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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Sensors developed for national security used to monitor plant health, improve breeding
Agriculture consumes about 80 percent of all U.S. water. Making fertilizers uses 1 to 2 percent of all the world’s ...
Is organic farming ‘holy grail’ to environmental, food scarcity problems? Study says no
Many people choose organic thinking it’s better for humans and the planet, but a new UBC study published today in ...
As China overtakes US in government funding for agricultural research, biotech firms fill the gap
The world’s largest farm exporter, the U.S., is also a global leader in agricultural innovation. Consider GMO crops grown on ...
Monsanto to conduct field trial of GM cotton resistant to multiple insects in Australia
Biotechnology giant Monsanto will trial GM cotton in the Ord Irrigation Scheme [farming area in Western Australia] this year [2017], ...
UN Commission report promoting organics, critical of pesticides challenged as biased
A recent UN report grabbed headlines for dismissing as ‘myth’ the notion that pesticides are necessary to feed the world ...
Online genetic database helps breeders make healthier cattle
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Clay Center, Nebraska, have sequenced the whole genomes of a panel of 96 bulls—representing ...
8 ways farmers around the world are fighting drought
As farmers worldwide experience more frequent drought and erratic rainfall linked to climate change, the race to find and improve ...
Healthy eating: Why doesn’t US government spend more on specialty crop research?
As the country seeks solutions to the obesity epidemic, there’s been plenty of debate about how to get people to ...
Talking Biotech: Habitat loss, parasitic mites — not GMOs, pesticides — prime culprits in butterfly, bee losses
GMOs and pesticides are often blamed for pollinator losses. Recent research indicates that other factors are likely more important, says ...
Uganda launches field trial of GMO bananas resistant to wilting disease
This banana has been engineered to resist bacterial xanthomonas wilt (BXW). The gene that conferred resistance is from sweet pepper ...
Quest for higher yields is enemy of biodiversity on farms — both conventional and organic
What kind of agriculture most benefits biodiversity? In recent years, few questions have animated conservationists and land-use scientists more than ...
Fact check: South African political party misleads about glyphosate’s cancer risk
Calling for a probe into “a possible crime against humanity”, a South African political party wants to halt the use ...
Honey bee defenses could be strengthened through genes linked to stress resilience
A core set of genes involved in the responses of honey bees to multiple diseases caused by viruses and parasites ...
Buying organic food to avoid pesticides? You may want to reconsider
Do you seek out organic fruits and vegetables to avoid those on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list, fearful ...
Using genetic modification to revive American chestnut trees could pave way to saving disease-threatened ash, elm, hemlock and walnut trees
Scores of tiny American chestnut seedlings that grow in a field in the upstate New York countryside could be the ...
Nigerian agriculture minister: Country has not officially embraced GMO crops but ‘we are watching’
Nigeria has not adopted Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or genetic technology in agriculture and food production. Chief Audu Ogbeh, the ...
Infographic: How GMO insect-resistant Bt crops work
[Editor's note: Karl Haro von Mogel earned his Ph.D. in plant breeding and plant genetics at UW-Madison, with a minor ...
UK could become gene-editing leader in farming post-Brexit
Scientists at the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, said [February 2017] that they had edited the genomes of pigs, rendering them ...
Insect-resistant GMO cowpeas could be available to Ghanaian farmers in 2018
Ongoing field tests on genetically modified cowpea (Bt cowpea) have produced successful results and will be ready for commercialisation and ...
GM crop successes in South Africa offer hope for continent wrestling with climate change
[Editor's note: Wandile Sihlobo is an agricultural economist and head of agribusiness research at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) in ...
Faster, more accurate crop breeding for today’s ‘gene jockeys’
Today’s new generation of plant breeders are often called “gene jockeys,” although they’re actually more like cowboys rounding up “genotypes” ...
Organic 2.0: Biodynamic farming gains popularity in the US, but could it feed everyone?
National retailers like Whole Foods are stocking more biodynamic brands – but critics are questioning biodynamic farming’s ability to feed ...
Wrong message? Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen ‘pesticide-soaked’ fruits, vegetables to avoid may make us less healthy
Regardless of whether you’re a parent, an environmentalist, or just a plain old shopper, chances are you’ve gazed out over the supermarket ...
‘Product versus process’ focus of GE crop regulation debate stalls biotech progress
[Editor's note: Jennifer Kuzma is a professor and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University.] ...
Improved orange tree genetics could help fight yellow dragon disease in Florida
[Editor’s note: Kevin Folta is a molecular biologist and chair of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida.] When ...
Alaskan legislators, fishermen take aim at USDA’s approval of GMO salmon, want labels
[Alaskan] legislators have under consideration House Joint Resolution 12, urging [the US] Congress to enact legislation to require prominent labeling ...
Nestlé bucks trend, won’t add GMO labels despite activist pressure
The organic faction is back at it with its bullying tactics. This time, they're going after Nestlé. In a February ...
