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.
Pollen diversity boosts honeybee defenses against parasites, insecticides, long-distance transport
A new study provides valuable insights into pollen abundance and diversity available to honeybee colonies employed in five major pollinator-dependent ...
Virus-resistant GMO pinto bean could cut crop losses in Brazil by 40% or more
Brazilian farms are expected to begin planting a transgenic [pinto] bean resistant to the main crop disease in October, and ...
General Mills urges suppliers to cut glyphosate use, citing growing consumer pesticide fears
General Mills, like all companies, needs happy and satisfied customers. That’s why it’s asking suppliers, farmers who produce oats, wheat, ...
Don’t go vegan? Missing nutrients from meat could be bad for your brain
The momentum behind a move to plant-based and vegan diets for the good of the planet is commendable, but risks ...
DNA sequencing technique spots wheat pathogens, and diseases-fighting microbes to stop them
Plant diseases, especially those caused by fungal pathogens, jeopardize global crop biosecurity and preventing them requires rapid detection and identification ...
Bayer faces dozens of potentially costly glyphosate-cancer lawsuits in Hawaii
Dozens of lawsuits potentially worth tens of millions of dollars in damages are in the works in Hawaii targeting Monsanto ...
GMO ryegrass could help mitigate climate change, but research, regulatory hurdles remain
AgResearch principal scientist Dr Greg Bryan recently returned from the United States where the Crown Research Institute is conducting field ...
Viewpoint: Brazilian farmers destroy the Amazon? Here’s what Greenpeace isn’t telling you
In 2016, the Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen flew over the Amazon forest with the head of Greenpeace Brazil as part ...
GM cassava research progresses in Uganda
Ugandan researchers are requesting permission to create permanent demonstration gardens of the improved crops ...
Consumer Reports vs Impossible Foods: Are plant-based GMO burgers safe?
Plant-based burgers have exploded in popularity over the last year, with dozens of fast food restaurants and grocery stores offering ...
French town’s failed pesticide ban reignites national campaign against Bayer’s Roundup weed killer
Daniel Cueff’s failed crusade to ban pesticides in his tiny Breton village lays bare the deep political contradictions at the ...
Viewpoint: Eat 1,500 strawberries in one sitting—and pesticides still won’t harm you
Can you identify which of the following is NOT true about pesticides? A: Pesticides are extremely dangerous to humans. B: ...
Climate change’s silver lining? Longer growing seasons boost farm productivity in some regions
Depending on your side of the aisle, climate change either elicits doomsday anxiety or unabashed skepticism. Jason Hubbart, director of ...
Infographic: GMO crops ‘wreck’ the environment, human health? Latest evidence says otherwise
"GMOs are not saving farmers money, they're not producing higher yields, and perhaps most significantly they're wrecking the environment and ...
KFC tests Beyond Meat wings, nuggets to size up demand for plant-based chicken
Kentucky Fried Chicken on [August 26] said it plans to start testing Beyond Meat chicken nuggets and boneless wings this ...
New biosensor technology may help breed plants more resilient to harsh environments
Researchers have developed a method with which they can further investigate an important messenger substance in plants -- phosphatidic acid ...
Fine-tuning cocoa yields chocolate with richer flavor, aroma
Just as we have seen an increase in the number of microbreweries making specialty beers, the market for chocolate has ...
Neonicotinoid insecticide exposure could harm ground-nesting bees, study suggests
In a first-ever study investigating the risk of neonicotinoid insecticides to ground-nesting bees, University of Guelph researchers have discovered at ...
EU urges member states to ban insecticide chlorpyrifos, citing potential threat to children’s health
The European Commission will put forward a proposal to EU countries not to renew the license for the pesticide chlorpyrifos ...
Lessons learned from GMOs: How lab-grown meat can avoid crop biotech’s controversial legacy
This article discusses the choices and strategies that can hasten or delay the adoption of novel food technologies. We start ...
Meat wars: Cattle industry fears dwindling sales as Impossible, Beyond burger popularity grows
For decades, veggie burgers were the token offering to vegans at the backyard barbecue, and Tofurky was the Thanksgiving benediction ...
Forest biotech scientists lobby against GMO tree ban to promote sustainable forestry
A group of leading forest biotechnology scientists from around the world call for the reassessment of all sustainable forestry certification ...
French President Emmanuel Macron challenges legality of town’s glyphosate weed killer ban
French President Emmanuel Macron told a mayor from Brittany who ordered a ban on the use of pesticides near his ...
CRISPR gene editing speeds efforts to breed disease-resistant wheat, cut nitrogen pollution
Researchers from around the globe gathered in Saskatoon [in August], focused on making wheat more efficient and sustainable using the ...
Eliminating photosynthesis ‘bottleneck’ could boost crop yields by 10%
Scientists have found how to relieve a bottleneck in the process by which plants transform sunlight into food, which may ...
‘Severe blow’ to Irish agriculture: Regulators reject farmers’ request to use neonicotinoid insecticides
The failure to grant a derogation for the use of Redigo Deter seed dressing – which contains the neonicotinoid clothianidin ...
Battle over cancer warning label, glyphosate ban could complicate Roundup lawsuit settlement
Bayer AG is in mediation to potentially settle thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming that the company’s Roundup weed killer causes ...
