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.
New book on ‘Darwinian Agriculture’ explains how evolution can improve agriculture
The largest drought in 50 years has severely damaged much of the nation's "corn belt" and is threatening the viability ...
Newly found genes may lead to nematode-resistant cotton
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers have made significant progress in finding genetic resistance to two key cotton pests—the root-knot ...
GMO sugar beets get the green light from the USDA
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ruled once and for all to allow unrestricted planting of Monsanto’s GMO ...
Philippines: Anti-GM activists raise alarm on testing of GMO rice
A field testing of genetically modified “Golden Rice” in two Camarines Sur towns has stirred debate between organic farmers and ...
Nigeria: Genetically engineered bacteria prevent mosquitoes from transmitting Malaria
In a renewed hope to eliminate the menace of malaria on human health, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research ...
Is there a limit to gains from genetically engineered cotton?
Since genetically modified cotton was introduced in India a decade ago, its popularity has skyrocketed. Last year more than seven ...
Genetically modified apple draws national attention and sparks controversy
Genetically modified apples can’t be found at a grocery store in the United States, but a Canadian company could change ...
Nigeria: Biotechnology is Nigeria’s sure way to food security
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market, Senator Ayoade Ademola Adeseun, has said that biotechnology presents Nigeria the opportunity of ...
Egypt resists Monsanto’s GM maize
When an insect feeds on Monsanto’s genetically-modified MON810 maize plant, it is in for a nasty surprise. Encoded within the ...
Barking up the right GM tree? Transgenic trees could make better timber
Although genetically modified crops such as cereals and cotton continue to attract much scientific and political attention, there has been ...
India: Transgenic sugarcane developed
The Sugarcane Breeding Institute has developed transgenic sugarcane incorporating gene constructs, said its Director, Dr N. Vijayan Nair. Speaking to ...
Genetics turns cows into export marvels
Hawke's Bay agri-businesses Brownrigg Agriculture and Firstlight Foods are turning a wasted resource into export gold. Hybrid dairy bobby calves ...
The benefits of GM crops: The studies pile up
A number of recent studies and reports have continued to provide evidence that genetically modified crops provide significant benefits to ...
India: GM rice rakes up controversy, Agro-Biodiversity committee wants pro-GM chairman out
The new genetically engineered rice named as “Designer Rice” is raking up fresh controversy. The difference of opinion has already ...
Anti-GM activists in Europe push back at the possible introduction of GM animals to the market by European food authorities
Anti-GM activists in Europe are up in arms over the possible introduction of GM animals to the food markets by ...
Scientist lashes ‘irrational’ green groups for hypocrisy over GM crops
A pre-eminent Australian crop scientist and the former head of the world wheat breeding centre has launched a scathing attack ...
Stand-off looms over US plans to cut GMO crop oversight
Efforts to write benefits for biotech seed companies into U.S. legislation, including the new Farm Bill, are sparking a backlash ...
Senior advisor on biotechnology to US Secretary of State says Europeans are “strongly against GM foods”
Jack Bobo, senior adviser on biotechnology to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, recently delivered a talk at University College ...
In defense of GM crops: Pro-biotech writer explains why GM crops save money and lives
A recent scientific study in Nature reported that merely cultivating GM crops provided a healthy boost to the local ecosystem, ...
China: Australia can feed our “dining boom” with GM crops
The Australian government’s first national food strategy underscores what agricultural scientists have been saying for the past decade – that ...
US and South American farmers unite to support biotechnology in the European Union
Farmers who produce 90 percent of the world’s soybean exports have joined forces to support biotechnology in the European Union ...
Biting into GMO apples: Are there any risks?
Last week The New York Times printed a story about the Arctic Apple, which is genetically engineered not to turn ...
Safety fears over use of GM animals
The first step towards approving the use of genetically modified animals to make so-called ‘Frankenstein foods’ has been unveiled by ...
House Ag Committee takes aim GMO regulation, says anti-biotech writer
Surprising no one, the House agriculture committee has passed a boldly regressive farm bill draft—trumping the recently approved Senate version ...
Protest grows against releasing genetically altered bugs
A counter tracking online signatures to a petition that protests a Florida Keys mosquito-control plan changed by the minute Friday, ...
Foods of the future: What you’ll be eating in 2035
In a new book, The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches from the Future of Food, author Josh Schonwald examines how foodies, ...
Gates drops $10 million to develop GM crops
British scientists have won a £6.4 million grant to develop GM crops – one of the largest single investments into ...
