Daily Food & Ag Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of agricultural and food issues, including the GMO debate, conventional and organic farming, regulations, new breeding technologies and sustainability. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
‘Paying the price for productivity’: Studying ancient barley, safflower and lentil grains can help us recover lost nutrients
What can we learn from the past to address modern problems in food quality and nutrition? This is the question ...
Meet the next generation of California farmers: Robots
In California, the breadbasket of America, more than half of farmers there told a survey that they were unable to ...
Podcast: Could the food we eat be fueling a surge in autoimmune diseases?
Could the food we eat and the air we breathe be damaging our immune systems? The number of people with ...
How CRISPR gene editing technology can eliminate disease-spreading mosquitoes
Scientists have uncovered a new technique they call the “precision-guided sterile insect technique,” or pgSIT. While most CRISPR procedures affect ...
Viewpoint: Plight of the honeybees? ‘Not only are they not in need of saving, they could be causing problems for native pollinators who are’
I’d first read about the plight of bees in 2006, when people started noticing that honeybees were dying in large ...
‘No simple answer’: Will cell-based meat and fish gain acceptance as Halal or Kosher?
As cultured animal proteins begin to hit markets worldwide, consumers are looking to religious authorities for answers on whether lab-grown ...
A million animal and plant species are at risk of extinction. Could we tweak their genes to help them adapt to a changing world?
The United Nations has warned that about a million animal and plant species are at risk of extinction. In response, conservation breeding ...
‘Stretched to a breaking point’: UN report outlines sustainable farming roadmap to address climate change and environmental challenges
Almost 10% of the 8 billion people on earth are already undernourished with 3 billion lacking healthy diets, and the ...
Famed Israeli food critic was challenged to a taste test to choose between cell-grown and natural chicken. Here’s what happened
Renowned Israeli gastronome Michal Ansky knows her food. She’s a professional taster and a Master Chef judge. So when she was invited ...
What’s on the alternative meat UK menu: Plant-based proteins, cultivated meat and edible insects
New research from the Food Standards Agency is investigating how willing consumers are to taste test alternative protein products. The ...
Viewpoint: ‘Pesticide toxicity has plunged by 98%’ — Misplaced campaign targeting synthetic farm chemicals ignores sustainable advances
Modern agricultural technologies, including genetic modifications, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to control crop killers are increasing productivity. As a result, ...
Remaking meat: On the cusp of a new era of plant-based protein products
Exciting up-and-coming plant-based startups across the world are quietly amassing millions of dollars, innovating on novel technologies and getting ready ...
‘Sweet and mild’: Non-GMO ‘tearless’ onion goes on sale in the UK after decades in development
The Sunion onion is perfect for those with sensitive eyes as well as for cooking in the kitchen with children, ...
Reducing insecticide use with CRISPR: Gene editing could naturally rollback pesticide resistance evolution in disease-carrying insects
Insecticides play a central role in efforts to counter global impacts of mosquito-spread malaria and other diseases, which cause an ...
England authorizes emergency neonicotinoid use to protect threatened 2022 sugarbeet crops
Defra has [January 14] approved an emergency temporary authorisation for the use of a neonicotinoid pesticide treatment on the 2022 sugar ...
5 ways gene editing is making crops climate-resilient
Our world is undergoing climate changes that have triggered a spate of calamitous disruptions on agricultural production and overall food ...
How climate change is roiling the global insect population
The climate crisis is set to profoundly alter the world around us. Humans will not be the only species to ...
Viewpoint: Why aren’t Canada and the United States growing sustainable, genetically modified wheat?
It’s safe. It would help farmers deal with drought, support biodiversity, protect the environment and decrease a farms carbon footprint ...
Ethical concerns drive embrace of plant-based proteins — but not cultivated meat
The ultimate success of cell-cultured meat depends on consumer acceptance. What factors are driving, or hindering, uptake? Consumer studies indicated ...
How DNA floating in the air can help us protect animal biodiversity
Two new studies published [January 6] in the journal Current Biology show that environmental DNA (eDNA) collected from air can be ...
Viewpoint: Bayer Roundup cancer case nearing SCOTUS poses test for Biden Administration. Will it stick to science and prior EPA rulings or cave to trial lawyer interests?
[T]he Supreme Court recently asked for the Biden Department of Justice to weigh in on a case involving a golden ...
Insecticides based on RNA technology could poised to be a low impact way to control plant pests
A novel insecticide targets a specific gene in a pest, killing only that bug species on crops and avoiding collateral ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate class action cases — Will the Supreme Court rein in California’s lax rules on junk science?
One tactic California trial lawyers finessed is the use of questionable scientific evidence in trials, sometimes called “junk science.” Now, ...
3D-printed steak is on the menu for the future
Whether it comes from a plant or the cells of an animal, it's becoming increasingly clear that the meat of ...
CRISPR climate game changer: What if we engineered rice to dramatically cut methane emissions?
The complexity of microbial communities has been a major obstacle to discovering technologies that can prevent diseases and improve agriculture ...
Reversing deforestation and biodiversity loss: Can synthetic palm oil help protect the world’s tropical forests?
The world’s cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil, palm oil production is a primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss in ...
Viewpoint: Dissecting the misguided demonization of glyphosate, one of the world’s most effective and safest weedkillers
Social media's coverage of glyphosate has been on a par with that for the Covid vaccine – misunderstandings, mistruths and ...
