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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New Hampshire debates GMO labeling: Restaurant nightmare will jump costs and prices
A bill before the New Hampshire House of Representatives — HB 660 — will make it harder for struggling families ...
Chinese celebrities knock heads in GMO debate
The debate has heated up since Cui Yongyuan, a well-known former China Central Television (CCTV) host, claimed he spent 500,000 ...
Cheerio to GMOs in Cheerios
America's fourth best-selling cereal is now being made without GMOs, a concession to activists who have been pilloring the company's ...
See no evil: Feinstein’s Frankenfood Folly
Activists opposed to modern techniques of genetic engineering have made it clear that they regard labeling as a first step ...
Indy Hawaii study downplays atrazine dangers, shows flaws in Kaua’i bill
Last year, the Kaua'i County Council passed BIll 2491, legislation designed to restrict genetically modified crops while also targeting some ...
How plants evolved to cope with cold
In a study that appeared last week in Nature, researchers have found new clues to how plants evolved to withstand ...
Video: China faces political dilemma regarding GM drought resistant rice tested as safe
A number of leading scientists in China are preparing a proposal for the State Council to approve the commercial production ...
Nepalese activist official launches anti-GMO volley
Binyod Acharya, an official with a National Tea and Coffee Development Board in Nepal, launched a broadside against GMOs, accusing ...
Bt sweet corn yields higher, require less pesticides, cuts bioseafety costs
The only GE fruits and vegetables commercially available are virus-resistant papaya and squash, and insect-resistant sweet corn. With their diverse ...
Genetic defect in tomatoes tweaked to increase yields, fruitiness in canned varieties
Teasing out the hidden subtleties of a type of hybrid vigor involving just one gene has provided scientists at Cold Springs ...
20 answers on GMOs: What would conversation be like if we discarded ideology?
Do GMOs pose unique health or environmental problems? Not likely, says Grist columnist, who offers his year end recipe for ...
Ghana prostate cancer victim spreads misinformation as anti-GMO campaign ignites
Anti-GMO groups in Ghana are escalating their scare campaigns after the government completed regulations that could allow modified cowpeas and ...
Wales anti-GM European Parliamentarian backs freeze in wake of liberalization plea
Jill Evans MEP, an anti-GMO activist who represents Wales in the European Parliament, has called for a freeze on GMOs ...
Big Ag response to critics: Don’t let misinformation define you
There’s a lot of conversation about traditional agriculture recently, and much of it is critical. Think stories about genetically modified ...
Ecologist amps anti-Golden Rice campaign
The Ecologist, the once-venerable UK environmental magazine, has launched another salvo in its campaign against Golden Rice. The vitamin A ...
Northeastern states important GMO labeling battleground in 2014
In 2013, 26 states took up the issue of GMO labeling. Advocates are now eyeing Vermont and other Northeastern states ...
Arctic Apples new front line for ethical attacks against GMOs
Controversy over GMO apples could open biotechnology to broadside attacks from opponents, despite the fact that they represent only a ...
Seeking alternative to fossil fuels, high-yielding heat and cold resistant biofuel crop potential genetic goldmine
Six years ago, jatropha—an inedible, drought-resistant plant that produces a high-quality oil—was “the next big thing in biofuel,” because its oil ...
Irish potato farmers, facing blight scare, look to GMOs but EU turns blind eye
GM is important for Ireland. The country's staple pototao crop is being threatened. Farmers typically spray 10-20 times against blight; ...
UK Guardian botched ‘suicide gene’ story: ‘Terminator seeds’ will not usher in agricultural judgment day
UK Guardian botched its story on "terminator" seeds in Brazil, fanning misconceptions, undermining vaccine and drug research ...
Genetically modified crops key to India’s food security
India's population will grow to 1.3 billion by 2017, so current agricultural output needs to be doubled against odds like ...
China GMO trade war: Distillers corn grain caught in crossfire, rejected
China has turned away about 2,000 tons of U.S. dried distillers grain (DDG), a corn by-product, and more rejections are ...
In GMO debate, ‘right to know’ is empty mantra
The right to know is an empty mantra, three words that sound like they are pursuing freedom and information. However, ...
India environment minister to back more GM crops in January
India's new environment minister Veerappa Moily has indicated he will push to overturn the blockage on GMO crops instituted by ...
In hyped claim organic milk is healthier, activist science meets bungled reporting
Last week, the web erupted after organic researcher Charles Benbrook promoted a new study as the long-awaited proof of the ...
Simple genetic modification could restore American chestnut to dominance
Scientists have found a simple genetic modification to revitalize the American chestnut, but now the question remains: should they be ...
Need for GM crops fall as pests populations die off
Populations of European corn borer (ECB), a major corn crop pest, have declined significantly in the eastern United States, according ...
