Actualité
29.01.2007
Germany needs smarter investment to play catch up with US
Germany’s 2006 investment in biotech was expected to be less than 150 million euros. And a May report from the European Association for Bio-industries in Brussels says many of Europe"s 2,000 biotech companies need much more money if they’re going to be able to grow. But Strüven said it’s better for Germany to cut its losses in a field where it isn’t booming, and to move on. Just like it did, when it stopped trying to compete with Asia in digital and consumer electronics.
26.01.2007
The Philippines can achieve corn sufficiency with expansion of hybrid, Bt corn areas
The Philippines can achieve sufficiency in corn in one or two years if high-yielding hybrid corn including the genetically modified (GM) Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn can be intensively expanded on just an additional 200,000 hectares.
26.01.2007
Big increase in Philippine GM Bt corn hectarage helped raise domestic sufficiency
A hefty leap in the growing of genetically modified Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn by more than 100 percent to 200,000 hectares in 2006 is contributing to the Philippines’ achieving a significant level of corn sufficiency. [...] Dr. Emil Q. Javier, National Academy of Science and Technology president, said the Philippines needs to develop more GM or hybrid corn varieties particularly for the white corn which is a staple of Visayas and Mindanao natives. "The bigger challenge is in white corn. The private sector is now taking up the task of developing this," he said.
26.01.2007
'1st GM eggplant soon to be commercially grown in RP
Thanks to India, the Philippine vegetable industry will soon include genetically modified (GM) eggplant as one of the prized food crops. Said to be the first GM eggplant in South and Southeast Asia, the new pest-resistant eggplant was developed by the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) based in Jaina, India. It was introduced in the Philippines three years ago and it is now in the final stage of trial in greenhouse at the University of the Philippine Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB).
25.01.2007
Twenty In Ten: Strengthening America's energy security
Tonight, President Bush Will Ask Congress And America's Scientists, Farmers, Industry Leaders, And Entrepreneurs To Join Him In Pursuing The Goal Of Reducing U.S. Gasoline Usage By 20 Percent In The Next Ten Years – Twenty In Ten. For too long, our Nation has been dependent on oil. America's dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists – who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy.
America Will Reach The President's Twenty In Ten Goal By:
- Increasing The Supply Of Renewable And Alternative Fuels By Setting A Mandatory Fuels Standard To Require 35 Billion Gallons Of Renewable And Alternative Fuels In 2017 – Nearly Five Times The 2012 Target Now In Law. In 2017, this will displace 15 percent of projected annual gasoline use.
- Reforming And Modernizing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards For Cars And Extending The Current Light Truck Rule. In 2017, this will reduce projected annual gasoline use by up to 8.5 billion gallons, a further 5 percent reduction that, in combination with increasing the supply of renewable and alternative fuels, will bring the total reduction in projected annual gasoline use to 20 percent.
- The White House, USA (25.01.2007): Twenty In Ten: Strengthening America's energy security
- U.S. Department of Agriculature (24.01.2007): USDA announces plan for USD 1.6 billion invenstment in renewable fuels
- Forbes, USA (24.01.2007): Biofuels research draws Bush to Delaware
- Biotechnology Industry Organization, USA (23.01.2007): BIO applauds alternative energy and healthcare initiatives in President’s State of the Union address
- Bloomberg, USA (23.01.2007): Monsanto, Potash shares set records as U.S. farmers favor corn
25.01.2007
Safeway ditches artificial hormone in milk
Got Milk? Safeway does but it doesn’t have a controversial artificial growth hormone anymore. The grocer chain said milk suppliers for the grocer’s Northwest processing plants have stopped using recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH. The announcement comes shortly after Starbucks confirmed that milk products in its company-owned coffee shops in Oregon and Washington are free of rBGH. [...] In the past two years, however, major dairy names in the Northwest have stopped using the hormone. The Tillamook County Creamery Association started the trend when association’s members upheld a ban on injecting cows with the hormone in a hotly contested vote in March 2005.
