In This Issue:

	Latest Pocket K: Delayed Ripening Tech		Hunt: “GM Food is not Harmful”
	Romanian Farmers Benefit from GM Soybean		Cancun Conference to Tackle Trade Issues
	Pew Releases Updates on GM Crops in the U.S.		US and China Sign MOU on Agriculture
	New Banana Lab in Uganda		Pakistan to Start Labeling its Agri Products
	Ugandan President Supports GM		MicroRNAs Control Leaf Shape

Brookes cites other benefits that farmers have gained:

• Increased convenience and management flexibility
  
• Small savings from harvest costs as less time is spent on harvesting
  
• Follow-on corn crops benefited from improved weed control and hence reduced use of herbicides

PEW RELEASES UPDATES ON GM CROPS IN THE U.S.

The United States continues to be the world leader in the production of genetically modified (GM) crops, accounting for over two-thirds of all biotech crops planted worldwide. Top GM crops produced in the country are corn, soybeans, and cotton. South Dakota is the top GM corn and soybean producer while Arkansas is number one in GM cotton. These are the major highlights in a brief issued by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. It updated its fact sheet on “GM Crops in the United States” originally published in 2001.

GM food crops grown by US farmers include corn, cotton, soybeans, canola, squash, and papaya. The adoption of GM crops continues to increase, up from 3.7 million acres in 1996 to 96.3 million acres in 2002, and 101.5 million acres in 2003.

Data from the USDA reveal that farmers in every state in the continental US planted some GM corn in 2001. Eleven states were accountable for 84% of the country’s GM corn crop in 2003. GM soybean was also a popular choice among farmers. All of the 14 top GM soy planting states reported planting over 70% GM soy. For the same year, five of the seven top GM cotton producing states reported planting over 90% of their cotton acreage with GM varieties.

For the full report visit http://pewagbiotech.org/resources/factsheets/display.php3?FactsheetID=2

NEW BANANA LAB IN UGANDA

A new laboratory for improving bananas through biotechnology was opened recently in Uganda. The new laboratory will be based at the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). Having cell-culture facilities, the rearing of existing strains in a disease-free environment, and the production of clean planting stock is now possible.

However, the Institute’s main purpose is to genetically modify bananas. The fruit’s sterility hampers breeding to fight off pests and diseases. Crossing disease-resistant varieties with popular crops is only possible through gene insertion.

According to Emile Frison, Director, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute in Rome, Italy, the Ugandans will now be able to use biotechnology based on their own research priorities.

Frison added that “in no other crop is there stronger justification for genetic transformation.” In Uganda, bananas are farmed solely for local consumption. The crop is widely used for brewing beer, and is a cornerstone of most meals. Ugandas are said to grow and eat 11 million tons of East African highland bananas each year.

Read the full story at http://www.nature.com/nsu/030818/030818-17.html. A similar article is available at http://www.futureharvest.org/pdf/Biotech_inauguration_final.pdf

UGANDAN PRESIDENT SUPPORTS GM

Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, has expressed his support for biotechnology, and has allowed the importation of processed GM food. In a talk at the launching of a new biotechnology laboratory at Kiwanda Research Institute, Museveni said that after trying to understand the technology better he was “now fully mobilized to accept biotechnology”.

During the same ceremony, Kisamba Mugerwa, the Minister of Agriculture said that the Ugandan Government was in the process of formulating a policy to regulate biotechnology and address biosafety concerns. "The reality is that biotechnology cannot be wished away or ignored," he said.

HUNT: “GM FOOD IS NOT HARMFUL”

Timothy Hunt, British Nobel Prize Winner, stated at a European technology forum in Austria that genetically modified crops pose no danger to humans. Hunt stated that contrary to the perception that gene technology was putting impurities into nature, food already contains manipulated DNA.

For Hunt, it does not matter whether DNA was transferred from one plant to another by a human being or whether this was done by an insect. He also argued that “if gene manipulated organisms can grow better in the developing countries, we should not deny the population there these advantages merely because we do not agree with gene research.”

Hunt said the reason for popular skepticism was a “philosophical problem” as humans tend to exclude themselves from nature.

