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.
GMO wine? Scientists developing hangover free nutritionally-enhanced vino
Imagine wine, only better for you and without the hangover the next day. Researchers from the University of Illinois are ...
Gene-based tools dramatically improving food safety
Today, the risk is stark: Forty-eight million Americans—one out of every six people—suffer from a foodborne illness every year, according ...
Organic corn variety rejects foreign pollen from other corn, such as GMOs
Organic farmers often live on islands in a sea of genetically modified crops. More than 90 percent of the corn ...
Chinese lead world in genetic rice research but government limits success
Angel or demon, transgenic crops have become one of the "frontier technologies" that China is determined to embrace. In contrast ...
Lucky fourth leaf: Mutation in clover DNA still a mystery
So you lost your job and your life’s a mess. You’re fat, you’re broke, you’re bad at sex. You’re looking at ...
Dairy milk’s origins reveal mutation that could cause discomfort in some milk drinkers
“The milk that might change everything.” That’s the bold claim of a brand that will soon be sold as “a2 ...
Anti-organics researcher foodies love: Brian Wansink explains how to ‘trick’ ourselves into eating healthier
Brian Wansink, a Cornell food psychologist runs Cornell's Food and Brand Lab, devoted to studying how our physical surroundings—everything from supermarket ...
Editorial: Connecticut Nature Center navigates storm over Monsanto contribution, says don’t blacklist corp donors
The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic deserves a chance to utilize its new policy for the acceptance of corporate ...
Food Babe complains NYT article doesn’t include scientists who agree with her
Note: This is a response to the New York Times' piece, "Taking On the Food Industry, One Blog Post at ...
‘Mom scientist’ won most credibility points from skeptical GMO consumers
Trying to win an argument based on science may be a losing game plan for gaining consumer trust in bioengineered ...
Audio: Will FOIA request have ‘chilling effect’ on GMO science communication?
On the SGU this week we interviewed Kevin Folta, who is a biotechnology scientist at the University of Florida. Kevin ...
GMO farmers give up plow, making for healthier soil
Neatly tilled fields have long been a hallmark of American agriculture and its farmers, by and large traditionalists who often ...
Jane Goodall decries GM proponents as ‘anti-science’
Dame Jane Goodall, the renowned primate expert, has condemned ‘deluded’ politicians for pushing ‘Frankenstein Food’. The highly respected academic has ...
Best of both worlds: Farmer sees benefits in planting mix of GMO and non-GMO
For a Tolstoy farmer, the issue of whether to grow GMO crops isn’t as clear cut as it is for ...
Anti-GMO activists ‘harass’ Connecticut nature center months after Monsanto grant funds returned
A controversy that swirled last year when the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center announced a grant from chemical giant Monsanto has ...
Old friends open up about rift caused by GM vs. organic court battle
It started in the West Australian wheat belt with tense words between neighbours at a community working bee. It ended ...
Science: Genetically enhanced foods are greener option
It is unfortunate that many advocates of sustainable agricultural practices and “green” thinkers have embraced ideas that lie well outside ...
Ancient wheat DNA found in Britain provides clues to history of agriculture
Some of us spend so much time thinking about not eating wheat, particularly its key protein, gluten, that it can be difficult ...
Why public consensus on GMOs is difficult
As a lover of food, I like many of you have some opinions on genetically modified organisms or GMOs in ...
Activists raise alarms over fisheries using GMO soy as feed
Much of the fish feed now used in open-net pens includes GM soy -- an ingredient that Monsanto and Cargill ...
Are emerging genetic engineering techniques sustainable?
In the past four decades technology has fundamentally altered our lives: from the way we work to how we communicate ...
British farmers abandoning less sustainable, more costly organic techniques
Even as demand for organic food remains high, the farmers producing it are falling by the wayside. UK government figures ...
Friends of the Earth report blames Big Ag of forcing GMOs in Africa
African governments must do more to control the planting of genetically modified (GM) crops that could affect smallholders, says a ...
Neonics ‘not harmful’ to bees but German court rules activist organizations can claim otherwise
A judge has ruled that the German branch of Friends of Earth (BUND) has a right to voice its concerns over ...
Want to research GMOs? Try using new search tool for scientific papers
Arguing about scientific topics is always a fraught endeavor. Part of the problem—whether you're discussing GMOs, the measles vaccine, or ...
Genetics tapped to increase chicken size as American tastes and waists expand
Chicken is the most commonly eaten animal in this country, surpassing beef or pork. And with dietary recommendations that Americans eat ...
Organic and biotech leaders clash at summit meant to promote cooperation
Can genetically modified crops grow in harmony with their non-GMO counterparts? The debate between the pro-biotech and non-GMO camps increasingly ...
