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.
African swine fever decimates global pork production. Can a genetically engineered vaccine stop it?
In the fall of 2017, a year before an unfamiliar virus captured the world’s attention with an explosive outbreak in ...
Beyond Meat goes ‘on the offensive,’ blasting critics who claim plant-based burgers are ultra-processed
While its CEO says engaging in an increasingly heated debate over the merits of plant- vs animal-based meat can be ...
‘RIPE’ computer model that boosts photosynthesis could help increase food production by 20% per acre
There’s an international research project called RIPE, short for Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency. The effort .... most recently has developed ...
Bayer in ‘no rush’ to settle Roundup-cancer litigation following endorsements from EPA, Department of Justice
.... Bayer was at pains on [Feb. 27] to quell expectations it was nearing an out-of-court settlement laying to rest ...
Gene-edited, salt-tolerant rice grown at sea could help feed 3.5 billion people sustainably
Growing rice in the ocean sounds a little whacky, but ocean agriculture is an emerging form of food production that ...
Starbucks will debut plant-based Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich in Canada March 3
Starbucks Corp. announced [Feb. 26] that it will add a plant-based Beyond Meat Inc. sandwich to the menu in Canada ...
Fighting blight with GMO potatoes
Dr. Eric Magembe is committed to using the tools of genetic engineering to fight the devasating potato late blight disease ...
Viewpoint: Energy-intensive production, contamination risks threaten to slow lab-grown meat development
Lab-raised meat is unlikely to make rapid strides in the consumer market due to steep economic and technological hurdles, according ...
Bayer Chairman to step down as potential $12 billion Roundup-cancer litigation settlement looms
Bayer Chairman Werner Wenning, one of the architects of a $63 billion takeover deal that has left the German crop ...
Non-GMO, high-protein ‘smart peas’ slated for 2021 debut, with other ‘super trait’ crop varieties to follow
Equinom, an Israeli startup, raised $10 million in a Series B round of funding from BASF Venture Capital, Roquette, Trendlines ...
Health officials urge Uganda to pass biosafety law granting consumer access to biofortified GMO crops
Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Uganda Medical Association, the National Drug Authority, and Uganda Pharmaceutical Society resolved that the government ...
Synthetic booze: Lab-made wine, sake may be coming to a bar near you—and whiskey is already there
San Francisco startup Endless West unveiled two products Thursday, Feb. 20, the likes of which have never been sold before: ...
Disney names GMO Impossible Burger its preferred plant-based meat, noting customers ‘have embraced’ vegan options
Disney and Impossible Foods, which makes plant-based meat designed to look, taste and cook like the real thing, have struck ...
Wealthy consumers throw out nearly 530 calories per day, study finds, more than double previous food waste estimates
Consumers are likely wasting much more food than commonly believed, according to a study published .... in the open-access journal ...
Fungi-based ‘faux bacon’ sold out on Valentine’s Day—now it’s headed for a San Francisco butcher shop
This bacon is elusive. It doesn’t come from a pig. You can’t even buy it anymore. Maybe that’s because people ...
Growing cotton in space could generate crop varieties with stronger fiber, better drought tolerance and disease resistance
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology teamed up with several partners in a series of research collaborations, grants, and projects. Their mission: ...
Vaccines, glyphosate weedkiller cause obesity? Dr. David Gorski debunks new round of ‘bogus’ health claims
Those of us who have been following the antivaccine movement and the sorts of claims that its members [make] are ...
Virus-resistant tilapia could help safeguard critical food source, preserve $10 billion fishing industry
Resistance to a deadly disease that is affecting the second most farmed fish in the world has been found to ...
Viewpoint: ‘Anti-insecticide crusade’ threatens food security of 20 million people as locusts swarm across East Africa
A plague of locusts has hit Africa. Massive swarms are devouring crops and other vegetation in their path, imperiling millions ...
As France phases out common pesticides, regulator says farmers still need crop chemicals to control new plant diseases
France needs to retain pesticides to combat new plant diseases spread by international trade and climate change even as it ...
Cargill preps for April launch of plant-based burger to compete with Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat
Cargill Inc will launch plant-based hamburger patties and ground “fake meat” products in April, the company said on [Feb. 24], ...
USDA unveils initiative to halve US farming environmental footprint, boost production 40% by 2050
The world’s population is likely to grow to 9.7 billion by 2050. The global agriculture sector will not only need ...
$265 million dicamba weed killer verdict paves way for more successful lawsuits against Monsanto, BASF
A $265 million verdict .... against two global agribusiness giants [in late February] has now created another legal headache for ...
Spray-on ‘vaccine’ could protect food crops from pests in countries that ban GMO disease-resistant plants
In August 2019, a research group .... announced the development of a rapid and reliable approach to creating a “vaccine” for ...
Bayer likely to fight new wave of Roundup-cancer litigation in Australia, despite looming US settlement
As tens of thousands of cases against the makers of the weedkiller Roundup mount up in the United States, a ...
Vegans vs. Meat Eaters: When it comes to nutrition, the ‘what’s better’ debate has gone off the rails
The vegan vs meat eater farce has become a complete circus. The cruel irony is that by confusing ideology at ...
‘Bee-washing’ by advocacy groups and product pushers: We should shift the focus to native bees not honeybees
Amid the worry over the loss of honey bees, a far quieter but just as devastating loss is occurring among ...
