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.
AI-powered smartphone app helps safeguard African staple crops against climate change
A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool available for free in a smartphone app can predict near-term crop productivity for farmers ...
Viewpoint: Growing GMO crops provides 4 major health benefits you probably didn’t know about
While the application of agricultural chemicals is highly mechanized in industrial countries, the same cannot be said for developing countries, ...
German government, farm group face off over impact of potential glyphosate ban
The German agriculture ministry strenuously rubbished a claim by farmers association DBV that the country’s new insect protection plan, which ...
Viewpoint: Why farm to table organic food campaigns are ‘bunk’
[T]here is big money in making consumers feel ecologically pure and big money to be lost if a certain brand ...
Sorghum gene could help cut massive crop damage caused by birds without harming them
A single gene in sorghum controls bird feeding behavior by simultaneously regulating the production of bad-tasting molecules and attractive volatiles, ...
Could drought-tolerant seeds save East Africa’s sunflower production?
Climate change has brought more droughts to Tanzania. This not only affects the cultivation of sunflowers, but also the production ...
High-yielding desert crops? Soil-free growing system could boost food security in world’s arid regions
A lush, green mat of fresh animal fodder is an unlikely sight in the harsh Sahara Desert, but a project ...
‘Abstinence vs. innovation’: What Amazon fires can teach us about GMO, CRISPR-edited crops
The Amazon rainforest fire debate is another edition of “abstinence vs. innovation” (here’s the aviation edition). Global agro-consumption and demand for ...
CRISPR gene editing poised to streamline next ‘agricultural revolution,’ plant scientists say
As a growing population and climate change threaten food security, researchers around the world are working to overcome the challenges ...
Viewpoint: GMO Impossible Whopper can help save the planet—and lots of cows
[In September] I stepped inside a Burger King for the first time in three years. I wanted to try out ...
North American bird populations dropped 30% over 50 years, but causes hard to ‘pin down’
North America’s birds are disappearing from the skies at a rate that’s shocking even to ornithologists. Since the 1970s, the ...
Infographic: USDA data reveal dramatic growth of GMO crop adoption in US since 1996
Herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops, which tolerate potent herbicides (such as glyphosate, glufosinate, and dicamba), provide farmers with a broad variety of ...
Despite glyphosate-cancer legal battle, farmers defend their use of Roundup
The faith that American farmers .... have in Roundup is what prompted the German company Bayer to spend $63 billion ...
South Korea develops 13 GMO crops in 7 years to battle drought, pests
In South Korea, the National Center for GM Crops (NCGC) aims to enhance national food security and to turn agriculture ...
Citrus Greening bacteria finally grown in the lab—key ‘first step’ to saving Florida’s orange industry
Washington State University researchers have for the first time grown the bacteria in a laboratory that causes Citrus Greening Disease, ...
Plant-based meat competition heats up as GMO Impossible Burger makes grocery store debut
The Impossible Burger, a meat-free burger that’s previously only been available in restaurants, will be available to buy in grocery ...
Weed-pulling robots are here. Can they eliminate chemical herbicides?
Early this year, 85-year-old Bonipak Produce unleashed an orange, 8,000-pound autonomous robot upon its California vegetable fields. It was one ...
Higher yields, reduced pesticide use fueled by GMO crops boost farmer welfare in developing world
Up to 17 million smallholder farmers planted GM crops in 2018, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of ...
Germany’s ‘save the bees’ anti-pesticide campaign ‘existential threat’ to local vineyards, wine industry says
In the vineyards of Oberrotweil and Oberbergen numerous green crosses were set up [over] the weekend. “They are meant as ...
‘Jumping genes’ from tomatoes could help breed next generation of GMO crops
Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Sainsbury Laboratory (SLCU) and Department of Plant Sciences have discovered that drought stress can ...
USDA: Dry weather, neonicotinoid insecticide ban caused ‘substantial decrease’ in EU rapeseed production
Rapeseed is the dominant oilseed produced in the EU making the EU one of the world’s leadingproducers of rapeseed and ...
Genes from wild wheat could boost domesticated crop yields as global food demand explodes
Wild relatives of food crops, such as wheat, host an abundant array of genetic material to help the plants cope ...
Viewpoint: Sen. Lisa Murkowski farm bill rider could keep GMO salmon off the market
Republicans claim to believe in free markets, at least until competition meets hometown interests. For a case study, witness Senator ...
Viewpoint: Paper straws, vegan diets won’t stop climate change—but sustainable ‘bioproducts’ might
Are you slurping through a paper straw, searching for the next green product that will save the planet? Sorry to ...
How early farmers helped barnyard grass become one of the ‘world’s worst’ weeds
Vavilovian mimicry allowed barnyard grass to become the scourge of rice cultivation ...
EPA proposal to roll back animal testing and ‘cut unnecessary research’ gains backing from PETA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it plans to reduce the use of pesticide testing on birds as part of ...
Pesticide residues on ‘vast majority of foods’ well below legal safety limits, new FDA data show
The vast majority of foods tested for pesticide residues were found to be well within federally prescribed limits, the Food ...
