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.
Can synthetic biology be scaled up quickly enough to make significant progress against climate change?
In cities, something like 40 or even 50% of food doesn’t even reach our plates. [Claudia Vickers, Director of the ...
Viewpoint: German agricultural economist argues organic crops suffer from low yields, nitrogen leaching, and higher levels of heavy metals — and says ‘greening conventional’ farming is more sustainable
Organic farming sees itself as a superior form of land use. Whether this positive view is justified can be measured ...
Nature study finds growth and body composition of Zebra finches are ‘positively impacted’ by early life exposure to low doses of neonicotinoids
Neonicotinoids are insecticides widely used as seed treatments that appear to have multiple negative effects on birds at a diversity ...
Facing 30,000 unresolved cancer claims, Bayer plans to pull glyphosate from US lawn and garden market by 2023
German drugs and chemicals giant [Bayer] has repeatedly failed to put the Roundup woes behind it. Bayer inherited the legal ...
Universities racing to update curriculums to catch up with technology-driven ‘future food’ revolution
[N]ow that food companies big and small are embracing new technologies to create alternative forms of meat, universities around the ...
Meet the ‘disruptive technologies’ revolutionizing aquaculture
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food producing sector, per the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ...
A tomato that requires no pesticides to grow?
West Virginia University researcher [Vagner Benedito] believes he will be able to develop a tomato that requires little to no ...
Lab-grown meat dilemma: Sustainable alternatives to livestock farming held back by patents, reluctance to share research and lack of government support
[M]any technological, social, and economic hurdles remain before our supermarkets are filled with a variety of cultured cutlets. To surpass ...
Irrational fears of food irradiation still peddled by ‘environmental’ activists
There is a lot of misunderstanding of the sciences involving food, including genetic engineering, pesticide risks, and the idea that ...
Biryani boost: Raft of gene editing innovations can improve rice quality and flavors
Today, biryani is a staple in millions of kitchens around the world. And yet, no two are alike. Myriad add-ons ...
‘Covid exposed so much that was broken’: How can we remake our post-pandemic food system?
The United States spends $1.1 trillion a year on food. But when the impacts of the food system on different ...
Viewpoint: ‘Sure, organic agriculture is sustainable: it sustains poverty and malnutrition’ — Why organic farming is a ‘green’ dead end
It is mystifying to me that organic food is still widely seen as healthier, more sustainable and, most absurdly, safer ...
Podcast: Deploying genetic engineering to save the staple cassava vegetable in Kenya
Cassava is a staple for one in ten people on earth, grown mostly by small farmers tending a few acres ...
Eastern monarch butterfly is in decline, but it’s not due to habitat loss or chemicals. Blame it on climate change
Michigan State University ecologists led an international research partnership of professional and volunteer scientists to reveal new insights into what’s ...
‘Genetic engineering the wild’: Crucial questions to ask as we enter the era of gene drives
Gene drives are a technology through which a few individual genetically engineered organisms would be deployed to intentionally push new ...
Who are the scientists who paved the way to modern crop breeding?
[Here are] some of the agricultural industry’s biggest game-changers over the past two centuries. They may not be household names, ...
How AI and gene editing can combine to revolutionize climate-smart farming
While precision agriculture promises to reduce indiscriminate use of water, fertilizer and pesticides, intensive efforts are also being made at ...
Kenyan small farmers look to genetically engineered disease resistant cassava to improve food security
Catherine Taracha, a scientist at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro), is looking forward to starting planting genetically ...
Impossible Foods taking on mega-huge chicken nugget market with its GMO, plant-based alternative
Impossible Foods Inc. plans to debut a plant-based chicken nugget this fall, the latest imitation meat maker to jump into ...
Vulnerable populations in the developing world could benefit most from gene-driven technology revolution in agriculture
Technology is needed now more than ever to deal with the Covid-19 fallout for the food system, which is still ...
Here’s how Europe plans to cut agriculture carbon emissions
A new carbon removal approach in agriculture will contribute to stepping up Europe’s climate ambition, the European Commission reiterated at ...
Colorants used in food, drugs and cosmetics are often petroleum based. Genetically engineered bacteria could offer a safer solution
A research group at KAIST has engineered bacterial strains capable of producing three carotenoids and four violacein derivatives, completing the ...
Tofu waste used to make less expensive and more ethical cell-based meat
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are finding new uses for okara — the pulp leftover from making soy-based foods ...
Lab grown technology extends far beyond meat — to diamonds, trees and even human bones
Yes, most ‘lab-grown’ tech companies are working to produce animal-derived agricultural products (‘meat’, ‘leather’, ‘milk’, ‘eggs’ etc.). But, there’s a ...
Greenpeace denounces Philippines’ approval of nutrition-enhanced GMO Golden Rice
Greenpeace Philippines called on Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar to reverse the Bureau of Plant Industry’s (BPI) decision to approve ...
GMO breakthrough: Philippines becomes first country to approve nutrition-enhanced Golden Rice for commercial sale; Bangladesh next
The Philippines became the world's first country [July 23] to approve the commercial production of genetically modified "golden rice" that ...
Consistent global regulations essential to bring cell-based meat into the mainstream
Singapore's historical approval of cell-based meat late last year spurred industry momentum, but there remains a lack of clarity on ...
