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.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Epigenetics Around the Web: The dangers of romance?
Epigenetics Around the Web is a weekly roundup of studies and news in the field of epigenetics presented by GLP ...
Korean labeling law exempts food grown from GMO seeds with no GMO traces in final product
The government's new rules on genetically modified organism (GMO) labeling on products which will go into effect [February 4] is ...
Scientist for hire? Does anti-neonic activist David Goulson produce pre-determined ‘research’ for funders?
Leading UK sustainability researcher embroiled in a scandal over alleged manipulation of European bee health advisory group takes NGO advocacy ...
Why Brazil’s cocoa market crashed–and how genetics is reviving it
Editor's note: This article describes a study by researchers at the University of Campinas’s Biology Institute and was published in ...
How to stem farmer suicides in India? Help farmers expand farm size
Editor's note: GMO critics, most notably philosopher Vandana Shiva (Read her GLP profile here), have long contended that the introduction of Bt ...
Friends of the Earth activist campaigner calls for increased regulation of ‘GMO 2.0’ gene edited food
Editor's note:Â Dana Perls is the senior food and technology campaigner for Friends of the Earth, you can read GLP's profile ...
‘Super yield’ GMO wheat gets green light for field trials in UK over critics’ objections
The GM wheat has been engineered to use sunlight more efficiently and has boosted greenhouse yields by up to 40%. Researchers ...
Drones and robots revolutionizing plant breeding, combating climate change
The use of drones and robots is also on the rise as researchers pursue the ‘quantified plant’ — one in ...
How hacking photosynthesis in tobacco can help scientists improve African staple crop cassava
Editor's note: This story describes a publication in the journal New Phytologist. The authors of this story are three of ...
Tuberculosis-resistant cows developed using CRISPR gene editing by Chinese scientists
Tuberculosis has long been a problem for cattle farmers in developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa. Now, scientists from ...
Will consumers accept CRISPR gene edited non-browning mushrooms?
Marketers say the idea of a non-browning mushroom developed through gene-editing techniques is intriguing, although few seem to know if ...
Monoculture: Is it really the problem ‘intensive agriculture’ critics make it out to be?
Editor's note: The author of this piece is Andrew Kniss, associate professor of weed biology & ecology at the University of Wyoming ...
Wisconsin farm couple to Rachel Ray: Stop spreading pseudo-science about antibiotics in milk
Scientists are increasingly alarmed about the junk science passed along in America's talk shows. Here, a celebrity nutritionist, encouraged by ...
Former US agriculture secretaries: Dow-Dupont merger would encourage innovation, help secure America’s food supply
Editor's note: This article was written by Mike Johanns, former agriculture secretary under President George W. Bush, and Dan Glickman, former ...
Leading plant scientist says he’s skipping Science March on Washington: Here’s why
[Editor's note: Kevin Folta, a molecular biologist and chairman of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, offers ...
What will Trump’s ‘2-for-1’ executive order limiting regulations mean for GMO labeling law?
President Donald Trump has offered federal agencies a regulatory 2-for-1 deal they can’t refuse... Trump’s latest executive order, signed Monday, ...
WHO’s much-criticized agency IARC’s quizzical flip flop on whether coffee poses cancer hazard
For decades, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) warned coffee drinkers that their favorite beverage might cause cancer ...
India’s consumers rejecting state’s experiment to produce 100% organic: Food too expensive, less appetizing
[Amrit] Pradhan is one of 66,000 farmers from Sikkim [a state in northeast India] who are part of a far-reaching ...
Mexico unlikely to see GMO crops anytime soon after court reaffirms block on test plots over ‘environmental concerns’
A ban on planting genetically modified corn in Mexico is likely to continue for years as a slow-moving legal battle ...
What’s the skinny on 10 of the most popular GMO crops and foods?
In order to clear up some misunderstandings and outright lies about GMO, here’s a list of 10 examples of genetically ...
Chemical companies: Reform WHO’s ‘rogue’ IARC cancer-designating agency
Launching what it called a campaign for accuracy in public health research, the American Chemistry Council, which represents U.S. chemical ...
GMO opponents turn to Hawaii legislature following repeal of local pesticide bans
Following court rulings that overturned GMO/pesticide laws passed by three Hawaii counties — the Kauai County Council formally rescinded its ...
How genetics can bring flavor back to tomatoes
Harry J. Klee, a professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida, thinks he can put [the taste] back ...
Contentious GMO debate should shift focus to sustainability, author says
[Editor's note: This article is an interview with environmental writer McKay Jenkins about his new book Food Fight: GMOs and the Future ...
Coffee renaissance: Genetics guiding breeders to make a better cup of joe
Genes are the future of coffee. Not nitro cold brewing or beans pooped out by civets, but genes. And coffee’s ...
Environmental activists sue EPA in challenge of approved Monsanto glyphosate-dicamaba Xtend herbicide mix
Environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on January 27th in attempt to force the agency to take another look ...
California can place cancer warning label on the herbicide glyphosate, judge ‘tentatively’ rules
California can require Monsanto [and other manufacturers of glyphosate] to label its popular weed-killer Roundup as a possible cancer threat ...
