Agricultural Regs & Ethics
Coffee: Guilty pleasure or life saving elixir?
Coffee is ubiquitous, grown in more than 70 countries. But it's also a drug, with caffeine as the primary psychoactive ...
Discovery of naturally transgenic sweet potato poses conundrum: Will it be labelled or banned?
The discovery of transfer DNA (T-DNA) in sweet potato indicates horizontal transfer of genetic material from bacterium to plant. The ...
Neil Young really, really hates Monsanto
Neil Young really, really hates Monsanto. Last fall, the legendary musician called on fans to boycott Starbucks because it sided ...
DuPont acquires microbiome company, plans release of ‘natural’ pest solutions
DuPont is buying a California-based microbiome discovery company, Taxon Biosciences Inc., for development of biological crop products, a move that the ...
With organic sales booming, proponents aim to recruit more farmers to reduce reliance on foreign imports
While consumer demand for organic is booming, the supply of organic ingredients and agricultural products, particularly grains and animal feed, ...
India emerging as epicenter of GMO crop research but foreign financed protests slow adoption
European anti-GMO activists have invaded and colonized India, gumming up the regulatory process in a massive foreign-based scare campaign, slowing ...
EU to approve import of 17 GM foods as part of trade deal
Seventeen new genetically modified food products will be authorised for import to Europe before the end of May in a ...
Synthetic biology threatens to displace African vanilla, stevia in global market
An ongoing expansion of an extreme form of genetic engineering threatens to deny Africa its share of the global market ...
“The Triumph of Seeds” tells how seeds and farming shaped human history
That spark of dormant life may be hidden and hard to measure, but mother plants will do almost anything to protect ...
Let’s not exaggerate concerns about organic farming
Many people in my ‘tribe’ (people who support appropriate use of GMOs and pesticides in agriculture), get really upset when ...
Video: What are GMOs and are they safe?
In a recent Pew poll, 88 percent of AAAS scientists said that genetically engineered crops were safe to eat. In contrast, only ...
Why farmers buy (OMG!) GMO seeds from (WTF) ‘evil’ corporations
Each spring, farmers get to choose which seeds to buy. No, they are not trapped into buying genetically modified seeds ...
Consumer Reports, anti-GMOers bizarre attack on Bt pesticide used by organic farmers
There goes Consumer Reports again, with another scientifically illiterate attack on conventional agriculture and genetic engineering, this time targeting Bt ...
Bill Nye explains switch from ‘Anti-GMO Guy’ back to ‘Science Guy’
Bill Nye caused a bit of drama over his stance on GMOs with the publication of his recent book, Undeniable: ...
Growing demand for organic corn forces US to import
A growing demand for organics, and the near-total reliance by U.S. farmers on genetically modified corn and soybeans, is driving ...
Breeding tastier tomatoes: Are there better options?
Not long ago, I read about a scientist named Harry Klee, who is trying to make the world a better ...
Arsenic in your food? Scared? Shouldn’t be, but if so there’s a GMO fix
Arsenic levels are high in rice and rice products, since the rice plants take it up from groundwater. New research ...
GMO skeptic leery of organic-GMO ‘coexistence’
When Robert Frost first coined his oft-quoted wisdom that “good fences make good neighbors,” he clearly failed to anticipate the ...
Have preconceived opinions about big farms? Meet Iowa farmers
Iowa commodity growers are often demonized for what and how they grow, and monocultures and ethanol aren’t exactly healthy for the ...
Chinese citizens sue government over its Roundup approval process 27 years ago
Three Chinese citizens are taking China's Ministry of Agriculture to court in a bid to make public a toxicology report ...
Proponents, critics of GMOs agree on how to mediate co-existence conflicts in Oregon farming
Disputes over genetically modified crops would be mediated by Oregon farm regulators under legislation that has won support from biotech ...
Monsanto haters take note: How it plans to protect environment
Monsanto has been called one of the US’s most hated companies (see this, which is credible, and this, which is ...
GM tobacco aids in sustainable biofuel production at lower cost
Researchers will genetically modify tobacco plants to produce enzymes that can break down biomass from forest raw materials. This may ...
Gardener alert: Burpee and Buzzy seed companies cashing in on anti-Big Ag hysteria
It's planting season and gardeners are taking to the soil. Alas, two of the country's largest home seed companies are ...
Big Data comes to farming, thanks to Monsanto: Sustainable, higher yields–and controversy
David Friedberg, CEO of The Climate Corporation, expected pushback when he decided to sell his San Francisco-based big data company ...
Anti-GMO groups obsess about superweeds, the non-existent glyphosate-created pest
"Superweeds" is a term bandied about by Consumer Reports, the Union of Concerned Scientists and other anti-GMO groups as a ...
Cultural brokers—environmental groups, prominent journalists—shape public discourse on GMOs
A Zurich-based think tank asks: “Who is influencing the way we think today? Whose ideas are determining ours?” To answer that ...
