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: Challenging the FDA to closely regulate unreviewed chemicals in our food
Although a comprehensive fix to the “Generally Recognized” standard will require legislation from Congress, there are significant steps the FDA ...
Viewpoint: Sustainable agriculture—Why gene editing should be welcomed by organic farmers
Gene editing should be allowed in organic crop cultivation to boost yields and promote more sustainable farming practices, according to ...
Trump administration’s schizophrenic farm policy
Independent and organic farmers say chaos created by the Trump administration’s cuts has hurt their businesses, even as the US health secretary, Robert F ...
Viewpoint: How media coverage has undermined support for cultivated ‘clean’ meat
Is cultivated meat ‘real meat’? Does it pose any benefits? Is it an inevitable, necessary marker of change to the ...
Iran uses nuclear technology to produce drought-resistant rice
This rice variety was obtained through targeted mutagenesis methods and originated from the popular local native variety Tarom. Key features ...
Viewpoint: ‘I’m a mom and a farmer. Here’s why it’s safe to use pesticides
In addition to the title of mom, I also have the title of farmer, giving me firsthand experiences and understanding ...
Climate change challenge: How to ‘future proof’ crops
In a review in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Stephen Long, a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology at ...
Under its year old regulation, Canada has yet to approve a gene edited animal for human consumption. U.S. approved pig is a test
The approval in the United States for food use of pigs gene edited to resist Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, ...
AI can read plant DNA. That could transform agriculture and help feed the world
Plant DNA has become a frontier for artificial intelligence, with large language models turning genetic sequences into interpretable content for ...
Bioterrorism experts not buying Trump’s FBI administration claims that Chinese students smuggled in fungus for a bioweapon
Fungus already widespread in U.S., poses little food safety risk, experts say Experts say it would be ineffective as agricultural ...
Precise ‘genetic tailoring’ of plant genomes addresses critical challenges in food security and sustainability
Simplifying the complexity of genome editing is essential to prevent misunderstandings and counter misinformation propagated by certain interest groups that ...
How worried should you be about the health effects of microplastics?
Animal studies indicate that microplastics may harm reproduction, particularly sperm quality. They can also affect lung and gut functioning and ...
Viewpoint: What would be the consequences if we moved from conventional, tech-advanced farming to organic?
Close your eyes and imagine grocery stores where produce costs triple, with a sparse selection and visible insect damage. This ...
Viewpoint: Battles erupt among Republicans over food and pesticides
Some in the Republican Party say they’re worried about farmers in their districts who rely on pesticides. And there are ...
India’s new gene-edited sheep increases muscle mass by 30%
The Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Kashmir) has successfully produced a gene-edited sheep, setting a new benchmark in ...
Viewpoint: Why agriculture should not be politicized
[A]ttaching a political label to [agriculture] means we lose the opportunity to have meaningful connections and conversations based on fact ...
Poll: Few voters concerned about pesticide use in agriculture
Fifty-seven percent of national voters agreed that farmer control over weeds, diseases and pests on crops keeps food affordable, according ...
60% of imported bananas go bad. How non-browning gene edited varieties will help reduce waste
It is estimated that a third of the produce that is harvested worldwide is never consumed and goes to waste ...
Knowing from where crops originated and are grown is crucial to a sustainable food future
Over a third of the world’s food is grown by small-scale farmers who are unpaid and undervalued. Knowing where food ...
‘We’re talking about enough food for hundreds of millions of people’: Why are crops suddenly failing in different parts of the world?
In fields across the globe, crops that once thrived under predictable seasons are now struggling to survive. Hotter days and ...
How biotech shapes climate-smart agriculture in Asia and Australasia
“We’re in a race against time.” This is the alarming call of Silvia Restrepo, President of the Boyce Thompson Institute ...
Viewpoint: What the MAHA report gets wrong about crop chemicals
Crop organizations say President Donald Trump’s administration is raising baseless questions about pesticide safety in the first report from the ...
There is no agreed upon definition of regenerative agriculture. Canadian farmers want to change that
With producer and policy interest in regenerative agriculture growing across Canada, policymakers and industry leaders are debating how to standardize ...
AI and machine learning could accelerate and mainstream the culture meat revolution
Cultured meat (CM), known by many names including “cell-based” or “cultivated” meat, is an emerging technology that uses tissue engineering ...
New Zealand edges closer toward GMO deregulation, rise of glyphosate limits spurring concerns among activists
The Government says there is no link between a proposal for a hundredfold increase in the allowable residue of the ...
Food as Medicine: Groundbreaking Oklahoma law encourages integration of nutrition into healthcare
With the recent passage of Oklahoma Senate Bill 806, also known as the Food is Medicine Act, the state is ...
Plant biotechnology is an indispensable tool for enhancing crop resilience to droughts and floods
As climate change intensifies extreme weather events, the agriculture sector is faced with the arduous task of finding ways to ...
