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.
Entomologists team up to thwart bollworm resistance to Bt cotton
The following is an excerpt. Farmers have struggled for longer than a century to keep two insect pests – cotton ...
Genetic engineering ‘monster’ exists only in our minds
The following is an excerpt. The fight against GMO foods is a fight of emotion against science, an effort to ...
Monsanto likely to score Supreme Court win with far-reaching benefits for corporate farming
The following is an excerpt. On Feb. 19, 2013, the Supreme Court heard yet another Monsanto case. (And yet again, ...
Meat DNA test isn’t workable onlarge scale
The following is an excerpt. The horse-meat scandal in the U.K. and Ireland has forced suppliers, processors and retailers to ...
Farm virus ‘can infect wild animals’
The following is an excerpt. A livestock virus sweeping through British sheep flocks and cattle herds has infected wild deer, ...
Developing countries plant most GM crops
The following is an excerpt. Developing countries grew more hectares of GM crops last year than industrialised countries but the ...
AquaBounty confident of GM salmon approval despite FDA delay
The following is an excerpt. AquaBounty Technologies - which has already spent years waiting for the FDA to decide whether ...
GM crops have a role in sustainable agriculture
The following is an editorial summary. Dr. Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, associate dean of Education for Economic Development and Extension in ...
Organic tomatoes accumulate more vitamin C, sugars
The following is an excerpt. Tomatoes grown on organic farms accumulate higher concentrations of sugars, vitamin C and compounds associated ...
Supreme court defends Monsanto’s patent on soybean
The following is an excerpt. WASHINGTON — A freewheeling and almost entirely one-sided argument at the Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that ...
Record-setting 170.3 million hectares of biotech crops grown globally in 2012
The following is an excerpt. Developing countries accounted for the first time last year for more than half the global ...
We broke the tomato, and we’re using science to fix it
The following is an edited excerpt. Thanks to decades of breeding, the modern agricultural tomato has a lot of properties ...
Is a national GMO labeling law best for consumers?
The following is an excerpt. Efforts requiring manufacturers to label products made with genetically-engineered ingredients failed in California and, more ...
Lawmakers expect legal challenge if Vermont’s GMO label bill passes
The following is an excerpt. Under a bill gaining support in the Statehouse, Vermont could be the first state in ...
Initiative 522 perpetuates faulty myths about GMO food
The following is an excerpt. I eat organic or all-natural food as much as possible. I read labels. I buy ...
Developing markets hungry for genetically modified crops
The following is an excerpt. Here’s some mixed news for anyone betting that the best solution to growing food demand ...
How Monsanto is like Microsoft
The following is an excerpt. Monsanto’s products have a lot in common with products from companies like Microsoft and Universal ...
Namibians eat unapproved GM maize products
Maize meal sold in some shops in Namibia is derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), a recent test has revealed ...
Monsanto sues farmer for exploiting loophole in GMO licensing
The following is an excerpt. WASHINGTON — Vernon Hugh Bowman, a free-market capitalist and Indiana farmer, exploited a loophole in ...
Genetically modified crops are overregulated, says food science expert
The following is an excerpt. The overregulation of genetically modified crops is a response not to scientific evidence, but to ...
Bomb threat rattles Mexican biotechnology lab
The following is an excerpt. A letter containing explosive material was delivered on 11 February to the Institute of Biotechnology of the ...
Be skeptical of Washington’s Initiative 522 on GMO labeling
The following is an edited excerpt. Consumers absolutely have a right to know what they are eating is safe, but ...
Value of modified corn is more in reducing losses than boosting yields
The following is an excerpt. While there's no end of robust and heated conversation about genetically modified foods, there are ...
GMO labeling initiatives: Prop 37 v. I-522
The Biofortified blog takes an in-depth look at the Washington State initiative to label GMOs ...
Is it a crime to plant a seed?
The following is an excerpt. Vernon “Hugh” Bowman, a 75-year-old farmer from rural Indiana, did something that got him sued ...
Western monopoly hinders sound policies on GM foods across Africa
The following is an excerpt. Genetically modified foods are a viable solution for struggling African countries if Western monopolies are ...
Will GM tech save coffee in the face of climate change?
The following is an excerpt. Some hysterical types are worried that because the industry has focused on one particular genetically ...
