crop resistance News
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GM crops could reduce need for herbicides
Analysis of large-scale European field trial data reveals that lower quantities of herbicides are applied to crops genetically modified for herbicide-resistance compared with conventionally grown crops. However, the data also suggest that biodiversity may be reduced if genetically modified (GM) crops are grown widely. Transgenic crops are currently grown in 22 countries across the world, ...
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NRDC Petitions EPA to Save the Monarch Butterfly
Skyrocketing use of the weed-killer glyphosate, first marketed as “Roundup,” is devastating monarch butterfly populations, and new safeguards should be put in place immediately to save the iconic species from further decline, the Natural Resources Defense Council said today. In a petition filed with the Environmental Protection Agency, NRDC said current uses of glyphosate are causing ...
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Fight against wheat rust needs sustained investment
Developing countries need help with crop surveillance and the development of strains resistant to wheat rust, say agricultural research leaders. Today's food security situation is being worsened by strains of wheat rust disease that are emerging more frequently and spreading much faster and to new areas — changes fuelled by climate change and conducive environments in increasingly fragile ...
By SciDev.Net
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Some but not all plants can defend themselves against disease on saline soil
Some plants with resistance against a specific disease are also able to defend themselves effectively when they are stressed due to, for example, drought or saline soil. At the same time, the resistance of other plants no longer functions in these very same conditions. Although this had been assumed for some time, Wageningen scientist Christos Kissoudis is the first person to show why. As a ...
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British GMO protests highlight global divide
British opposition to genetically modified crops is on the rise, prompting security concerns at research laboratories across the country. Nearly all 54 U.K. pesticide-resistant crop trials attempted in the past eight years have been attacked, according to media reports. Protesters are destroying the experimental crops to prevent biotechnology companies from spreading genetically modified ...
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Microbes `cheaper, fairer` for boosting yields than GM
Adapting microbes that dramatically increase crop yields while reducing demand for fertilisers and pesticides through selective breeding or genetic engineering could be cheaper and more flexible than genetically modifying plants themselves, says an author of a report. Microbes, such as beneficial bacteria, fungi and viruses, could be produced locally for smallholder farmers to significantly ...
By SciDev.Net
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Decision could boost use of popular weed killer
Faced with tougher and more resistant weeds, corn and soybean farmers are anxiously awaiting government decisions on a new version of a popular herbicide - and on genetically modified seeds to grow crops designed to resist it. Critics say more study is needed on the effects of the herbicide and they are concerned it could endanger public health. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected ...
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German soil monitoring programme could assess impacts of GM crops
Effective regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) calls for monitoring of the potential environmental risks. This study explored whether the German permanent soil monitoring programme could be a useful tool for this purpose. The researchers say the programme has potential to monitor the effects of GMOs on local soil communities, but that adaptations would be necessary. The first ...
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Europe rejects GM crops as new report highlights 20 years of failures
All 19 government requests for bans of GM crop cultivation have gone unchallenged by biotech companies, pathing the way for two thirds of the EU’s farmland and population to remain GM-free [1]. The growing opposition to GM crops coincides with a new Greenpeace report reviewing evidence of GM environmental risks, market failures, and increased pesticide use [2]. Greenpeace EU food policy ...
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Biodiversity is the basis for Integrated Pest Management
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is now the norm in agriculture and horticulture. All stakeholders – national and European government agencies and public bodies, agriculture and horticulture organisations, businesses, universities and research institutes – agree with this statement. "More biodiversity and the use of resistant plants are crucial to the successful implementation of ...
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Sub-Saharan Africa news in brief
Namibia urged to invest more in science and technology Increasing investment in science and technology could help Namibia reduce poverty, hunger, disease and unemployment, said former president Sam Nujoma last week. Launching the country"s National Science, Engineering and Technology Week, Nujoma said: "If Namibia has to turn around the slow rate of economic development, which is currently ...
By SciDev.Net
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EPA Files Motion for Voluntary Vacatur and Remand of Enlist Duo Registration
On November 24, 2015, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Case No. 14-73353, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Respondent; EPA) filed a motion for voluntary vacatur and remand of EPA’s registration, as amended, of Dow AgroSciences LLC’s (Dow) Enlist Duo herbicide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The motion for vacatur is ...
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EPA OIG Will Evaluate EPA’s Management of Resistance Issues Related to Herbicide Tolerant GE Crops
On March 25, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent a memorandum to Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), announcing that it plans to begin preliminary research to assess EPA’s management and oversight of resistance issues related to herbicide tolerant genetically ...
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Crop Science Society of America Presents Awards in Long Beach
The Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) will recognize the following individuals at the 2010 Awards Ceremony on Oct. 31-Nov. 3 during their Annual Meetings in Long Beach, CA, www.acsmeetings.org. The annual awards are presented for outstanding contributions to crop science through education, national and international service, and research. Jianming Yu, Kansas State University –Early ...
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Can GM crops feed the hungry?
Golden Rice burst into the public imagination a decade ago, in the form of a cover article in Time magazine that claimed the genetically modified (GM) rice could 'save a million kids a year'. The rice gets its golden hue from an excess of beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A that could help half a million children who go blind each year from an often-fatal vitamin A deficiency. But ten ...
By SciDev.Net
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