Berlin-based Organobalance specializes in developing natural microbial solutions for customers and partners across a number of industries.

This acquisition is the biggest of its kind by a German firm. Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto for 66 billion US dollars is now set to go ahead. The regulators have yet to approve the deal, however. According to the German chemical corporation, it is willing to pay 128 dollars per share, valuing Monsanto at 66 billion dollars. That works out at about 58.8 billion euros. Data from financial news agency Bloomberg indicate that this is the second-largest cash acquisition in world history.

Deforestation and climate change are putting more and more pressure on the forest ecosystem. Not only are the habitats of many animals under threat, the capacity of forests to absorb CO₂ and emit oxygen is diminishing as well. A comprehensive international study now reveals the positive influence of biodiversity on global forest productivity.

The researchers' report on their discovery in the 'PNAS' specialist journal. In addition to carbon dioxide, methane is a climate killer that presents a long-term threat to life on earth. However, for many terrestrial and marine microorganisms this greenhouse gas is the elixir of life. The microbes oxidize the carbon dioxide and extract energy from the process.

BASF and Avantium have formed a joint venture for the production and marketing of the green building block furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and the drop-in bioplastic polyethylene furanoate (PEF) made from FDCA. Synvina will be headquartered in Amsterdam and will invest several hundred millions euros to build a plant producing 50,000 metric tons annually at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium, to demonstrate feasibility of manufacture at industrial scale and to license production.

According to Gilles Laroche, Head of Unit F1 – Bioeconomy Strategy– at DG Research and Innovation, “the review won’t be finalised before mid-2017 and the results will be available only in autumn 2017”. Prior plans foresaw the announcement of the results at the end of 2016.

The Bioeconomy Council of the German Government had invited delegates from all over the world to Berlin to attend this first Global Bioeconomy Summit from 24 - 26 November. At the end, the participants agreed on a final communiqé, highlighting five priorities. Summing up with regard to the Sustainable Development Summit in New York and the upcoming climate negotiations in Paris, Christine Lang, Co-Chair of the Bioeconomy Council, said, "Sustainability is one of the top issues on the political agenda. 2015 is the year of major international negotiations.

To avoid competition with food production, the EU research consortium "Bioconsept" was launched four years ago. Bioconsept is 13 million euro EU-funded research project, which converts second-generation biomass into valuable platform chemicals and bioplastics. It has developed manufacturing processes for two platform chemicals, which are derived from inedible biomass – such as wood or old vegetable oil.

Even so, the pressure of competition is also increasing amongst the German producers of Gouda and other cheese. The demand for new flavours of cheese is rising and production processes must be optimized. In cheese manufacturing, raw materials alone account for 87% of the costs. Nutrition researchers at the Hohenheimer University in Bonn now aim to advance an era of 'Cheese 4.0' by establishing a new technology platform. The new process is aimed at simplifying the production of sliced cheese, in particular, which has a market share of 30%, and increasing its variety.

Lactic acid bacteria, also known as lactobacilli, are in popular demand as aids and additives in the food industry. However, these useful microorganisms have considerably more potential, as the Organobalance company from Berlin has demonstrated in a clinical study. In its own proprietary collection of bacteria and yeast strains, the Organobalance researchers have now found an organism that can help to soothe dry skin: the bacterium Lactobacillus brevis DSMZ17250.