As Bangladesh’s agriculture and food sector faces challenges, the country’s Agriculture Ministry sought the cooperation of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in key research and development initiatives that can help alleviate poverty among farmers, address climate change impacts, increase rice production, and make the country self-sufficient in rice.

After extensive deliberations of genetic engineering experts in India, the government released the final guidelines for the safety assessment of genome-edited plants on May 17, 2022. According to the office memorandum released by the Department of Biotechnology, the guidelines serve as a road map for the development and sustainable application of genome editing, including the regulatory pathways to be taken for the release of genome-edited plants.

The genome of oats has been decoded by an international team of scientists led by Lund University, the ScanOats Industrial Research Center, and Helmholtz Munich. Researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU), Australia's national science agency CSIRO, and WEHI (the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) played a key role in the project with the results now published in Nature.

The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) announced that it has chosen the province of Lanao del Norte to identify a farmer cooperative that will plant Golden Rice as part of the seed production in preparation for the distribution to households in the Philippines. In the media briefing Talakayan sa PIA held on May 17, 2022, broadcasted by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Region 10, Dr. Ronan Zagado, Program Leader of Golden Rice-Project Management Office of the Department of Agriculture-PhilRice,

Health Canada released the much-awaited clarification on the regulation of plant breeding innovations, including gene editing. The new policy is based on public consultations held in 2021. On May 18, 2022, Health Canada published the new guidance indicating that gene-edited crops that meet the categories set for food that is not considered novel food can be treated like conventional crops, and would not be required to go through the pre-market safety evaluation applied for genetically engineered crops.

Scientists at Georgia State University have created gene-edited hamsters using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to study social neuroscience and found that the biology behind social behavior may be more complex than previously thought. The research team led by Regents' Professor of Neuroscience H. Elliott Albers and Distinguished University Professor Kim Huhman used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to eliminate the actions of a neurochemical signaling pathway that plays a critical role in regulating social behaviors in mammals.

The Framework for Responsible Use of Gene Editing in Agriculture was developed by the Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture. It is meant to increase transparency and stakeholder engagement to build trust in the products derived through gene editing and those using them and is continuously getting the support of organizations in the biotech field.

The TaCOL-B5 gene in wheat plants can enhance yield by more than 10% and is an excellent candidate for getting the most out of one's wheat crop, according to a report by the Oklahoma State University. The gene was discovered in wheat cultivar CLtr176 from Mexico. It was found to increase the number of spikelets on a wheat spike by more than three, as well as increase the number of fertile tillers per plant. The gene is also rare, as it can only be found in only about 2% of wheat species across the globe.

For the first time in human history, scientists marked a milestone in lunar and space exploration as they have successfully grown plants in soil from the moon collected during the Apollo 11, 12, and 17 missions. Scientists Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul from the University of Florida showed that plants have successfully sprouted and grew in lunar soil. Their study also investigated how plants respond biologically to the moon's soil, or lunar regolith, which is radically different from soil found on Earth.

Ministers and high-level representatives from across Europe and Central Asia met today at the FAO Regional Conference for Europe (ERC33) to discuss not only the implications of the war in Ukraine on global agrifood systems and world food security, but also ways of accelerating efforts to transform agrifood systems to assure inclusive and environmentally-friendly development and achieve better nutrition, both regionally and beyond.