Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

Actualité

01.01.1970

Biotechnology is good for South African large scale farmers

I harvest corn and soybeans on about 2,400 acres (1000 ha) [...] I began to research biotech crops more than two decades ago, planting strip trials for seed companies. At first, these early versions of GM corn didn't outperform conventional varieties. [...] In recent years, there's been a remarkable turnaround. The yields of GM crops have beaten non-GM plants by substantial margins.

01.01.1970

Drought tolerant maize trials approved in Uganda

Scientists researching on drought tolerance maize could not hide their glee last week after the National Boisafety Committee approved the Water Efficient Maize for Africa confined field trial, a crucial step for the research. Dr Yona Baguma, Senior Research Scientist at Namulonge Crops Resources Research Institute said the National Boisafety Committee offered a permit to Water Efficient Maize for Africa (Wema) to conduct a confined field trial at Mobuku irrigation scheme in Kasese District.

01.01.1970

Green pepper gene to the rescue of African bananas

In a major breakthrough, crop scientists have successfully transferred genes from green pepper to bananas that enable the crop to resist the Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), one of the most devastating disease of banana in the Great Lakes region of Africa that causes about half a billion dollars worth of damage yearly. The researchers are poised to begin confined field trials in Uganda soon.

01.01.1970

GA annimals: glow-in-the-dark lifesavers or mutant freaks?

At first glance, the creation of a chicken that glows in the dark seems a disturbing and unnecessary one. With a jellyfish gene inserted into its DNA, a hen modified this way acquires the power to fluoresce in a bright green hue when illuminated with blue light ? an unsettling ability, to say the least. After all, who needs poultry that can shine a light on itself? More important, why go to the trouble of mixing the DNA of two such dissimilar creatures in the first place?

01.01.1970

GM crops may cause environmental disaster in Bangladesh

Environmentalists have expressed deep concern over the genetically modified (GM) crops now cultivated in the country fearing environmental disaster as such crops could change the genetic characters of indigenous species of crops and plants. [...] "We are very scared about the genetically modified foods and the main reason is uncertainty. As we don't know how much harm these foods can cause to us," said Abu Naser Khan, Chairman of Paribesh Banchao Andolon (save environment movement).

01.01.1970

Struggle about Bt eggplant trials in the Philippines

A group opposed to the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) eggplant Sunday urged Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala to stop field trials of the vegetable in six testing sites in the country. The Southeast Asian Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (Searice) made the appeal over the weekend in the hope of convincing Alcala to scrap the tests and junk any move to commercialize the production of the GM eggplant.

01.01.1970

Kenya to grow GM cotton on large scale by 2012

Kenya?s cotton production is set to increase six-fold by 2012, after the country adopts biotech cotton (Bt cotton). The country awaits the Biosafety Act whose regulations are to be gazetted later this month, before Bt cotton can be produced on large scale. Among other things, the law will allow the commercialisation of GM cotton. Kenya will become the third country to grow biotech cotton on the continent after South Africa and Burkina Faso, and the first to commercialise it in Central and East Africa.

01.01.1970

Monsanto seeds in India - For good or evil?

Why do MNCs excite extreme emotions in India? If you take any one of them from banks to pharma and chemicals to defence and aerospace, they are all clubbed together with the ?usual suspects? who do more harm than good despite all the good intentions they might have had. Is it because technology is always a double-edged weapon that we understand so little of, or because the numerous variables and different parameters have unintended consequences that cannot possibly be anticipated?

01.01.1970

Research confirming volunteer GE canola not surprising or concerning say U.S. canola growers

?Because 85 to 90 percent of the U.S. and Canadian canola crop is grown from biotech seeds, we would expect the same percentage to be reflected in volunteer canola,? said Barry Coleman, executive director of the Northern Canola Growers Association and canola grower in North Dakota. ?As with conventional canola production, it is not unusual or concerning that volunteer biotech canola was found on roadsides due to occasional seeds being misplaced during transport or harvesting.?

01.01.1970

Mali to rear malaria-resistant GM mosquitoes

A laboratory in Mali will soon be rearing Africa's first mosquitoes genetically modified to resist malaria. [...] Funded for three years by an £800,000 (around US$1.8 million) grant from the Wellcome Trust, the partnership has trained three Malian scientists at Keele University, and established a biosafety category 3 security laboratory at the Centre. Mamadou Coulibaly, head of the Centre's Genomics and Proteomics Laboratory and principal investigator on the project in Mali, said the laboratory, which was finished in mid-July, should be producing GM mosquitoes by 2011.

