. The gene silencing ability of the spray will only take effect for a few days or weeks, enough to kill the pests or pathogens.

From the invention of agriculture some 12 000 years ago to the current day, the agronomist Etienne Hainzelin traces the main stages of crop domestication. With a focus on the industrialization of agriculture, he shows how the shift to practices whose sole purpose is to boost yields has caused substantial damage, including high biodiversity losses.

FAO 1 September 2015, Rome/Bangkok -  A new UN programme funded by Germany will help eight developing countries revamp and strengthen their adaptation responses to climate change.

Disappearing under a thick canopy of leaves, Tran Thi Ha is quick to point out five different types of the root crop cassava on her farm – and their somewhat unusual uses. “We use the stems of cassava stakes as a medium to grow mushrooms,” she says, pointing to a line of cut cassava stems. Nestling in the foothills of Vietnam’s Ba Vi National park, around 65 kilometers west of Hanoi, this is considered a hotspot of root and tuber crop biodiversity.

“Who will suffer most from climate change?” Bill Gates poses this question in his latest blog post and what the Gates Foundation and its partners are doing to help. “The world’s poorest farmers show up for work each day for the most part empty-handed. That’s why of all the people who will suffer from climate change, they are likely to suffer the most,”

A set of scientific criteria has been proposed to determine whether a genetically engineered (GE) crop will have little negative impact on the environment under low-level presence (LLP) conditions. At present, importers of crops with LLP undergo an environmental risk assessment (ERA), which fails to acknowledge the GE crop's low environmental exposure and prior regulatory history.

INGER, the world’s largest agricultural research network, has a long history associated with milestones in rice breeding. Overall, more than 1,120 of its tested lines were released as varieties in 74 countries. Now celebrating its 40th year, INGER faces a different kind of challenge: its own sustainable future.

FAO 27 August 2015, Svalbard, Norway - Varieties of one of the world's most important staple crops have now been stored for perpetuity deep in the Arctic ice. José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) joined scientific experts and delegations from Peru, Costa Rica and Norway to witness a ceremony here that will help to preserve these vital crops for future generations.
 

John Innes Centre researchers conducted a study identifying how the plants' sensors detect a pathogen protein. This was conducted by observing how rice recognizes the rice blast pathogen. In the study, the binding of Pik, a protein sensor in rice, and AVP-Pik, a rice blast pathogen protein, was observed using X-ray crystallogy. Successful images were obtained showing the contact points between the plant sensor and the pathogen protein at the molecular level.

In a review article published recently in the peer-reviewed, open access journal Agriculture & Food Security, Nina Fedoroff, former adviser to the US Secretary of State, has emphasized the safety and importance of genetically modified (GM) crops to global food security.