Interesting ag biotech news from around the world this week includes the promotion of biotech crops by a farmer in Italy and improvements in Asian rice that could result in significant yield increases.

An Italian farmer fights for GM crops

Italian farmer Giorgio Fidenato is determined to promote the benefits of biotech crops, going so far as to plant GM corn on his farm, despite Italy’s moratorium on genetically modified seeds that was enacted in March. “Our biggest goal is to show consumers that it is safe to eat,” he says, in an Associated Press article.

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Here are a few stories that caught our eye this week. From Arkansas to Brussels, policymakers across the globe are considering the benefits of genetically modified (GM) food, and an international consortium continues its work to improve rice crop yields. Read more below.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee

Court decisions curbing sale of genetically modified foods counter ’science-based regulatory decisions’

Court decisions setting back the sale of genetically modified foods do not comply with sound science, according to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). The Hill reports that the senators sent a letter to USDA Sec.Tom Vilsack last month, arguing that such court decisions may “thrust the U.S. regulatory system for agriculture biotechnology into a non-functioning regulatory system.” READ MORE »

Just this past week China’s government issued safety certificates to domestically developed strains of biotech rice and maize after years of review and testing.   This decision is significant as China is the world’s top producer of rice, yielding about 30% of the world’s rice, and the second largest maize producer after the US.

China’s signal of support for agricultural biotechnology has the potential to lead to greater adoption and acceptance of biotech crops globally.

The Wall Street Journal reported on China’s decision. You can read the article here.

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