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.
CRISPR potatoes that cook as fast as pasta or rice and resist bruising? They’re in development
They're a versatile dinner option and are packed full of fibre. But waiting for the humble potato to cook must ...
Pros and cons of the ‘carnivore’ diet?
Breakfast: Bacon with eggs. Lunch: Ground beef cooked in tallow. Dinner: Venison steak with a side of bone marrow ...
With climate change exacerbating threats to growing coffee, expensive no-bean alternatives hit the markets
Your morning cup of joe might be missing a key ingredient in the future: coffee beans. Coffee is so popular ...
With the end of the EU parliamentary year less than two months away and gene editing regulatory reform stalled, Belgium proposes reform of EU patent requirements
Belgium is looking to break a deadlock among EU governments over a proposed easing of regulation for GMO crops produced ...
How mushroom-based mycelium could replace some of the world’s most polluting products
Netherlands-based Loop Biotech says it is helping people enrich nature upon their death rather than increase their carbon footprint through ...
Eating french fries is as unhealthy as smoking 25 cigarettes? Pseudoscience on health and food abounds
I had never heard of psychiatrist Dr. Paul Saladino, which is somewhat surprising because he is quite frisky in the ...
Vermont’s Republican governor vetoes bill severely restricting use of neonicotinoid insecticides
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed a proposal to restrict the use of toxic pesticides for agriculture, saying it would ...
Bayer’s efforts to convince state legislatures to block glyphosate class action suits that contradict ‘sound science’ run into political buzzsaw
On the merits, Bayer has a strong case: important regulators don’t believe that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, causes ...
Organically-grown genetically modified crops? Scientists unveil plan to bridge the ideological gap
Highlights Current regulations do not permit GM food be labeled organic or GM content be used in certified organic products ...
‘Tool of major corporations’? CRISPR gene editing and other new breeding techniques are improving yields and climate resiliency, but opposition from environmental advocacy groups slows adoption
While genetically modified crops may still provoke fear and uncertainty, some scientists argue that not only can they help to ...
Viewpoint: Mother Jones takes stand against American Academy of Pediatrics’s misguided case against GM crops and glyphosate
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued new guidelines for doctors fielding parents’ questions about the risks of foods containing genetically modified ...
Organic soil conditioners deadly to beneficial, soil-enhancing worms widely used and unlabeled
Gardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as “organic”, experts fear, as they call for tighter ...
Philippine scientists involved in development of vitamin A enhanced Golden Rice lament attacks by anti-biotech NGOs derailing rollout
After two decades of research and development in the Philippines to study its viability in the country, the government finally ...
Viewpoint: Why Bangladesh needs to build on remarkable success of insect-resistant Bt eggplant improving yields by 20%
Bangladesh made history in 2014 as the first country in South Asia to harvest genetically modified organism (GMO) food crops, ...
Viewpoint: Innovative Amazon basin companies are replacing cattle grazing land with new forests. Will their ‘green scheme’ help limit the impact of climate change?
Re.green's aim, along with a handful of other companies, is to create a whole new industry that can make standing ...
Bumble bees under increasing threat from climate change
The decline of the bumblebees is highly concerning as they are vital for ecosystems. They pollinate flowers and crops. If ...
Podcast: Indigenous people have been using biochar to fertilize soil for centuries. Could renewing this practice be a lasting solution for carbon sequestration?
Reducing emissions from farming will be key to meeting this country's climate goals. Agriculture is the fifth largest source of ...
Podcast: Do you buy organic milk because you believe organic farms treat their cows better? Here’s a reality check
Lots of cows are sold at auction. Some are perfectly healthy, some are not ...
Agricultural science and organic farming: Time to change our trajectory
When the term organic farming was first used (ca. 1941; Paull, 2014), it was as a response to the introduction ...
Decline of dairy? Bird flu found in milk another factor in plummeting milk popularity
Milk is defined by its percentages: nonfat, 2 percent, whole. Now there is a different kind of milk percentage to ...
‘My identity was tied to veganism’: Why this restaurant owner decided to swap plant-based cuisine for regeneratively-grown meat
Mollie Engelhart, owner of Sage Vegan Bistro, a Los Angeles staple known for its plant-based menu, calls herself a “card-carrying” ...
Breaking news on Golden Rice: Philippines Agriculture Department files motion to reverse court ruling blocking the import and growing of two genetically modified crops
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has sought the reconsideration of the Court of Appeals (CA)’s decision against the commercial propagation ...
Meat from wood? Newest alternative protein is made from paper manufacturing waste
What if, instead of eating crickets or cell-cultured meat, we relied on an everyday raw material to put food on ...
Terraforming Mars? How cultivating symbiotic soil bacteria could transform ‘inhospitable’ Martian dust into fertile soil
Martian soil differs significantly from Earth’s—it lacks essential nutrients, contains perchlorates (a toxic chemical), and is highly alkaline. These factors ...
Ghana approves fourteen GMO varieties — maize and 6 soybean — for planting and consumption, dismissing activists attempt to block innovation
Ghana’s apex human rights court has dismissed an interlocutory injunction application brought against [the] National Biosafety Authority (NBA) by Food ...
Viewpoint: Unusual bedfellows—Sen John Fetterman offers support for Alabama’s and Florida’s ban on cell-based lab-grown beef while fellow Democrats slam Republicans who-back such measures as fear-promoting
Last week, Florida became the first US state to ban the production and sale of lab-grown, or “cell-cultivated” meat. “Take ...
Gene edited, low cost, ultra high-density protein soy greenlit for sale by USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has granted Amfora, Inc. an exemption for its ...
