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.
Facebook bows to anti-science activists, shuts down ‘We Love GMOs and Vaccines’
Popular anti-quack website shut down by Facebook after protests from quacks ...
Global trade treaties on firing line: Cartagena Protocol, relic of earlier era promoting GMO fears
The Cartagena Protocol, started with the best intentions, may be out of date ...
Organic Consumers Association organizes boycott of brands that use QR code GMO labels
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is asking consumers to boycott brands that refuse to expressly label products made with genetically ...
Glyphosate controversy never about science but rather ‘activist’s war on Big Ag’
. . . [W]hat exactly makes glyphosate such a controversial issue? One must look no further than the . ...
FactCheck: Will processed foods made from GMOs be labeled under new law?
A controversial GMO labeling bill. . . has raised interesting scientific and regulatory questions: Do foods processed from [GMOs], like refined sugar and soybean oil, ...
German farmers plant ‘chemical-free’ demonstration plots to educate public about glyphosate
Glyphosate. . . is heavily used by farmers to clear fields of weeds . . . In 2015, a report found the ...
Sugar co-op exploring return to conventional sugar beets as food manufacturers shun GMOs
. . . . [S]ome consumers remain wary of GMOs, including when it comes to sugar. Nearly two-thirds of domestic ...
Do GMOs risk “unintended” health or environmental consequences, as critics maintain?
Concerns about unintended consequences, the backbone of criticism from anti-GMO activists, are actually more likely to occur in traditionally bred ...
Japan, S. Korea block import of some U.S. wheat after GMO wheat found in WA state
Japan and South Korea have both taken steps to block certain imports of U.S. wheat after unapproved genetically-modified (GMO) plants ...
Developing world eclipsing Europe as biotech incubator, crops with consumer-focused traits poised for market
Acrylamide is . . . . proven to increase the risk of cancer. . . . in 2002 when Swedish scientists found ...
10 years after Michael Pollan’s ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ unleashed ‘anti-GMO paranoia,’ science innovation continues
Penguin Books is releasing a special tenth-anniversary edition of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, with a new foreword by ...
GMO sustainability frontier: Helping crops acquire their own nitrogen
Tweaking a crop's genetics to help it fix its own nitrogen could avoid the need for massive amounts of fertilizer, ...
How USDA defines GMOs will determine if mandatory labeling is a success
The problem with the debate is that it is a very scientific and complex issue that most laymen just don’t understand. . ...
Oregon winemaker say organic vineyards not sustainable
“Organic practices have bred a class 11 resistant powdery mildew (PM) critter. OSU sent out a bulletin saying if you ...
Agriculture, food industries’ communication failures led to GMO vilification
In case you missed it, President Barack Obama late [July 29] signed the GMO labeling bill into law, nullifying Vermont's measure ...
Organic industry bitterly split over newly signed GMO label law
“Organic Traitors Team Up with Monsanto and [Grocery Manufacturers Association] on DARK Act,” reads a recent headline from Ronnie Cummins, director of the ...
GMO wheat, unapproved for commercialization, found growing in Washington state
Genetically modified wheat developed by Monsanto Co, and never approved by federal regulators, has been found growing in a Washington ...
Despite scare reports, honey bee populations not declining
. . . .Ask people on the street if they’re aware of this great bee die-off, and if they’re regular ...
Anti-GMO activist Jeffrey Smith says labeling push never about ‘right to know’
In a letter sent out [July 30], anti-GMO activist Jeffrey Smith admits what we have suspected all along. Labeling GMOs ...
Philippine scientists will apply for commercialization of GMO eggplant in 2017
Philippine commercial propagation for the heavily-opposed Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) "talong" (eggplant), a homegrown genetically engineered (GE) crop, is now underway ...
GMO crops essential for reducing farming’s carbon footprint, warming
The need for GM crops is growing rapidly as a consequence of the overriding priority for the sustainable generation of ...
Talking Biotech: Cornell’s Ronald Herring on Vandana Shiva’s anti-biotechnology crusade in India
Cornell’s Ronald Herring on Vandana Shiva's anti-biotechnology crusade in India ...
Obama signs compromise GMO labeling bill
President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that prevents states from requiring on-package labeling of genetically modified ingredients, capping an ...
Soylent, makers of popular meal-replacement drink, defend use of GMOs in products
. . . . Many of the criticisms of genetically engineered (GE) foods center on potential risks to human health, the ...
How pollsters frame GMO questions dramatically effects results
Biotechnological modification of food products is still controversial, and the conditions in which consumers accept biotechnological modification of food products ...
Did EU’s regulation of pesticides contribute to Brexit?
Historically, British farmers have supported the European Union, grateful both for subsidies and access to continental markets. Yet most of ...
Is growing GMO crops only way to feed India’s booming population?
There’s a food crisis looming over India. Farmers in the country currently lose some . . . ($5 billion) every year to pests ...
