Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan. As a core component of land resources, agricultural development and ecological sustainability, it is the basis for food, feed, fuel and fibre production and for many critical ecosystem services. It is therefore a highly valuable natural resource, yet it is often overlooked. The natural area of productive soils is limited – it is under increasing pressure of intensification and competing uses for cropping, forestry, pasture / rangeland and urbanization, and to satisfy demands of the growing population for food and energy production and raw materials extraction.

Nigerian stakeholders are calling for the passing of the biosafety bill into law by the country's President, Goodluck Jonathan. Speaking during the launch of the 2014 ISAAA report on commercialized biotech crops on March 12, 2015, the Nigerian Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Abdu Bulama, expressed the country's need for biotechnology to address myriad of agricultural related challenges including hunger, increasing population, and declining food production. He stressed the need for a Biosafety bill currently awaiting Presidential assent into law.

A group of researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife Research identified the genes necessary to attain desirable traits for maize and examined the genes involved in the growth and performance of maize under Midwest-temperate regions. A corn association mapping technique was used to identify the genomic regions involved in improving desirable traits such as yield increase, aflatoxin resistance, and drought tolerance.

Inside every seed is the embryo of a plant, and in most cases also a storage of food needed to power initial growth of the young seedling. New work identifies biochemical pathways necessary for stocking the seed's food supplies. These findings could be targeted when engineering crops for higher yields.

The biotechnology seed market is the fastest-growing area in the commercial seed sector, according to the Global Seeds Market Report: 2015 Edition released by Market Reports. The growing population and reduction in arable land is expected to raise the demand for GM seeds which have improved traits than conventional seeds.

Researchers from RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource developed a new database for sorghum. The database, called MOROKOSHI, provides information on the genes observed in sorghum at different growth stages. This was done by closely examining the transcriptome of Sorghum bicolor which led to the identification of 20,000 genes.

"Golden Rice is the hope of the children; allowing Golden rice to be available in the market will give children a better future," said Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder and former member of the group Greenpeace and now chairman and spokesperson of the Allow Golden Rice Campaign. He stressed this during his seminar for the Agriculture and Development Seminar Series (ADSS) of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines on March 9, 2015.

Denmark ratified the Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety on February 25, 2015, with only 11 more ratifications required for its implementation. The Supplementary Protocol has received a total of 30 ratifications, including the approval by the European Union.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) scientist, Prof. Rogen Hellens, revealed how plants control cellular levels of vitamin C, which is vital in human nutrition. According to Prof. Hellens, the results of his study may help in plant breeding programs to develop hardier crops and improve human health, especially in preventing vitamin C deficiency that may lead to iron deficiency anemia, the most common effect of malnutrition globally.

16 March 2015, Rome - How to prevent insects, bacteria, viruses and weeds from infesting fruit, vegetable and other plant and food consignments and then spreading across the world is the focus of a four-day gathering of international experts which began at FAO today.