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.
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 – ...
Opposition to EPA re-approval of Bayer, BASF dicamba herbicides mounts as widespread crop damage continues
Decisions made in the next year will be critical for the future use of the herbicide dicamba, a weed killer ...
Customized diets based on genetics, and 4 other food marketing trends gaining traction in 2020
Food marketers, take note of these trends shaping the future of the food and beverage industry: Hypercustomization: Customizing food products ...
New report hails Ghana’s ‘unique’ biosafety regime as nation prepares for its first GMO crop
A new report has hailed Ghana’s “unique” biosafety regime as the West African nation prepares to commercialize insect-resistant Bt cowpea, ...
Once focused on vegan burgers, alt-protein industry sets sights on grain- and cell-based chicken, steak
After four years as a biomedical engineer specializing in 3D printing of tissue and organs in Barcelona, Giuseppe Scionti had ...
Electricity from genetically engineered trees: It’s not as crazy as it sounds—but is it ethical?
What if trees could provide electricity to cities? .... This surrealist idyll isn’t too far-fetched, say a team of researchers ...
Bayer insect‐resistant, herbicide‐tolerant GMO corn poses no risk to human health or environment, EU food safety panel confirms
Following the submission of application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐014 .... from Monsanto Company the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food ...
CRISPR gene-editing can help turn Africa’s low-yielding rice varieties into sustainable staple crops
African Oryza glaberrima and Oryza sativa landraces are considered valuable resources for breeding traits due to their adaptation to local ...
Plant-based breakfast sausage is here. Beyond Meat scientists explain how it’s made
The Beyond Breakfast Sausage will be on grocery store shelves towards the end of March at ACME, Albertsons, Vons, Whole ...
As more states try to ban chlorpyrifos insecticides, small chemical firms boost production to meet farmer demand
Smaller players in the pesticide industry are angling to take advantage of a new and perhaps finite window to sell ...
Kenya aims to have 200,000 acres of commercial GMO insect-resistant Bt cotton by 2022
After many years of waiting, Kenya has finally commenced commercial farming of Bt cotton heralding a new dawn for cotton farmers in ...
Corporate farms vs small family farms: Is one operation better than the other?
There is an ongoing debate in the agriculture industry between small family farms and large corporate farms. The controversy between ...
Synthetic biosensors: Engineered plants could detect flu viruses and crop pests before they become global problems
You’ve felt sick ever since you started working in a different office .... but building management can’t find the source ...
Shoppers will buy gene-edited food if they know its consumer, animal and environmental benefits
The FMI Foundation in partnership with the American Seed Trade Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the Farm Foundation, ...
Viewpoint: How GMO herbicide-tolerant canola accelerated sustainable farming
Who would have fathomed how significant a day in March 1995 would become in the history of Canadian agriculture? On ...
Africa’s locust outbreak: Proof we need GMOs, pesticides and every other tool in the toolbox to combat crop-destroying insects
A perfect storm of conditions led to the locust attack currently tearing through East Africa and Pakistan, where countries are ...
Feeding microbes expired bread during fermentation could yield cheaper, more sustainable food
Wine, cheese, yoghurt and bread: all these culinary delights owe their existence to the work of microorganisms like bacteria, yeast, ...
Mozambique sees GMO crops as way to reduce poverty, achieve food security
Mozambique is exploring the use of biotech crops to boost food security following its successful field trials of genetically modified ...
Space-grown lettuce a hit with astronauts, and nutritionally identical to its earthly counterpart
The astronauts floated around, expressing delight as they tasted something entirely unexpected in space. "Awesome! Tastes good! I like that! ...
Next glyphosate fight? Colombian farmers challenge government plan to reinstate aerial coca crop spraying
Pedro Arenas is afraid that they'll take flight again. "I expect it could be within the next months," he says ...
Center for Food Safety sues USDA to block organic certification of soil-free hydroponic crops
Federal Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler .... will be reviewing USDA’s decision to permit the “indoor agricultural evolution” known as hydroponics ...
