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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Palm reading: How genetic, epigenetic scans could boost palm oil yields, reduce environmental footprint
Palm oil is a commodity that generally evokes images of mass deforestation, human-rights violations and dying orangutans. In Indonesia and ...
Should US spend more on agricultural R&D to make food cheaper, more sustainable?
[Editor's note: Margaret Zeigler is executive director of the Global Harvest Initiative, a private-sector voice for productivity growth throughout the agricultural ...
Talking Biotech: GM corn blocks carcinogenic aflatoxins, could eliminate ‘chronic health concern’ in developing world
Making corn safer: University of Arizona's Monica Schmidt on genetically engineering healthier food, arming plants with defenses to fight fungal ...
Green fears: Why are pro-science liberals less embracing of GMO safety than conservatives?
[Editor’s note: Dan Kahan is a professor of psychology at Yale Law School. This is a follow-up to an earlier blog ...
Plants challenged to ‘breath’ because of climate change — This gene tweak could change that
New work from a joint team of plant biologists and ecologists from Carnegie and Stanford University has uncovered the factor ...
Understanding innovation’s ‘enemies’: Calestous Juma explores how new technologies can overcome social opposition
[Editor's Note: The following is a review of the book, "Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies"Â by Harvard ...
Trust the experts: Scientific scrutiny, government oversight show GMOs ‘at least as safe’ as traditional foods
[Editor's note: David Tribe is a senior lecturer in food biotechnology and microbiology, agriculture and food systems, at the University ...
French men getting less sexy? As sperm counts slide, activists point to pesticides, scientists to vegetables
Studies have found vegetarians have lower sperm count and that French men in the 1980s had higher sperm counts than ...
Conservatives who trust science more likely to view GMOs as safe than liberal counterparts, survey finds
[Editor's note: Dan Kahan is a professor of psychology at Yale Law School.]Â [I]n 2010, the General Social Survey (GSS)Â asked ...
California can list glyphosate herbicide under Prop 65 as a carcinogen, following court win
[Editor's note: On March 15, 2017, it was announced that glyphosate was found "not carcinogenic" by a European safety agency ...
‘Industrial’ corn: GM variety makes ethanol more energy efficient
Farmers in [North Dakota] will grow an industrial-quality corn specifically designed for the ethanol industry this summer. Corn with the ...
Organic activists claim organic Ruby Red grapefruits and durum wheat are GMOs in disguise
Last century, a genetic innovation gave a huge boost to agricultural productivity. And, no, it wasn't recombinant DNA. And yes, ...
Minnesota lawmakers block legislation to regulate neonicotinoid insecticides
Minnesota lawmakers have derailed legislation to give the state Department of Agriculture authority over seeds treated with insecticide. Seeds treated ...
Challenging Danny Hakim’s New York Times claim that Monsanto conspired to cover up glyphosate dangers
[Editor's note: Alex Berezow is a microbiologist and a senior fellow of biomedical science at the American Council on Science ...
Glyphosate found ‘not carcinogenic’: Key European safety agency joins consensus view on herbicide’s safety
A key European safety agency says glyphosate does not cause cancer, paving the way for the herbicide to regain long-term ...
Tanzania’s biosafety regulations force researchers to burn harvest from GMO corn field trial despite food shortages
In keeping with strict biosafety regulations, all the GM maize material is burned once the harvest data is collected. The ...
With pesticide resistance rising, crop scientists look to CRISPR, bacteria for solutions
Resistance to conventional pesticides — among insects, weeds or microbial pathogens — is common on farms worldwide. CropLife International, an ...
Australian election results could spell bad news for GMO farmers
Labor's comprehensive victory at the [March 2017] WA [Western Australia] election raises questions about the future status of plant biotechnology ...
Study challenges belief that milkweed is sole cause of monarch butterfly declines
Steep declines in the number of monarch butterflies reaching their wintering grounds in Mexico are not fully explained by fewer ...
EPA/Monsanto collusion alleged in lawsuit challenging safety of Roundup herbicide
[Editor's note: Read the GLP's coverage of glyphosate's cancer risk here and here. Read the American Council on Science and Health's ...
To boost crop yields, stress tolerance one biotech startup turns to epigenetics
The news that’s arrived is that TechAccel, the Kansas City-based technology and venture development company, announced it has completed an ...
To make farming more sustainable, don’t mimic nature — do it better
Behind many efforts to make agriculture more sustainable is the idea that our farming systems need to be more like ...
Facing climate change, plant breeders use genetics, robotics to develop crops ‘that can adapt to it all’
Variable weather is creating extreme challenges for crop breeding in California. How do you develop crops that will thrive under ...
Toxin, glyphosate, carcinogen: Story behind 3 most misused words in conventional vs. organic farming debate
[Editor's note: Marthélize Tredoux is a former scientist and co-owner and editor at Incogvino, a website that covers wine. By day, ...
Corn genetically engineered to neutralize toxic mold would be boon for health of poor women in Africa
It’s a silent killer lurking in common foods. A carcinogenic toxin made by [mold] kills thousands around the world and ...
‘Environmental DNA’ tests could aid in management of commercial, endangered fish
Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is at the center of a brand new kind of fish and wildlife biology, and it ...
To boost crop yields and stress tolerance, one biotech startup turns to epigenetics
The news that’s arrived is that TechAccel, the Kansas City-based technology and venture development company, announced it has completed an ...
