THE QUESTIONABLE NECESSITY OF CHANGING MAIZE INTERVENTION

The EU took clear steps to suppress and abandon the intervention of maize in 2006. Originally the measure should have been revised in the course of the “Health Check”. But the European Commission (EC) rendered the minimal quality requirement for maize stricter in the intervention period starting 1 November 2006. Later the EC proposed to finish the intervention of maize. According to that decision the intervention of maize exists in the marketing year of 2007/08 and 2008/09 with a quantity limitation but it finishes in the marketing year of 2009/10. The EC argues for the abandonment of maize intervention, because, intervention stocks of cereals have increased significantly after the accession of the 10 new member states (EU-10), and the balance of the maize market is at risk. This measure is aimed to get back the intervention to its original purpose, as a safety net. We prove in this study that the intervention stock of cereal has not significantly increased after the enlargement in 2004 and it is not a reason for finishing maize intervention. The intervention stock of maize has increased since 2004 but not so significantly that it could be a reason for the abandonment of maize intervention.cereal, intervention, maize, stock, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance,

Transcriptome pathways unique to dehydration tolerant relatives of modern wheat

Among abiotic stressors, drought is a major factor responsible for dramatic yield loss in agriculture. In order to reveal differences in global expression profiles of drought tolerant and sensitive wild emmer wheat genotypes, a previously deployed shock-like dehydration process was utilized to compare transcriptomes at two time points in root and leaf tissues using the Affymetrix GeneChip(R) Wheat Genome Array hybridization. The comparison of transcriptomes reveal several unique genes or expression patterns such as differential usage of IP(3)-dependent signal transduction pathways, ethylene- and abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent signaling, and preferential or faster induction of ABA-dependent transcription factors by the tolerant genotype that distinguish contrasting genotypes indicative of distinctive stress response pathways. The data also show that wild emmer wheat is capable of engaging known drought stress responsive mechanisms. The global comparison of transcriptomes in the absence of and after dehydration underlined the gene networks especially in root tissues that may have been lost in the selection processes generating modern bread wheats

THE QUESTIONABLE NECESSITY OF CHANGING MAIZE INTERVENTION

The EU took clear steps to suppress and abandon the intervention of maize in 2006. Originally the measure should have been revised in the course of the “Health Check”. But the European Commission (EC) rendered the minimal quality requirement for maize stricter in the intervention period starting 1 November 2006. Later the EC proposed to finish the intervention of maize. According to that decision the intervention of maize exists in the marketing year of 2007/08 and 2008/09 with a quantity limitation but it finishes in the marketing year of 2009/10. The EC argues for the abandonment of maize intervention, because, intervention stocks of cereals have increased significantly after the accession of the 10 new member states (EU-10), and the balance of the maize market is at risk. This measure is aimed to get back the intervention to its original purpose, as a safety net. We prove in this study that the intervention stock of cereal has not significantly increased after the enlargement in 2004 and it is not a reason for finishing maize intervention. The intervention stock of maize has increased since 2004 but not so significantly that it could be a reason for the abandonment of maize intervention