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.
Former anti-GMO campaigner Mark Lynas: Green movement should support crop biotech
Former anti-GMO campaigner Mark Lynas discusses what changed his mind about GMOs. He addresses why the green movement is so threatened ...
Will new GMO labeling law apply to CRISPR crops?
...Earlier this year, the USDA gave the greenlight to CRISPR mushrooms engineered to not brown. It wrote that because the new mushroom ...
Iranian GMO opponents gain support from top clerics to ban GMO as ‘Zionist plot’
Iran is seeing its most vociferous outcry yet over the use of genetically-modified ingredients in food production. Opponents of food ...
No evidence that GMO mustard would harm India’s honeybees
Contrary to the unsubstantiated... rumors on the ill-effects of barnase-barstar GM mustard technology on honey bees, the South Asia Biotechnology ...
‘Industrial farming’ and crop biotechnology benefit the environment
...[Since the mid-20th century], farm sizes have risen significantly... [T]his large size that is often criticized... in the belief that ...
Organic and conventional farmers lambaste non-GMO milk label
There’s a new food category that is gaining popularity with shoppers, but that’s also becoming an enemy of farmers — ...
RNA could replace toxic chemical spraying to protect fruits and vegetables from mold
Botrytis cinerea [or gray mold is] , a fungal pathogen that can infect... almost every fruit and vegetable... A team of researchers, ...
NY farm organic activists ask Cornell to shut down Alliance For Science because of ‘pro GMO bias’
A letter arrived on Cornell University Dean Kathryn Boor's desk lastweek... Sixty-seven people from New York's farming community requested that the ...
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein says ‘GMOs not good for the planet or people’
Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, spoke to a crowd of supporters at Wilkes University on Wednesday, Sept. 22 ...
Just one genetics lesson can increase acceptance of GMOs
Observational studies have shown that educational attainment is related to heightened consumer perception of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically ...
Bayer-Monsanto merger faces backlash in Germany
German lawmakers called on regulators to curb Bayer AG’s $66-billion (U.S.) takeover of U.S. seed giant Monsanto Co. in a ...
Monsanto strikes deal with Broad Institute to use CRISPR for crop modification
Agriculture giant Monsanto has licensed CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology from the Broad Institute for use in seed development, the company announced on [Sept. 22] ...
Disease resistant GMO cassava promising, but approvals in Uganda, Kenya still years away
...In many parts of East and Central Africa, farmers are experiencing declining yields of cassava due to brown streak virus ...
How will Bayer-Monsanto merger affect future of GMO crops in EU vs. US?
Monsanto has agreed to a $57 billion cash offer from Bayer... If shareholders and regulators approve, the merger will form ...
Success of GMO crops in neighboring countries may influence adoption in Ghana
Genetically engineered (GE) crops have a role to play in increasing agricultural productivity. However, efforts to promote genetic engineering agriculture ...
Almost one-fifth of Canadians trust intuition over science on GMOs
[The] Leger survey, [is] done for the Ontario Science Centre to mark Canada's Science Literacy Week... The survey suggests [Canadians have] got ...
Clover Dairy to begin marketing conventional milk produced with non-GMO feed
For grocery shoppers who want to avoid genetically engineered ingredients, the only milk they can buy is organic — usually ...
Bayer considering dropping Monsanto brand name
With Bayer's proposed $66 billion purchase of Monsanto Co., the company that invented aspirin is poised to take on one of ...
Allegations of misconduct at Chinese GMO research lab revives public’s skepticism
A former employee at a state laboratory that studies genetically modified foods said his superiors had him falsify reports, reviving ...
USDA will now allow organic meat, poultry producers to add ‘non-GMO’ claims to labels
Organic meat and poultry producers can now use a streamlined process to get approval for labels verifying that their products ...
Are GMO labels ‘a Trojan horse for big government intervention’ in our food supply?
Mark Bittman, the former New York Times food writer... is baaaaack–with a Times op-ed titled,“GMO Labeling Law Could Stir a Revolution.” . ...
Anti-biotech groups claim agrochemical industry consolidation endangers food security
Just 20 years ago, about 600 companies were manufacturing seeds, fertilizer and pesticides, according to the watchdog ETC Group. Now, ...
Anti-GMO activists can’t admit success of Bangladesh’s insect-resistant GMO eggplant
For more than a decade controversy has raged in the world’s media about whether genetically engineered crops are dangerous, as ...
Australia’s GMO canola ban was huge loss for farmers, environment
[Canadian] farmers started growing GM canola in 1997. By 2004, 75% of canola farmers in Canada were growing GM varieties. After a decade ...
CRISPR opens door to new generation of more nutritious and delicious fruits and vegetables
A few weeks ago, Stefan Jansson, a Swedish plant biologist, sat down to a plate of pasta with cabbage harvested from his ...
Senate questions possible anti-competitive consolidation of seed and agrochemical industries
One of the biggest stories in agriculture right now is the jaw-dropping consolidation among companies that sell the world’s seeds, ...
Could the end of Monsanto signal a new beginning for GMOs and crop science?
Putting Monsanto out of its misery could mean future debate about genetically-modified crops will be based on facts rather than ...
