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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Will CRISPR spawn a new wave of crop biotech innovation despite regulatory hurdles?
The fact that gene-edited crops can be indistinguishable at the molecular level from those that occur in nature or are ...
Fast carbs: Do the products of modern agriculture short circuit your biology to make you fat and diabetic?
In recent weeks, foods of all kinds have flown off the shelves at grocery stores as Americans stocked up to ...
Gene editing and agroecology compatible? Yes, and they may lead to more eco-friendly farming
New gene techniques and agro-ecology can reinforce each other in making agriculture more sustainable, say researchers at Wageningen University & ...
Can we meet global food demand using conventional, intensive agriculture without sacrificing the environment?
The expansion of farmlands to meet the growing food demand of the world’s ever expanding population places a heavy burden ...
Gene editing could yield tastier blackberries and raspberries with longer shelf life
Like your berries? [Biotech startup] Pairwise .... is working to put more options on supermarket shelves. It has partnered with ...
Next-generation gene-editing technology: Path to a second Green Revolution?
Might gene-editing facilitate the task of generating and identifying yield-enhancing genetic variation? ...
Biotech-powered, plant-based seafood poised to cut overfishing, pollution and ‘food fraud’
Plant-based seafood specialist Kuleana is targeting seafood and sushi lovers with what it describes as the ‘next generation of raw ...
Brexit unlikely to change UK’s restrictive GMO crop rules in the next 3 years, USDA reports
In his inaugural speech as Prime Minister (PM) in July 2019, Boris Johnson said “let’s liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience ...
Cellular agriculture could replace some of the 270 million dairy cows needed to produce milk
Worldwide demand for milk is continually increasing in response to a range of factors, including global population growth and changing ...
5 nations grow 174.5 million hectares of GMO crops annually—more than 90% of global total
High adoption of biotech crops continued in 2018 with 26 countries planting 191.7 million hectares worldwide. This area is an ...
Low-hanging fruit: How the first generation of GMO crops yielded massive economic and environmental benefits
There are still no widely available GM varieties of either wheat or rice, the second and third most widely grown ...
Viewpoint: How consumer fear and misguided regulation limit the progress of crop biotechnology
There is a profound disconnect between the modern science of crop improvement and the farmer ...
Could GMO microbes, plants yield larger quantities of heart drug digoxin?
Foxglove plants, found in many gardens, are known for the showers of bell-shaped flowers they produce. But plants belonging to ...
Gene from grass-dwelling fungus may help safeguard global wheat production against deadly disease
Wheat scab hits farmers with a double punch. The fungal disease, also known as Fusarium head blight, shrivels grain and ...
Soil fungus could suppress soybean cyst nematodemore—cause of over $1 billion in yield losses every year
The soybean cyst nematode sucks the nutrients out of soybean roots, causing more than $1 billion in soybean yield losses ...
Farm workers fear coronavirus infection as they labor to keep US fed during COVID-19 pandemic
While millions of Americans shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, farmworkers on California’s cool central coast move ...
Synthetic biology will help us feed ourselves with drought-tolerant crops as climate change accelerates
Drought stress has been a long-time limitation to crop production that is being exacerbated by climate change and associated reductions ...
Don’t fear white bread. It’s more nutritious today than it was 200 years ago, new analysis shows
A study comparing historic and modern wheat varieties grown side by side has shown an increase in dietary fiber and ...
Native Australian plant may help develop disease-resistant crops—and a COVID-19 vaccine
A team from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) spearheaded the genome sequencing of an ancient Australian plant years before ...
Temperature-sensing plant molecule could help breed food crops optimized for changing climate
In a paper published in Nature Communications, a group of cell biologists .... reveal the phytochrome B molecule has unexpected ...
Podcast: GMOs to blame for coronavirus? Catching COVID-19 twice; junk studies fuel biotech skepticism
As the world continues to struggle against the rapidly spreading coronavirus, anti-GMO activists are blaming crop biotechnology for the pandemic ...
Rising food prices amid coronavirus pandemic stress already fragile economies in developing world
As the coronavirus pandemic penetrates more deeply into global supply chains, prices for key staples are starting to soar in ...
Video: World has lots of food, but COVID-19 trade restrictions hamper supermarket restocking efforts
The food industry is struggling to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Restrictions on transportation links that move ...
GMO and organic crops can coexist with minimal risk of contamination, multiple studies confirm
In 2020, the world accommodates nearly 7.8 billion people. By 2050, world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion. With ...
Viewpoint: Contradictory evidence exposes critical flaws in International Agency for Research on Cancer glyphosate assessment
This commentary does not concern itself with the need for, or the value of glyphosate as an agrochemical: rather it ...
Global access to education is growing. Here’s how GMO crops might be helping
One of the consistent benefits of GM crop adoption has been a higher farm and household income. In an assessment ...
Online grocers struggle to meet demand as COVID-19 keeps shoppers away from supermarkets
A pandemic forcing everyone to stay home could be the perfect moment for online grocery services. In practice, they’ve been ...
