This blog is based on the ‘Governance of Digital Sequence Information and Impacts for Access and Benefit Sharing’ technical report which you can find here. Digital Sequence Information (DSI) How do you design an access and benefit sharing (ABS) system that benefits both providers and users of plant genetic resources Read more…
Spring has sprung. As the sun and warm temperatures melt away the remnants of winter, farmers across Canada are gearing up for seeding. Throughout the winter, hours have been spent choosing the best crop varieties for each farm operation. While this happens yearly, have you ever stopped to consider the Read more…
Establishing DivSeek to drive innovation collaborations Problems with the provision of food are an annual occurrence, at multiple locations across the globe. On any given day, it’s estimated that 800 million individuals are food insecure. Fortunately, many scientists have been working hard to find new ways of increasing food security, Read more…
For an industry that is seemingly under continuous attack by anti-science and anti-corporate idealists, there has been some positive press for agriculture, food and science to celebrate. For agriculture using modern farming practices of genetically modified crops, chemicals and synthetic fertilizers, and scientific advancement, this has been a pretty decent Read more…
Poison Squad set to determine acceptable limits for toxins in food If you’ve ever had the misfortune of eating something that results in food poisoning, then you know the agony that results. Curled up and shivering on the bathroom floor is not how any of us would want to spend Read more…
Or, be sure to regulate the process, rather than the product In 2002, Europe establishing a new regulatory agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to resolve its regulation problems regarding GM crops and other food safety challenges. This new agency assesses the risk of the process used to create Read more…
Is Halloween a front to sell more of a sugary GM plant? What is scarier? The ghosts and goblins that come to your door tonight trick or treating or the candy you’re handing out that likely has sugar in it that comes from a GM plant? Well, some would have Read more…
How conventional plant breeding has evolved in the digital age While I generally have a pretty decent memory, my recollections of high school biology in the early 1980s consists of trying to get a microscope to focus properly so that I could see an onion skin cell. Rarely could I Read more…
United Nations Biodiversity Conference At what point does prevention and precaution trump science and innovation? Depending on who one asks, the responses would run the full gamut from never to always. My view is that as long as the identifiable risks can be adequately addressed, then one should proceed. Of Read more…
International effort to provide Ethiopia with food security through pulses Pulses are dry edible seeds, relatively inexpensive to produce and purchase, which are chalked full of nutrients, protein, and fibre. Globally, pulses are an important crop and food source, like in Ethiopia where pulses represent ~14% of Ethiopia’s cropland. After Read more…