More than 200 participants attended a one day workshop entitled "The Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014" held on March 8, 2015 at Cairo University. The conference was held under his auspices Prof. Dr. Sherief Hamad, Minister of Scientific Research and Prof. Dr Mohamed Sakr, President of the Academy of Science Research and Technology.

Syngenta has announced on March 17, 2015 that Vietnam's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) has approved its Bt11 x GA21 double stack corn seed for commercial cultivation in the country, to be made available for the 2015/2016 season.

17 March 2015, Sendai, Japan - Nearly a quarter of damages wrought by natural disasters on the developing world are borne by the agricultural sector according to initial results from a new FAO study released here today at the UN World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction.
 

USAID’s mission is to promote human development and stable, free, and prosperous societies around the world. But as climate change advances, promoting sustainable global development is critical. By empowering people to access and use what we know about science, policy, and technology, CIAT is helping ensure that USAID programs are not undermined by climate change and support the transition to low-carbon growth.

15 March 2015, Rome – Two date palm oases in the United Arab Emirates have joined a growing number of ecosystems that are formally recognized by FAO for their importance as repositories of genetic resources, biodiversity and cultural heritage. The Al Ain and Liwa oases are known as marvels of ancient hydrology and their date groves form the center of date production in the Emirates.

The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee released a report saying that current EU regulations that prevent GM crop adoption in the UK are not fit for purpose and should be changed to a trait-based system for regulating biotech crops.

Economic "agrocorridors" can be a strategic tool to draw private capital and large-scale investment to projects that benefit smallholder farmers and boost food security in lower-income countries, according to a new FAO report that provides guidance on how development planners can avoid pitfalls.

Mieke Uyttendaele from Ghent University and Nynke Hofstra from Wageningen University and Research Centre published the main scientific findings about the impact of climate change on food security in a special issue in the journal Food Research International. The report, part of the EU FP7 Veg-i-Trade project, states that climate change may jeopardize food security in several ways.

Dr. Zenaida V. Magbanua, Assistant Research Professor at Mississippi State University, underscored the value of genomic studies in agriculture and farming during her talk Use of Genomics in the Improvement of Crops for the Agriculture and Development Seminar Series (ADSS) of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) on February 12, 2015

Research conducted by scientists at the University of California Riverside (UCR) revealed that genetically modified (GM) soybean oil, made from seeds of GM soybean plants, is identical to conventional soybean oil, with one advantage: it does not cause insulin resistance, the inability to efficiently use the hormone insulin.