b'With eight research stations in Europe, Africa and NorthDLF has outgrown its present head office space in Roskilde and America, MAS Seeds has made the research for high-perfor- has chosen a new, well-suited location in green surroundings mance maize and sunflower varieties adapted to climate chal- in the neighbouring municipality Egedala half hour drive lenges one of the pillars of its development. Since January 7,northeast of Roskilde. Kildedal Bakke is one of the new devel-2022, Benot Petiard is the new director of this strategic depart- opment areas in Egedal and is easily accessed by S-train and ment. He took over from Michal Fourneau. motorway. The area already houses other large companies and will be further developed over the coming years with many new homes and jobs. Construction of the new head office will start in On 01 February, Francesco Mattina took up his duties asthe spring of 2023, and the new domicile is expected to be ready President of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO),for moving in by mid-2024.the EU agency responsible for granting plant variety rights, after being appointed to this role by the Council of the European Union on 20 December 2021. Francesco Mattina, a 51-year- On March 2, 2021, a federal grand jury in Portland returned old Italian national specialised in EU law and in Intellectualan indictment charging the owner of Ground Zero Seeds, a Property law, joined the CPVO in 2013 after gaining internationalgrass seed production and wholesale company based in Yamhill, experience in private law firms as a partner and in the EU publicOregon, for his role in a scheme to defraud the J.R. Simplot sector as a senior legal advisor in industrial property at the EUCompany and its former subsidiary the Jacklin Seed Company. Agency for Intellectual Property (EUIPO). Gregory McCarthy, 68, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.A research team from the James Hutton Institute has recorded the first UK-wide measurement of nitrogen addedNASA scientists might have found a solution for human bone by faba beans. The team found that beans can incorporateloss in space with a new transgenic lettuce that produces more than 400 kg of nitrogen per hectare due to the symbiosisa bone-stimulating hormone, according to the American between legume crops and soil bacteria, which allows them toChemical Society. The lettuce is also said to have the power harness naturally occurring atmospheric nitrogen and negateto prevent osteoporosis in areas with limited resources. NASA the need for added synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. The crops alsoplans to begin a three-year mission in the 2030s where they provide nitrogen to the production system after harvest and thesay transgenic lettuce could be a game changer. Its impactful residual stems, roots, and pods decay into the soil as a naturalbecause on average, astronauts lose more than 1% of bone mass fertiliser, and general soil improver. each month they are in space.Inari and InterGrain announced a strategic collaboration toNew West Genetics announces AMPLIFY; a family of hemp vari-dramatically improve the yield potential of wheat, enhancing theeties with a genetic trait that doubles grain and flower yields. crops long-term viability in the face of an increasingly varia- This trait enables the transformation of hemp from a small acre ble climate. The partnership brings together InterGrains well- specialty crop to a large-scale, commercially competitive hybrid adapted Australian wheat genetics with Inaris predictive designcrop. The scientists at NWG have bred a breakthrough genetic and multiplex gene editing capabilities, promising a future oftrait that creates hemp populations with up to 99% female unique and competitive products that represent a step-changeplants, rather than the typical 50%.in yield potential.NRGene and Philoseed announce a major milestone in the devel-On March 11, the G7 Agriculture Ministers and theopment of high resistant tomato varieties to overcome the Commissioner for Agriculture of the EU met with theirtomato brown rugose fruit virusToBRFV. The companies are Ukrainian colleague, as well as the World Food Programme,in the process of patent protection of this previously unreported the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the Organization ofgenomic region. The highly contagious tomato virus has been Economic Cooperation and Development and the Agriculturalspreading rapidly in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in parts of Mexico Market Information System (AMIS). The organisations reportand the U.S., threatening the tomato industry worldwide.the impacts on food security and the rising number of people suffering from hunger and all forms of malnutrition will only increase the suffering in the region and put pressure on food22nd Century Group, Inc. announced, together with its global security globally. plant research partner KeyGene, a breakthrough in its hemp/cannabis plant research leading to the successful transformation of the hemp/cannabis plant genome using a proprietary plant Provivi and Syngenta Crop Protection announced the com- transformation and regeneration technology and clear protein mercialization of Nelvium, a new mating disruption solution, toexpression by the introduced genes.control detrimental pests effectively and more safely in rice. This crop serves as the primary energy source for half of the worlds people. While pheromones have been utilized in agriculture forMarrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (MBI) has signed an agreement more than 30 years as a pest control method, this will be thewith Corteva Agriscience that expands the opportunity for MBI first time this innovation has been applied to rice in Indonesia,technologies to be used on seeds sold by Corteva for row crops the worlds third-largest rice producer and one of the worldsglobally. Marrone Bio currently provides seed treatment solu-biggest rice consumers. tions to Corteva for use throughout Europe.EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 45'