Crops & Food
We eat to live. Humans use approximately 11% of Earth’s land for the cultivation of crops for food, but also for clothing, medicine and biofuels. Globally, major crops include sugarcane, pumpkin, maize (corn), wheat, rice, cassava, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Can GMO agave transform the tequila industry?
Black frost is a meteorological phenomenon marked by temperatures that drop below 0 ° C for up to five hours ...
Organic vs conventional farming: Which is worse for Earth’s climate?
Organically farmed food has a bigger climate impact than conventionally farmed food, due to the greater areas of land required ...
Why were farmers so eager to grow GMO crops?
Genetically modified (GM) crops are produced using new genetic engineering methods. Since their development slightly over 20 years ago, they ...
High-quality hybrid seeds could help feed Africa’s growing population
Africa’s demand for food will more than double by 2050, driven by population growth and rapid urbanization. A growing population ...
Evaluating claims that GMOs and modern agriculture have led to a 75% drop in crop diversity
The conventional wisdom is wrong: crop diversity is not collapsing. Our changing diets indicate there are reasons for both concern ...
UK farming minister says neonicotinoid ban has boosted pesticide use
[UK] Farming Minister George Eustice has admitted the recent ban on neonicotinoids has actually increased overall pesticide use. Mr Eustice made ...
Revolutionary hybrid plant clones could cut costs for farmers
Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones ...
Fight against fall armyworm in Africa hindered by ‘anti-GMO sentiment’, scientist argues
Though anti-GMO sentiment is restraining agricultural advancement in the developing world, an Iowa State University agronomist hopes his research will ...
Viewpoint: FDA’s plan to regulate gene-edited animals as drugs is a ‘failed policy’
Some bureaucrats in the Trump administration seem not to have gotten the memo about deregulation being good for innovation, the ...
Viewpoint: Scientific ignorance fuels skepticism of crop biotechnology
This one question is an effective test of scientific ignorance ...
Is climate change ‘robbing’ our food of nutrients?
Is it possible to starve yourself of nutrients while simultaneously gaining weight? .... According to a growing body of research, ...
Viewpoint: Criticism of GMO crops in India is ‘deeply flawed’
A review article, “Modern technologies for sustainable food and nutrition security,” which appeared in the November 25 issue of the ...
Fighting weeds: Can we reduce, or even eliminate, herbicides by utilizing robotics and AI?
A quick look at some of the technical strategies being pursued in farming robotics and AI ...
Will gene editing boost food production? The potential of a ‘revolutionary technology’
Genome-editing tools provide advanced biotechnological techniques that .... have been utilized in a wide variety of plant species to characterize ...
Lab-grown meat is coming soon—but will anyone eat it?
As 2018 wraps up, the average American is poised to have eaten 222 pounds of beef over the course of ...
Podcast: Jon Entine, Kevin Folta, Perry Hackett on how gene editing could dampen the partisan GMO divide
How do you win over people who view crop biotechnology and corporate influence as threats? One answer may be gene ...
Land sparing or land sharing: How do we feed the world while protecting the environment?
It is one of the biggest questions in conservation: Should we be sharing our landscapes with nature by reviving small ...
A farmer’s ‘naughty list’: Activists, celebrities and lawyers who spread the most misinformation in 2018
That’s right: it’s almost time for the jolly old fat man to visit homes around the world to deliver presents ...
GMO crops may help keep arsenic out of India’s food supply
An Indian scientist in the UK is working on a way to grow crops in arsenic contaminated soil, a study ...
Canada launches new safety review of AquAdvantage GMO salmon
CBC News has learned AquaBounty’s genetically modified salmon is going through a new federal risk assessment. Environment and Climate Change ...
We need to produce 56 percent more calories by 2050—can we do it sustainably?
If the world hopes to make meaningful progress on climate change, it won’t be enough for cars and factories to ...
Viewpoint: Parents’ anti-GMO fervor just might contribute to children’s allergies
Eating organic and avoiding GMOs has no effect on food allergies. But the mentality underlying GMO avoidance and overly-protective parenting ...
‘Switching off’ genes could speed efforts to breed disease-resistant plants
Researchers from [the French Agricultural Research Centre CIRAD] recently showed that inactivating a gene, RECQ4, leads to a three-fold increase ...
GMO crops and herbicides: A ‘win-win’ for farmers and the environment, plant scientist Wayne Parrott says
A fertile soil is a microbial wonderland .... a tiny ecosystem too small to see with our eyes. Yet, the ...
Farmers, here’s what the public wants to know about food
Tyson Foods is the biggest U.S. food company .... [E]arlier this year it formed the Trendtellers Council and packed it ...
Rejecting GMO crops is a risky decision, experts say
Every new or improved technology, regardless of its particular field or application, can involve risk, potential risk, or perception of ...
Why did CNN interview the ‘food babe’ about the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak?
The Food and Drug Administration’s urgent warning about a romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak left many Americans wondering .... what ...
Viewpoint: The public loses when a ‘prestigious’ journal such as Nature indulges in political activism
Is this really about science, or is something else going on here? ...
