In some way, agricultural science is not unlike a complex multi-stage mars mission, the journey from basic scientific discovery to a fully approved new product or technology can span 10 to 20 years and requires multi-million dollars investments.

Five exiting tech developments and trends, all announced last week, that will change the way we produce fruits and vegetables over the next decade.

A tomato made with CRISPR/Cas9 has been approved for growing and consumption in Japan.

Last week, the UK has launched a consultation on gene editing, backed by the National Farmers Union. The consultation will focus on preventing gene-editing organisms from being regulated in the same way as genetically modified crops. 

Achieving the SDG to end hunger will require an order of magnitude more investments by both public and private sector actors, more cross-sectoral collaboration and public-private coordination and last but not least, more practical research engagement with and not just about smallholders and their families.

A team of IITA researchers comparing the performance of the East Africa Highland banana, found that some hybrids had bunch weights that were up to two and a half times heavier than those of their best performing parents. It seems that more than ever, banana breeding is possible, it is back and here to stay.

A new, must-read report on genome editing discusses the impact of the ruling on present research and developments in plant breeding in Europe.

The United Nations' World Food Program received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its worldwide efforts to combat hunger amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation together with Plantum, have launched the SeedNL partnership as a concrete implementation of their shared ambition to contribute to ending hunger in the world.

Earlier this week, scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work in genome editing.

My journey from working for larger multinational Ag businesses to running my own consulting business has been a challenging step into the unknown. Here is my story.