Archived News

July 2010

Europe Clears Import of New Biotech Corn Varieties
28 July 2010 Reuters via The New York Times
The commission, the executive arm of the European Union, granted the approvals unilaterally after E.U. farm ministers failed to reach a decision on the applications in June. The approvals, which are valid for 10 years, cover imports for food and animal feed, not for cultivation.

Food: Inside the Hothouses of Industry
28 July 2010 Nature
Now the next big commercial gains lie in crops that can withstand water- and nutrient-deficient soils.

Modified Cotton Helps Indian Women
28 July 2010 UPI
Use of a particular genetically modified crop in India has produced massive gains in women's employment and income in that country, a U.K. research study says.

How GM Crops Could Help the North East
28 July 2010 The Journal
Some of the key research at Newcastle University is looking at the potential of GM crops to protect themselves against insect attack without the need for chemical pesticides.

Sugar Beet Could Have Substantial Role in EU Biofuels
26 July 2010 Farmers Weekly
Nearly 15,000ha of sugar beet being grown this season in Germany is destined for biogas production, equivalent to about one-tenth of the total area in the UK given over to sugar beet.

CLA Game Fair: GM Crops ‘Inevitable’ in Britain
26 July 2010 Farmers Guardian
The adoption of GM crops is the UK is ‘inevitable’, an expert panel concluded at last week’s CLA Game Fair.

OGTR Notification to Allow Limited Release of IR and HT Cotton
23 July 2010 Crop Biotech Net
The Australian Gene Technology Regulatory Office decided to issue a license to Monsanto Australia Limited for the limited and controlled release of genetically modified (GM) cotton with insect resistance alone or in combination with herbicide tolerance.

World Halal Forum Facilitates Meeting of Ulama and GM Scientists
23 July 2010 Crop Biotech Net
After much deliberation, the experts and participants concluded that GM crops and products from halal origin that have undergone food and environmental safety tests are acceptable in the Islamic world as halal, there is need to strengthen awareness on biotechnology to enable decision-making, and the involvement of ulama in discussions related to biotechnology should be enhanced.

Genetically Modified Foods Could Be A Solution To The Effects Of Climate Change
22 July 2010 Biofortified
For example, many advantages of genetically modified food is that they can be made to be pest resistant, herbicide tolerant, disease resistant, extra nutritious, and most importantly can stand up to effects caused from climate change.

Scientists to Spend Sh82 Billion GMO Food
20 July 2010 The Standard
The crop technology collaboration will include working on higher-yielding cotton and beans, with the first drought-tolerant corn expected from 2012.

Solae Discussing Omega-3 Form Soy at IFT
19 July 2010 Nutra Ingredients
Solae expects its new steariodonic acid omega-3 from genetically modified soybeans to be ready for market launch in 2012, and is now sending out samples so food manufacturers can test it in applications.

$31 Million Biotech Center to Benefit Crops, Food, Energy
16 July 2010 University of Adelaide
Their research will significantly enhance biotechnologies that underpin crop industries, associated food industries, and emerging industries related to renewable transport fuels and biomaterials.

Monsanto Looks For Partnerships with States to Reach Out To Farmers
15 July 2010 Business Standard
Monsanto has earmarked an annual fund of Rs 5,000 crore for biotech research for its global operations and each market draws 10 per cent of the total sales from this fund.

Monsanto Completes Key Regulatory Submission for Soybeans With Dicamba Herbicide Tolerance Trait
13 July 2010 Monsanto
The company announced today that it recently completed regulatory submission to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for dicamba-tolerant soybeans. Monsanto expects to complete regulatory submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and key global markets in the coming months.

Scientists Discover How Fungus Kills Wheat
13 July 2010 Farm Chemicals International
To stop this genetic reaction, the scientific team has developed DNA molecular markers for rapid screening of commercial cultivars for the Tsn1 gene.

Virus-Resistant Cassava Could be Available by 2015
09 July 2010 Sci Dev Net
The team conducted field trials in Uganda that have shown that genetically engineered (GE) tobacco plants resist mosaic disease.

Glowing Crops Could Minimise Pesticide Use
08 July 2010 Sci Dev Net
Scientists have genetically engineered the natural immune system of the tobacco plant to make it change colour or glow in the presence of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens known to reduce crop yields, which normally force farmers to apply costly pesticides.

GM Plantings Explode
08 July 2010 The Land
The advent of commercialised genetically modified (GM) canola cropping in Western Australia in 2010 has seen the national GM canola acreage more than treble, according to Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) estimates.

BASF Plant Science and Monsanto to Expand Their Collaboration in Maximizing Crop Yield
07 July 2010 Monsanto
Today, BASF and Monsanto Company announced an expansion of their joint efforts to develop higher-yielding and stress-tolerant crops to include a fifth crop, wheat.

Adoption of Biotech Crops by U.S. Farmers Continues to Rise
01 July 2010 BIO
American farmers continue to enthusiastically choose genetically engineered (GE) crops over their conventional counterparts, according to a new USDA report.

Bill CFC $230 Million for Protecting Us
01 July 2010 Western Farm Press
Easily, biotech alfalfa has saved Barcellos $200 per acre per year alone in replanting costs.

Ambitious GM Rice Project Enters Next Phase
01 July 2010 Sci Dev Net
An international consortium aiming to re-engineer rice to increase yields by 50 per cent is about to move into the second phase of its decades-long project.

Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.
01 July 2010 USDA
Soybeans and cotton genetically engineered with herbicide-tolerant traits have been the most widely and rapidly adopted GE crops in the U.S., followed by insect-resistant cotton and corn.