The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, emphasized today that the global fertilizer scarcity caused by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to lower yields and tightening food supplies in the latter half of 2026 and into 2027. He spoke at the Ministerial Meeting of the MED9++ Countries on “Supporting Food Security and Access to Fertilizers” co-chaired by FAO, Italy and Croatia. Addressing ministers and senior representatives gathered in Rome, the Director-General stressed that the current crisis extends far beyond geopolitics, increasingly affecting food production, trade, agricultural inputs and access to food worldwide.

Low temperature is a major abiotic stress that constrains agricultural productivity by severely inhibiting crop growth and development, leading to substantial yield losses. As a chilling-sensitive crop, maize is particularly vulnerable to cold stress. Cold conditions induce excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species in plants, disrupting photosynthetic performance, compromising antioxidant defense systems, and disturbing cellular ion homeostasis.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered that altering the arrangement of genes, or “gene syntax,” could create circuits that synergize to maximize output. The study found that when a gene is activated, it changes the physical structure of nearby DNA, creating ripple effects that can either boost or suppress neighboring genes. The team found that DNA becomes looser upstream of an active gene and more tightly wound downstream, affecting how easily other genes can be accessed.