Crops & 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.
Video: Ohio tenth grader’s anti-GMO mini-doc wins C-Span award
Most people looking for answers about genetically modified organisms will simply take to the Internet. Andrew Demeter, a 10th grade student at Notre ...
Food industry should support and help guide GM labeling law to diffuse debate
Food production is a complicated, messy system. Labeling is easy to call for, but hard to actually work out. But the ...
Indian farmer suicides: Compelling media narrative with no basis
In his Collide-a-Scape column, Keith Kloor quotes from The Economist’s Demography and Development blog, several months ago: Facts can be stubborn – and ...
Consumers Union claims ideology not issue, cites “safety and economic concerns” for proposed GMO ban in Jackson, Oregon
The Mail Tribune urges readers, in their April 27 editorial, to "Believe science, not ideology, in GMO debate." Consumers Union, ...
African farmers need to be involved in biotechnology debate
African agricultural biotechnology experts say involving farmers in the biotechnology debate will encourage them to make informed choices and give ...
Can Vermont’s GMO labeling bill stand up to legal challenge?
Vermont’s GMO labeling bill is expected to be challenged in the courts soon after it is signed by the Governor. The two biggest ...
Breeding heat-resistant livestock for a post-warming world: A worthy endeavor?
Evan Halper at the LA Times chronicles efforts to breed livestock that can endure a warming world ... but should ...
No right to deprive someone of safety tested, life-saving, vitamin-enhanced Golden Rice
The blind girl lurched toward me across the parking lot at Tirta Empul temple, mewling. A whitish haze coated her eyes, ...
Monsanto using biotech methods to speed up traditional breeding
Say the term “genetically modified organism,” or GMO, and you’re bound to get some strong opinions. But what is it? And should ...
Black Swan author’s paper on precautionary GM food risks indulges in “fear mongering”
Recently, a paper on the precautionary principle in relation to genetically modified foods has been making rounds in the anti-GMO social media ...
Mass General pediatrics chief says glyphosate, used with some GM crops, no danger in breast milk
Contributor Dr. Ron Kleinman, physician in chief from MassGeneral Hospital for Children, opines on the safety of Glyphosate in human ...
Union of Concerned Scientists blames GMOs for ‘superweeds’ but issue more complex
Genetically modified crops have been blamed for the superweeds problem, but in truth, the use of herbicides in monocultural practices ...
Milestone reached: 4 billionth acre of biotech crops planted globally
It’s no small number - four billion acres of biotech crops have now been planted globally. The impressive mark was met and ...
Los Angeles Times editorial: California GMO labeling bill promotes “scare campaign”
The scientific evidence on genetically engineered food, which has been around for two decades, indicates that it is as safe ...
eBook Lowdown on GMOs: What it’s like not to know anything about GMOs
This article is adapted from the chapter “On What It’s Like Not To Know Squat about GMOs” from the ebook ...
GMO labeling would jack prices and costs with farmers and food producers hit worst
Even though labeling food with genetically modified ingredients is creating a distinction without a difference, the costs would be real ...
Plant geneticist Paul Gepts says polarized GM discussion endangers innovation
Whether you call them transgenic, genetically engineered or GMO crops, the fever-pitched debate about Monsanto misses the bigger picture by ...
Cell biologist Rebecca Rupp: I’m pro-GMO and here’s why
We all know that there are topics that are best to avoid at public dinners. Religion and politics usually top ...
GMO debate in infographics and charts
One of the most debated subjects involving agriculture today is the production of genetically modified crops or (GMOs). Although these ...
Similac baby formula will not get GMO label as Abbott rejects shareholder call
An Abbott Laboratories shareholder proposal to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in its Similac infant formula range received about 5 ...
US at final stages of approving next generation GM herbicide-resistant crops, galvanizing activists
Two key federal agencies are in the final stages of approving a new herbicide-resistant crop “system” that would constitute the ...
Maine’s fractious relationship with Monsanto
Maine's history with Monsanto has evolved over time from warning bells in the organic community and a welcome embrace from ...
Five reasons why you sound crazy when denouncing GMOs
(1) Words and linguistic distinction matters. There is a tendency to either ignore, mutilate or warp the meaning of terms like ...
Scientific American: ‘Environmentalists’ have opposed genetically improving crops as ‘unnatural’ for a century
The May 2014 issue of Scientific American, called Scientific American Classics, looks at "The Birth of the GMO Debate." It ...
Vegans and vegetarians embrace simplistic anti-GMO propaganda, eschew debate, at Canadian expo
Kevin M. Folta, who describes himself as “a scientist in a scientifically illiterate nation at a time when we need science ...
No science-based reason to justify mandatory GMO labeling, study concludes
Analysis of the scientific, legal and economic ramifications of mandatory GMO labeling by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology ...
If you believe GMOs are bad, read this
Agriculture might not strike you as humanity’s first scientific endeavor. Familiar images of farmers tilling their fields or cowboys tending ...
