The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released the draft environmental assessment (EA) and preliminary plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) of genetically engineered (GE) potato available for public comment this week in the Federal Register.

The Hanoitimes - Vietnam expects to reach a total export value of 2 billion USD for fruits and vegetables this year, an official of the Vietnam Vegetable and Fruit Association (Vinafruit) has said.

FAO 27 April 2015, Rome – Millions of pastoralists will benefit from a new online knowledge hub that will help them raise their voices in international policy debates and share valuable information to strengthen their agricultural livelihoods. The Pastoralist Knowledge Hub – launched today by FAO, the European Union, Germany and other partners – will enable mobile livestock keepers to connect, to meet and discuss issues like agricultural innovations or land regulations and find shared solutions to common challenges.

The Variety Evaluation Committee (VEC) on Rice meeting was held at Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) headquarters under the Chairmanship of affiliate Plant Sciences Division, Dr. Muhammad Shahid Masood. At this meeting, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) sanctioned eleven (11) new high-yielding rice varieties including seven (7) hybrid and four (4) Open-Pollinated (OP) seed for cultivation in various ecologies.

FAO 30 April 2015, Rome-- Some $8 million is urgently needed to help disaster-struck Nepalese farmers rapidly recover lost agricultural inputs and resume preparations for the imminent rice sowing season, FAO said today.

The impact of the recent major earthquake on food security and agricultural livelihoods expected to be very high.

Why does opposition to biotechnology continue to spread? This was answered by Belgian philosophers and plant biotechnologists from Ghent University using cognitive science in their paper published in Trends in Plant Science. According to the authors, the human brain is highly susceptible to negative representations, especially those that appeal to emotions, which are used by biotech critics in their campaigns.

A group of soil fungi classified as arbuscular myccorhizal fungi (AMF) gets sugars from plant roots in exchange for nutrients. AMF dies off if they cannot provide nutrients to the plant. A research team from Cornell University led by Professor Maria Harrison has identified the exact protein transporters needed to keep the exchange going. They found that while the plant prefers phosphate, under certain conditions, it appears that nitrogen will suffice, and a single transporter is required to tell the plant that it's getting nutrients.

Scientists at John Innes Centre and University of Tokyo released the results of their study that challenged the current understanding of how plants absorb nutrients through their roots. It has been a general knowledge that nutrients are transported from the roots to the other parts of the plant, wherein the roots act like simple sponges.

Two billion people suffer from what is known as “hidden hunger,” or micronutrient malnutrition. They get enough macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, and fat) from their diet, but not enough micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that are essential to good health. Hidden hunger can result in more frequent and severe illness and complications during pregnancy, childbirth, infancy, and childhood.

Two remarkably consistent and poorly understood features of human biology are the slightly male-biased sex ratio at birth and the female survival advantage throughout life. These patterns appear across geography and time wherever reliable birth and death records are available (1, 2).