According to lead author, Michele Marvier, of Santa Clara University, ”We can now answer the question: Do Bt crops have effects on beneficial insects and worms? The answer is that it depends to a large degree upon the type of comparison one makes. When Bt crops are compared to crops sprayed with insecticides, the Bt crops come out looking quite good. But when Bt crops are compared to crops without insecticides, there are reductions of certain animal groups that warrant further investigation.”

Plant geneticists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, may have solved one of the fundamental problems in genetically engineered or modified (also known as GM or GMO or Biotech) crop agriculture: genes leaking into the environment. In a recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Rutgers Professor Pal Maliga and research associate Zora Svab advocate an alternative and more secure means of introducing genetic material into a plant. In GM crops today, novel genes are inserted into a cell nucleus but can eventually wind up in pollen grains or seeds that make their way out into the environment.

Monsanto Company announced today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a natural refuge option for its Bollgard II insect-protected cotton planted from Texas east, excluding some Texas counties. Now cotton producers in these eligible regions can take advantage of non-cotton crops and other plants as a refuge for certain pests and will not be required to plant a non-Bt cotton refuge for Bollgard II cotton. A structured, non-Bt cotton refuge continues to be required as part of an insect resistance management (IRM) program for Bollgard cotton in all states, and for Bollgard II cotton planted outside eligible areas.

The genetic mutation recently isolated by Cornell plant geneticist Li Li and colleagues -- and described in the December issue of the journal Plant Cell -- allows the vegetable to hold more beta-carotene, which causes the orange color and is a precursor to the essential nutrient vitamin A. While cauliflower and many staple crops have the ability to synthesize beta-carotene, they are limited partially because they lack a ”metabolic sink,” or a place to store the compound. [...] Orange cauliflower was first discovered in a farmer’s white cauliflower field in Canada about 30 years ago and is now available at supermarkets.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center today announced that the Howard G. Buffett Foundation has granted more than $3 million to fund research to enhance resistance to virus infection and increase the nutritional content of sweet potato for Africa. [...] In the 1990s, a project to control the disease caused by SPFMV was initiated in a collaborative between a Kenyan research institute and Monsanto Company, with limited success. Researchers later demonstrated that the disease was caused by co-infection by SPFMV (+) SPCSV, rather than by single virus.

More than 50 years after helping to uncover the double-helix structure of DNA, James D. Watson has seen his own genome, and said on Thursday he will publish it for science to use. ”I’m thrilled,” said Watson, 79, who with Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for work in the early 1950s identifying the structure of the human genetic code. Crick died in 2004.

Monsanto is one of the few patentees that sues individuals for patent infringement. In Monsanto’s case, the infringers are farmers who allegedly save & replant Monsanto’s patented genetically modified seeds violation of their ”Technology Agreement”. When McFarling was found liable, the Missouri jury assessed damages of $40 per seed-bag and the court issued an injunction.

Remember the important announcement that was going to come out on the use of GMOs in wheat? Don’t hold your breath. ”As the soldiers went back to headquarters the generals apparently put a damper on the enthusiasm. I had suspected this might happen and hoped that my comments would provide some incentive to make a more bold and unified statement.”

The European Union is making slow progress — but progress nonetheless — toward acceptance of genetically modified crops, said Hugh Grant, chief executive of Creve Coeur-based Monsanto Co. At the moment, ”financially it’s immaterial, but strategically it’s important” to Monsanto, Grant told analysts at the annual Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.

The Department of Justice on Thursday altered the landscape of the U.S. cottonseed industry by giving its blessing to Monsanto Co.’s $1.5 billion plan to buy Delta & Pine Land Co. Now the deal awaits approval by federal court. If it goes through, D&PL will end its reign as the last major cottonseed company not engaged in developing its own biotech traits. Biotech crop companies that don’t own cotton seeds will be forced to partner with a competitor.