Agriculture Spotlight
European Parliament votes to ban glyphosate by 2022 in non-binding vote
Ban household use now, agricultural use by end 2022 Risk assessments by the EU Commission must be made public EU ...
Video: How gene editing could help Kenyan farmers combat crop disease
In Kenya, maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND) has plagued crops and affected yields to the point where food security has ...
Viewpoint: Anti-pesticide activists exploit chemical testing technology to scare public
One religious group forecast an apocalypse a few weeks ago. They used the Bible as their source. More recently, a newer religion ...
Dow to sell new variety of GMO soy seeds in US despite no import approval from Europe, China
Dow AgroSciences will launch a genetically engineered soybean seed that has been barred by major importers under tight controls in ...
Glyphosate, IARC and politics: ‘We need a more honest debate’
Glyphosate is one of the most hotly-debated herbicides of the modern era. Many of the arguments against the popular weed-killer ...
Plant growth genes identified that could lead to increased crop yields
Scientists say the discovery of a group of hormones in plants could revolutionise food production by improving yields. The Universities ...
Activist case that glyphosate herbicide causes cancer mired in scandal
A perfectly useful herbicide could be banned in Europe thanks to a tangled network of lobbyists, lawyers and activists. … ...
Food industry aims to win public trust of CRISPR gene-edited crops and animals
There’s a genetic technology that scientists are eager to apply to food, touting its possibilities for things like mushrooms that ...
Bipartisan group of 79 congressmen urge EPA, FDA to streamline agricultural biotech regulations
In a letter to three federal agency heads on Tuesday, a group of 79 bipartisan members of the United States ...
Why ChemChina’s Syngenta takeover doesn’t mean China will quickly embrace GMO crops
The head of one of China’s biggest chemicals companies has played down expectations the country will become more open to ...
There’s ‘Big Ag’ and ‘Big Organic’—How much does ‘big’ matter when it comes to sustainability?
It's the way crops are farmed not the farm's size that matters when it comes to sustainability ...
IARC bombshell: WHO cancer agency ‘edited out’ draft findings glyphosate non-carcinogenic
The World Health Organization's cancer agency dismissed and edited findings from a draft of its review of the weedkiller glyphosate ...
‘Ecological Armageddon’? Three-quarters of flying insects in Germany vanished in 25 years, study claims
The abundance of flying insects has plunged by three-quarters over the past 25 years, according to a new study.... Insects ...
Ethiopia’s successful GMO cotton field trials prompt move towards commercialization
As [indicated by reports released by] Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), [Ethiopia's] field trial towards Bt cotton has now ...
Bayer to allow public access to pesticide safety information
[Editor's note: Adrian Percy is the Global Head of Research and Development for Crop Science, a Division of Bayer.] After ...
Monsanto, DowDuPont execs discuss transformative impact of gene-editing and data science on farming
To find out more about the potential of [new gene-editing and data science technologies], The Wall Street Journal’s Dennis Berman ...
Understanding honeybee deaths: Close to 100% of Massachusetts’ hives infected by viruses
The honey bee population is on the decline, and bee experts want to know why, so the State Department of ...
One-fourth of cow genome descendant from snakes and lizards, study shows
There are genes known as retrotransposons that can copy themselves and paste the duplicates in other parts of our DNA, ...
Nigeria to commercialize GMO cowpeas and cotton by 2018
The National Agriculture Seed Council (NASC) has commenced sensitisation of Nigerian seed companies in preparation for the commercialisation of Genetically ...
‘GMO’ petunias: Ridiculousness exposed and explained
Italian researcher offers satirical look at the story of the GMO petunias that were ordered destroyed. How would you explain ...
Will EPA’s new restrictions on dicamba herbicide quell drift problems?
On the back of drift complaints, the filing of class-action lawsuits and, most recently, new EPA requirements for dicamba-tolerant crops, Monsanto continues to ...
John Deere acquires precision ag technology that could reduce pesticide use by 90 percent
Tractor giant John Deere just spent $305 million to acquire a startup that makes robots capable of identifying unwanted plants, ...
Genetic engineering and gene silencing could fight deadly crop mycotoxins—if not blocked by activists
Aflatoxins are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses annually. Farmers have struggled to control the troublesome ...
Rothamsted Research calls for more GMO trials or global food security will suffer
Genetic modification of plants will be essential to avert future food shortages, conclude a group of agricultural scientists who have ...
African scientists push governments to embrace GMOs to address fall armyworm crop losses
Over 17 million people in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda have reached emergency food insecurity ...
French grain farmers’ union opposes glyphosate ban, calling herbicide ‘essential’
With France set to vote against EU glyphosate re-registration this month, a group of French farmers have said they will ...
Insects can build resistance to Bt crops in as little as five years, study shows
While organic farmers have used Bt proteins in sprays successfully for more than half a century, some scientists feared that ...
