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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The future is here: 3 ways technology can improve sustainability
Generating energy and using more land for crops increases atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. So does livestock farming. But there are ...
Sri Lankan tea industry faces devastating crop losses following glyphosate ban
The Planters Association of Ceylon (PA), faced with devastating crop losses in excess of Rs. 15 billion in 2016, is ...
Biotech industry’s nutrition-related GM crops falling short of hopes
Editor’s Note: This blog by geneticist Anastasia Bodnar evaluates whether the biotechnology industry's nutrition-related claims about GM crops are true ...
Monsanto’s public relations stumbles partly responsible for GMOs bad reputation
... Despite the company’s chequered history, the general public was largely unaware Monsanto…[but t]hat all changed in 1996...when Monsanto attempted ...
Will the public be more accepting of next-generation gene-edited crops than GMOs?
A new generation of crops known as gene-edited rather than genetically modified is coming to the market. Created through new ...
Video GMO story: The near death and rescue of the Hawaiian papaya
The anti-GMO movement in Hawaii grew into a sizable force in 2013 thanks to funding and directional support from activist ...
UC Davis’ Alison Van Eenennaam’s deep dive into latest Séralini GMOs-are-dangerous paper
The controversial paper by the Séralini team challenges a central tenet of biotech proponents: are GM crops 'substantially equivalent' to ...
Water Wars? High tech farming, genetic engineering could derail what seems inevitable
More than a billion people around the world have no reasonable access to fresh water. ...just 0.5% of the Earth’s ...
Hawaii state experts challenge anti-GMO myth: Pesticide threats not from farming but homes
The anti-GMO movement has succesfully established this false narrative: Seed companies in Hawaii are using unprecedented quantities of pesticides in ...
White House releases coordinated summary for all US biotechnology regulation
Editor's Note: The following is a portion of the coordinated summary released by the White House outlining the Coordinated Framework ...
GMO Bt corn contains fewer disease-causing mycotoxins than conventional corn
Editor's Note: This blog by geneticist Anastasia Bodnar evaluate whether claims made by the biotechnology industry that GM foods are free ...
7 ways CRISPR gene editing could transform our lives
[W]e asked a variety of scientists what they think are realistically the most exciting ways that scientists might one day ...
Scotts GMO grass, nearing approval, under fire in Oregon for ‘contamination’ claims
[Scotts Miracle-Gro's unapproved genetically modified] grass has taken root in Oregon...the self-professed grass seed capital of the world with a ...
Insect resistance to Bt crops and weed resistance to herbicides rose in 2016
Insects and weeds pushed many chemical and genetic crop protection tools to their breaking point. A wealth of confirmed and suspected ...
Pro and anti-GMO activists’ goals for food and environment are not that different
I, too, am concerned about ... my children and grandchildren: will they have clean air and water? ... You’re frustrated by the ...
Kauai council may repeal anti-GMO/anti-pesticide bill ruled invalid by federal court
The County Council will take up a resolution to correct the serious public policy error made with enactment of Bill ...
Anti-GMO ‘Merchants of Doubt’ crusaders: Danny Hakim, Eric Lipton, Carey Gillam
Editor's Note: University of Florida horticulturist Kevin Folta addresses the latest journalist attack on biotechnology and agriculture. In last week's New York ...
Real story of anti-GMO sensation Rachel Parent: Idealist or pawn of ‘natural’ marketers?
Teen anti-GMO activist Rachel Parent tours the world, 'testifying' at anti-GMO tribunals and delivers Ted Talks about the dangers of ...
Could CRISPR revolution help streamline US, EU regulations of GM crop technology?
Under current US and contemplated EU regulation, when CRISPR is used to modify a handful of nucleotides to knockin or ...
Will new dicamba and 2,4-d herbicide mixes pose drift threat to Texas wine growers?
As Paul Bonarrigo watched his grapevines dwindle, he was confident that heavy-duty herbicides, probably sprayed on crops by a nearby ...
Environmental groups push stricter pesticide rules, including glyphosate ban, in Hawaii
Hawaii residents concerned about pesticide use by major agriculture companies on the islands are planning a push to strengthen regulation ...
Why business journalists should not write on science: Washington Post botches India GMO cotton exposé
Business reporters should not attempt to write about science--a point underscored by a botched Washington Post "investigation" about growing cotton ...
Recapping 2016: 10 ways anti-GMO activists put ideology ahead of science
When they said we would have to add an extra second to the clocks at the end of 2016, there ...
Biotech industry focuses on CRISPR, new gene breeding techniques to break regulatory logjam
Commodity groups, farm organizations and others considered the summer’s GMO labeling law a prudent compromise for what had become a ...
Europe, Canada demonstrate challenges of regulating pesticides
The new Trump Administration is now taking shape, amid bountiful signals that it will not blindly accept or rubberstamp previous ...
Farmers worry over weed control in corn as EPA mulls future of atrazine
Corn is a great rotational crop from an agronomic standpoint, and [atrazine] has been recommended to assist with control of ...
Japan may expand GMO labeling laws, include more foods
Japan is considering expanding the scope of mandatory labeling of ingredients containing genetically modified crops from the current 33 food ...
