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-- E&E Publishing (7/28/2010)
U.S. researchers are searching for the ideal oil-producing algae strain to grow in commercial quantities, and some of the varieties under development are genetically modified (GM), this article reports. A central question dominating algal biofuel conferences is whether the best oil-producing algae crop will come from strains occurring in nature, or if they will need to be GM to enhance their fuel-producing potential, the article says. A "small group of academics and researchers" are saying that GM algae, which would be grown in open pools outdoors, could cause problems. A breeze could pick up GM microalgae and carry them into nearby fields and streams to displace natural strains, alter the ecosystem, and perhaps get into the human food chain, the researchers say. Stephen Mayfield, the director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, says he thinks it is unlikely that GM algae could compete with natural strains in the wild. But Isaac Berzin, a chemical engineer who in 2001 founded the first algae-to-biofuel company, GreenFuel Technologies Corp., says he is not sure about that, given how quickly algae can evolve. GM algae have yet to be grown outdoors, and regulations for doing so have not yet been developed. "Being a nascent industry, there are no existing standards for various aspects of algal biofuels production," according to an U.S. Department of Energy algae road map issued last month. But the article says history shows that in general, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be difficult to contain. A 2008 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, for example, found there have been half a dozen documented cases in the U.S. where GMOs were released unintentionally. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- Aberystwyth University (7/28/2010)
A five-year, £4.9 million (US$7.6 million) research project has been launched in the U.K., with the goal of developing improved varieties of oats. The "Quality Oats" (QUOATS) project is being funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) of the U.K., the U.K.'s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Welsh Assembly Government, and the Scottish Government. Aberystwyth University in the U.K. will lead the project. "Combining expertise in molecular and conventional plant breeding and analysis of grain composition with evaluation of new and novel varieties by research and industrial partners will ensure that new oat varieties meet the requirements of the different end users," comments Athole Marshall, head of the Oat Breeding Programme at Aberystwyth University's Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS). One of the goals of the research project will be to develop more healthful oats. Researchers involved with the project will study the genetic basis of ?-glucan content in oats, which is known to lower blood cholesterol, with the aim of developing new oat varieties that are "tailor-made" for the healthy foods market. The press release can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- Administrative Office for the Key Special Projects of GMOs via Ministry of Agriculture (7/27/2010)
This press release describes China's key special project for the development of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The project is one of China's 16 national key special scientific programs. It is organized and implemented jointly by 11 departments of China's State Council. According to the press release, the GMO project is aimed at developing a group of genes with great application values and independent intellectual property rights, and at developing and promoting high-yielding and efficient GMO varieties with resistance to diseases, insect pests, and stress. The project builds on the previous achievements of the National 863 Program, the 973 Program, Special Projects for Research and Industrialization of Transgenic Plants, and the High-tech Industrialization Program. It has thus been able to make "active progress" in the development of new GMO varieties, the cloning of new genes, transgenic technologies, and biosafety technology and its industrialization. The press release says that the program is expected to: increase China's independent innovation capacity in agricultural science and technology; develop the emerging and strategically important bio-industry; and provide strong scientific support to national food security, ecological safety, and efforts to increase farmers' incomes. The press release can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- Huffington Post (7/27/2010)
