Category: Industry News

A unique high-yielding cereal grains project in Tasmania is expected to generate a ripple effect across Bass Strait to where mainland grain growers are following the project’s progress with interest. The Grains Research and Development Corporation’s ‘Hyper Yielding Cereals Project’, focused on bridging the gap between actual and potential grain yields, is producing results that… Continue reading Australia: Cereals project opening doors to new high yield possibilities

University of Adelaide researchers have discovered a new complex carbohydrate in barley. The first of its kind to be discovered in over 30 years, the cereal polysaccharide has potential applications in food, medicine and cosmetics. The research by the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, has been published in the American Chemistry… Continue reading New complex carbohydrate discovered in barley

The chili pepper, from an evolutionary perspective, is the tomato’s long-lost spitfire cousin. They split off from a common ancestor 19 million years ago but still share some of the same DNA. While the tomato plant went on to have a fleshy, nutrient-rich fruit yielding bountiful harvests, the more agriculturally difficult chili plant went defensive,… Continue reading Should researchers engineer a spicy tomato?

Plants convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis; however, most crops on the planet are plagued by a photosynthetic glitch, and to deal with it, evolved an energy-expensive process called photorespiration that drastically suppresses their yield potential. Today, researchers from the University of Illinois and U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service report in the journal Science that… Continue reading Scientists engineer shortcut for photosynthetic glitch, boost crop growth 40%

Transgenic tobacco plants engineered with synthetic metabolic pathways designed to bypass the inefficient and costly side effects of natural photorespiration show large increases in productivity – as much as 40% over unmodified tobacco plants, a new study says. The results suggest a method that could be used to overcome the inherent limitations of natural photosynthesis… Continue reading The transgenic key to more productive crops

Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector is strong and growing. However, the challenges the sector is faced with are also growing. Climate change, rising costs, increasing global competition, and international trade deals such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), demand innovation to help make the industry more efficient and competitive. Ontario Genomics has risen to the… Continue reading Game-changing solutions for agriculture

Researchers say Australia’s decision to delay seeding GM canola had negative economic and environmental implications Australia’s decision to delay the adoption of genetically modified canola cost farmers money but more significantly cost the environment, found a study by Canadian and Australian researchers released earlier this year. Stuart Smyth and Scott Biden from the University of… Continue reading Aussie hesitation on GM canola a costly mistake

These days everything from cookies to orange juice carry labels boasting that they’re GMO free – a marketing ploy that assumes consumers still hate, fear or at least disapprove of genetically modified organisms despite reassurances from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. While science journalists have bemoaned this as irrational fear, people might… Continue reading Finally, a GMO to tempt the crowd at whole foods

The climate is not only warming, it is also becoming more variable and extreme. Such unpredictable weather can weaken global food security if major crops such as wheat are not sufficiently resilient—and if we are not properly prepared. A group of European researchers, including Professor Jørgen E. Olesen from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus… Continue reading European wheat lacks climate resilience

Plants absorb the mineral sulfate from groundwater. An international research team led by scientists from Heidelberg University has uncovered how sulfate controls the production of the drought stress hormone ABA in plants and thus contributes to their drought-resistance. These findings improve scientists’ understanding of how the drought-stress signal travels from the roots to the leaves.… Continue reading Sulfate helps plants cope with water scarcity