See the new release at http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=79&art_id=qw1061569261305B223&set_id=1

CANCUN CONFERENCE TO TACKLE TRADE ISSUES

World leaders will gather in Cancún, Mexico for the fifth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference on 10 to 14 September 2003. Discussions will center on action that will ensure progress toward an ecologically sustainable trade environment for the benefit of the world's rural poor.

"The upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancún provides an opportunity for world governments to agree on a plan to make agricultural trade more fair," said Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla, senior research fellow of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). It is time to remove the trade-distorting measures that hurt poor people in developing countries."

Diaz-Bonilla’s comments came about as a result of an IFPRI study stating that protectionism and subsidies by industrialized nations cost developing countries about US$24 billion annually in lost agricultural and agro-industrial income. Latin America and the Caribbean lose about US$8.3 billion in annual income from agriculture, Asia loses some US$6.6 billion, and sub-Saharan Africa, close to US$2 billion.

Trade-distorting measures of industrialized nations also displace more than US$40 billion of net agricultural exports per year from developing countries. Elimination of these measures would triple developing countries' net agricultural trade. "The trade policies of the industrialized countries cause great harm to the economies of many developing nations which depend heavily upon agriculture," added Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla.

IFPRI adds that more than half of the displaced exports are caused by the policies of the European Union; somewhat less than a third are due to US policies; Japan and other high-income Asian countries cause another 10 percent.

More on the Cancun conference at http://www.futureharvest.org. View additional details on the IFPRI report at http://www.ifpri.org.

US AND CHINA SIGN MOU ON AGRICULTURE

US Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman and China’s Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) after wide-ranging discussions on trade issues. The MOU aims to promote continued bilateral cooperation in scientific research and agricultural trade between the United States and China.

The MOU outlines efforts relating to research, trade and trade capacity-building activities aimed at strengthening scientific cooperation and trade relations between the US Department of Agriculture, and the Chinese government. Areas such as agricultural biotechnology, crop research, food processing, and marketing and scientific issues relating to international agricultural agreements are the top priorities.

Says Veneman, “through the MOU, we have established a framework for a greatly expanded program cooperation and partnership in some critically important areas for agriculture, such as biotechnology.” The MOU also establishes a high-level biotechnology joint working group.

A copy of the MOU is available at http://www.fas.usda.gov/icd/rsed/china/0803mou.htm

PAKISTAN TO START LABELING ITS AGRI PRODUCTS

The European Union (EU) have recently asked Pakistan to start labeling its agricultural products, regardless whether it is GMO-free or not. Says an official from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in Islamabad, unless Pakistan complies with this, the EU will stop its imports of agriculture products from the said country.

The official added that, at present, there is no laboratory in Pakistan that can identify and properly label which food products are genetically modified. Unless a new laboratory is established, Pakistan may loose agricultural exports amounting to $200 to $250 million per year.

The EU is said to have also set the same rules for all the other countries with which it is engaged in agricultural trade.

Read the full story at http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-8-2003_pg5_4

MICRORNAS CONTROL LEAF SHAPE

A collaborative research on microRNAs by the Oregon State University (OSU), Max Planck Institute in Germany and the Salk Institute in California may yet led to profound implications for advances in agriculture. Researchers led by James Carrington, of the Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology at OSU, says that their study on tiny pieces of RNA called microRNA affect gene expression and leaf shape in plants and thus may be a first step in changing ideas on how plants control their morphology.

According to the researchers, the "flatness" of a plant leaf is of considerable biological importance. "Plants evolved flat leaves for important functional reasons," Carrington said. "A flat surface captures more light and energy from the sun. Plants also have cells on their top surfaces that are specially designed for that purpose. On the underside, leaves are more specialized for gas exchange. The whole process is remarkably efficient, and that is due in part to formation of leaves with the proper shape."

A better understanding of the role of microRNAs in plant growth and development is expected to make the process of genetic manipulation of plants more precise and lead to new opportunities for more efficient or productive plants. "We will probably discover microRNAs that function in most aspects of plant growth and development, including flowering, root structure and seed production," Carrington said. "The potential impacts of this could be quite large."

Inquiries on the research may be sent to James Carrington at carrington@orst.edu.