Researchers have reported successful field trials of genetically modified virus-resistant potatoes in Argentina. They are resistant to potato virus Y, transmitted by insects, Argentine biotechnology association Argenbio reports. Researchers led by Ministry of Science and Technology’s national scientific counsel, the Conicet, scientist Dr Fernando Bravo produced two GM lines and field tested around 2,000 plants across Argentina over a six-year period. They found no virus present in the GM ...

The African Union Commission and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation have agreed a memorandum of understanding to develop and deliver agricultural technology to African farmers. The continent has one of the lowest levels of farm productivity in the world as a result of the absence of agricultural technologies to deal with pests and diseases that face the region’s smallholder farmers, the partners say. The Foundation works in eight sub-Sahara African countries. Priority areas for the ...

Two research projects conducted by current and former members of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Plant Survival have shown that priming a plant’s defences also increases disease or pest resistance in its descendants. In one study, researchers from the Swiss University of Neuchatel treated thale cress plants with either β-amino-butyric acid or an avirulent isolate of Pseudomonas spp bacteria to prime defence responses. Both substances are harmless to the environment ...

UK plant biotechnology company, Plant Biosciences (PBL– Norwich, Norfolk), has been granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office for methods of inducing post transcriptional gene silencing in plants and animals using RNA interference. The patent (US 8,097,710) describes methods and compositions for use of short RNA sequences for inducing silencing in living organisms. It joins two other related patents (US 6,753,139 and US 7,704,688 ) based on the work of professor Sir David Baulcombe ...

The non-crop market for pesticides has recorded continuing growth in almost every major country against expectations. A survey conducted by US market research company GfK Kynetecin 2009 estimated the global market at well over $21,000 million at the end user level, defying the economic recession. This positive trend has been in evidence since 1992, with data portraying the resilience of a fast-growing, profitable industry for active ingredient manufacturers and distributors. All parts of the ...

Three decades of herbicide innovation have brought more than 130 new active ingredients, 1 dramatic increases in the effectiveness and reliability of weed control in virtually all major agronomic crops, and the launch of glyphosate-tolerant transgenics, which changed everything. While the pace of innovation as measured by ai launches averaged ~5.5 ai/year during the 1980s and 1990s, it dropped to just ~2 new ai/year since that time (Figure 1). Even more foreboding is the precipitous decline in ...

Modern crop protection chemistry has come a long way since the inventions of the early 20th century such as DDT and the auxinic herbicides began to make their impact on agriculture and public health. We have witnessed huge advances in terms of falling application rates, increased potency and spectrum, as well as greater margins of safety to consumers and the environment. The economic benefits to growers and the provision of plentiful, high-quality and safe food to society are testimony to the ...

Patent protection plays a significant role in many industries. The crop protection industry is no exception and is one in which the high cost of developing new and improved products and bringing them to market is only commercially viable with the security and exclusivity that patents provide. As a result, patents have been a mainstay of many agrochemical businesses for a significant number of years. The crop protection industry has played its part in the development of patent law and practice. ...