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.
Fungi ‘junk genes’ could yield new drugs, biopesticides, study shows
Bio-Protection Research Centre scientists and collaborators have made a discovery that potentially opens the door to new medicines and biological ...
Billion-year-old microbes could give us new food, fuel sources—if we can figure out how to use them
We can’t afford to let this potential biotech breakthrough go to waste ...
Sequenced sugarcane genome aids development of high-yielding GMO crop varieties
An international group of researchers led by scientists from Brazil's Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo ...
Naturally drought-tolerant sorghum could help develop crops better suited to changing climate
A new study led by scientists from the University of California Berkeley reveals how sorghum plants control its genome - switching ...
Podcast: How activists and politicians derailed South Australia’s attempt to embrace GMO crops
Activists in Australia are manipulating politicians with fear and doubt to restrict farmer choice ...
New vaccine could immunize 50 million cattle against bovine tuberculosis
Scientists at the University of Surrey have developed a novel vaccine and complementary skin test to protect cattle against bovine ...
Will Alaska grow its own food as summer temperatures surpass 90 degrees?
Alaska has been on a multi-year weather paroxysm as the Arctic heats twice as fast as the rest of our ...
Weed that ‘eats’ glyphosate discovered in Western Australia, researchers say
Researchers have claimed a world first .... after discovering a tropical weed in Western Australia's far north that literally eats ...
Podcast: Political opposition blocks South Australia’s plan to lift GMO crop ban
South Australia is the only mainland state that bans farmers from growing genetically modified food. The ban's been in place ...
First plants didn’t evolve flower color to attract pollinators, study suggests
Flowering plants feature a wondrous array of colors, the primary purpose of which is to attract insect pollinators. But this ...
Has modern agriculture ‘tainted’ your Thanksgiving dinner?
The Environmental Working Group knows how to grab headlines with ominous claims about America's food supply. In 2018, the Washington, ...
Plant-based burgers are wildly popular. Are any of them vegan?
.... [W]ith a range of new "plant-based" meat options entering fast-food restaurants like Burger King, Denny's and Dunkin Donuts, which ...
Coating seeds with silk that supplies essential nutrients could provide a natural fertilizer to grow crops on unproductive soils
Providing seeds with a protective coating that also supplies essential nutrients to the germinating plant could make it possible to ...
Post-Green Revolution study: Projected crop yields unable to feed the world by 2050, we need GMOs, gene editing and other ‘genetic strategies’
The current trajectory for crop yields is insufficient to nourish the world’s population by 2050. Greater and more consistent crop ...
Viewpoint: Proposed Philippines biotech authority could streamline GMO crop approvals, help farmers battle hunger
According to the biotech timeline prepared by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), the modern biotechnology ...
Podcast: ‘OMG, GMOs!’ Bill Nye answers your questions about biotech crops
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) often gets a bad rap, but farmers have been using them for decades to feed the ...
GMOs are ‘substantially equivalent’ to conventional foods. Should they face reduced regulations?
There really is no tension between patenting plants that are also found by the FDA to be substantially equivalent ...
CRISPR, disease-sensing technologies could yield a ‘cornucopia’ of healthier, tastier foods
Consumers may soon begin purchasing fun-sized fruits and vegetables, as well as processed foods that incorporate healthier ingredients .... And ...
Expanding India’s crop diversity could boost access to vital nutrients for 200 million people, study shows
There has been a substantial increase in food production over the last 50 years, but it has been accompanied by ...
CRISPR-edited sorghum could provide needed protein to 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa
RESEARCHERS have achieved a major breakthrough in sorghum, elevating the protein of the globally important cereal crop from 9-10 per ...
If Africa adopts biotech crops, will anti-GMO Europe retaliate against the continent’s most important trading partner?
How would Europe react if GMO crops became commonplace in Africa? ...
Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat success spurs Chinese firms to develop plant-based meats
While China is no stranger to food using vegetarian ingredients to give a meat-like flavor, the buzz around Beyond Meat ...
Biofortified CRISPR-edited rice could help battle global vitamin A deficiency
Genome editing could be an alternative approach to improve the vitamin A content of crops, according to a study by ...
First plants that moved from water to land were natural GMOs, research reveals
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group ...
Soybean designed to grow on exhausted pasture land could help protect Amazon rainforest
The agrichemical giant Syngenta wants to go green by developing specific varieties of soybeans to be grown away from the ...
Challenging media narrative about the ‘birds and the bees’—neither faces serious threats from neonicotinoids or other crop chemicals
Discarding this valuable crop protection tool is a questionable strategy ...
Anti-GMO forces target New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) despite similarities to conventional crops
The same meritless arguments leveled against GMOs resurface for New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) ...
