College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley

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Professor Kris Niyogi discusses algae's natural capacity to produce energy and its potential use in carbon-neutral biofuels.

Posted by Eva St. Clair at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Regulatory changes enacted a decade ago appear to be responsible for dramatically slowing the flow of quality-improving agricultural biotechnology innovations to a mere trickle, reports a team of agricultural economists and biotechnology experts.

Findings from the study, published in the August issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, suggest that the slowdown may have lasting social welfare costs, such as the delay of nutritional improvements, production efficiencies and environmental protections.

"One of the great frustrations in the agricultural biotechnology community has been the failure of many new products with enhanced quality traits -- such as nutritional content, ripening control and processing attributes -- to reach consumers and processers," said Gregory Graff, an agricultural economist now at Colorado State University.

Graff led the study as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis, working with Alan Bennett, a UC Davis plant science professor and executive director of the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture, and David Zilberman, a professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley.

Continue reading "Regulatory Woes Blocked Flow of Agbiotech Innovations " »

Posted by Cyril at 4:34 PM | Permalink

Scientists from opposite sides of the world have created an improved variety of wheat by discovering how to prevent the phenomenon of premature sprouting, which can wipe out an entire crop.

The researchers, based at UC Berkeley and in Zhengzhou, China, have found a way to control “pre-harvest sprouting”—a situation in which wheat seeds sprout before they are harvested. This international problem destroys about 20 percent of all wheat in China annually. By overcoming this problem, the researchers expect to dramatically increase wheat yields and reduce the cost of products such as wheat noodles, a staple of the Chinese diet. The same procedure could be applied to barley, increasing yields for grain used in malting for beer.

Continue reading "Engineered wheat thwarts pre-harvest sprouting" »

Posted by Cyril at 10:38 AM | Permalink

Dr. Rajiv Shah, director of Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, delivers an overview of the Foundation’s programs that addressing global poverty and hunger, and a panel of experts from the College of Natural Resources responds by discussing the challenges and opportunities to improving the lives of smallholder farmers and their families through philanthropy, technology, and policy. With questions from the audience.

Posted by Cyril at 3:59 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Professor Tasios Melis is unlocking the chemical power of green algae to create clean hydrogen fuel that eliminates air-polluting fossil fuels in its production. Check out "Power of Green," a segment from Fueling America, the latest episode of USDA CSREES video magazine.

Posted by Cyril at 9:16 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Growing genetically engineered (GE) crops in the United States continues to stir debate, but some University of California scientists believe attention should now be focused on how farmers opposed to the technology and those in favor of it can step back from the controversy and successfully produce and market their crops in the way they personally see fit.

Continue reading "Is peaceful coexistence with biotechnology possible?" »

Posted by Cyril at 3:17 PM | Permalink