The JRC Scientific Policy Report provides the results of a study on "Plant Breeding for an EU bio-based economy 2020" which was carried out by Arcadia International in 2012. The study is based on a literature search, a workshop, interviews with experts and a survey directed at public breeding...

The European Union has adopted recently an ambitious strategy for developing the Bioeconomy in Europe. In this context, algae represent an emerging biological resource of great importance for its potential applications in different fields, including food and feed. Algae have been already used as...

The JRC-IPTS organized a workshop on "Comparative approaches for new plant breeding techniques" in September 2011. In this workshop, the regulatory framework for biotechnology derived crops with specific focus on approaches for new plant breeding techniques in Argentina, Australia, Canada, the...

The EU is currently evaluating different policy options towards the use of cloning or products derived from cloned animals in the food chain. This study presents a first attempt to quantify the likely effects of different policy scenarios on international trade and EU domestic production. In the...

The report provides proceedings of the "Workshop on public-private partnerships in plant breeding" which was organised by JRC-IPTS in September 2013. It contains a summary and evaluation of the presentations and discussions from the workshop. Additionally short papers submitted by the presenters...

This JRC Scientific and Technical report provides proceedings of the "International workshop on socio-economic impacts of genetically modified (GM) crops" which was co-organised by JRC-IPTS and FAO in Seville on 23-24 November 2011. JRC-IPTS has been requested to review for policy makers the...

Innovation is at the centre of the EU's growth strategy for the coming decade (EU2020). New technologies and their adoption by EU farmers are essential in maintaining European agriculture competitive in a global world. Within this context, nanotechnology represents an innovative technology with...

Wheat is one of the world’s key staple products, with a global production of 654.7 million tons in 2010. Currently, wheat is providing 21% of the food calories and 20% of the protein to more than 4.5 billion people. Wheat production is highly concentrated in a few countries, and the European...

Agriculture is essential to Sierra Leone's economic and social development since two-thirds of the population live in rural areas, the vast majority of them being employed in the farming sector, and the country disposes of ecosystems that could allow it to further exploit its production. Rice...

The main purpose of this research was to construct a multi-dimensional (composite) index measuring the overall level of rural development and quality of life in individual rural regions of a given EU country. In the Rural Development Index (RDI) the rural development domains are represented by...