In an exclusive interview, renowned agricultural scientist and geneticist Professor MS Swaminathan, Father of Green Revolution in India, has shared his views on stalled field trials of GM crops and the current scenario of agriculture in India. Stressing the need for GM crops in the country, Professor Swaminathan said, "GM technology helps us to produce varieties which are climate-smart. Green Revolution involves the use of new plant architecture."

Scientists from Belarus who visited the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) have expressed keen interest to build agricultural machinery plants in Pakistan. Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Skiandar Hayat khan Bosan presided the meeting on July 30, 2015, attended by the delegation from Belarus and scientists from PARC

New research led by Michigan State University (MSU) and the Van Andel Research Institute has revealed the molecular secrets of plants' defense mechanisms at the atomic level. The study focuses on the plant hormone jasmonate and its interaction with three key plant proteins, MYC, JAZ, and MED25. Jasmonate plays a crucial role in regulating defenses when plants come under attacks from pests or pathogens, but takes a significant amount of energy to produce, severely affecting plant growth.

Ten Kenyan parliamentarians drawn from various house committees have assured scientists of their support in biotech research. They said this after touring various agri-biotechnology research facilities during a biotechnology travelling workshop in Nairobi organized by ISAAA AfriCenter, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) together with Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) with partners.

The University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Agriculture (UPLB-CA) held an orientation for UPLB-CA freshmen and their parents on Sunday, 2 August 2015. This included a guided tour of the IRRI headquarters (HQ) facilities, which was made possible through partnership efforts led by the newly appointed UPLB-CA dean, Dr. Enrico P. Supangco, and IRRI Deputy Director General for Communication and Partnerships, Dr. Bruce J. Tolentino.

 

You may have come across recent reports on a retraction of a journal article on Golden Rice. This is not a new issue. While IRRI was not involved with the study, the Institute is committed to making sure the research continues because of the Golden Rice project’s crucial humanitarian purpose. Bob Zeigler posted a blog on this topic almost two years ago. The points Bob made about the retracted article are just as valid now:

NRGene, a computational genomic company based in Israel, has mapped the complete genome of emmer wheat. This breakthrough will accelerate global research on crop development. According to Assaf Distelfeld of Tel Aviv University (TAU), primary researcher of the project, decoding the emmer wheat's genome will help scientists to identify important genes from the crop and introduce them to commercial wheat varieties

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed a new procedure to extract lunasin, a compound with cancer-fighting potential and anti-inflammatory activity of soybean seeds. According to Hari Krishnan, a molecular biologist from USDA Agricultural Research Service, animal and human clinical trials of lunasin have been delayed because its extraction has been tedious, time-consuming, and expensive.

Biotechnology continues to be a politically sensitive issue in Morocco, according to the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) Report. A law was drafted in 2008 to regulate the introduction, use, and marketing of biotech products, however the law was dismissed in 2011 and there have been no updates since then. The country allows GM feeds, but bans GM products for food.

More than a hundred farmers and agriculture stakeholders from the Cagayan Valley region of the Philippines affirmed their support for Bt eggplant during the Public Dialogue on Bt Eggplant held on July 22, 2015 at the Department of Agriculture's (DA) Cagayan Valley Regional Experiment Station in Isabela.