Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 5244 INDUSTRY NEWS Designed for seed professionals, Industry News delivers the people, industry, business and product news you need to know. Submissions are welcome. Email us at news@issuesink.com. INDUSTRY NEWS Published on the European Plant Science Organisation website, an open letter calls upon the European Parliament to encourage society to respect independent science advice and to condemn physical attacks on scientists. The letter, prompted by an incident at the European Food Safety Authority in Parma June 7, was addressed to the president and vice- president of the European Parliament, as well as the president of the European Commission and the commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. According to the letter, publicly funded scientists are experiencing an increasing number of threats, not just in Europe but around the world including in the United States, Australasia, the Philippines and in Latin America. What makes flowers on a plant almost identical, or internal organs remarkably reproducible? A study of sepals in Arabidopsis plants has revealed the mystery of how such uniformity occurs. Though the research was done on sepals, the bud that holds a plant’s reproductive organs, the researchers suspect similar mechanisms apply to organ development in all organisms. Conducted by an interdisciplinary team led by Cornell researchers, the team found that although cells grow at different rates and in separate directions, such variability averages out over time. The research is crucial for agriculture, where distributors require standard sizes and shapes for ease in shipping fruits and other produce to market. The genetic mysteries associated with alfalfa are being unlocked for plant breeders seeking to make the forage crop hardier and of higher quality. Researchers from the Noble Foundation, University of Minnesota and the National Center for Genome Resources revealed their advancements in sequencing the alfalfa genome July 13 at the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Alfalfa is worth more than $8 billion annually. Breeding more beneficial communities of microbes in and on crop plants might be easier in some plant tissues and growing conditions than others, finds a study led by researchers at Duke University. Previous studies have shown that a plant’s genes can shape its microbiome in the lab, but far fewer studies have measured the extent to which the plant microbiome is under genetic control in the field. Researchers from the University of Adelaide and Shanghai Jiao Tong University are providing the first broad picture of the evolution, and possible functions, of pollen allergens in the plant. Published in the journal Plant Physiology, the researchers believe their work could help reduce or prevent allergic diseases such as asthma and hay fever. Scientists at the John Innes Centre have taken another crucial step toward understanding how plants initiate flowering. This new development uncovers a previously unidentified step in the process of vernalization, which links an important gene responsible for flowering time to the proteins that regulate it. Researchers at DuPont Pioneer report the results of scientific studies demonstrating the potential of CRISPR-Cas as an advanced plant breeding technology to increase the productivity and sustainability of agricultural products. Plant Biotechnology Journal recently featured a Pioneer manuscript describing the first application of CRISPR-Cas to improve a corn plant’s own ability to withstand drought stress. Researchers at DuPont Pioneer uncovered a non-Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein that could provide an alternative method to help farmers control rootworm in North America and Europe. “We have discovered a non-Bt protein that demonstrates insecticidal control of western corn rootworm with a new and different mode of action than Bt proteins currently used in transgenic products,” says Neal Gutterson, DuPont Pioneer vice-president, Research & Development. BUSINESS NEWS The price is right at $66 billion for Monsanto to sign a definitive merger agreement with Bayer. Under the deal, announced Sept. 14, Bayer will acquire Monsanto at $128 per share in an all-cash agreement. According to the companies, the transaction brings together two different, but highly complementary businesses. The combined business will benefit from Monsanto’s leadership in Seeds & Traits and the Climate Corporation platform, along with Bayer’s broad Crop Protection product line across a comprehensive range of indications and crops in all key geographies. While the deal has been approved by Monsanto’s board of directors, Bayer’s board of management and Bayer’s supervisory board, it still is subject to approval of Monsanto’s shareholders. Kent Agri Lab Ltd. recently achieved ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Accreditation. Kent Agri Lab is a privately owned and operated seed lab located in Tupperville, Ont., and has been supplying the agricultural sector with quality seed testing and professional services since 1993. ISO/IEC 17025 is the single most important standard for testing laboratories around the world. Laboratories that are accredited to this international standard have demonstrated technical competence and the ability to produce precise and accurate test data. Agrium and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan have agreed to combine in a merger of equals to create a “world- class integrated global supplier of crop inputs,” according to the companies. Under the agreement, which the boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved, a new parent company will be formed to own both companies. PotashCorp