Test your biotech knowledge!

This week, we’re asking our readers to take CBI’s quiz to see how much you know about ag biotech and to provide feedback on the information you want to see from CBI. All quiz-takers will be eligible to win a copy of the acclaimed book Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food! Now, for other exciting ag biotech news…

Biotechnology is essential to African food security

At a roundtable discussion, Ghanaian biosafety and biotechnology expert Prof. Walter Alhassan stressed that agricultural biotechnology is crucial to his country dealing effectively with food security issues and the impact of a changing and less predictable climate. He added that “after 14 years of commercial use of genetic modification (GM) crops, no scientifically proved risk has been confirmed due to GM application.” Ghana’s National Biosafety Committee will soon be considering applications to permit field trials of protein-enhanced sweet potatoes and insect protected cowpea in the country. Learn more.

Recent anti-biotech ruling on GM beet sugar harms farmers and consumers

A recent federal district court ruling that limits the application of genetically modified beet sugar will have a negative impact on the price and availability of sugar in America, according to a Forbes article. Genetically modified beet sugar accounts for 95 percent of all sugar grown in the United States. The court ruling, which requires a more intensive environmental impact study by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (the agency that already approved the GM beets in 2005) will result in uncertainty in the sugar marketplace, hurting farmers and consumers. Learn more.

The University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment produced an excellent video that asks the big question “how will we feed a growing population without destroying the planet?” The video shares some sobering facts that underline the enormity of the challenges before us, but also provides solutions and ideas on ways to improve agricultural productivity.

UMN Institute on the Environment Director Jonathan Foley wrote a piece that corresponds with the video and discusses “the other” inconvenient truth: “a global crisis in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security and sustainability of our civilization.”

You can watch the video below and also find it on the Institute’s site. You can read Mr. Foley’s piece here.

Last week’s climate talks in Copenhagen produced a draft agreement forming an international working group to reduce global warming emissions from the agriculture sector. According to The New York Times Green Inc. blog, the creation of this group reflects the “rising importance of agriculture in the climate change debate.”

The group will aim to mitigate the carbon emissions from crop and livestock cultivation by focusing on technologies, such as agricultural biotechnology, that can strengthen food security in developing nations despite rising temperatures and an increasing population.

You can learn more about the international working group on agriculture here.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addressed the COP15, discussing the links between agricultural productivity and climate change.  Vilsack points out that increasing food demand is putting more and more pressure on the environment, which is already suffering from a number of factors, including deforestation.

“To the extent that we can increase agricultural productivity we can reduce pressures on land and remove one driver of deforestation.  Science and technology are already playing critical roles in moving us towards this direction,” said Secretary Vilsack.  A supporter of ag biotech, Secretary Vilsack has said, “Certainly, biotechnology is one strategy for more sustainable agriculture.”

The entire video can be seen here.

The transcript of Secretary Vilsack and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s conference call on Food Security can be found here.

Please share your thoughts on agriculture and biotechnology’s role in mitigating climate change.

The latest issue of Rice Today focuses on climate change, and the potential impact extreme weather conditions in Southeast Asia will have on rice production. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is studying ways to better adapt rice crops to monsoons, floods and droughts, and has sent submergence-tolerant and salt-tolerant rice varieties to Myanmar for testing. The IRRI is also hosting an international conference about the future of rice production and climate change in November, 2009.

The issue also plays tributes to the late Nobel Laureate, Dr. Norman Borlaug, and his success in bringing  the “Green Revolution” to India through developing high-yielding crops that help combat hunger and poverty.

You can read more about the latest issue of Rice Today here