Australia-based Licella Fibre Fuels and Canada-based Canfor Pulp Products have signed an agreement to form a joint-venture under the name Licella Pulp Joint Venture. The joint venture will study opportunities to integrate Licella's Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) upgrading platform into Canfor Pulp's kraft and mechanical pulp mills.

The head of the Philippines' food security and agricultural modernization agency is considering using a water-saving technology developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for the country’s national irrigation. Edel Guiza (figure), secretary of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization, visited IRRI on 19 May to study measures that will help the government assist rice farmers affected by the El Niño-induced drought in the southern Philippines.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a highly contagious pathogen of swine. The spike glycoprotein (S) of PEDV plays a pivotal role in the induction of neutralizing antibodies against PEDV, which could be an ideal target for vaccine development.

University of Leicester Professor Pat Heslop-Harrison has joined leading scientists across Europe in raising against the ‘pseudoscience' concerning regulation of compounds used in agriculture, healthcare, and industry.

In a statement, the Philippine American Academy of Science and Engineering (PAASE) expressed strong support for the continuation of research and development and field testing of Bt eggplant in the Philippines, following the Supreme Court order halting its field testing last December 2015. Under the new biosafety guidelines of the Philippines signed by five government departments

A new study co-authored by University of Illinois weed scientist Patrick Tranel shows that Palmer amaranth populations from Arkansas are now resistant to a class of herbicides known as PPO-inhibitors (PPOs). PPOs were used extensively in the early 1990s in soybeans, but when Roundup Ready^® crops came along, most farmers switched to using glyphosate, with PPOs applied to soil prior to weed emergence.

Building resilience is crucial to enable fragile communities, especially in rural areas, cope with the increasing frequency and magnitude of natural disasters and the growing threat of pandemic diseases, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva today told participants at the World Humanitarian Summit.

Malawi's seed sector has called on the Government to consider genetically modified drought tolerant maize to counter the food shortages caused by frequent droughts in the country. The Government was also requested to fast-track the commercialization of insect resistant (Bt) cotton whose confined field trials (CFTs) have been concluded.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has released the first annual report on the State of the World's Plants, a baseline assessment of current knowledge on the diversity of plants on earth, the global threats these plants currently face, as well as the policies in place and their effectiveness in dealing with threats.

Scientist Matin Qaim from Georg-August-University of Goettingen, Germany, together with researchers from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology and International Livestock Research Institute, Islamabad in Pakistan conducted a study to assess the employment effects of Bt cotton adoption in female laborers in Pakistan. The researchers used farms survey data and double-hurdle regression models.