Biotech News

“GMOs are not saving farmers money, they’re not producing higher yields, and perhaps most significantly they’re wrecking the environment and human health,” the anti-biotech outfit Natural News warned in December 2014. Such claims are recycled endlessly by environmental activists and widely circulated thanks to social media, but they are wholly unsupported by the evidence, according…

If so, new research says, learning the science behind them could change your mind. Scientists can do some amazing things with genes, from saving papayas from extinction, to making apples last longer before turning brown, to creating variants of crops that reduce pesticide use. Some of these things may sound too good to be true…

Shares in Davis-based Arcadia Biosciences Inc. shot up 124% Friday on news of a USDA approval for drought-tolerant soybeans the company has developed in a joint partnership with Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. Arcadia (Nasdaq: RKDA) is part of a joint venture with Argentina-based Bioceres (NYSE: BIOX) developing traits for stress-tolerant soybeans. News of the U.S.…

Plant genetics startup Inari, which is developing crop varieties that produce higher yields and use fewer resources, has raised $89 million to advance its research toward the US and international markets. Corn, soybean, wheat, and tomatoes are the Cambridge, MA-based company’s initial target crops. CEO Ponsi Trivisvavet says the company aims to launch several products…

Scientists in the US have engineered tobacco plants that can grow up to 40% larger than normal in field trials. The researchers say they have found a way of overcoming natural restrictions in the process of photosynthesis that limit crop productivity. They believe the method could be used to significantly boost yields from important crops…

Eggplant, or brinjal (Solanum melongena), is a popularly consumed vegetable grown throughout Asia that is prone to vicious and sustained attack by the eggplant fruit and shoot borer (EFSB) (Leucinodes orbonalis) throughout the growing season. Yield losses in Bangladesh because of EFSB infestation have been reported as high as 86%. Farmers reduce crop losses by…

The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) of Switzerland has given permission to the University of Zurich to conduct field trials of genetically modified (GM) barley under strict conditions on June 12, 2019. The FOEN approved the application and set out the measures that the university had to take to prevent GM material from spreading…

Council Bluffs, IA., June 11, 2019 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued the following statement after President Donald J. Trump Signed the Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products Executive Order.  “Our current regulatory framework has impeded innovation instead of facilitating it. With this Executive Order, President Trump is once again putting America…

Australia’s Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has issued license DIR 166 to Queensland University of Technology for the limited and controlled release (field trial) of chickpea genetically modified (GM) for drought and other environmental stress tolerance. The field trial is proposed to take place from June 2019 until December 2024 in Walkamin, Tablelands…

Psychologists and biologists from the University of Rochester, the University of Amsterdam, and Cardiff University conducted a study to answer the question “Would consumers eat genetically modified food if they understand the science behind it?” The result of their study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology says that the answer is “yes”. The researchers…