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.
Viewpoint: Aftershocks from American Academy of Pediatrics attack on glyphosate—‘Misinformation about the genetic engineering of crops hinders the development of sustainable agriculture technologies’
Repetition creates belief. And claims about the harms of glyphosate have persisted for decades. Unfortunately, even medical organizations like the ...
Bill Gates: This ‘lost grain’ found across Africa is packed with nutrition and could help fight food insecurity
While wheat and corn have long dominated American plates and agricultural policies, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates highlighted a lesser-known African grain named Fonio as a ...
Should biodegradable food packaging be allowed in certified organic compost?
Colorado organic fruit farmer Steve Ela knows first-hand how central compost is to his organic farm—and all organic agriculture. It ...
Microbe-made food: Solein pulls climate-friendly protein out of thin air — and they’re scaling up production
The world's first commercial-scale factory for making nutrient-rich and versatile protein from air and sustainable energy has opened its doors ...
Acorns, pine nuts, pistachios, oats: Here’s what people ate 15,000 years ago, before the dawn of agriculture
The advent of agriculture roughly 11,500 years ago in the Middle East was a milestone for humankind - a revolution in diet ...
Are paper cups better for the environment than plastic cups? The answer may surprise you
Paper cups are no alternatives to plastic cups to avoid toxic chemicals, as the latte coffee you take with you ...
AI-engineered materials could absorb CO2 faster than trees — and speed up carbon cleanup initiatives
Scientists have hailed the “exciting” discovery of a type of porous material that can store carbon dioxide ...
‘We are being left behind’: Here’s how gene editing can transform New Zealand’s agriculture
New Zealand’s food and fibre industry is built on generations of selective breeding – from ryegrass and cows to kiwifruit and apples. But recent improvements ...
This vegan blue cheese blew Good Food Award competitors out of the water. Then the dairy industry lobbied to have them disqualified
Something stinks in the world of cheese, but this time it's not the product – it's the sour grapes emanating ...
Eating plant-based is unhealthy? Taking a closer look at viral study that links heart problems to vegan diets
A new study on whether plant-based meat alternatives have cardiometabolic health benefits has led to a condemnation of vegan food ...
Where will synthetic biology for agriculture be in a decade? Here are six experts on the cutting edge of innovation
Synthetic biology is a remarkable set of technologies that can change our world forever. It’s received a lot of hype ...
CRISPR crop gene editing benefits for agriculture highlighted in US Senate testimony
On April 23rd, Georg Jander, a professor from the Boyce Thompson Institute, addressed an audience in the offices of the U.S ...
Viewpoint: Philippines court bungled its interpretation of the precautionary principle in suspending the growing of Vitamin A enhanced Golden Rice
Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration laid out the premise of the precautionary rule in international environmental law. It states: ...
Novel plant-based meat alternatives are at times a better health choice than whole foods. Here’s a case for labeling
Plant-based alternatives to meat, cheese, eggs and yoghurt should be labelled and categorised more clearly to ensure people are aware of products that are ...
Viewpoint: A science-based assessment of glyphosate — risks and benefits
Contrasting perspectives on glyphosate’s use require a risk-benefit analysis. While some focus solely on risks, a closer examination reveals its ...
Taste test: How do lab-grown sausages compare to the real thing?
Consisting of 28% pork fat, bulked out with textured pea, chickpea, soy and wheat protein, these mini-bratwursts would happily sit ...
As Republican-led states across the US mull lab-grown meat labeling and bans, Britain moves forward with cell-based protein regulations
In the wake of several Republican-led states in the US pushing for a ban or limit on the sales of ...
Missouri follows Iowa and Idaho in exploring legislation to limit lawsuits against makers of glyphosate and other pesticides deemed safe by federal government
The Missouri House gave initial approval to a bill that could protect pesticide manufacturers from some cancer lawsuits ...
Alternative animal milk on the rise: ‘By 2050, it’s possible we’ll have a choice between cow’s milk and camel’s milk in the UK’
If you’re living in Europe or the US, the idea of dousing your cereal in camel milk or cooking up ...
Case study: Norwegians are not about to cut meat consumption to reduce the impact of climate change
Norwegians are not going to cut their meat consumption enough even if they believe the climate impact is important, says ...
Viewpoint: Two independent Vermont agencies determined there is no scientific basis in banning neonicotinoid pesticides to ‘save honeybees’ while some advocacy ‘environmental’ groups contend otherwise. It’s now in the governor’s hands to decide if naked ideology will prevail
Despite Vermont's Agricultural Innovation Board (AIB), created to inform regulatory recommendations using science, flatly stating there was no basis for a ...
As Switzerland mulls ending ban on crop biotechnology, organic farmers and environmental NGOs intensify campaign against reform
At the end of next year, genetically modified plants could be allowed in Switzerland. An alliance of organic farmers and ...
Impossible Foods company takes over cattle ranch, transforms it into soy, sunflower and other crops for plant-based meat production
Next battleground in US culture wars: Republican states advance bans on cell-cultured foods (Business Insider) ...
Next battleground in US culture wars: Republican states advance bans on cell-cultured foods
Move over, electric vehicles and gas stoves: A new product is taking center stage in the culture wars ...
Viewpoint: America now has a record number of honeybees. How did we get from ‘beepocalypse’ to bee abundance?
You can relax, everyone: The honeybees are back. As Andrew Van Dorn of the Washington Post reported recently, America suddenly now has ...
Only 11 of 54 African countries grow genetically engineered crops. This study explains why and offers guidance on how to increase acceptance
Adoption of GM crops has been extremely slow in African countries; only eleven of the fifty-four have current approved their ...
Counterintuitive agricultural science: Organic farming can lead to increased use of pesticides in neighboring conventional fields
New research adds to the increasingly nuanced picture of organic farming and how well it can meet both our food and ecological ...
