Biotech Updates

High adoption of biotech crops continued in 2018, according to the ISAAA Report, Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2018. On the 23^rd year of commercial cultivation of biotech crops, 26 countries grew 191.7 million hectares of biotech crops, bringing the accumulated biotech crop area to 2.5 billion hectares, a ~113-fold increase since 1996, the first year of commercial planting of biotech crops. This makes biotech crops the fastest crop technology adopted in recent times.

Genetic Engineering Helps Increase Availability of Improved Organic Seeds

Mordor Intelligence reports that the global market for organic seeds was valued at USD 1,651.5 million in 2018 and is projected to reach a compound annual growth rate of 12.7% from 2019-2024. Polaris Market Research predicts that the global organic seed market will reach USD 5.35 billion by 2026. The increased availability of improved hybrid organic seeds could be attributed to molecular techniques such as cisgenesis and transgenesis used by several industrialized countries. The increasing demand for naturally derived products is the main reason that is expected to drive the organic seed industry over the next couple of years.

Australian Scientists Develop New Method to Produce Drought-Resilient Wheat Quickly, Cheaply, and Accurately

Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU), ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, and CSIRO Agriculture and Food have developed a new method to identify drought-resilient wheat quickly, cheaply, and accurately. Research leaders Dr. Arun Yadav and Dr. Adam Carroll said selecting wheat that can grow better during short- to medium-term drought is vital to help fight food insecurity around the world.

North America Genome Editing Market Projected to Reach US$ 4,000 Mn by 2025

"The growth of the genome editing market is primarily attributed to the rise in the production of genetically modified crops and rising prevalence of the genetic diseases," according to the latest Genome Editing Market Growth Analysis Report. Overall, the market is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2% from 2018 to 2025. Despite rigid biosafety regulations on genome editing in the region, the emergence of markets centered on precision and regenerative medicines provides more growth opportunities for the North American genome editing market in the next couple of years.

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GM APPROVAL UPDATES

The Philippines approved the canola event LBFLFK for food, feed, and processing.
The Philippines approved the cotton event GFM cry1A for commercial cultivation.
Brazil approved the wheat event HB4 for commercial cultivation.
The Philippines approved the soybean event GMB 151 for food, feed, and processing.
The Philippines approved the eggplant event EE-1 for cultivation
The USA approved the canola event MON94100 for food and feed.

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Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.

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