The University of Adelaide, media release – 25 November 2020
An international research collaboration has unlocked new genetic variation in wheat and barley – a major boost for the global effort in breeding higher-yielding wheat and barley varieties.

“Wheat and barley are staple food crops around the world but their production needs to increase dramatically to meet future food demands,” says the University of Adelaide’s Associate Professor Ken Chalmers who, together with his School of Agriculture, Food & Wine colleagues Professor Emeritus Peter Langridge and Professor Robbie Waugh, led the Adelaide research.

“It is estimated that wheat production alone must increase by more than 50% over current levels by 2050 to feed the growing global population.”

Professor Chengdao Li at Murdoch University also played a key role in the Australian component of the barley sequencing.

Source: CSIRO Media Release – 25 November 2020

Professor Toby Walsh and Dr TJ Higgins from CSIRO have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)…

Dr Higgins has spent the latter part of his career working with an international team of researchers to protect cowpeas from the damaging legume pod-borer.

Cowpeas or black-eyed peas are a major source of protein for 200 million people in West Africa, sometimes referred to as ‘poor-man’s meat’.

Through breeding the Bt gene into cowpea, Dr Higgins and his African colleagues have given the plant its own built in insect protection.

In late 2019 the first insect-resistant cowpea variety was approved in Africa.

[Dr Higgins is the Chair of ABCA’s Expert Scientific Panel.]

Source: Farm Online – 27 November 2020

Just two years after the bread wheat genome was finally mapped for the first time, a crack team of international scientists, including researchers from the University of Western Australia, have sequenced and analysed the genomes of 16 key wheat varieties from around the globe…

Two UWA researchers, Ian Small and Joanne Melonek, from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology and the UWA School of Molecular Sciences contributed to the study through their globally recognised expertise in a family of genes known as Restorer-of-fertility-like (Rfl). These genes have valuable applications in wheat hybrid breeding programs.

Source: Stock Journal – 05 November 2020

South Australia’s Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham has rejected all proposals from 11 local council areas hoping to gain genetically-modified food crop-free status, saying the applications did not meet the legislation’s terms. 

On Monday, Mr Basham announced all farmers in SA – except those on Kangaroo Island – would have the opportunity to grow GM crops if they wanted next season.

Source: Growing Produce – 28 October 2020

Okanagan Specialty Fruits the developer and grower of ‘Arctic’ apples, the only genetically modified apple, is reporting the largest combined harvest of its varieties, which have been bioengineered to prevent browning when sliced.

The ‘Arctic Golden‘ harvest yielded approximately 8,400 bins or almost 8 million pounds, the company said. Meanwhile, the ‘Arctic Granny’ harvest yielded approximately 5,500 bins or 5 million pounds. This doubles the size of the 2019 harvest, OSF reported.

Source: Idaho State Journal – 28 October 2020

It’s only been a few years since US sugar beet farmers faced a potential financial crisis due to negative public perceptions about food products derived from biotechnology. Nowadays, however, the sugar beet industry is flipping the narrative. 

“We have lots of data,” said Scott Herndon, vice president and general counsel with the American Sugarbeet Growers Association.

“We submitted something to the National Academy of Sciences where we identified 25 environmental gains achieved through biotech seeds related to water, soil and air.”

Source: Genetic Literacy Project – 21 October 2020

The Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) has announced it will in November officially request approval from the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) to put GM cowpea variety into the hands of farmers outside confined experimental fields.

SARI is one of 13 institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) responsible for the development of improved crop varieties for the benefit of farmers in the northern part of the country and beyond.

Source: The Western Producer – 22 October 2020

Argentina has become the first country in the world to approve GM wheat for cultivation and consumption…Researchers say the variety, in which a sunflower gene was inserted, is 20 percent more productive during drought years…Drought-tolerant wheat caught the attention of crop developers and agencies in Saskatchewan, appropriate in a year that has seen little rain since late summer and extremely dry soil conditions in many parts of the province.

“The actual performance of the wheat, we’d be very interested in that and understanding how the mechanism for conferring more drought tolerance works,” said Harvey Brooks, of the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission.

Brooks emphasizes that the success of HB4 wheat hinges on market acceptance. While it has been approved in Argentina, that country exports 85 percent of its crop to neighbouring Brazil, which has yet to sign off.