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.
Ultra-processed foods are confirmed to be linked with cancer in a ‘powerful way’
Science has already linked ultra-processed foods to heart disease, inflammation, diabetes, and cancer. But new research out of the University of South Florida ...
What might food policy look like under the Trump presidency?
Donald Trump is in the process of filling out his second-term cabinet, and he recently announced appointees to lead the ...
Can agricultural robots cut down on weeds without chemicals or carbon-releasing tilling?
Weeds are the bane of all farmers. They compete with crops for soil moisture and nutrients and can block out ...
Hype or helpful: What does ‘clean eating’ really mean?
Eating clean sounds smart—in theory. Generally, the idea focuses on eating more whole foods and less ultra-processed foods. (Great!) But in practice, ...
‘Widespread disconnect between reality and public perception’—Why factory farming is superior to organic
[T]here is no evidence of any nutritional or health advantage from consuming organic produce. Further – and most people I ...
What is the future of no-till farming?
No-till farming holds significant promise as a sustainable agricultural practice that can help address some of the key challenges facing ...
GLP-1 Friendly: How Big Food is trying to leverage the GLP-1 weight loss drug fad
Packaged-food giant Conagra Foods is hoping to appeal to people taking weight-loss drugs with frozen entrees like chicken fettuccini alfredo ...
Say good-bye to vegan shrimp: Boom in vegan alternatives sputters out
What is made from seaweed, peas, and konjac root? That's right: vegan shrimp – or «vrimp,» as Nestlé called the ...
AI can help accelerate the transition to regenerative farming
Slightly preceding the global momentum towards regenerative agriculture has been a focus on the digitalization of agriculture. It offers benefits ...
Viewpoint: The case for gene editing in New Zealand
Gene editing and plant domestication are essential to protect food supplies in a worsening climate, according to an international team ...
Plants, cells, and microbes could help clean the environment but consumers seem indifferent
The challenge of our food system’s climate impact is only getting more tricky: richer countries tend to eat more meat, and ...
AquaBounty collapses: Its fast growing salmon—the first approved genetically-modified animal to come to market—couldn’t fend off anti-biotech activist smears
AquaBounty Technologies – the Massachusetts-based company that claimed to have found “a better way to feed the world” with a ...
If you develop health problems from eating ultra-processed food, who’s responsible—you or the companies that make it?
Coca-Cola and 10 other major food companies are accused in a lawsuit from a Pennsylvania teenager of "engineering" ultra-processed products to ...
Viewpoint: Back to the 1980s—Federal suit won by anti-crop biotechnology activists could cripple US agricultural gene editing innovation
On December 2, the Northern California District Court vacated rules adopted in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through ...
Hydroponics: Can growing food without soil be mass scaled?
Growing plants in water rather than soil actually uses a small fraction of the water used in traditional farming—since there’s ...
Teen and tween rush: Now you and your kids can both get a sugar fix at Starbucks
Starbucks said it doesn’t share what percentage of its sales are attributable to customers under 18, but the menu is ...
Are ultra-processed foods ‘addictive’? It depends
Are some foods actually addictive? The answer is straightforward and, you might think, inconsequential: It depends entirely on your definition ...
Islamic eco-systems a millennium ago supported farming in marginal desert environments but were largely abandoned. They could be sustainability models today
As global water resources become more strained, the insights gained from traditional agricultural systems could pave the way for the development of ...
Bernie Sanders says RFK, Jr. is ‘exactly correct in criticizing the food industry but his views on health are ‘extremely dangerous’
Sen. Bernie Sanders praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s message on food issues ... and said he had not [decided] whether ...
Is the Chinese Communist Party targeting our burgers? Here’s why Republicans in Congress are worried China is poised to “dominate global food supply chains’
In late September, 11 Republican members of Congress wrote to the directors of national intelligence and the Department of Agriculture’s ...
Brilliant or bizarre—or both: PETA proposes to convert closed meat processing plant into an ‘empathy museum’ and vegan cafe
Following [the] announcement that Tyson Foods will soon close its meat processing operation in Emporia, Kansas, PETA today sent a ...
Viewpoint: NGOs are run by ‘lawyers and fundraisers’ who ignore science in their obsession to kill agricultural genetic engineering
If you read Twitter, and probably Bluesky, if anyone reads that, Republicans are in a War On Science and the ...
RFK Jr. is touting regenerative agriculture. The problem is no one knows what it is.
Indigenous farming practices are the trendy new agricultural craze sweeping both sides of the political aisle. The fight is over ...
What impact can regenerative farming have on climate change?
Regenerative agricultural practices are a set of rejuvenating farming and agricultural sustainable practices that seek to boost soil health, water resources, soil organic ...
Can cultured meat be considered vegan?
Since veganism means no animal inputs whatsoever, by definition, cultivated meat doesn’t fall under this umbrella. But it has been ...
What is the likely future for glyphosate and other synthetic crop chemicals under the Trump Administration
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, will likely not be ...
Australian start up that brought us the cell-derived wooly mammoth meatball rolls out cultured foie gras
Sydney-cultivated meat startup Vow, best known for its “woolly mammoth meatball“, has launched ... a new product resembling the French ...
