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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Eating “GMO-free” is a luxury
In this modern age of plenty, we no longer worry about what to eat. Now, we agonize over what not ...
Scientists in UK urge more agricultural R&D
Forecasts of a world population of 9 billion has prompted the publication on Friday of Feeding the Future, a report ...
Prop 37: The failure of a fringe group
Those who fight against genetically engineered crops are fast becoming a fringe group. Despite years of hard scientific facts, they ...
Russia needs to defend itself against GMOs
Russia needs to enter a five-year moratorium on the use of GMO food products and growing of GMP plants. This ...
Will Obama deliver on campaign promise of GMO labeling?
The stance of the Barack Obama administration on genetically modified foods (GMOs) has been under great scrutiny for many years, ...
Thanksgiving: Millions will celebrate with a turkey that could never exist in nature
They will carve a bird with an oversize breast and legs too puny for walking. After more than a half-century ...
Why did Prop 37 fail? It wasn’t just the money
Michele R. Simon, a lawyer and paid writer and spokesperson for the Yes on 37 campaign argued that it lost ...
Anti-GM corn study reconsidered: Séralini finally responds to torrent of criticism
We are now two months into L'affaire Séralini—the publication of a maize rodent study by French scientist Gilles-Eric Séralini and ...
How did “biotechnology” become a dirty word?
How did the word biotechnology become so dangerous? Mention it in a group and people look at you with suspicion ...
Genetically Modified: two words worth $45 million
Despite significant popular support for the labeling of genetically modified foods in recent polls, when it came time to vote ...
The genes we eat: a conversation
Many worry that genetic advances could result in risks to our health and the environment—concerns that surfaced again in the ...
What will it take to convince people GM foods are safe?
Genetically modified foods are a hot button issue for a lot of people. Just a few weeks ago, California voters ...
GM labeling fight goes to Washington State
The next stop for the GMO labeling movement is Washington State, where I-522 (also known as "The People’s Right To ...
Food movement loses battles but will win war
While support for GE food labels has never been stronger, the incessant drumbeat of misleading and outright false industry advertising ...
North Dakota protects “modern” agriculture
Voters in heavily agriculture-dependent North Dakota became the first to enshrine the right to farm in their state constitution, a ...
What’s in store for food reform in Obama’s second term?
When Obama was first elected, food reformers dreamt big. As Michael Pollan wrote just after the 2008 election in his ...
Australia grapples with GM wheat
Last month, a group of Australian scientists published a warning to the citizens of the country and of the world ...
Goldfish Crackers targeted in ‘natural’ lawsuit in wake of Prop 37
While Prop 37 did not pass, the failure to disclose the presence of GMOs in foods that are marketed as ...
GMO labeling efforts change course after California defeat
The failure on Tuesday of a California ballot initiative that would have mandated labeling of genetically modified foods is not ...
The Monsanto fallacy
It’s my favorite new logical fallacy, the “Appeal to Monsanto”, the world’s largest producer of biotech agriculture seeds. This is ...
What’s next for the anti-GM food movement?
The reflections and recriminations over the rejection of California’s Proposition 37 is in full swing. The measure was soundly defeated, ...
International approvals slow for biotech crops
The global market for biotech crops will continue to be fractured unless international approvals are harmonized.Each nation has its own ...
Scientists cheer death of Prop 37
Scientists, on the whole, are pleased to see Prop 37 fail this week. This blog post from SciAm explains the ...
Call to arms from Grist in wake of Prop 37 loss
Despite the defeat of Prop 37, the food movement is being urged to keep fighting the good fight. Grist, in ...
Sheep breeders at the “cutting edge” of genetics
Agriculture and animal husbandry have strong ties to the history of genetics -- Darwin, after all, relied heavily on evidence ...
Six-year study of salmon genetics represents “a model of stakeholder participation”
A massive study of salmon genetics undertaken in Alaska over the last six years is notable both for its sheer ...
Organic versus inorganic: an important distinction, but not for obvious reasons
The distinction between organic and inorganic -- natural versus unnatural -- carries massive cultural, historical, and social freight, as demonstrated ...
