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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Growing rice traditionally releases dangerous greenhouse gas. Here’s a solution
Rice is perhaps the world’s most important foodstuff — it feeds more than half the global population. But it is ...
Understanding why coffee is good for our health
Studying the effects of coffee is particularly challenging. Isolating for a beverage with over 1000 compounds is so tricky that ...
Viewpoint: What happened when a liberal food writer makes a science-based case for glyphosate’s safety and importance—in the New York Times
You shouldn’t drink Roundup. You shouldn’t bathe in it, either. But you shouldn’t worry about eating crops sprayed with Roundup ...
Industry and Trump’s agriculture department: It’s a revolving door
For decades, regardless of who’s been president, some leaders in key government food and farm departments have had strong industry ...
Viewpoint: The organic food industry is a $180 billion marketing fraud
As a biomedical scientist, it has never failed to annoy me that the term ‘organic’ has been co-opted to spread ...
Can CRISPR and other forms of gene manipulation create a new generation of seedless fruits—without the structural risk to food security
Seedless fruit feels like a UX win—no pips, no fuss, just vibes. But the biology behind that convenience is a ...
Food producers exploring another alternative meat: Add proteins from plants, fungi, insects and microbial fermentation. It tastes better than it sounds
Alternative proteins derived from various non-animal sources such as plants, mycelium, cultured cells, microbes, and insects are gaining increasing attention ...
As few as 1% of the world’s population are eating healthy, sustainably-grown food
A major report on the global food system has found that less than 1 per cent of the world is ...
Foodomics: Why you need to know what’s in ‘nutritional dark matter’
When scientists cracked the human genome in – sequencing the entire genetic code of a human being – many expected ...
Sashimi that promotes healing and skin rejuvenation? It’s not the latest fad skin care breakthrough, but a yummy-tasting cultivated Omega-3-rich fish fat made using stem cell technology
Sashimi that looks, feels and tastes just like the real deal, but is actually grown in a laboratory. That is ...
After RFK, Jr. is replaced: A breakthrough mRNA vaccine that suppresses food and seasonal allergies
A new mRNA vaccine stopped allergens from causing dangerous immune reactions and life-threatening inflammation in mice, according to researchers from ...
Sugar-sweetened beverages: The health impact of soda, sweetened waters, fruit drinks, coffee and other SSBs
Sugar-sweetened beverages, the liquid delight promising a moment of joy and delivering a lifetime (?) of regret. Positioned as a ...
Bees in distress: Climate change is depressing the aroma that attracts bees for pollination. Scientists are scrambling for a solution
Across 120 publications from 19 countries, ozone pollution decreased performance of beneficial invertebrates by more than 31%, while nitrogen oxides ...
Sustainability breakthrough: Scientists targeting the genetic code of pests
Pests can be the make-or-break factor for a season’s harvest. Between 20% to 40% of global crop production is lost ...
What do we need Seed Banks? 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost since the early 20th century, and its losses are accelerating
Gene and seed banks are not static museums. They are living collections of genetic material, designed to support food security, ...
Why the chemophobia obsession is baked into America’s consciousness
'No nasties’, ‘non-toxic’, ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘mineral’ – there are a multitude of health buzzwords sprinkled through grocery store shelves aimed ...
China’s bought about 50% of U.S. soybean exports since 1920. This year? Zero, thanks to Trump’s trade war
For U.S. farmers, abundant rains to fuel a bumper crop would normally be good news — but it won’t matter ...
Viewpoint: The fastest growing delusion in America is chemophobia—and organic marketers are to blame
“Organic” might be the most abused word in the English language. Chemists, farmers, and marketers all use it—and none of ...
Viewpoint: No burgers or bangers: EU environmental activists mobilize to remove all ‘meat words’ from plant-based proteins
I ate some Quorn sausages last night. I wasn’t confused when I bought them. I didn’t buy them because I ...
Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine?
Disease control within crop production systems has been very much centred on the development of complex organic chemicals such as ...
Viewpoint: Is the MAHA – MAGA alliance fraying
[Zen] Honeycutt and other “MAHA moms” were disappointed by the MAHA commission report released in September that they say lacked meaningful ...
What’s driving food costs inflation?
From rice to coffee, cocoa to olive oil, extreme weather conditions are driving up the prices of staple foods around ...
Viewpoint: ‘Farmageddon’—Trump’s chaotic trade and tariff policies doesn’t hurt ‘industrial agriculture’ but smaller farms are in crisis
“We’re in a hell of a mess here,” said Ohio farmer Chris Gibbs as he worked on his combine at ...
Viewpoint: Got milk? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. drinks the raw, unpasteurized version. Does he know something about its benefits that scientists don’t?
Honestly, I can’t believe I need to repeat this in 2025. Raw milk sales have been soaring since early last ...
Viewpoint: The farm economy in the U.S. is cratering. Here’s why farmers are unlikely to abandon Trumpononics
Fall is here, the harvest is coming in, but President Donald Trump’s trade war rages on and China won’t buy American farmers’ soybeans. That’s ...
For food companies, GMO was a dirty word. Innovation in gene editing is soaring, changing the public discussion
The BBC reported that scientists at the University of Oxford, working in a collaboration with other international partners, have used ...
Michael Grunwald: ‘How to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate?’
When veteran journalist Michael Grunwald set out to write his third book, he was determined not to produce a “Debbie ...
