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.
More nutritious and tastier vegetables? CRISPR gene editing could dramatically boost consumption
Spinach. Tomato. Watermelon. Broccoli. Besides being good for you, these four vegetables are just a few that could benefit — ...
Tough times on the farm: US profit squeeze expected to continue for fourth straight year
This year, U.S. farmers are expected to net profits of $62.3 billion, or one-half of the record $123 billion they reaped ...
GOP Congress could deploy long-standing law to repeal Obama-era FDA GMO animal biotech policies
A game-changer for regulatory reform, [the Congressional Review Act] could be a significant stimulus to job creation and economic growth ...
Shareholders reject proposal to curb antibiotic use at third largest US chicken producer–Sanderson Farms
A Sanderson Farms Inc shareholder proposal requesting the third-largest U.S. poultry producer phase out the use of medically important antibiotics ...
10 photos that capture how humans have genetically modified food for centuries
Just about everyone these days has someone in their life –a friend, a relative, a co-worker– who subscribes to the ...
Armyworms ravaging African staple crops: GM insect resistant crops offer a solution
[Editor's note: The following is an interview with Kenneth Wilson, professor at the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University.] A combination of ...
Disease-resistant GMO banana field trial approved in Australia
A trial of genetically modified bananas will begin south of Darwin [Australia] in a few months after a five-year trial ...
Can Europe reform its GMO regulatory sausage-making mess?
Jean-Claude Juncker has had enough of EU states scapegoating Brussels for their failures. Over his first two years as president ...
Post-modernism fans world-wide skepticism of modern technology, endangering biotech revolution
[Editor's note: Marcel Kuntz is Research Director at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)] Postmodernism is an ...
Seed catalogues for dummies: Everything gardeners need to know about hybrids, heirlooms and GMOs
Nurseries, home improvement stores and even grocery stores may have racks of seeds available when it’s time to start gardening, ...
Environmentally friendly farm chemicals? Bio-insecticides edge closer to reality
A 'new generation' of environmentally friendly pesticides is a step closer as researchers make an important breakthrough in pest control ...
Bee crisis? How intelligent sticky drones could buzz alongside nature’s pollinators
Tiny drones dressed in horsehair and coated with a sticky goo have been attempting to pollinate lilies in a Japanese ...
Harvard School of Public Health accused of scare mongering about conventional food, promoting organics
[Editor's note: Kevin Folta is a molecular geneticist and chair of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida.] Apparently ...
To help bees and farmers, EU should roll back ‘fear-based’ ban on neonicotinoid pesticides
[Editor's note: The following is a letter by David Zaruk, Belgian-based environmental-health journalist specializing in science and public policy, to Vytenis ...
Biotech critics in Oregon look to overturn state’s block of local GMO bans
Biotech critics are calling on Oregon lawmakers to overturn a prohibition against local government restrictions on genetically engineered crops because ...
American farm bust: Global competition, low prices, high seed costs push farmers to the edge
Across the heartland, a multiyear slump in prices for corn, wheat and other farm commodities brought on by a glut of ...
Scotland’s first minister: GMO ban will remain post-Brexit
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon extolled the importance of scientific advice in policy-making yet insisted her Government had no plans to ...
Kenyan farmer: We’ve been waiting for too long —government needs to let us grow GMO crops
[Editor's note: Gilbert Arap Bor grows maize, vegetables and dairy cows on a small farm in Kenya. Mr. Bor, a ...
Soybeans resistant to herbicide dicamba will improve weed control but may not meet expectations
A barrier to weed control on soybean farms has been lifted after the [EPA] approved a label allowing use of the ...
India may further cut Monsanto GMO cotton royalty, eventually to zero
Regardless of technology companies like Monsanto crying foul, the Modi government is likely to follow a plan to reduce the ...
Non-GMO? Organic? Natural? Do food ‘buzzwords’ help consumers make healthy choices?
Picture the cereal aisle (and marvel at the fact that there is an aisle just for cereal). Next, think of ...
Norway mulling approval of gene-edited salmon that can’t reproduce with wild fish
The Norwegian Biotechnology Council is considering whether to approve the method of producing genetically modified type of salmon... The method, ...
Search for targeted pesticides leads scientists to eavesdrop on crosstalk between plants and fungi
In this conversation between plants and fungi, the organisms rely on a well-worn mechanism of gene-expression regulation that has stood ...
To feed a growing, hungry global population, we need more plant breeders
Plant breeders are in short supply as the human population heads to an estimated nine billion in 2050 and they ...
Were ‘activist scientists’ behind European Union neonicotinoids ban?
[Editor's note: Henry Miller is a physician and molecular biologist who was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology.] ...
Nigerian biotech expert says GMOs won’t replace conventional seeds, refutes common GMO myths
[Editor's note: The following is an interview with Rose Gidado, Country Coordinator of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in ...
Iowa farmer debunks 8 popular myths about GMOs
[Editor's note: Michelle Miller, known on social media as the Farm Babe, raises lamb and beef cattle, and grows almost ...
