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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
How will CRISPR be deployed in the battle against weeds?
[Editor's Note: Weeds are one of the biggest threats to crops. Farmers use more weed killer than any other kind ...
Chinese use CRISPR to breed hairier cashmere goats
In China, the world’s top producer of cashmere, scientists have been trying to breed more productive cashmere goats. They’ve now ...
Farmers need to understand and communicate with public about gene editing technology
...The next wave of genetic modification is called gene editing, and you will see huge impacts of this technology in ...
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 ...
‘Unscientific criticism’ delays India’s approval of GMO mustard while import costs soar
As controversy grips the indigenously-developed Genetically Modified (GM) mustard ... the man who developed the variety has termed this an issue "which ...
Calyxt’s bruise-resistant, non-browning GMO potato cleared for sale
The [USDA] has advised the potato’s developer, Calyxt, the cultivar is not a “regulated article” under federal law because it doesn’t ...
UN FAO report endorses biotech crops as important climate change tools
The report ... renews the [Food and Agricultural Organization]''s focus on “climate-smart agriculture,” which combines both adaptation and mitigation in improved ...
Gene sequencing accelerates development of climate change fighting, disease-resistant cabernet grapes
A new sequencing technology, combined with a new computer algorithm that can yield detailed information about complex genomes of various ...
More than 95% of Australian cotton farmers planting new insect resistant Bt GMO variety
Monsanto Australia managing director Tony May said the rate of adoption of Bollgard 3 was the fastest for a new GM cotton ...
Monsanto’s legacy: What went wrong for one of the world’s most innovative companies?
By introducing transparent pay for seeds and traits, Monsanto modernized the seed business and provided an incentive to the public ...
