Recent developments in the world of biofuels
Opinions on the use of crops for biofuel and bioenergy continue to be polarized – are they a ‘good thing’ or not? When are they a ‘good thing’? Who benefits? How do you measure the impacts and their interactions at a local, national and international level on food security, land resources, water, greenhouse gas emissions,…
Climate to exacerbate food insecurity in tropics: report
Areas where food supplies could be worst hit by climate change have been identified in a report from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The report matches future climate change "hotspots" with regions already suffering chronic food problems to identify highly-vulnerable populations, chiefly in Africa and South Asia, but…
Rising food prices could press the poor into hunger, warns Oxfam
This year, hardly a week seems to have gone by without the release of another report on global food systems and food security. Each has a different focus: earlier in May I reported on an FAO report highlighting the problem of food waste, while earlier in the year we published blog articles on reports arguing…
Developing crops for mild drought tolerance
Whilst we continue to have no rain in southern England (I’m sure this won’t last too long…), drought tolerance must be on the mind of many farmers. World reports on climate change and food security have identified water scarcity as a critical factor for agriculture this century. Breeding for drought tolerance is a major research…
Aid donors join forces to fight wheat rust
Emerging strains of stem rust disease of wheat, such as Ug99, are spreading out of East Africa and threatening the world's wheat supply. But the fight against this disease received a boost this week from a collaboration between the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The organisations have…
Global research efforts tackle food security.
On January 28, Dave Simpson wrote on Hand picked (‘Redesigning the global food system’) about the recent release of the Foresight report, The Future of Food and Farming, which argues for fundamental change to the global food system if a rapidly expanding global population is to be fed over the next 40 years. On 10…
Does rust-free rice hold the secret?
All cereals, except rice, are susceptible to rust. Wheat, maize, barley, millet, triticale, and oats all get rust. The spores of rust fungi land on a host plant, germinate, and grow toward a stomatal pore on the leaf surface to initiate infection. Rust infections produce red or yellow pustulating spores that give infected plants a…
It’s not just puppy fat
While it’s a well-known piece of perceived wisdom that owners look like their dogs, there is evidence that obese owners are more likely to have obese dogs. Writing in CAB Reviews, Ian Bland and Julian Hill discuss the importance of owner’s perceptions of exercise and diet in terms of controlling obesity in dogs.It is hard…
Hessian fly heading for the sack
Wheat crops suffer millions of dollars’ worth of damage each year due to the hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor. The most effective control method is genetic resistance, when wheat resistance genes cause death of the attacking larvae by activating a defense response against avirulent hessian flies. Unfortunately this has led to flies that can overcome resistant…
Fast but furious: High yielding plants linked to poor pest resistance
Breeding plants for fast growth and high yield may make them more susceptible to pests and diseases. New research from the University of Zurich using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has confirmed long suspected theory, showing that when plants put more resources into growth they often shut down some defence genes.