Renewing concerns about whether there will be enough corn to support the demand for both fuel and food, a new study has found that ethanol plants could use as much as half of America’s corn crop next year. Dozens of new ethanol plants are being built by farmers and investors in a furious gold rush, spurred by a call last year from the Bush administration and politicians from farm states to produce more renewable fuels to curb America’s reliance on oil. But the new study by the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental group, found that the number of ethanol plants coming on line has been underreported by more than 25 percent by both the Agriculture Department and the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry’s main lobbying group.

In the potato capital of the world, spud honchos made sizzling rich on America's french fry affair fill downtown offices. In the distance, potato fields sprawl east and west and there are ample cafes to carbo-load on spuds served baked, stuffed, fried and, somewhat miraculously, frozen into ice cream. And inside tucked-away laboratories in the town that hash browns built, teams of scientists are splicing potato genes, working daily to perfect Idaho's top cash crop with modern biotechnology. At J.R. Simplot Co., the eponymous potato company founded by Idaho's richest man, biologists have used gene technology to design a spud that's tastier and resistant to unsightly bruises and sprouts.

Some 113 university, government, hospital and corporate laboratories engaged in research often with potential to be used for germ warfare have refused to disclose their operations to the public as required by Federal rules, a nonprofit watchdog agency has charged. Instead of shutting their operations down, however, the National Institutes of Health(NIH), of Bethesda, Md., the government agency tasked with oversight of these laboratories, allows them to continue to operate, a peculiar stance for an entity that describes itself as ”the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation.”

As the FDA inches toward approving food products from cloned animals, the EU stays mute, setting up another potential trade conflict. After many years of delay, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has apparently completed a study into the risks of meat and milk from cloned animals and their progeny, supporting their safety. In clearing the way for such products, the agency kicks off a national public debate. But Europe, too, now faces a difficult question: should it start writing ethics into its food laws?

Crop biotechnology company Monsanto Co. (MON.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said on Thursday its research and development of new products is accelerating at a record pace, with a range of genetically altered crop enhancements on the horizon. "Our R&D engine is really humming," said Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley in a conference call. "We will screen and test more genes in 2007 than in any other year in our history." St. Louis-based Monsanto is considered a global leader in genetically altering crops to resist pests and tolerate weed-killing treatments. The new offerings would include soybeans with healthier oils and higher oil yields; higher-yielding corn; beans, cotton and corn that grow well in drought conditions, and crops that make more efficient use of costly nitrogen applications.

A second prominent figure in the St. Louis plant science community will be leaving for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been gobbling up America's best and brightest to help it spend billions of dollars on issues of global poverty and hunger. Lawrence Kent, the director of international programs at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur, said he would begin work in Seattle on March 1.

In response to the F.D.A's tentative approval of food from cloned animals, George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, the nation's oldest and largest organic farmers cooperative, called on the USDA to clarify its position on the use of cloned animals. Siemon assumed that cloning would be prohibited in the national organic standard as it falls within the ban on GMOs, excluded methods and prohibited technologies. Explained Siemon, "Organic farmers work in harmony with nature, not to change it. Consumers can be assured that Organic Valley and its meat brand, Organic Prairie, will never allow the use of cloned animals on our farms and in our products."

Could there be forbidden sequences in the genome - ones so harmful that they are not compatible with life? One group of researchers thinks so. Unlike most genome sequencing projects which set out to search for genes that are conserved within and between species, their goal is to identify "primes": DNA sequences and chains of amino acids so dangerous to life that they do not exist.

Growers may soon have the option of planting a non-transgenically modified soybean variety that improves recovery of nitrogen from land-applied animal waste. That's thanks to a newly released soybean germplasm that removes large amounts of nitrogen applied to soil. If developed into a new cultivar, it could become an ideal candidate for animal producers managing waste generated by their operations.

After years of delay, the Food and Drug Administration tentatively concluded yesterday that milk and meat from some cloned farm animals are safe to eat. That finding could make the United States the first country to allow products from cloned livestock to be sold in grocery stores. Even if the agency’s assessment is formally approved next year, consumers will not see many steaks or pork chops from cloned animals because the technology is still too expensive to be used widely.