"Unfortunately, the world's poor are often caught in the middle of a ferocious but under-the-radar war over the future of world agriculture and the fate of the malnourished," says this opinion piece. The opinion piece cites a recent case in Haiti, where Haitian peasant groups, which are headquartered, the opinion piece says, in New York City, marched through Port-au-Prince, Haiti in protest of Monsanto's donation of 135 tons of hybrid varieties of corn and vegetable seed. The opinion says the 135-ton shipment was the first installment of 60,000 sacks of non-genetically-modified (non-GM), high-yielding, hybrid seed worth more than US$4 million, being donated after months of careful negotiations with government and international agricultural experts. The Haitian peasant groups are said to have threatened to burn the seed although they did not in fact do so, and the seed has been brought into Haiti. According to the opinion piece, the Haitian groups and the international NGOs with which they work closely, including Greenpeace and the Organic Consumers Association, promote a "'sustainable'" solution based on organic techniques and see the Monsanto donation as "a Trojan horse" aimed at moving farmers away from organic agriculture and towards "'industrial'" farming techniques. But, the opinion piece argues, the agricultural status quo in Haiti has been "disastrous." Science and technology, it says, are needed. There is no "zero sum trade-off" between technology, productivity and sustainability, and "The judicious use of agricultural chemicals like atrazine and glyphosate, sophisticated hybrid seeds, and biotech products are essential if we are to use all the tools available to raise yields and combat hunger," argues the opinion piece. The author of the opinion piece, Jon Entine, is the author of the forthcoming book "Crop Chemophobia: Will Precaution Kill the Green Revolution." The opinion piece can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- IITA (7/27/2010)
The Fifth World Cowpea Research Conference will take place September 27 to October 1, 2010 in Saly, Senegal, this press release reports. The conference will discuss threats to the survival and farm production of black eyed peas (a.k.a. cowpeas) -- one of Africa's oldest and most resilient and nutritious crops. The event is being co-hosted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the government of Senegal, the Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program, and Purdue University in the U.S. The press release can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- AGRA (7/26/2010)
The West Africa Agricultural Investment Fund ("WAAIF") and the West-Africa-based Injaro Investments Limited ("Injaro") have announced the first closing of the first ever West African fund focused on investing in indigenous seed companies. The initial investors in the fund are the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Lundin For Africa Society, a Canada-based foundation. "Africa's plant breeders have begun developing high yielding, locally-adapted seed that would enable farmers to double or triple their yields," says Joseph DeVries, director of AGRA's seeds program. "We now need a vibrant seed sector that gets these varieties to farmers. WAAIF will enable this--it is venture capital for West Africa's seed entrepreneurs," DeVries says. According to the press release, WAAIF is the first fund of its kind in West Africa, targeted specifically at promoting the growth of small- and medium-sized African seed companies through long-term loans provided at reasonable rates. WAAIF will thus fill a critical funding gap in West African agricultural development: financing for its seriously underdeveloped and undercapitalized seed sector. Across West Africa there are around 20 small-to-medium sized seed companies, compared to over 50 in East and Southern Africa and the hundreds that operate in Europe or in the U.S. To help fill this gap, WAAIF will initially operate in five countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. The press release can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- VietnamNet (7/26/2010)
Vietnam's Dong Nai Province has announced plans to build a new center for biotechnology, this article reports. "The center will be a multi-function complex for research and development, training, technology transfer, and production of bio-products for use in the areas of agriculture, medicine, pharmaceutics and environment," said Pham Van Sang, director of the province's Department of Science and Technology. "The mission of the center is to mobilize the research and educational resources in biotechnology to facilitate discovery and commercialization of new technologies," Sang said. According to Sang, Dong Nai Province will spend about VND1,000 billion (US$52,000) developing the center between 2010 and 2015. It also aims to attract US$500 million in investment over the next ten years. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
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-- Syngenta (7/26/2010)
Under a new agreement, Syngenta has granted Bayer CropScience a worldwide, non-exclusive license for use of its "VIPCOT" insect control technology in cotton. "VIPCOT contains the same gene as AGRISURE VIPTERA(TM), to be launched by Syngenta in the US corn market later this year," says Davor Pisk, chief operating officer at Syngenta Seeds. Bayer will use the VIPCOT technology in cotton. The technology expresses two insecticidal proteins that are said to be effective against a number of important cotton pests, including cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea) and tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens). The press release says the addition of VIPCOT will complement Bayer's existing portfolio of cotton solutions, which include "LibertyLink" and "GlyTol" herbicide-tolerance and "TwinLink" insect resistance. The press release can be viewed online at the link below.
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