Researchers from Kenya’s Egerton University and Makerere University in Uganda begin a pilot program to mass breed desert locusts as a sustainable, protein-rich food source for animals and humans. The locusts are grown in giant domed-shaped, temperature- and humidity-controlled greenhouses equipped with wire gauze cages to stop them escaping. The Locust4Industry project aims to enable industrial exploitation of the desert locust as a food source.
Thailand’s department of agriculture legalizes genome editing for plant breeding, becoming the 25th country to formally approve gene-edited crops to increase yields and reduce chemical pesticide use. The first plants to benefit from gene-editing technology will be maize, soybean and sugar cane.
