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.
Viewpoint: There’s no industry conspiracy to corrupt research on bees and neonicotinoid insecticides
There’s a stereotype that industry-funded research is inherently compromised. Perhaps this is true for some specific cases, but for honey ...
Responsible use of biotech crops can help feed 800 million-plus chronically undernourished people
In 2018, the number of chronically undernourished people in the world is estimated to have increased to 821.6 million, up ...
Should we abandon ‘monoculture’ farming to protect biodiversity and slow climate change?
How we farm can guard against climate change and protect critical wildlife -- but only if we leave single-crop farms ...
Ancient plant genes could increase food production without added fertilizer use, mitigating deadly algal blooms
Some 500 million years ago -- when our continents were connected in a single land mass and most life existed ...
Fall armyworm adds bitter note to farmer’s ‘sweet and sour journey’
For 83-year-old Florence Wambui Theiru, a life of farming in Central Kenya has been a sweet and sour journey. Over ...
51% of Americans say GMO-derived food is unhealthy, 59% know very little about it, Pew survey shows
Americans have mixed views about genetically modified foods (GMOs) and their implications for society. About half of U.S. adults (51%) ...
Podcast: How editing bacteria with CRISPR could make food more nutritious
Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou is the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North ...
Kenya GMO insect-resistant Bt cotton approval exposes ‘missed opportunity’ for neighboring Uganda
Kenya has made history as it joined six other African countries in commercial cultivation of BT cotton. Peter Munya, the ...
If the FDA doesn’t say they’re safe, ‘they won’t go to market’: What you should know about GMOs and food safety
Glow-in-the-dark mice, silk-producing goats, venomous cabbage — these are all wacky and downright unsettling examples of what can happen when scientists tinker with ...
Plant breeders rapidly adopting gene editing to commercialize more high-yielding crops
It would be inaccurate to say that plant breeders in Canada are ‘a dime a dozen’. A rough estimate places ...
Viewpoint: GMOs responsible for the coronavirus outbreak? That’s scientifically absurd
The “passage of species” of a pathogenic organism from animal to human being, which explains the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 ...
USDA produce industry committee recommends EPA suspend registration of drift-prone dicamba herbicides
The USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee has recommended the suspension of dicamba registration to prevent produce crop harm ...
Plaintiff in glyphosate-cancer trial defends original $80 million verdict against Bayer on appeal
A man who won an $80 million verdict over Monsanto Co.’s Roundup [in 2019] defended the award on appeal, including ...
CRISPR-Cas12b: Versatile gene-editing tool could help develop more high-yielding crops
In a new publication in Nature Plants, assistant professor of Plant Science at the University of Maryland Yiping Qi has ...
Climate change, COVID-19 and GMOs: When should the public trust expert opinion?
In the midst of the current crisis over the coronavirus pandemic, we often face decisions about the extent to which ...
Impossible Foods raises $500 million after quadrupling production of GMO plant-based meat
Vegan meat brand Impossible Foods closed a $500 million funding round. Since its founding in 2011, the Oakland, California-based brand ...
Global GMO crop market worth more than $18 billion—expected to hit $37.4 billion by 2027
The global biotech crops market was valued at US$18.15 billion in 2018, according to Coherent Market Insights in their report released ...
Ugandan President wants GMO bill passed
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni wants the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) caucus to meet, discuss and finally pass the nation’s ...
Bolivia green lights drought-tolerant GMO soy field trials, following 2-million-ton decline in production
The transitional government of President Jeanine Áñez approved the technical evaluation of soybeans – event HB4 – in response to ...
EPA watchdog to determine if agency followed ‘scientifically sound principles’ in approving dicamba herbicides
The inspector general of the EPA is planning to look into whether EPA acted properly when it registered dicamba in ...
EU Commission enlists climate-neutral crops and other sustainability tools to meet Green Deal goals
Under its Green Deal, the European Commission has presented a[n] .... action plan that prepares the ground for a sustainable ...
Coronavirus outbreak is stressing supply chains, but America isn’t running out of food
The aisles and aisles of empty store shelves give the appearance that the United States, improbably and alarmingly, is running ...
Bayer, 6 plaintiffs firms agree on draft settlement terms in Roundup-cancer litigation, but thousands of cases could still go to trial
Bayer has agreed on draft settlement terms with half a dozen law firms representing tens of thousands of plaintiffs alleging ...
China will test African swine fever vaccine on 10,000–20,000 pigs to ensure it won’t spread virus
Researchers in China have developed an experimental vaccine that can protect pigs for life from a lethal virus that has ...
Environmental groups say new EPA pesticide approval rules threaten endangered species
The US Environmental Protection Agency is changing how it evaluates the risks of pesticides to endangered species. Rather than rely ...
Greenpeace proposes law to cut EU meat consumption 80% by 2050, to just three burgers per week
The world’s leading medical journal, The Lancet, recommends that in 2050, people should be consuming a maximum of 300 grams ...
21 senators urge UK to reject ‘antiquated’ EU food safety, biotech rules in new US trade deal
Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science and member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture – ...
