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.
Genome editing is future of biotech
I asked some of those social thought leaders for their predictions of what we can expect from biotech and biopharma ...
Orange juice might be missing at breakfast unless farmers try GMOs
Everybody loves Florida orange juice. Since its emergence in the late 1940s, the sunny beverage has survived hurricanes and anti-sugar diet ...
Chinese, New Zealander researchers look for year-round breeding genes in sheep
In 2013, the Chinese government announced its intention to achieve self- sufficiency in red meat production by 2020. This announcement ...
Scientists identify plant traits for crop improvements using in vitro cultures
Humans have been making use of plants for as long as there have been humans and plants. The actual cultivation ...
Nutrition student challenges American nutrition societies to enter conversation over GMOs
NOTE: This letter was written by Kevin Klatt, a PhD student at Cornell University studying molecular nutrition. The National Academies ...
Consumers willing to pay more for GMOs with health benefits
Genetically modified crops with an increased vitamin and/or mineral content have large potential to improve public health, but their availability for ...
Could genetic modification save male pigs from castration?
Each year, about 100 million little piggies go to market in the U.S. Half of those oinkers, unsurprisingly, are boars, ...
Genetic diversity of crops and animals threatened by climate change
Climate change threatens the genetic diversity of the world's food supply, and saving crops and animals at risk will be ...
Australian organic farmer appeals judgement denying compensation for GMO “contamination”
Two appeal hearings in the Marsh v Baxter case have been scheduled from March 23 to 25 in the Court of ...
Chinese grown GM rice ‘significantly reduces pesticide use’, improves farmer health
Through the analysis of the data collected from the physical examination from farmers in China, a new study shows that GM ...
Why organic seedless watermelons could be considered GMOs–Or chemically-created mutants
Is a seedless watermelon, including those sold as organic, a GMO, a hybrid, or something else altogether—a chemically altered mutant? There is ...
U.S. regulators to blame for lack of progress in biopharming
Dr. Henry Miller’s cri de coeur is well-earned: he was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology (too ...
Why communicating the science risks of GMOs is so challenging
The science of agricultural biotechnology is a proxy battleground for many people with political or cultural objections to GMOs, much in ...
‘Giving EU countries right to block GMOs on non-scientific grounds sets dangerous precedent’
Speaking after the European Parliament's debate on the possibility for the Member States to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of ...
Hungary plans to initiate anti-GMO European alliance
Hungary will initiate a joint alliance of European Union member states rejecting the use of genetically modified organisms in farming with the aim to ...
South Australian farmers lobby against GM moratorium
Opponents have dismissed a new push to overturn a moratorium on genetically modified crops (GM) in South Australia. Grain Producers ...
New generation herbicide-tolerant soybeans, cotton gain USDA approval
Monsanto Co. received final U.S. approval on Thursday for herbicide-tolerant crops to be used with a new herbicide the company ...
Following ‘superbug’ genes in cattle could shed light on antibiotic resistant germs
Researchers at Colorado State University are investigating the weighty topic of antibiotic resistance – an issue with ramifications for global ...
Farm grown vs. wild salmon: Genetics offers gauge to sustainability, productivity comparisons
Hatchery salmon and their potential impact on wild populations have been a sticking point in ongoing discussions about seafood sustainability, ...
Anti-GMO Scotland bucks UK support for growing genetically engineered crops
New legislation which will give European Union member states a greater say over whether or not they grow genetically modified (GM) ...
Simplot’s Generation 2 Innate adds late blight resistance
Back in December, the USDA public comment period opened up for a next-generation transgenic potato variety developed by Simplot. The ...
South’s original peanut provides genetic diversity
In one field just outside Charleston grows the South’s original peanut, long thought to be extinct but now primed for ...
Germany appears headed for complete GMO ban
After the European Parliament on Tuesday, 13 January passed a new Directive on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in Europe, the ...
Farmers Union not on board with GM-Free Wales
The Welsh Government has been urged to firmly set out is position on genetically-modified crops following an European Parliament vote ...
Local food to eclipse organic, as consumers begin to doubt definition
New consumers continue to enter the organic category for the first time, but the health halo cast by the US ...
Chinese publish genome of Tibetan barley
Scientists from a genomics organisation in south China's Shenzhen City on January 13, 2015 published the first genetic map of ...
On GMO labeling: Are consumers getting label fatigue?
Shoppers are shelling out a lot of money for products they believe are good because of clever marketing, labeling, and ...
