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.
Axing of European science czar over GMO issues: 1 step forward for Greenpeace, 2 steps back for EU and science
Since 2012, the distinguished Scottish biologist Anne Glover has served as chief scientific adviser to the President of the European ...
San Juan Islands’ 2012 ban on GMOs: Incubator for debate
In 2012, a humble farmer in the off-the-beaten-track archipelago of the San Juan Islands fired a shot in the form of ...
Gates Foundation, GMO banana face renewed attacks
Among the controversial projects funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the development and testing of a biofortified ...
Millennials support sustainability and biotech
Health and nutrition related information are two important topics for US consumers, but recently there has been an increasing interest ...
Swiss GMO potato goes to field trial
The Swiss Agricultural Research Institute, Agroscope, wants to try growing genetically modified potatoes, reports the Swiss website Blick.ch. The goal of ...
Israel warming to GMO crops as eco tech solution
Supplying food to a growing population without destroying the world’s ecological systems is one of humanity’s great challenges. Israel is ...
Climate change challenges demand more than GMO seeds
When my daughter turned 7 last week, we celebrated with a homemade chocolate cake. I wonder whether she’ll be able ...
Amid maize famine, more Kenyans call for lifting GMO ban
With a virus threatening the crops of up to 70 percent of Kenya's maize farmers, a number of lawmakers are ...
Politics, economic self-interest driving China’s GMO corn ban
For 42 years, Don Villwock has grown soybeans and corn on 4,000 acres in southwest Indiana. He has endured low ...
Just label it: Risk expert says food companies’ fears about GMO stigmatization unwarranted
There are a lot of pros and cons about agricultural biotechnology, AKA GMOs. Factual pros and cons about human safety ...
Can GMO corn help Mexican farmers reduce pesticides?
Is there a way to reduce pesticide use? Scientists believe that insect-resistant maize could be the answer. Scientists have found ...
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 ...
Could GMO potatoes be healthier than ones we’re eating?
Radio host Lars Larson interviewed Henry Miller, of Stanford University's Hoover Institution, about the new Innate potato developed by J.R. Simplot ...
Oregon farmers sue Jackson county to overturn GMO ban
Jackson County voters passed a ban on GMO crops last May. Now the courts will test the ordinance's validity. Two county ...
World’s largest corn producer sues Syngenta over Chinese rejection of GMO corn
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the world’s largest corn processor, sued Syngenta after China rejected its shipments of corn and products made from the ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
