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.
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Seed treatment overload? Are there unintended consequences from a popular practice?
For the first time in nearly a decade, Dan Hesterberg poured a few bags of untreated corn seed into his ...
A tomato that requires no pesticides to grow?
West Virginia University researcher [Vagner Benedito] believes he will be able to develop a tomato that requires little to no ...
Biryani boost: Raft of gene editing innovations can improve rice quality and flavors
Today, biryani is a staple in millions of kitchens around the world. And yet, no two are alike. Myriad add-ons ...
Who are the scientists who paved the way to modern crop breeding?
[Here are] some of the agricultural industry’s biggest game-changers over the past two centuries. They may not be household names, ...
GLP Podcast: Animal gene editing moves ahead in Russia; Biotech eliminates flavorless produce; Edible cholera vaccine coming soon?
Russia wants to produce allergen-free milk using animal gene editing. How much progress have they made? If you're bored with ...
Re-examining 10 science-challenged ‘studies’ suggesting GMOs are harmful
The blog "10 Scientific Studies Proving GMOs Can Be Harmful To Human Health" is now a fixture on cyberspace. A ...
‘All positives’: 17 years after GM corn introduction, the Philippines shows sharp increase in output and household incomes — with the poor benefiting the most
Genetically modified yellow corn has increasingly been used in the Philippines since 2002. In just a period of 17 years, ...
Activists and ‘celebrity figures’ are turning public opinion against crop biotechnology in Mexico
On New Year’s Eve 2020, the Mexican government announced its plan to ban GMO corn and phase out GMO corn ...
Nigeria moves forward with nitrogen-efficient GMO rice
Still basking in the euphoria of commercializing sub-Saharan Africa’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop — insect-resistant cowpea —Nigeria has ...
Organic pesticide copper sulfate—unlike glyphosate—is a carcinogen, kills beneficial insects, decimates soil, pollutes water. It also works. Here are political and science reasons why regulators give it a free pass
Europe is currently in a frenzy trying to drum up enough support to dramatically rollback approvals of targeted synthetic pesticides, ...
Organic vs. conventional farming: Which has lower environmental impacts?
A Swedish Food Agency report compared environmental impacts of conventional farming against those of organic farming ...
‘Despite the challenges of misinformation, the technology has enjoyed the confidence of farmers, researchers and policymakers’: Bt insect-resistant cotton celebrates 20 years of increased productivity
In the year 2022, Bt cotton will complete two decades of cultivation in India. Despite the challenges of misinformation, the ...
South Africa has reaped major benefits from GM maize, study finds
Genetically modified (GM) maize has greatly improved food security in South Africa, reduced environmental damage and helped smallholder farmers achieve ...
Don’t believe the hype: Organic produce is not healthier than conventionally-grown fruit and vegetables
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture starting to implement its organic food rules. They allow ...
CRISPR offers hope for controlling African swine fever
New vaccine trials hold great promise in the management of an East African strain of African swine fever (ASF), one ...
Podcast: Bad science in the headlines—Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat explains how to spot flawed research on Google News
A just-published study found that consuming two or more sugar-sweetened beverages in a day is linked to a doubling of ...
Podcast — ‘We’re growing food now in a way that doesn’t leave room for other biodiversity’: How GMO crops are affecting the monarch butterfly and what can be done about it
Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from an interview with University of Georgia ecologist Sonia Altizer and NPR host ...
Tired of eating strawberries that taste like cardboard? CRISPR gene editing poised to improve ‘fruit quality’ and disease resistance of next-generation fruits
Recent technology has been developed to precisely engineer genes for traits of interest. This approach is known as "CRISPR" gene ...
Viewpoint: Here’s one key thing the Biden administration can do to seriously address climate change
President Biden and his administration need to take concerted actions to advance an area of research that could prove decisive ...
Book review: Jennifer Thompson’s ‘GM Crops and the Global Divide’ offers lessons drawn from the history of the agricultural biotechnology revolution, for activists to CRISPR advocates
I’ve spent the last few weeks reading “GM Crops and the Global Divide,” the new book by Jennifer Thomson, emeritus professor at ...
‘Imposing expansion of organic farming by decree counterproductive’: Farmer, ag industry executive challenges Europe to rethink its anti-biotech, anti-nuclear ideology
In the midst of the Farm to Fork (F2F) debate and the renegotiation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the ...
Genetically modified Bt cotton helped eradicate pink bollworm — and saved US farmers $200 million over five years. Now, scientists and farmers are deploying technology to target other pests
A recent study from the University of Arizona shows that farmers were able to eradicate [pink bollworm] with the help ...
Is there a difference between a gene-edited organism and a ‘GMO’? The question has important implications for regulation
The controversy over genetically engineered organisms (sometimes called “genetically modified organisms,” or “GMOs”) is genuine, not faux — but only ...
Viewpoint — ‘By 2050 agricultural land will increase by an area twice the size of India’: The US should use its ‘influence’ to encourage adoption of crop biotechnology
If crop and pasture yields continue to grow as projected, by 2050 agricultural land will need to increase by an ...
Climate change is roiling the African continent. With cutting-edge biotech solutions largely blocked, governments rely on tweaks of more traditional technologies to boost output
While Africa is currently responsible for a negligible amount of total global greenhouse gas emissions, the continent is under significant ...
Hacking plants’ circadian clock: How watering and applying pesticides at the most effective time of day can boost yields
Like humans, plants have an ‘internal clock’ that monitors the rhythms of their environment. The authors of a study published ...
Gene editing ‘could make a very real and positive difference’ in farming — but will regulating it as a GMO stunt its potential? Here’s a guide
What is gene editing and what does the process actually entail? According to [a UK Department of Food, Environment and ...
