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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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 ...
Say good-bye to vegan shrimp: Boom in vegan alternatives sputters out
What is made from seaweed, peas, and konjac root? That's right: vegan shrimp – or «vrimp,» as Nestlé called the ...
AI can help accelerate the transition to regenerative farming
Slightly preceding the global momentum towards regenerative agriculture has been a focus on the digitalization of agriculture. It offers benefits ...
Here’s how the organic industry greenwashes its commitment to regenerative agriculture
Think-tank reports Soil Association ‘greenwashing’ claims to advertising watchdog Pro-innovation think-tank Science for Sustainable Agriculture (SSA) has written to the Advertising ...
Viewpoint: Back to the 1980s—Federal suit won by anti-crop biotechnology activists could cripple US agricultural gene editing innovation
On December 2, the Northern California District Court vacated rules adopted in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through ...
Hydroponics: Can growing food without soil be mass scaled?
Growing plants in water rather than soil actually uses a small fraction of the water used in traditional farming—since there’s ...
Teen and tween rush: Now you and your kids can both get a sugar fix at Starbucks
Starbucks said it doesn’t share what percentage of its sales are attributable to customers under 18, but the menu is ...
Is the Chinese Communist Party targeting our burgers? Here’s why Republicans in Congress are worried China is poised to “dominate global food supply chains’
In late September, 11 Republican members of Congress wrote to the directors of national intelligence and the Department of Agriculture’s ...
Brilliant or bizarre—or both: PETA proposes to convert closed meat processing plant into an ‘empathy museum’ and vegan cafe
Following [the] announcement that Tyson Foods will soon close its meat processing operation in Emporia, Kansas, PETA today sent a ...
Viewpoint: ‘Progressives think rural people are dumb rubes’—Farmers know that neonicotinoid insecticides do not harm honeybees
Minnesota is having a challenging year, so challenging they are approaching California as the wackiest state, according to other states ...
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr ‘would put the public’s health in jeopardy: 75+ Nobel laureates urge Senate to reject HHS nominee
More than 75 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter urging senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect ...
Viewpoint: New York Times’ series ‘What to Eat on a Burning Planet’ is elitist hubris (and also gets the science of climate change wrong)
Journalists, academics and policymakers often talk about the “global food system.” But if there is such a thing, it isn’t ...
RFK Jr. is touting regenerative agriculture. The problem is no one knows what it is.
Indigenous farming practices are the trendy new agricultural craze sweeping both sides of the political aisle. The fight is over ...
What impact can regenerative farming have on climate change?
Regenerative agricultural practices are a set of rejuvenating farming and agricultural sustainable practices that seek to boost soil health, water resources, soil organic ...
35% greenhouse emissions: Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change. How can we turn that around?
Plants rely on nitrogen to grow, but they fail to take up a lot of the nitrogen in fertilizers applied ...
How has climate change reduced crop yields over the past quarter century
Agriculture is arguably the industry most sensitive to changes in the climate. Crops need CO2, water — not too little ...
How to improve crop yields
Conventional plant breeders [have] already optimized factors like plant size and [are] working on disease resistance. Based smack in the ...
