Source: CSIRO Media Release – 25 May 2021
A 50-year partnership that enables Australian growers to produce the highest yielding cotton in the world and has boosted earnings by more than $5 billon is being celebrated in Canberra.

The CSD-CSIRO partnership has resulted in 116 cotton varieties delivered to growers, which have returned more than $5 billion to the cotton industry and through the delivery of third-party GM traits reduced insecticide use by 85 per cent and cut herbicide use by 52 per cent. Australian cotton farming is also the most water efficient in the world…

Source: Cornell Alliance for Science – 21 May 2021

The World Health Organization has issued a new set of guidelines to shepherd the research and development of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes.

“We urgently need innovative approaches to help control mosquito-borne diseases, which have a devastating impact around the world…

GM mosquitoes is one such approach, but we want to be sure it’s fully and responsibly evaluated, as outlined in a recent WHO position statement,” said Dr John Reeder, director of the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR).

Source: North Queensland Register – 19 May 2021

Farmers in states that have had access to genetically modified canola (GM) for some years say their South Australian counterparts will find the opportunity to grow the crops a useful addition to their agronomic toolkit. Western Australian farmer and WAFarmers grains section president Mic Fels said the technology had been widely adapted in the west.

“As has been said many times before it is not a magic bullet, but it has had a super fit for many of our croppers,” Mr Fels said…

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 23 May 2021

Mice plagues, such as the one ravaging parts of inland NSW, could become a thing of the past if scientists succeed in modifying the genes of the rodents so that populations crash before they can take off. Paul Thomas, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, is part of an international consortium including the CSIRO and the US Department of Agriculture, studying how to safely alter genes to make female mice infertile.

The techniques learned could potentially be applied to other damaging invasive mammals such as cats and foxes…

Source: American Council on Science and Health, 11 May 2021

The first customers have lined up for AquaBounty’s genetically engineered (GE) salmon, committing to purchase five metric tons of the fish that will be harvested at the end of May. After 30 years of regulatory roadblocks, lawsuits, and activist opposition, AquAdvantage salmon may finally be heading to US restaurants and grocery stores.

AquaBounty’s engineered Atlantic salmon will be the first biotech animal sold in US restaurants and grocery stores. The fish contain a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and an on-off switch from the ocean pout. Unlike conventional salmon, AquaBounty’s fish grow year-round, greatly reducing the amount of feed they consume and enabling important environmental benefits as a result. Only sterile females are produced for consumption in the company’s tightly secured Indiana facility…

Source: ABC Rural, 13 May 2021

It’s a tiny caterpillar that’s difficult to detect, but for more than a year it’s been having a massive impact on crops in Australia, especially corn. 

Fall armyworm (FAW) has infiltrated six states and territories and is so hard to control farmers are whispering about a method that’s been off the table for almost two decades — genetically modified (GM) corn.

Maize Association of Australia chairman Stephen Wilson said questions were being raised about whether GM corn could manage the armyworm incursion.