01.01.1970

Interview with Craig Venter: 'We have learned nothing from the genome'

Venter: [...] Everyone was looking for miracle 'yes/no' answers in the genome. "Yes, you'll have cancer." Or "No, you won't have cancer." But that's just not the way it is.
SPIEGEL: So the Human Genome Project has had very little medical benefits so far?
Venter: Close to zero to put it precisely.

01.01.1970

Hungry for genetically engineered fish?

A major U.S. fish research company has tampered with the DNA of Atlantic salmon by adding a quick-growth gene that allows the fish to eat year-around and grow more quickly. And the Food and Drug Administration is about to allow these genetically engineered salmon to head to market, the company says. But food safety activists insist that the FDA doesn?t have adequate tests and regulations to ensure the safety of modified seafood, and others question whether consumers are even ready for it.

01.01.1970

Monsanto-backed Mahyco plans India?s first GE wheat and rice

Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co., an Indian seed breeder partly owned by Monsanto Co., plans to develop the country?s first genetically modified wheat and rice in the next three to five years, a company official said. The company is working on various traits of genetically altered grains that can withstand drought and salinity, Usha Barwale Zehr, the chief technology officer at Mahyco, said in a telephone interview yesterday. India?s government in February rejected the nation?s first gene-modified food, brinjal, or eggplant, after protests by farmers.

01.01.1970

Glyphosate-resistant weeds challenge Mississippi (USA) row crops

Five weeds found in Mississippi have developed resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient found in Roundup herbicide. Since 1996, this broad spectrum herbicide has been used extensively as an easy and effective way to control weeds in row crops that have been genetically modified to withstand the chemical. But glyphosate?s near-exclusive use led to significant problems with glyphosate-resistant weeds in Mississippi and the nation. Now producers are scrambling to once again control weeds efficiently.

01.01.1970

GM canola escapes into the American wild

Sagers says the discovery of plants that are resistant to both herbicides shows that ?these feral populations of canola have been part of the landscape for several generations?. Further studies are needed to establish whether these escaped GM canola plants have any ecological consequences. But those that have evolved resistance to both herbicides could become a weed problem for farmers, adds Sagers. ?The regulatory protocols designed to reduce or prevent escape and proliferation of feral transgenic crops are ineffective. Current tracking and monitoring of GM organisms are insufficient,?

01.01.1970

Cloned beef flap spreads alarm in Britain

Cloned meat is getting closer to Europeans? dinner tables whether they like it or not - or even whether they know it or not. Although cloned cuts are perfectly legal in the United States, news this week that meat from the offspring of cloned cattle has entered the British food chain created a ruckus in a country still sensitive from its experience with mad cow disease.

01.01.1970

GM research facility unveiled in Western Australia

THE State Government has this week detailed two crop research and development facilities, one with a distinct focus on genetically modified organisms, to be established at Merredin. The "New Genes for New Environments" facility will provide a controlled testing envirmonment to enable the grains industry to evaluate growth and yield characteristics of genetically modified traits. The second is a Managed Environment Facility (MEF) for specialised research on non-GM crops.

01.01.1970

South Australian farmers split on GE crop moratorium

AN exclusive Stock Journal survey has found that 46 per cent of South Australian farmers do not support the moratorium on genetically-modified crops being lifted. In 2008, the Rann government pledged to maintain the moratorium on growing GM canola, saying there was no evidence it would have a positive impact. This stance was reiterated during the 2010 election campaign.

01.01.1970

Five minutes with Benbrook on superweeds

AGNETWORK.COM: So what?s the solution? Benbrook: We need to make a major reduction in the amount of acreage planted to Roundup-resistant crops?maybe as much as 50%. Farmers need to maintain crop rotations, grow cover crops, add some tillage?even on no-till fields?and when they do apply herbicides, mix up the family of chemistries they use to minimize resistance. Ultimately, that?s the only way to save this [Roundup] technology.

01.01.1970

Colombia approves GM soybeans for commercial planting

The Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, the regulatory body responsible for approving GMOs for agriculture and livestock in Columbia, recently approved the commercial planting of Roundup Ready soybeans (MON-04032-6) developed by Monsanto.

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