25.01.2007
Springtime for ethanol
The Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry’s major lobbyist, works out of cramped offices that it shares with a lawyer near Capitol Hill. Pictures of ethanol plants from its 61 board members hang everywhere. «We’re about to run out of wall space,” said Bob Dinneen, the association’s president. [...] After three decades of surviving mostly on tax subsidies, the industry is poised tonight to get its biggest endorsement from on high that it has a long-term future as a home-grown alternative to gasoline.
25.01.2007
Seeds of life - looking for alternatives to the dominant agrobusiness model
Why have an alarming number of Indian farmers taken their lives over the last years? Why are people in the rural Jang Seong county near Kwangju, South Korea, getting involved in organic farming? Why are church-sponsored organizations in Brazil working to recover native seeds? The answer to these questions has a lot to do with the impact of economic globalization on agriculture, where two models are currently locked in a life-and-death contest. In the case of India, the story starts with the introduction, some 15 years ago, of genetically modified cotton seeds. With the government subsidizing cotton production, high profits persuaded farmers to move into monoculture, eventually taking out loans to rent more land to cultivate. Along the way, they also gave up sowing food crops.
24.01.2007
GM fears a pile of crop, says APEC
THE once scary concept of genetic modification could turn out to be a saviour for farmers struggling with the drought. Delegates from Asia Pacific nations, meeting in Canberra, are turning their mind to improving the public perception and understanding of agricultural biotechnology, known more commonly as genetic modification. While the idea of GM foods or crops can strike fear into some, the nations of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum see benefits from the technology. Ellen Terpstra, chair of APEC's high-level talks on agricultural biotechnology, said the idea was of great interest to many farmers worldwide.
24.01.2007
Govt. asks Mahyco to compensate cotton farmers
The fully owned subsidiary of US biotech major Monsanto, Mahyco has been asked by the government to compensate cotton farmers for failure of Bt cotton in the current season, industry sources said here on January 07. The Bt cotton crop has failed in the major producing district of state, Dharampuri and farmers in the region has complained to the district collector and subsequently the agriculture officials.
24.01.2007
South Africa GMO crops soar by 180 pct in 06/07 - union
South Africa's genetically modified crop area (GMOs) soared by 180 percent in the 2006/07 season to 1.4 million hectares, farm union Agri SA said on Tuesday. One million hectares of the total was maize, the country's biggest staple crop, Agri SA president Lourie Bosman told a news briefing. The remainder was made up of soybean and cotton. South Africa is virtually alone in its pro-GMO stance in Africa, putting it at odds with its food-importing neighbours, as well as big markets in Europe strongly opposed to so-called "Frankenstein foods".
- Reuters, South Africa (23.01.2007): S.Africa GMO crops soar by 180 pct in 06/07 - union
- iafrica.com, South Africa (23.01.2007): GM foods 'not a threat'
- Business Day, South Africa (24.01.2007): Increase in GM crops sparks safety debate
- Creamer Media's Engineering News Online, South African (19.01.2007): South Africa accelerating development of cutting-edge biotech research
24.01.2007
Chile's biofuel committee anounces recommendations
Chile’s Public-Private Bioenergy Committee released Monday its report analyzing the development of biocombustible fuel in Chile. The committee made 21 recommendations that open a path of action towards sourcing sustainable fuel in Chile. [...] Biofuel in Chile – generally given the go-ahead by the environmentalists – has been at the center of an environmental controversy since a bill was introduced in Congress to promote cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in order to develop the «green” industry.
23.01.2007
Local Philippine supermarkets still selling rice disapproved for consumption
upermarkets in Metro Manila, the Philippines’ most populous region, are still selling Uncle Sam Texas Long Grain Rice even if it was confirmed last November to be contaminated with a genetically-engineered (GE) strain disapproved for human consumption. Greenpeace expressed «shock and disgust” over the failure of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to recall the GE-tainted rice from supermarkets to protect consumers, despite the government agency’s pronouncements last December that it is «vigilantly inspecting” U.S. rice meant for export to the Philippines to block the entry of the disapproved genetically-modified rice.
