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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Genetic engineering to facilitate food security
Dr Yaa Difie Osei, a Biochemist and Molecular Biologist, has noted that the country is positioning itself to tap deep ...
Genetically modified crops pass benefits to weeds
A genetic-modification technique used widely to make crops herbicide resistant has been shown to confer advantages on a wild form ...
Unclear regulations for GMO food labeling make laws harder to enforce
The central government has made it mandatory to label all genetically modified foods sold in a packaged form, but the ...
Gaming with genes for the sake of a tree
The public are being asked to help in the fight against ash tree dieback by playing a computer game that ...
Small farms Vs. GMOs and canola
Lane Country residents resubmit initiative to ban genetically modified crops in Oregon ...
Philippines: Department of Agriculture to sue ‘paid residents’ who destroyed Golden Rice
Six people have been identified in the vandalism of a Golden Rice field trial; authorities believe none of the vandals ...
How would you stop a vineyard apocalypse?
Imagine a bacterial scourge that was silently spreading from vineyard to vineyard, striking down grapevines in their prime, bankrupting wineries ...
A blanket ban on all GMOs would be misguided
For years, I taught a course on genetically modified organisms. First, we covered the biology behind GMOs so that students ...
Genetic engineering produces a genuine (regulation) monstrosity
Activists have warned for decades that genetic engineering would create some sort of monstrosity like Dr. Frankenstein’s creature. It turns out ...
Oil palm gene may be step to sustainable plantations
Scientists have identified the gene responsible for determining the yield of oil palm fruits. The discovery is being hailed as ...
Petition: Global scientific community condemns the recent destruction of field trials of Golden Rice in the Philippines
Research on Golden Rice at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is part of their humanitarian work to reduce vitamin ...
Reconstructing facts in Bt cotton: Why skepticism fails
The case that the “triumph narrative” of Bt cotton in India comes mainly from economists, the biotech industry and their academic ...
Petition to condemn Golden Rice vandalism gains support from scientific community
An online petition to condemn the activists who destroyed a Golden Rice field trial has gained 1500 signatures in just ...
Plant geneticist Kevin Folta explains GMO process in foods
When humans began to farm between ten and twenty thousand years ago, they took the seeds from their best edible ...
Visit to vandalized Golden Rice field trial
On August 9 and 10, we traveled overland 320 kilometers to the Bicol region in Southern Luzon in the Philippines ...
African countries slowly warming up to the idea of GM crops
While South Africa has long grown genetically modified (GM) crops, resistance from across most of the continent is set to ...
Agriculture expert to become first scientist CEO of Monstanto India
A 24-year agriculture veteran, Dr Gyanendra Shukla, Ph.D. (Agriculture Botany) and MBA, recently took over as Regional Lead and CEO, ...
‘Golden Rice’ research continues despite militants’ attack
MANILA - Research work on an experimental rice variety will continue despite an attack by militants who destroyed a test ...
Mark Lynas: It’s time to ignore anti-GMO activists
Fifteen years ago I was an anti-GMO activist, determined to ensure that biotechnology was never adopted. I destroyed crops in ...
Oregon wheat contamination still a mystery
On Monday, investigators working with the US Department of Agriculture's plant inspection agency APHIS released the first progress update in ...
Argentine scientists develop virus resistant GM potato
Argentine scientists have developed potato plants resistant to Potato Virus Y (PVY), a disease that reduces crop yields from 20 ...
Lab-grown burgers cannot provide a secure future for Africa
Sergey Brin, the billionaire American businessman who co-founded Google, pays a Dutch scientist to develop a burger from stem cells ...
Golden Rice trial vandalized
According to the Business Mirror, a farmer group called Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bikol (Peasant Movement of Bicol, or KMB) and ...
UK debate: Is opposition to GM food really just superstition?
Green party leader Natalie Bennett and Johnjoe McFadden, a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Surrey, debate the ...
Canada: 14-year-old debates GE with TV personality
Rachel Parent is 14 and believes GE food should be labeled. The young activist has been making public speeches about ...
Ghana: GE promoters winning as major opponent switches to pro-GE camp
It could be described as a battle to control food security. It could even be seen as a game in ...
Kloor: Critic of pseudoscience = defender of industry?
If you follow the public debate on genetically modified foods, you know it’s become unhinged from reality. This is because ...