Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

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03.12.2008

Arcadia gets $3.6M USAID grant to develop crops with MAHYCO-Monsanto (India)

Arcadia Biosciences Inc. has received a $3.6 million grant to develop rice and wheat in India that use less fertilizer and water. The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded the three-year grant, according to a news release. Arcadia will work with Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co. Ltd. of India to develop and implement the program. Davis-based Arcadia signed an agreement with MAHYCO in April to commercialize new crop varieties in India and South Asia.

03.12.2008

Cloned meat, ’Golden Rice’ among top-100 science projects in South Korea

Would anybody’s idea of a gourmet meal ever include a T-bone steak from cloned cattle? Genetic scientist Seong Hwan-hu from the Rural Development Administration (RDA) is certainly hoping that day will come, as he is as a pioneer in the cloning of ”hanwoo,” a native breed that is a popular source of prime beef in the country.

03.12.2008

Cuba ready to authorize GM corn crop: scientists

Cuba could soon authorize the planting of 124 acres of genetically-modified corn for the first time to help reduce its dependence on costly food imports, Cuban scientists said on Tuesday. Regulators are expected to approve this initial crop of biotech corn, which would provide enough seed to expand to 14,830 acres next year, said Carlos Borroto, deputy director of state-run Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

03.12.2008

Is there a future for GM in the UK?

The first round of the great GM debate ended in outright victory for the doubters. But the biotech industry is trying again with a new generation of GM products. [...] The ability to take a plant and alter its genetic make-up has provided scientists with the tools to produce custom-made crops, which they say can out-perform their natural cousins in the field. For some it is hailed as a major breakthrough. Others see it as a dangerous step too far for modern technology.

03.12.2008

Fencing in Europe’s farmers

Today, radical environmental and consumer groups are taking advantage of public fear of modern agriculture, which they helped create, to oppose GM crops and products as dangerous ”Frankenfoods.” For more than a decade, they have blocked the planting of most genetically modified crops in Europe. Imports of GM foods have been hampered by the small number of approved products, expensive and complex requirements to track GM ingredients throughout the food chain and to label products containing such ingredients, and threatened boycotts of major producers and retailers selling such labeled products.

02.12.2008

GM crops require new regulations in Viet Nam

New regulations are needed on the use of genetically modified (GM) crops to ensure public health, officials have said. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that GM crops such as corn, cotton and soybeans could result in huge savings. The use of GM corn could save US$500 million a year, MARD said. Around 1.1 million hectares of corn are grown each year, but average yield is fewer than 4 tonnes per hectare each harvest.

02.12.2008

Zambian Government orders importation of non-GE maize

GOVERNMENT has directed the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to offload maize on the market and facilitate the importation of 100,000 metric tonnes of the product to stabilise the prices of mealie meal. [...] Government had also directed the FRA to facilitate the importation of 100,000 metric tonnes of non-genetically modified maize through private millers and grain traders.

02.12.2008

Nigeria eyes GE crops for food self-sufficiency

Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr Sayyadi Ruma on Wednesday said that Nigeria would develop the biotechnology sector to achieve food self-sufficiency and security between now and 2011. Ruma told a workshop on biotechnology and food security organized by the United States aid agency (USAID) in Jos, about 330km from Abuja that Nigeria still spent about US$3 billion annually on food importation, which he said was unhealthy for the nation.

02.12.2008

Zimbabwe doesn’t want GE products to flood the country

Dr Muchena said there is need to tightly monitor the imports for purposes of ensuring that genetically modified products do not floot the country as this will cost us exports markets in countries and regions that are still uncomfortable with Genetically Modified Products. The national biotechnology authority of Zimbabwe has been charged with ensuring that genetically modified products are used in a safe and responsible manner in pursuit of national development goals.

02.12.2008

Kenya Assistant Minister supports GMOs in Kenya

Kenya should embrace genetically modified organisms (GMO) technology if the war against hunger and malnutrition is to be won. Speaking during the launch of tissue culture bananas in an agricultural forum at Kutus town in Kirinyaga district assistant minister for co-operative development Hon Jebii Kilimo [...] said GMOS can increase development in African countries and those that have embraced the technology have enough foods and extra products to sell.