23.01.2007
Protocols urged for GM crops to avoid contamination
The grains industry is being encouraged to push for international protocols for genetically modified crops. Canadian graingrowers want global regulations to protect both GM and conventional crop producers. Dennis Stephens from the International Grain Trade Coalition, says GM contamination of traditional crops is an issue, and there needs to be a recognised tolerance level.
23.01.2007
China steps up monitoring of food quality, safety
China's food safety officials will tighten supervision over farm produce safety, especially with fresh vegetables and aquatic products, said Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai here Monday. [...] He also instructed agricultural officials to initiate environmental safety evaluations and monitoring of produce production bases, introduce quality safety supervisors in townships to improve business production, and implement a labeling system for genetically modified food and milk.
21.01.2007
Corn pest expansion consequence of transgenic crops?
A corn pest that can devastate yields may be increasing in prevalence across Illinois and other states because Bt crops are reducing predators that once kept the pest at bay. [...] Western bean cutworms, a major pest in Nebraska and Colorado, was first detected in Illinois in 2004 and has spread to 49 counties, according to Marlin Rice, an Extension entomologist at Iowa State. [...] «Our theory is that increased (use) of Bt cotton and YieldGard corn has suppressed (populations) of corn earworms, which are predators of western bean cutworms. This allows (more) bean cutworms to survive,” Rice said.
20.01.2007
Global biotech area surges past 100 million hectares on 13 percent growth
Farmers continued rapid adoption of biotech crops around the globe in 2006 driving multiple adoption milestones for the technology-enhanced crops that produce greater yields of food, feed, fiber and fuel, according to an annual report released today by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). At the beginning of the second decade of biotech crop adoption, biotech crop area jumped 12 million hectares or 13 percent to reach 102 million hectares, breaking the 100 million- hectare mark for the first time and achieving the second highest growth in the past 5 years. Growth for the period 1996 to 2006 is equivalent to an unprecedented 60-fold increase, the highest adoption rate of any crop technology. Additionally, the number of farmers planting biotech crops surged past 10 million for the first time, to 10.3 million, from 8.5 million farmers in 2005.
20.01.2007
EU mission to inspect Brazil's transgenic soy in March-report
European food inspectors are expected to visit Brazilian genetically-modified soybean farms and related sites for the first time in March, the local Estado newswire reported Monday. The move comes at a time when Brazilian soy farmers are quickly moving away from traditional soy seeds and planting GMO soy. Some 50% of the new 2006-07 crop is expected to be GMO soy, according to a survey of farmers and cooperatives by the grain brokerage firm Cerealpar. Last year, just 25% was GMO. Brazil's government permits Monsanto's Roundup Ready soy seeds to be planted nationwide.
20.01.2007
Mexican farmers seek OK for genetically modified corn
Mexican agricultural producers asked the government to allow them to plant genetically modified corn in response to the so-called "tortilla crisis," which has seen prices surge for one of the country's staple foods. The head of the National Agricultural Association, or CNA, Jaime Yesaki, told Efe that planting genetically modified corn could be the "fundamental solution" for maintaining adequate production of this cereal grain that millions of Mexican households use to make the tortillas on which their diets are based.
20.01.2007
Scientists identify genes for perfect coffee beans
Scientists from Brazil and France have moved a step closer to creating the perfect cup of coffee after identifying key genes that can affect flavour in the beans. The team, from CIRAD in France and Brazil"s Agricultural Institute of Paraná, says it has pin-pointed the genes responsible for sucrose accumulation in coffee beans. Sucrose is thought to play a vital role in the taste of coffee by releasing flavour and aroma during roasting.
