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.
Oregon GMO labeling outcome, now too close to call, goes to recount
The battle over a measure to require labeling of genetically altered food appeared headed to a recount as new totals ...
In push to snare low income shoppers, Whole Foods to put cigarette-like warnings on GMO foods
Whole Foods’ central conceit as a company is that it sells only the best, healthiest food—which sometimes requires paying more ...
UK scientists critical of axing of EU science advisor, EU GMO bans
The European Union’s de facto ban on genetically modified (GM) crops may have caused more harm than good, according to ...
GM corn varieties facing battle with armyworms
Crop-devouring armyworms are showing increasing resistance in some U.S. farm fields to a popular type of genetically modified crop that ...
Europe desperately needs science advisor post
The past week saw two significant events in European science. You know about the first one: the triumphant Rosetta mission ...
Prediction: McDonald’s will adopt eco-friendly GMO potato
On Friday, November 7, 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cleared the path to commercialization for a “genetically modified” potato ...
No, I haven’t sold my soul to Monsanto
David Zilberman is an environmental economist and professor at the University of California—Berkeley. Recently I was interviewed for an article ...
Monsanto’s next horizon: Big Data
You probably know Monsanto as the world's leading producer of genetically engineered seeds—a global agribusiness giant whose critics accuse it ...
Do small farmers in developing countries want GM crops?
Do small farmers in developing countries want GM crops? That is a truly divisive question, and it seems like anyone ...
Philosophers pan agricultural genetic modification
In 1999, the eminent journal Science published a special issue on plant biotechnology, which, according to Article 2 of the ...
Non-GMO method boosts rice yields
Scientists at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture have found that they can harness photosynthesis – the process ...
GMO crops increase yields, benefit the environment
Among the winners in this month’s elections were foods containing genetically modified organisms. And, it’s possible that labeling laws, if ...
Better organically-bred seeds could revolutionize food system
Wasn’t organic seed just seed plucked from plants grown without chemicals, and if so, what was the big deal? Even ...
Are GMOs creating disastrous superweed problem?
The Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) has issued a new fact sheet to uproot common misconceptions about “superweeds”– a ...
Dow restricts new GMOs to avoid upsetting Chinese trade
Dow AgroSciences' decision to severely restrict U.S. introduction of its Enlist genetically modified crops and herbicide - billed as the ...
Starbucks denies alliance with Monsanto, support for GMOs, but Neil Young remains unimpressed
Neil Young announced that he's boycotting Starbucks. "I used to line up and get my latte everyday, but yesterday was ...
Are critics of anti-GMO activists ‘pro GMO’?
What is Pro-GMO? Is it the opposite of Anti-GMO? That is an interesting question. When I hear that someone is ...
Nassim Taleb is right: Supporters of genetically modified foods ignore uncertainties
How can so many smart people, including many scientists, be so sure that there's nothing to worry about genetically modified ...
Chocoholic? Only GMO cocoa may help meet your cravings
The world demands about one million more metric tons of chocolate than cocoa farmers are physically able to produce. By ...
Gates funded genetically modified but non-GMO eco-rice rolls out across Asia, Africa
“Green Super Rice,” developed jointly by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the International Rice Research Institute in the ...
McDonald’s says ‘no plans’ to adopt new GMO potato
McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food company and a longtime buyer of Simplot potatoes for french fries, says it doesn't plan ...
Los Angeles symbolic GMO ban reinforces misinformation
The Los Angeles City Council voted in late October to draft an ordinance that would prohibit the sale or planting ...
Video: GMO opponents sue to block new Enlist Duo GMO corn and soybeans
Millions of acres of farmland in the U.S. have been affected by herbicide-resistant weeds. And the problem is spreading, which ...
GMO innovations inevitable in Tanzania
Modern biotechnology is an emerging novel tool with potentials in improving human and animal health, agriculture, industrial and agricultural production ...
Federal judge puts just-passed Maui GMO law on hold
United States Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren ruled last Friday that Maui County may not implement a new law banning the cultivation of ...
My journey from anti-GMO views to science driven by obstinacy and arrogance of activists
In the Sleuth4Health chronicles that describe events leading up to and just after my metamorphosis, I pinpoint how it was ...
Researchers across Europe ‘appalled’ at scrapping of EU science advisory, caving to anti-science Greens
Despite strong support from scientific bodies, Prof Anne Glover's mandate expired at the end of the Barroso presidency - and ...
