Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Central information website for the global seed industry
SeedQuest: “Last week, the United Nations estimated that the seven billionth person was born — this further increases the pressure on farmers to meet world food demands and help reduce food price volatility,” said Denise Dewar, Executive Director for Plant Biotechnology at CropLife International. “This survey illustrates the potential risk to innovation and the availability of new seed technologies that can help increase much needed productivity. What’s more, the increasing regulatory costs and burdens are potentially having a negative impact on important research being conducted by public institutions and small-to-medium-enterprises. The plant science industry encourages governments to revisit their regulatory requirements and determine if there are ways to maintain product safety and efficacy, while ensuring farmers have timely availability to new products and agricultural tools.”
Report highlights conflict in agricultural research
SciDev.Net: "What we'd like the big agricultural research projects to do is to be much more diverse in terms of techniques employed," said Wakhungu.
BASF, Cargill team up on canola oil development
Hydrocarbon Processing | November 2011: "Both BASF Plant Science and Cargill believe that the market for omega-3s is very attractive long-term and that this co-development and commercialization partnership will create value for our customers and both companies," said Marc Ehrhardt, senior vice president, BASF Plant Science.
The Genome Analysis Centre
TGAC - News: “The details of the genome shed new light on Medicago, the plant model that will help unlock the workings of nitrogen fixation we hope within our lifetime,” said Professor Giles Oldroyd from the John Innes Centre on Norwich Research Park.
Stakeholders pledge $1 million for global food safety fund
AgriPulse: "Food and beverage companies have a vast amount of experience, knowledge and understanding when it comes to developing and manufacturing safe products. We know what works, what doesn't work and how to apply best practices along the entire global supply chain to ensure our products are safe. This fund will allow us to share our skills and technical expertise in food safety on a much broader scale," noted Bailey.
Cassava virus on verge of epidemic in East Africa
FAO Media Centre: "None of the cassava varieties currently being distributed to farmers seem to be tolerant to the effects of CBSD. We urgently need to get information on the extent and severity of the outbreak, and to support investments to identify disease-tolerant varieties and coping strategies for farmers," said Jan Helsen, leader of FAO's European Union-funded Regional Cassava Initiative in Eastern and Central Africa.
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