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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Are plant-based meats healthier?
Unless you live in isolation from supermarkets, you've likely heard of plant-based meats — products made from plant-derived ingredients like ...
Video: Intransigent vegans: Look what happened when a financially-tottering California restaurant added regeneratively-farmed meat to its menu
A vegan restaurant chain has been forced to close for good following furious customers criticizing them for putting meat and ...
Should agriculture get the blame for antibiotic resistance?
Journalists are an easily spooked bunch. Where scientists see a problem in need of a solution, the press often sees ...
Pork from gene-edited disease resistant pigs should be on grocery shelves in 2025
[R]eports suggest that gene editing could bring us disease-resistant pork as soon as 2025. It’s been thirty years since the ...
The controversy over ultra-processed foods: Some are healthy, some are not
[One] study is helping to answer a pressing nutrition question: Which ultra-processed foods are harming our health—and which might not ...
Bioenergy: Booster gene could naturally jump plant growth 30%
A gene called Booster has been identified in poplar trees that boosts photosynthesis and growth by up to 200% in controlled ...
35 years after Alar hysteria devastated the apple industry, there are more varieties than ever before. What happened?
[I]n 1989 the apple industry was hit with the notorious “Alar Scare” when the environmental group NRDC asserted that a ...
Global farming revolution since the 1960s: ‘A miracle of science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship
The global production of six major food and animal feed crops (corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, cassava, and millet) has dramatically ...
Viewpoint: NGO claim that crop pesticides has led to hundreds of thousands of poisoning deaths has proven false but activists don’t retract it
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” The sentence in the ...
How ‘clean food’ ingredients are opening a new frontier in skin care
The promise to support skin health, the immune system and the microbiome, among other benefits, is driving parts of the ...
How GMO tobacco can improve infant formula and dairy-free plant-based milk
In an eclectic application of transgenic technology, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and Davis describe retooling cells ...
What defines ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ and does it deliver real benefits?
While explicit promotion of “Regenerative Agriculture” is a relatively recent trend, it’s practical implementation typically involves a combination of already ...
Extreme weather is threatening global food supplies. What can be done?
As the world grapples with the challenge of feeding a growing population against an increasingly unstable backdrop, leading journal Science ...
Viewpoint: The downsides of the ‘clean eating’ fad
“Clean eating” is a dietary trend focused on consuming whole foods while avoiding processed and packaged foods with refined sugars, ...
Ignore the click bait. Despite the headlines, seed oils do not cause colorectal cancer
The fear-baiting is truly out of control these days. I can’t open a web browser or social media app without ...
China barrels ahead in its quest to exploit agricultural biotechnology, leaving other countries behind
China has approved five gene-edited crop varieties and 12 types of genetically modified (GM) soybean, corn and cotton, expanding approvals ...
Mexico’s rejection of U.S. GMO corn and glyphosate not based on science, trade panel rules
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai [has] announced that the United States has prevailed in its dispute under the United ...
Viewpoint: 15 explanations for why activists lie and try to scare people about ‘killer’ chemicals, genetically engineered crops and nuclear energy
We always hear NGOs saying that we cannot trust industry, that we have to exclude industry evidence or that industry ...
Grocery store shoppers love organic food and regenerative farming but balk at having to pay for it
Joseph Balagtas is a Purdue University professor of agriculture economics and the director of the Center for Food Demand Analysis and ...
Ultra-processed foods are confirmed to be linked with cancer in a ‘powerful way’
Science has already linked ultra-processed foods to heart disease, inflammation, diabetes, and cancer. But new research out of the University of South Florida ...
What might food policy look like under the Trump presidency?
Donald Trump is in the process of filling out his second-term cabinet, and he recently announced appointees to lead the ...
Can agricultural robots cut down on weeds without chemicals or carbon-releasing tilling?
Weeds are the bane of all farmers. They compete with crops for soil moisture and nutrients and can block out ...
Hype or helpful: What does ‘clean eating’ really mean?
Eating clean sounds smart—in theory. Generally, the idea focuses on eating more whole foods and less ultra-processed foods. (Great!) But in practice, ...
‘Widespread disconnect between reality and public perception’—Why factory farming is superior to organic
[T]here is no evidence of any nutritional or health advantage from consuming organic produce. Further – and most people I ...
Why bananas are the original ‘frankenfood’
The banana has shaped civilizations and sparked scientific inquiry. From its origins in the lush forests of New Guinea to ...
What is the future of no-till farming?
No-till farming holds significant promise as a sustainable agricultural practice that can help address some of the key challenges facing ...
GLP-1 Friendly: How Big Food is trying to leverage the GLP-1 weight loss drug fad
Packaged-food giant Conagra Foods is hoping to appeal to people taking weight-loss drugs with frozen entrees like chicken fettuccini alfredo ...
