The Chinese agricultural technology company Origin Agritech has announced that its new GM maize trait has completed environmental release trials in China and is now in preparation for production trials. Production trials represent the fourth stage of the five-stage process to receive a biosafety certificate. The trait, developed in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Institution of Biotechnology (BRI), confers both insect resistance and herbicide tolerance. Origin Agritech and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences entered into a collaboration agreement in 2019 (see AgbioNews Aug 29, 2019), aimed at accelerating the commercialisation process of double-stacked maize products with insect resistance and glyphosate tolerance traits in China.