CropsSorghum scientists from 20 countries meet in Texas as drought splits the US crop
At the Global Sorghum Conference in Lubbock, growers' leaders said new funding and gene editing could speed breeding for drought, heat and water scarcity.
Tags
Plant breeding
Crops
CropsCanadian grain groups call for a plant breeding strategy that serves every crop
Producer organisations want renewed multi-year federal funding before public breeding money lapses in 2028, especially for crops private breeders overlook.
VegetablesScientists find a lost tomato flavour gene that breeders can bring back
A study of 558 tomato varieties and wild relatives in PNAS identified 337 genetic associations with flavour and a lipase gene, Sl-LIP100, whose better version arose in Ecuador and was partly lost in modern breeding.
AgrotechThe AI companies reshaping crop breeding, from digital twins to gene networks
Seed World profiles firms using AI to predict plant performance and find genes for complex traits, including Google spin-off Heritable Agriculture, Belgium's Rainbow Crops, France's Plantik and North Carolina's Avalo.
AgrotechPlantik and Hudson River team up on a heat-tolerant strawberry trait
France-based Plantik Biosciences and Hudson River Biotechnology are combining machine-learning trait discovery with transgene-free genome editing to build a heat-tolerance trait that any strawberry breeder can license.
Agrotech
BeanGPT: Guelph breeder uses AI to pick bean crosses, first variety due in two years
University of Guelph breeder Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi says an AI model trained on years of dry bean data narrows tens of thousands of possible crosses to a few hundred, and the first variety selected with it should reach growers in about two years.
CropsFour-year US study uses genetics and AI to breed corn that stays standing
A multi-university project with Clemson researchers will grow about 1,000 corn inbred lines to find the genetic markers behind strong stalks, using machine learning and automated sensing at harvest.
CropsSome barley varieties naturally curb the soil microbes that waste nitrogen
A University of Aberdeen and James Hutton Institute study found varieties such as Optic suppress ammonia-oxidising microbes by up to 30%, a heritable trait breeders could select to cut nitrogen losses.
CropsMontana State wheat varieties top the state's 2026 variety survey
The NASS wheat and barley variety survey shows MSU's solid-stem Dagmar and Bobcat leading Montana spring and winter wheat, while barley area rose by 100,000 acres.
FruitsEmbrapa's BRS Áurea pear aims to cut Brazil's reliance on imported pears
Bred over twenty years for southern Brazil, the new pear resists leaf spot, scab and fruit fly and needs little winter chill, in a country that imports 90-95% of its pears.
Vegetables
Minnesota's Paisley Purple potato finds its niche with small growers and chefs
A purple potato from the University of Minnesota's breeding programme that keeps its colour when cooked is being grown for farmers markets and local restaurants.
Crops
Biographica and Hudson River join forces to take crop traits from gene target to edited variety
A UK gene-discovery startup and a Dutch genome-editing specialist will offer breeders a single route from trait problem to edited plant, starting with tomatoes.
CropsIndian rice lines carrying four drought genes yield 36-82% more under water stress
Breeding lines that stack four drought-tolerance QTLs into the variety DRR Dhan 50 by marker-assisted conventional crossing out-yielded their parent by 36 to 82 per cent under drought in a study by Malla Reddy University, ICAR-IIRR, Central Agricultural University and ICAR-NIPB, a route that needs