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.
‘There is a coming revolution in CRISPR’: Gene editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna anticipates focus on crops and climate change
Jennifer Doudna, one of the inventors of the breakthrough gene-editing tool CRISPR, says the technology will help the world grapple ...
Rwandan farmers and scientists turn to genetic modification to rescue disease-threatened potatoes, maize and cassava
Rwanda could soon start using genetically modified maize, Irish potatoes, and cassava crops as confined trials are underway. Maize is ...
Intelligent food labels: Technological innovations to prevent food waste
With everyone talking about the problem of food waste worldwide, its effects are reaching way beyond just the food industry ...
What’s a burger, sausage or a steak? European Union court rules can legally be used in marketing vegan products
The news that France or any member state can’t ban meaty terms in plant-based food labels has given [the] industry a ...
Pakistan drops ban on importing GMO soybeans
The federal government [of Pakistan] has officially authorised the import of genetically modified (GMO) soybean by granting licences to dozens ...
Viewpoint: Is the anti-corporate MAHA—pro-big business Trump alliance viable?
[Robert] Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) wants “to dismantle the corporate stranglehold on our government agencies that has led ...
Food-crippled Malawi rejects GMO crops, claiming they cause health problems
Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale has ruled out genetically modified organism (GMO) food supplements as a solution to Malawi’s perennial food ...
Artificial nose in development may make it possible to easily detect spoiled and damaged food
New artificial nose technology developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) could make it possible to reliably ...
Viewpoint: The politicization of food safety—what can we expect if Trump wins the presidency
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: science is political. Well, technically, how science is implemented is political, ...
Mexico’s ban on GM corn ‘could disproportionately affect the nation’s lower-income consumers’
A fully implemented ban on genetically modified corn in Mexico could disproportionately affect the nation's lower-income consumers, according to a ...
‘Milestone moment’: Drought-tolerant wheat trait deregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but it will be years until its commercially available
For 20 years, genetically modified wheat traits were set on the back burner, but now GMO wheat is back on ...
Vegetable oils are often maligned as “industrial seed oils” that cause inflammation and oxidate damage. What does science say?
In the nutrition world, few topics are currently as polarizing as vegetable oils! While mainstream health guidelines typically advocate for ...
Plastic for dinner? Newly discovered microbes may soon be a lunch treat
There are microbes that look at a plastic bottle and go, “Yum”. Do you think you’d ever look at a ...
Podcast: Glyphosate doesn’t cause Celiac disease or alter gluten structure
Disinformation clouds the public understanding of science, especially technology in agriculture and medicine. So when a leading journal publishes false ...
More than a dozen federal agencies oversee America’s food system. What can be done to clean up this regulatory mess
Complex and disparately funded regulatory oversight for food and beverage products, spread out among many federal agencies, has created a ...
Perhaps carbohydrates, not meat, provided early humans the energy needed to evolve bigger brains
From crispy French fries to crusty sourdough loaves, carbs are an integral (and delicious) part of the human diet. But why ...
Rwanda launches Gates-funded project to develop drought, virus and blight resistant crops
Farmers and agriculture sector leaders have said they expect a new five-year scheme called Rwanda Agricultural Biotechnology Program, to support improvement ...
This AI-powered ‘electronic tongue’ in development can detect if your food is spoiled or rotten
Ever wondered if that old carton of fruit juice in the back of your fridge is still safe to drink? ...
African scientists challenge activist claims that crop biotechnology revolution spreading across Africa threatens continent’s plant biodiversity
Do genetically modified (GM) pose a threat to the Africa’s plant biodiversity? ...
America has fallen behind in biomanufacturing. Is there a way to solve this issue?
As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, the United States has fallen behind when it comes to biomanufacturing. Our nation's supply chains ...
Food is medicine? 4 reasons why we need to be cautious about jumping aboard the FIM movement
Food is Medicine (FIM) programs are gaining national attention and funding as a method to treat chronic food-related diseases by ...
Viewpoint: The U.S. Dietary Guidelines are broken. Here’s what needs to be done to fix it.
To address this [chronic disease] crisis, for children and adults alike, our response should be bipartisan. As former members [Janet ...
Video—Viewpoint: Nutritionist Dr. Sarah Ballantyne: Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen vegetables and fruits is ‘fear-mongering’ and “not scientifically credible’
The Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list is based on the number of pesticide residue detections found on foods, but ...
Poland dodges crop genetic modification ban, renews use of GM as animal feed
Polish farmers will be able to continue using animal fodder containing imported genetically modified soya or other GMO crops for ...
6 ways Russia deploys its disinformation bots to smear the agriculture and food practices of the U.S. and West
In order to push its geopolitical goals, the Russian Federation uses multiple propaganda tools, with topics ranging from global and ...
How do we feed future astronauts on Mars?
Unrelenting radiation, along with electrostatic discharge from planet-wide dust storms, drove chemical reactions in the arid Martian dirt, ultimately leaving ...
A five-star recipe for cutting food waste?
A comprehensive report on food waste published in [March 2024] by the United Nations Environment Programme shares some sobering statistics: ...
