The IRRI’s action plan recommends increasing biodiversity on rice farms and regulating the marketing and use of insecticides – including banning certain insecticides in rice.

Global food demand could double by 2050, according to a new projection by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology in the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences, and colleagues, including Jason Hill, assistant professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

The rapidly increasing entrepreneurial spirit witnessed in Vietnam encouraged participants of the U.S. Grains Council’s Corn Mission about future opportunities for U.S. agricultural products.

Avocado—which originated in Central America, particularly in high-elevation areas of Mexico and Guatemala—is now being produced commercially throughout the tropics and subtropics with Asian and Pacific Rim countries including India, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia and New Zealand becoming increasingly important producers. Wherever grown, avocado is plagued by fungal pathogens infecting the leaves and fruit and one in particular called anthracnose caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.