A new review in SCIENCE CHINA Life Sciences maps how different types of RNAs regulate growth, development, and stress responses in plants. The authors synthesize decades of research and provide a roadmap for harnessing RNA-based strategies to address food security and sustainable agriculture in a changing climate.

As Africa prepares for the arrival of a powerful El Niño weather event, an international team of researchers has found that access to improved forecasts alone will not protect many of the region’s poorest livestock farmers from the impacts of climate change.

Preparing the next generation of animal science professionals requires students to develop both strong scientific skills and the ability to apply that knowledge in real-world agricultural settings. A new program from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture will provide undergraduate students with hands-on experiences that intentionally connect research, Extension and professional development. Phillip Myer and Jennie Ivey, professors in the UT Department of Animal Science, are leading a new $750,000 project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to establish F.U.S.E. Animal Science – the Fellowship for Undergraduate Scientific Exchange in Animal Science. The five-year program is designed to prepare undergraduate students for careers throughout animal science and agriculture by developing research, Extension, communication and professional skills.

Roughly one-third of the food produced worldwide is wasted, and researchers at Kyushu University are turning to packaging for a solution. Their review brings together intelligent sensing materials, self-healing films, and AI-driven prediction to expand packaging's role from passive protection to active, real-time sensing. Through a closed loop of recognition, judgment, actuation, and feedback, the team aims to make packaging a trusted, responsive part throughout the food system, from producers to consumers.

Scientists have identified the mechanisms that allow plants to change their root anatomy to maximise survival when nutrients are scarce. The findings could pave the way for developing new ways to improve beneficial plant-microbe interactions in agriculture.

A novel OsSBEIIb allele was identified in an indica rice mutant. The OsSBEIIb mutation increases the resistant starch (RS) content in raw rice flour, as well as in retrograded and heated rice. The chalk2 mutant serves as a valuable indica rice germplasm for breeding high-RS rice varieties.

An elite germplasm, G253, with superior morphogenic callus induction and proliferation capacity was identified. A stable Agrobacterium-mediated transformation platform enabling transgenic plant generation was established. An efficient protoplast transient transformation system was developed from the morphogenic callus.