FAO 21 March, 2016, Rome - FAO today launched a new programme aiming to enhance the critical role of forests in improving water quality and water supplies, on the occasion of the UN's International Day of Forests. 

Since 2014, the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) has been providing the Department of Agriculture (DA) with timely seasonal data on rice area and yield and assessment of crop health and damage in the event of a typhoon, flood, or drought. In its first annual executive meeting on 31 March, PRISM will present its achievements and activities to a wider audience. High-level officials including Senator Cynthia Villar, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, DA undersecretaries, and other stakeholders will attend the event.

A new large-scale European project aims to measure crop plants and their response to changes in the environment. The European Multi-Environment Plant Phenomics and Simulation Infrastructure, or EMPHASIS, is part of the new European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap, in which the member states of the ESFRI Forum coordinate research strategies in Europe.

A research team led by Associate Professor Miyake Chikahiro and PhD student Takagi Daisuke from the Kobe University Graduate School of Agricultural Science, has discovered that a gene in plants suppresses the toxic byproducts of photosynthesis. When plants absorb energy from sunlight during photosynthesis, the excess energy reacts with oxygen in cells to produce harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS). Luckily, plants have genes that neutralize these toxic species. Professor Miyake's research group evaluated one of these genes, known as "AOR" (alkenal/one oxidoreductase).

How climate change might affect the food supply for a growing population is a critical concern. A new study conducted by researchers from Brown and Tufts universities suggests that researchers have been overlooking how two key human responses to climate — how much land people choose to farm, and the number of crops they plant — will impact food production in the future.

Genestack, developer of next generation enterprise platform for genomics research and development, together with Rothamsted Research, will make new tools for agri-genomics available on its platform. The tools, which are being developed at Rothamsted Research, will help scientists apply high-throughput bioinformatics technologies to accelerate crop breeding and crop improvement research.

Human use of copper dating back to the Bronze Age has shaped the evolution of bacteria, leading to bugs that are highly resistant to the metal's antibacterial properties. Large amounts of copper are toxic to people and to most living cells. But our immune systems use some copper to fend off bacteria that could make us sick.

The effects of daylength and temperature on flowering of the cultivated octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) have been studied extensively at the physiological level. However, information on the molecular pathways controlling flowering in the species is scarce. The team of Elli Aurora Koskela of the University of Helsinki in Finland now aims to shed light on that particular pathway.

The issue of global food security is a problem for us now, and for future generations. Perhaps the most visible issue is malnutrition, which affects millions in the developing world and poses a risk to many vulnerable people in the developed world. But the issue of global food security is much broader than the supply of food -- it also refers to the challenges of our dependence on globally imported food, rising food prices, food waste and the provision of a nutritious, balanced diet.

FAO 7 March 2016, Rome - The United States has brought added momentum to global efforts targeting illegal fishing by adhering to a FAO-brokered international pact. US Ambassador to the United Nations agencies in Rome, David Lane, today formally presented FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva with the US' instrument of ratification of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing