Cocoa is prone to plant pathogens, especially Phytophthora which thrives on high humidity and surface wetness. Phytophthora causes two-dimensional disease in cocoa as Phytophthora pod rot and Phytophthora stem canker. Phytophthora pod rot is traditionally controlled by sprays of fixed copper fungicide including cuprous oxide.

"Rice is the most important staple food for more than half of the world’s population," said DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman. Indeed, rice has been the most commonly used food grain for most people in the world since ancient times and between 1961 and 2002, worldwide per capita consumption of rice increased by 40 per cent.

BASF Plant Science and KWS SAAT AG have announced that they are to collaborate to develop high-yielding sugar beet. The objectives for the long-term plant biotechnology project are to develop sugar beet varieties for the global market with higher sugar and energy yields as well as greater drought tolerance. The partners aim to bring the new varieties with 15 per cent higher yields to the market from 2020 onwards.

Southeast Asia’s imports of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) between January and February 2010 showed a 73 per cent year on year increase, the US Grains Council has announced. In 2009, the region imported 890,000 metric tons of the ethanol co-product, accounting for 16 per cent of the US total DDGS exports, up from 590,000 tons in 2008.