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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Ugandan politics blocks GMO oversight
The following is an excerpt. A Bill whose object includes providing for development and general release of Genetically Modified Organisms ...
India: Discredited Seralini paper wreaks havoc on GM debate
The following is an excerpt. India has become a flashpoint for the use of modern biotechnology in agriculture in the ...
Zimbabwe: Anti-GMO sentiment blocks import of inexpensive maize
The following is an excerpt. Poultry producers have appealed to the Agricultural Marketing Authority to review the ban on the ...
Viewpoint: Biotechnology is a threat to biodiversity
The burgeoning "bioeconomy" is as much a threat to the environment as the fossil fuels it aims to replace ...
Seed giants sue U.S. farmers over GM seed patents in shocking numbers
The following is an excerpt. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Feb. 19 in "Bowman v. Monsanto Co.," a landmark court battle ...
Team-up: Organic farmer and geneticist promote cooperation for sustainability
The following is an excerpt. Raoul Adamchak and Pamela Ronald believe the key to sustainability in agriculture is not insisting ...
Groundbreaking tech — including GM — smothered by anti-technology ideologues
The following is an excerpt Groundbreaking new technologies commonly face intractable opposition from various quarters–often from vested interests or societal ...
FDA flooded by public comments about ‘frankenfish’
The following is an excerpt. Nearly 30,000 comments have poured into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about Canadian genetically ...
GM foods need transparency but not labeling
Biotech pioneer Roger Beachy argues that transparency will ease consumer's concerns over GM foods, not labels ...
India’s harvest of hypocrisy: Farmers blamed for GM crop failures
The following is an excerpt. Of all the GMO controversies around the world, the saga of Bt cotton in India ...
