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.
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 ...
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 ...
‘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 ...
Canadian court upholds approval of AquaAdvantage GMO salmon
The Federal Court of Appeal in Canada has upheld the approval of genetically modified salmon produced by AquaBounty Technologies Inc, after ...
Can genetic engineers use genes from wild bananas to save our favorite fruit?
[Editor's note: The banana, the world's most popular fruit, is sterile. They are propagated by taking either cuttings or suckers and ...
NY State PTA proposal to ban GMOs from lunches sends wrong message to low-income parents
The New York State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has proposed a measure that will require all New York state schools to serve ...
Sneak attack: Parasitic weeds may steal genes from plants to arm themselves
Sneaky parasitic weeds may be able to steal genes from the plants they are attacking and then use those genes ...
Conflating GMOs with Monsanto stifles development of new, innovative biotech crops from smaller companies
Conflating “GMOs” with Monsanto creates a crude narrative and regulatory quagmire that stifles innovation, discouraging smaller entities from developing and ...
WHO’s cancer agency claims “transparency”, moves to block glyphosate Freedom of Information requests
The World Health Organization's cancer agency [IARC]--which is facing criticism over how it classifies carcinogens--advised academic experts ... who worked ...
‘Organic’ label on non-food products is meaningless
...The Organic Trade Association has asked the government to start regulating non-food products that boast organic marketing claims with the same rigor ...
Western Australia repeals partial ban on GMO crops
Western Australia's Genetically Modified Crops Free Areas Repeal Bill 2015 passed through State Parliament [Oct. 21]. Up until now WA ...
House committee to grill NIH over financial support for UN IARC agency accused of science bias
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is being called ... to explain why it gave tens of millions of dollars to the ...
Why coffee puts some people to sleep and wires others: It’s in the genes
Genetic variants play a key role in how individuals metabolize coffee. Some can drink coffee before bed and go right ...
CRISPR could immunize citrus trees against devastating greening disease
Nian Wang, the University of Florida professor leading this CRISPR research team at Lake Alfred, said the tool could cut ...
US biotech sugarbeet growers may lose market share as demand for non-GMO sugar grows
The anti-GMO movement has evolved beyond just a simple trend... It’s enough of a demand shift to garner the attention ...
Mark Bittman: Obama ‘did virtually nothing in eight years’ on food policy
...[L]ike nearly every election before it, the current one has been nearly 100 percent free of any debate around the ...
Are economists underestimating costs of European regulations on agriculture?
The precautionary principle provides non-farming interest groups with a pseudo-official means of influencing policy. The result is a drift towards ...
Time on GMOs: Current crops not equal to task of feeding transforming world
It is the transformative potential of [genetic engineering and gene editing] to quickly supply the next-generation crops required for impending climate ...
How Big Ag’s communication failures led to GMO labeling law
Authors Jessica Eise and Whitney Hodde explain that the ramifications of a poorly informed consumer based are becoming clear in ...
Scientist’s video cook-off: Conventional hash browns vs. Simplot’s Innate non-browning potatoes
Plant pathologist Dr. Steve Savage, does a cooking demonstration using conventional potatoes and GMO non-browning potatoes to make hash browns. The GMO ...
Buying organic to preserve the environment? Think twice
...It’s a jungle of misinformation out there on the internet. And you’ve probably been following some bad advice while trying ...
