Daily Food & Agriculture Digest
Viewpoint: Why we need to get over our gene-editing fears and embrace optimized, climate-resilient crops
As the planet warms, gene editing is one of our greatest hopes for developing resilient crops that allow for adaptation ...
Is eating vegan healthier than following an omnivorous lifestyle? Study on 22 sets of twins delves into diet
November 30, a study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by researchers at Stanford University, who studied 22 ...
Creating the perfect Christmas tree: Researchers spent four decades creating a faster-growing, shed-free fir tree
Christmas trees are the centerpiece of the holiday season. But the fear of needles falling can deter shoppers from buying ...
‘Agriculture catches blame for climate change’: Here’s 3 ways innovation can transform farming challenges into solutions
As climate change intensifies, the conversation around two of the most significant contributors — energy and transportation — has shifted ...
Will indoor farming revolutionize sustainable agriculture, or is it another case of greenwashing?
With the help of LED lighting plants are grown in indoor spaces, using closed nutrient and water cycles. As of ...
‘I asked for a greenhouse made of bulletproof glass’: Golden Rice developer feared activist retaliation for creating genetically modified vitamin A-boosted variety
In July 2000, Ingo Potrykus thought he was both at the peak and at the end of his career. He ...
CRISPR co-creator Jennifer Doudna: ‘I think many of us will experience CRISPR in the agricultural world before we experience it clinically’
It’s been a monumental year for Crispr, the molecular tool scientists use to edit genetic material. ...
Companies bet millions on the plant-based meat substitute revolution. Why hasn’t that panned out?
Futurists and pundits often make compelling cases for how the agricultural world will unfold. Here are a half dozen instances ...
Viewpoint: Hunger crisis — The number of countries unable to feed their populations has soared 400% since 2000. Here’s why crop biotechnology is a key solution
In the face of increasing population, adversely changing climate, shrinking agricultural lands, inputs such as energy, fertilizer and pestisite that ...
Food and your brain: ‘Ultra-processed’ foods high in salt, sugar and fat are cheap and accessible — but increase risks of anxiety and depression
Although many ultra-processed foods—soda, candy, energy bars, fruit-flavored yogurt, frozen pizza, and frozen meals—can satisfy cravings for sweet, fatty, salty ...
New study shows daffodils can reduce methane
Harnessing the power of daffodils to combat climate change is now a plausible idea if ongoing scientific experiments and field trials are ...
Here’s how French activist-professor Gilles-Éric Séralini’s retracted and discredited paper — that claims GMO crops and glyphosate cause cancer — continues to undermine Kenyan agriculture
The October 17 dismissal of a defamation case in France against journalists who rubbished research by Giles Eric Séralini discrediting ...
‘Gastronomic dreams of astronomical proportions’: Collaboration between government and companies key to producing cell-based meat at scale
Creating a technological (and delicious) wonder is one thing; scaling it to feed billions of people is another ...
USDA further liberalizes rules to allow easy approval of more gene-edited crops
Biotech plant developers are pleased with a proposal from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to create five new ...
President Macron’s attempt to appease French anti-glyphosate environmental lobby goes awry, alienating both his activist base and farmers
Good news for French agriculture. Finally, the European Commission decided to follow what a majority of Member States wanted, in this ...
Viewpoint: Why Italy’s cell-based meat ban is short sighted and alienates consumers
Italian lawmakers banned cell-culture meat and blocked plant-based proteins from being labeled with meat terminology ...
Foods can fight inflammation. Here’s what to eat to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and more
In the last few decades, researchers including [surgical oncologist Jennifer] Wargo have accumulated evidence to support some key ingredients in ...
Viewpoint: Nigeria may be running out of farmable land. Is there a biotech-based solution?
It is probable that Nigeria would experience a scarcity of cultivable land and a notable reduction in the nitrogen levels ...
Glyphosate cancer warning rejected: US appeals court rebuffs California’s attempt to require label that conflicts with global consensus that the herbicide is safe as used
A U.S. appeals court recently ruled that California lacks the authority to enforce a regulation mandating cancer warnings on glyphosate, ...
Should we be concerned that gene-editing seeds will cascade into unpredictable changes?
For tens of thousands of years, evolution shaped tomatoes through natural mutations. Then, humans came along. For centuries, we've bred ...
Viewpoint: GM crops already solving food insecurity — 37% less pesticides, 22% higher yields, and 68% greater earnings for farmers
Food insecurity and undernourishment are currently among the most serious anxieties for human health. As the world’s population goes on ...
How algae, mushrooms and grass can supplement ‘de-carbonization’ initiatives
The prominence of the forestry industry in Sweden’s bioeconomy has whipped up controversy. Many scientists, activists, and NGOs are critical of ...
Eight-country European study finds numerous pesticides reduce fertility in bumblebees
A new study has confirmed that pesticides, commonly used in farmland, significantly harm bumblebees – Ireland’s most important wild pollinators ...
The ‘holy grail’ of beer yeasts: How genetically-modified IPAs could stay fresh forever
Yeast is central to brewing, as it turns the sugars provided by barley malt and other grains into alcohol, while ...
Facing billions more in potential settlements, Bayer holds to its legal strategy
Bayer is sticking to its legal strategy of trying individual Roundup cases in court, even as a series of recent ...
300% yield boost: Analyzing Nigeria’s first GM potato project, one year later
The Genetically Modified (GM) Potato Project ongoing in Nigeria has concluded its first-year multi-locational confined trial in three locations, with ...
Gene-editing primer: What’s the difference between CRISPR crops and GMOs?
GMOs and gene-edited crops are products of genetic engineering, but one is a GMO and the other is not. Why ...