02.12.2008

A fruitless campaign

The global food crisis that came to the fore last spring may have been overshadowed by the global financial crisis that erupted this autumn, but it has certainly not been solved. That is one reason why many governments and philanthropic foundations are now looking to agricultural biotechnology to improve future food production. Despite the virulent opposition to genetically modified (GM) crops in some quarters, many believe that progress in areas such as drought-tolerant or nutritionally fortified plants could make a big difference in many of the poorest countries.

01.12.2008

Mississippi Delta’s GE cotton crop can’t weather economic downturn

The March price swing had already forced the U.S. unit of Switzerland’s Paul Reinhart AG, one of the world’s largest and oldest cotton merchants, to file for bankruptcy protection. Part of cotton’s problem is that corn and soybeans, despite a recent drop in prices, are benefiting from new demand from developing nations and biofuels makers. Meanwhile, cotton prices are being held down by rising yields resulting from the spread of genetically modified cotton seeds. U.S. subsidies are also under attack from overseas trade officials, who say they foster overproduction.

01.12.2008

GM fight still rages 20 years on in New Zealand

Twenty years after the first genetically modified crops (GM) were planted in New Zealand, the fight over so called ”Frankenstein food” is still raging. GM crop trials have been allowed since 1988 but it was not until the moratorium was lifted in 2003, amid loud protest, that applications could be made to grow GM plants commercially. But so-far no New Zealand companies have gone down that path.

01.12.2008

Britain tries to block vital GM safeguard in the EU

Britain is this week single-handedly setting out to sabotage a vital safeguard against farmers unwittingly growing GM crops, a secret document seen by The Independent on Sunday reveals. The document – the final version of a negotiating text to be finalised by ministers from across Europe on Thursday – shows that the UK government is alone in opposing a provision that would keep GM contamination of seed to the ”lowest possible” levels.

01.12.2008

China develops non-GE soy market

Liu said that soybean processing enterprises might make joint efforts to develop non-genetic-modified products and explore international market. China exported a small quantity of non-genetic-modified soybean overseas at the beginning of this year at the price of 6,800 yuan/ton, much higher than the import price of genetic-modified soybean which was 4,300 yuan/ton. The soybean market will develop by leaps and bounds if China develops its brand in non-genetic-modified soybean, Liu noted.

01.12.2008

Food crunch opens doors to bioengineered crops in China

”See these plants? They can tolerate the cold,” Zeng says as he walks through a checkerboard of test fields sown with different rice varieties on the outskirts of Kunming, capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan province. ”We can extract the cold-tolerant gene from this plant and use it in a genetically manipulated variety to improve its cold tolerance,” Zeng says. In a mountainous place like Yunnan, and in many other parts of the developing world, such advantages can tip the balance between hunger and a decent living. And China is now ready to tip that scale in favor of genetically modified crops.

01.12.2008

South Australia to continue GM crops ban

The South Australian government says its moratorium on genetically modified crops will remain, even though the Bureau of Rural Sciences has found that genetically modified canola crops would make the industry more sustainable. The bureau says GM crops make pest and weed management easier and are likely to increase crop yields. Agriculture Minister Rory McEwen says GM crops pose too much of a risk on the green image of industries such as wine.

27.11.2008

USDA seeks comment on GE corn for agrofuel production

The U.S. Agriculture Department has asked for public comment on a request by Syngenta Seeds Inc seeking to deregulate a genetically engineered type of corn that helps in the production of ethanol. The genetically engineered corn produces a microbial enzyme that facilitates ethanol production. Syngenta Seeds is part of Syngenta AG, the world’s largest agrochemicals company.

27.11.2008

Tasmania’s (Australia) GMO ban to stay until 2014

TASMANIA’s ban on the commercial release of genetically modified food crops will continue for at least another five years.
Primary Industries and Water David Llewellyn announced the extention to November 2014 today and said move would make the State’s primary produce even more desirable. ”Tasmania’s GMO-free status is a key factor in the Tasmanian brand and is therefore vital to Tasmania?s primary producers realising their full potential in international and interstate markets.”

27.11.2008

Australian Government report endorses GM canola, cotton

”Access to GM cotton crops has made a significant contribution to the cotton industry’s sustainable management of insect pests and weeds, and to the environment,” Ms Schneider says. ”Reduced application and expenditure on insecticides has increased the profitability and ease of growing cotton and improved community perception of the industry.

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