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.
CDC investigating increasing foodborne illnesses and deaths linked to organic food
A newly published study of outbreaks linked to organic food concludes that while more data are needed to assess whether the ...
As food companies demand sustainability from suppliers, where will GMOs fit in?
...Increasingly, major food companies are raising the bar over what they consider to be “sustainable” agricultural practices around the globe ...
Nobel laureate Sir Richard Roberts: ‘Green activist opposition to GMOs hurts food-insecure developing countries
If the thought of genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs, brings to mind vague notions fraught with danger, Nobel laureate and Distinguished ...
Does the Chinese public really oppose GMOs as strongly as media suggest?
The story line that pops up again and again from Googling "China" and "GMO" is that China's citizens loathe genetic ...
Waitrose, major UK grocery chain, reducing use of GMO fed animals in its supply chain
Waitrose has received its first shipment of soya grown in the Danube region of Europe as it attempts to bring ...
Mother Jones: New York Times report on GMOs used misleading statistics
[Editor's note: A recent article in the New York Times claims that GMO crops have not lived up to their ...
Agricultural economist: GMO crops have benefits, otherwise farmers wouldn’t grow them
[Editor's note: Jayson Lusk, a food and agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University, responds to Danny Hakim's recent article in ...
Zimbabwean scientists develop drought and heat-tolerant maize
Scientists in Zimbabwe say they have developed new heat- and drought-tolerant varieties of maize that may be ready for sale ...
Insect-resistant GMO Bt eggplant in development in Philippines does not harm beneficial insects
The first-ever field level study of the effects of insect-resistant genetically modified Bt eggplants on non-target arthropod species, carried out in the ...
Two new varieties of blight-resistant GMO potatoes approved by USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved commercial planting of two types of potatoes that are genetically engineered to resist ...
What the New York Times missed with its big GMO story
The [Danny Hakim] story is an odd one for the Times because if you take the most mild interpretation of ...
Following ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, Cambridge University’s lawns destroyed by pests and crows
The immaculate lawns of Cambridge University are being spoiled by crows feasting on bugs after an EU ban on a ...
Monsanto’s Robert Fraley: Comparing corn crops—Genetically modified in Ontario v non-GMO in France
Dr. Robert T. Fraley is Monsanto's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. He awon the 2013 World Food Prize for "breakthrough achievements ...
Yale professor calls New York Times’ Hakim GMO story ‘a hack piece with a biased narrative’
Steven Novella is an American clinical neurologist and assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine. He is best known for his involvement in the skeptical movement and is ...
Kevin Folta: If GMO crops don’t meet expectations, why do so many farmers grow them?
Kevin Folta is a professor in and chairman of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He got ...
Geneticist pleads guilty in plot to steal GMO rice seeds for Chinese
A geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture pleaded guilty on [Oct. 24] to making false statements to the Federal Bureau ...
Switzerland approves field trial of GMO wheat
[Editor's note: This excerpt was translated by Google Translate and lightly edited for clarity.] The Swiss Agroscope research institute received approval to ...
China cracks down on booming underground illegal GMO corn market
In an apparent bid to appease a public overwhelmingly opposed to ... GMOs, the Ministry of Agriculture has been putting pressure ...
New York Times reporter claims GMO crops have failed to live up to expectations
The promise of genetic modification was twofold: By making crops immune to the effects of weedkillers and inherently resistant to ...
Rift between realists and idealists in food movement threatens to undermine it
When acclaimed food reform writer, Michael Pollan, recently published a lengthy article critical of the Obama food reform legacy, he exposed a ...
CRISPR democratizes biotechnology
The biggest mistake we can make... is to prematurely vilify CRISPR and the food it makes. We should instead push ...
Golden Rice could be released commercially in Bangladesh as early as 2018
The first field trial of the Golden Rice in Bangladesh has yielded promising results, triggering prospect of the vitamin A-rich ...
France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research may pursue gene-editing research
Philippe Mauguin’s appointment in July as president and chief executive of France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) sparked widespread protest among researchers.... In ...
Spray on GMOs: RNA interference spray silences fungal pathogens, controls disease
RNA interference has emerged as a powerful genetic tool for scientific research. The demonstration that agricultural pests, such as insects ...
Don’t fall for this trick: Organic, non-GMO candy treats aren’t healthier
You might see more candy labeled "organic" or "non-GMO" in your little sweetie's Halloween bag this year. ... But is ...
Post Brexit Britain could become major grower of GMO crops, bucking Europe
Genetically modified crops will be grown across England after Britain pulls out of the European Union, under plans being drawn ...
Biopesticides: Leveraging nature’s pesticides to protect our food
[Brooke Borel writes in bioGraphic about a demonstration trial in Canada using bumble bees to deliver a 'biopesticide' to a ...
