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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GLP podcast: ‘Fat acceptance’ harms public health; Consumers don’t want to eat insects; 7 tips for sniffing out pseudoscience
Obesity is a victim status not a serious medical condition, according to the fat-acceptance movement. What does the available evidence ...
Antibacterial wax coating made from cinnamon? Here is a ‘natural’ way to extend shelf life of food
A team of researchers at Texas A&M University determined a way to make fruits and vegetables last longer — using only ingredients approved ...
How CRISPR gene-editing technology could change the way we eat
A precise gene-editing technology can make crops tastier, more nutritious, and more resilient to climate change. But can it avoid ...
Viewpoint: Forget environmental and organic mumbo-jumbo — Here’s what you really get at farmer’s markets
There is populist rhetoric about Buy Local but what few in the public realize is that the definition is subjective ...
Is tilapia a human-made freak that we should avoid — or an evolutionary rockstar?
Posts were appearing on my Facebook feed warning against the dangers of eating tilapia. So I decided to do a ...
Here’s why Europe’s only GMO crop approved for cultivation is gradually being abandoned
For more than two decades, the European Union has maintained regulations in the sector focused on ensuring that GMOs that ...
AI advantage: Why embracing precision gene editing will help India grow food in a climate change challenged world
Climate change is bound to affect our food systems. The impact of rising CO2 levels may impact crop yields in ...
Viewpoint: GMO benefits are clear — Pest-resistant Bt cotton cuts pesticide use by 97% in Australia
GMOs began their chain of success with human insulin, then saved the papaya from extinction in Hawaii, and have since ...
‘She is the closest to perfection that we’ve attained so far’: Here’s why this $4 million cow may change the future of Brazil’s beef industry
Brazil has hundreds of millions of cows, but one in particular is extraordinary. Her massive, snow-white body is watched over ...
South Africa has grown genetically modified corn for 27 years. Here’s what Kenya and the rest of Africa can learn from their experience
South Africa was one of the last countries to gain independence, but it has some valuable insights into food security ...
Seedless, thorn free blackberries? With the help of CRISPR, startup Pairwise aims to get fruit on store shelves within a few years
As demand for berries sees significant growth, a three-year-old startup aims to change the DNA of these plants to make them ...
GLP podcast: About that lousy glyphosate-damages-sperm study; Social media can be good for teens? ‘Carnivore’ diet facts and myths
A recent study and subsequent news coverage alleged that the weedkiller glyphosate causes reproductive damage in men. As usual, there ...
Bean farming revolution? Unique innovations could leverage lentils and chickpeas to lock in growth-promoting nitrogen in soil
From lentils to chickpeas, and even the humble baked bean, pulses are perhaps best known as an alternative, plant-based source ...
In quest to help small-plot farmers, ‘precision agriculture’ may become as important as genetic modification
Genetically modified crops and biotechnology have substantially benefitted farmers in recent decades, however, the next agricultural revolution will be driven ...
CRISPR potatoes that cook as fast as pasta or rice and resist bruising? They’re in development
They're a versatile dinner option and are packed full of fibre. But waiting for the humble potato to cook must ...
Pros and cons of the ‘carnivore’ diet?
Breakfast: Bacon with eggs. Lunch: Ground beef cooked in tallow. Dinner: Venison steak with a side of bone marrow ...
With climate change exacerbating threats to growing coffee, expensive no-bean alternatives hit the markets
Your morning cup of joe might be missing a key ingredient in the future: coffee beans. Coffee is so popular ...
How mushroom-based mycelium could replace some of the world’s most polluting products
Netherlands-based Loop Biotech says it is helping people enrich nature upon their death rather than increase their carbon footprint through ...
Eating french fries is as unhealthy as smoking 25 cigarettes? Pseudoscience on health and food abounds
I had never heard of psychiatrist Dr. Paul Saladino, which is somewhat surprising because he is quite frisky in the ...
‘Tool of major corporations’? CRISPR gene editing and other new breeding techniques are improving yields and climate resiliency, but opposition from environmental advocacy groups slows adoption
While genetically modified crops may still provoke fear and uncertainty, some scientists argue that not only can they help to ...
GLP podcast: Is ChatGPT writing fake studies? Vegan restaurateur serves meat, sparks outrage; We need better IVF regulation
Researchers are increasingly relying on Chat GPT and other AI platforms to write their peer-reviewed studies, raising yet another serious ...
Fat + sugar’s irresistible combination has a biological basis in the gut-brain connection
You know those moments when you’re faced with a gooey chocolate chip cookie or a crispy slice of bacon, and ...
Viewpoint: After nearly two dozen Roundup trials, what have juries learned about the link between glyphosate and cancer?
A lawyer who claims his client, a government union employee, got cancer from using the common weedkiller Roundup, is whining that his ...
Viewpoint: Why Bangladesh needs to build on remarkable success of insect-resistant Bt eggplant improving yields by 20%
Bangladesh made history in 2014 as the first country in South Asia to harvest genetically modified organism (GMO) food crops, ...
Viewpoint: ‘Environmentalists are wrong on opposing technological tweaks to agriculture’: How activists undermine society’s need for more climate-adaptive sustainable farming
Public concern about the environment has not always been part of the social conscience in North America. After all, European ...
Podcast: Indigenous people have been using biochar to fertilize soil for centuries. Could renewing this practice be a lasting solution for carbon sequestration?
Reducing emissions from farming will be key to meeting this country's climate goals. Agriculture is the fifth largest source of ...
Viewpoint: Uncomfortable truth — ‘Organic farming takes too much land to have any chance to feed the world in a climate-changed environment’
Science for Sustainable Agriculture (SSA) was recently asked by the farming media to comment on a policy paper issued by the ...
