Agriculture & 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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Viewpoint: Jane Goodall was duped by anti-crop biotechnology conspiracy junk science
Jane Goodall is well-deserving of the many laudatory obituaries recently published. But there is one disturbing twist in the great ...
Viewpoint: We need a coordinated global effort to counteract climate change’s impact on food production
Last May, the Japanese Minister of Agriculture resigned after commenting that he never bought rice because his supporters gave it ...
Viewpoint: Misrepresentation by journalists and activists of the science of chemicals, processed food, and fossil fuels is corroding America’s future
In 50 years from now, our great-grandchildren will study how affluent societies in the 2020s willfully threw out advanced technologies ...
Viewpoint: The Washington Post’s ignorant article suggesting corn country deaths are driven by the herbicide glyphosate
Several weeks ago, the Washington Post ran an article titled “The mysterious rise of cancer among adults in the Corn Belt.” It ...
Our ancestors balanced eating and fasting as a survival mechanism. It still has benefits today
Ever worried that skipping breakfast might leave you foggy at work? Or that intermittent fasting would make you irritable, distracted ...
Will the regenerative agriculture movement be hijacked away from farmers by ‘big corporations and hungry start-ups’?
In farming today, it sometimes feels as though whatever the problem, whether it’s soil health, yields, carbon or profitability, the ...
GLP podcast: Cookies addictive like heroin? Toxicologist dismantles ‘food addiction’
Enjoying delicious food is a fundamental part of the human experience. Few of us would deny the enjoyment we get ...
It would be incredible if we could breed plants that pests couldn’t gorge on. CRISPR is making it a reality
Insects that feed on starch can find veritable feasts in corn, pea, and bean crops or warehouses. It is no ...
Sustainable farming: How can we engineer crops to adapt to drought and other effects of a warming climate?
As Earth's climate warms and changes, sustainable agricultural practices are critical for feeding a rapidly growing population. A roadmap for how new ...
Were dodo birds really dodo-heads? Rescuing the reputation of an undeservedly smeared species
Until the last decade or so, the dodo was depicted as a comically chubby, clumsy cretin, too complacent and trusting ...
Biotechnology’s role in combating global food waste
A stark and heart-wrenching paradox haunts our modern world: while nearly one-tenth of humanity goes to bed hungry, a tidal ...
Viewpoint: Can urban farming and agroecology rescue our planet?
By 2050, more than two-thirds of us will live in cities. Could urban farming feed 10 billion? Urban agriculture (UA) covers everything ...
How tasty does dinner look? How healthy? Our brains work this out faster than conscious thought
Imagine you’re at the grocery store, standing before a selection of snacks. Seemingly without thinking, you skip over the rice ...
Health Canada opens grocery stores to cloned animal foods. Is the nation ready?
According to Health Canada’s own consultation documents, Ottawa intends to remove foods derived from cloned animals from its “novel foods” ...
Taste, nutrition, yield, disease resistance, climate resilience: England becomes first country in Europe to legalize the development and sale of gene-edited plants and food
Niab has welcomed the entry into force today (13 November) of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for plants ...
Pakistan paying an economic price for its reluctance to embrace crop biotechnology
The iconic green fields of the Punjab, once the heartland of Pakistan’s cotton economy, face a silent crisis. While official ...
Power, culture, and identity: How did milk get caught in the crosshairs of the culture wars
Milk is one of the most familiar things in the world – comforting, wholesome, ordinary. But beneath this common perception ...
How science figured out how to contain peanut allergies
It turned out that the guidance parents and pediatricians ... had been following, to avoid giving peanuts to babies and ...
Activists decry EPA approval of effective PFAS family herbicide
The Trump administration is poised to again approve a new Pfas “forever chemical” pesticide ingredient, a move that is drawing ...
Teaching AI to farm
[At] the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI) at NC State, data is considered an essential part of farm equipment. It’s ...
With Republican popularity sagging, RFK, Jr.’s MAHA movement may provide a boost for Trump
MAHA leaders are set to use their agenda to shore up support for the GOP among independent voters who might ...
When gene editing offers health and nutritional benefits, consumer acceptance rises significantly
The research, “Consumer Acceptance of Gene-Edited Foods,” found that consumers are significantly more open to gene-edited products when the benefits ...
As Trump’s tariff war with China oscillates, America’s soybean farmers are trapped in a vise
Just days after the Trump administration pledged a $20 billion loan to backstop the finances of Argentina under libertarian President ...
Setting aside $18 billion: As glyphosate cancer litigation persists, Bayer places its survival bet on SCOTUS and federal legal protection
Bayer … notes that regulators in countries from the US to Japan to New Zealand have recently reaffirmed that glyphosate-based ...
What would be the global labor impact if the world embraces a more plant-based diet
A global shift towards healthier, more sustainable eating patterns could reshape agricultural employment across the world, according to new research ...
Can you really become addicted to food?
People often joke that their favorite snack is “like crack” or call themselves “chocoholics” in jest. But can someone really ...
How eating garlic makes your armpit sweat more attractive and other mysteries of the genetics of smell
"The past few decades have revealed that odour is shaped by our genes, hormones, health, and hygiene," says Craig Roberts, ...
