FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva and Sergei Mikhailov, CEO of TASS News Agency, at the signature ceremony in Moscow. FAO 24 June 2015, Moscow - The Russian news agency TASS and FAO have agreed to work together to raise public awareness on issues related to food security, food safety and nutrition.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of high gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) safflower seed in animal feed. According to the FDA, the information submitted by Arcadia Biosciences indicates the safety and usefulness of GLA safflower meal for use in cattle and poultry feeds.

Seed permeability is one of the factors influencing the production and nutritional content of leguminous crops such as soybean. In a study led by Lianjun Sun from Purdue University, the gene responsible for seed permeability in soybean has been identified.

Scientific American released its 7^th annual issue of Worldview: A Global Biotechnology Perspective during the BIO International Convention on June 18, 2015 in Pennsylvania. Worldview features the 100 most influential people in the field of biotechnology based on a survey of biotechnology and biosciences leaders who nominated living experts currently working in the sector from a range of contributing areas, including industry, academia, public policy, finance, law, and beyond.

FAO 22 June, 2015, Utrecht - FAO and the Dutch Rabobank Foundation will scale up their collaboration after two years of successful initiatives in East Africa.

The book Seeds of Change: The Lives and work of Suri and Edda Sehgal documents the life stories of a talented and humble couple, Dr. Suri and Edda Sehgal who founded a visionary philanthropic organization to help the poor in rural India. Dr. Suri Sehgal is a crop scientist, seeds-man, agricultural visionary, and a pivotal figure in the development of the global hybrid-seed industry.

FAO 19 June 2015, Kathmandu - Some $20 million is urgently needed to support farmers in earthquake-hit Nepal resume agricultural activities and stave off the threat of prolonged food insecurity facing an estimated one million people, FAO warned today.
 

University of California-Berkeley researchers, Gabriel Lopez and J. Christopher Anderson conducted a study that will provide a practical method of bio-containment to control the spread of a newly created organism. This was done by the researchers through turning the Escherichia coli into an auxotroph, an organism modified to require a particular compound for its growth.

The National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), the body charged with advising the government on scientific innovations, has reiterated its support for emerging technologies including agricultural biotechnology. Speaking during the launch of the Next Harvest II: The Status of Biotechnology in Kenya report, held on June 11, 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Moses Rugutt, the Director General of NACOSTI was optimistic that the country is on the right path towards adoption of genetically engineered (GE) products.

From yesterday until next Friday, 12 June, a workshop on the analysis of big data from Uruguay’s commercial rice production is being held in the Uruguayan city of Treinta y Tres. The purpose of the event, which brings together rice producers, millers, and researchers from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia, is to share and promote the use of new methods for analyzing agricultural information.