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.
Which diet is highest in ‘ultra-processed’ foods? Vegan tops list, sparking more nuanced conversation about UPFs
Veganism has the potential to promote healthy eating as people ditch meat - but the rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) ...
Super-efficient short ‘smart corn’ capable of denser planting gets green light from USDA
Bayer AG's genetically modified corn has received safety approval from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) ...
Viewpoint: Should there be a ban on glyphosate and other pesticides in US parks? Here’s why environmentalists and the Park Service say that would be a disaster
When last I wrote about my battle of the brush, I was losing, badly, to the invasive vines and noxious weeds ...
Viewpoint: Braying false concerns of critics — 30 years along, still no evidence that GMOs pose any health or safety issues
The first GMO food was approved in 1994 (a GMO tomato that is no longer on the market), so we ...
What role could GMOs play in achieving sustainable biofuel?
One of the primary benefits of using GMOs in biofuel production is the potential for increased crop yields. By engineering ...
Viewpoint: After neonicotinoid insecticide ban, sugar beet farming in Europe likely to remain crippled for years
Research into alternatives to neonicotinoid pesticides, found to be toxic to bees, is unlikely to deliver a solution capable of ...
Latest CRISPR food innovation: South Korea develops tomato with enhanced levels of provitamin D3. Will it go to market?
In a new report published in GEN Biotechnology (the sister journal to GEN), researchers from Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea have applied CRISPR ...
With climate disruptions increasing and bans on most genetically-engineered crops, African crop yields remain among lowest in the world
Africa has a huge population with by far the least sophisticated food production and processing systems. Any improvements would have the ...
Tracing the chickpea: How trade and migration shaped this popular legume’s genetics
With its nutty flavor and dense nutrient profile, the humble chickpea has captivated palates and nourished civilizations for millennia ...
Viewpoint: Food upcycling — Maybe the key to food sustainability isn’t growing more crops, but cutting back food waste
[The Salt and Straw] ice cream chain is among those at the forefront of the upcycling movement, the process of ...
Why India’s government-subsidized, organic farming experiment hasn’t worked out well
On a cold winter’s day in January 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Sikkim as the first organic farming state in India ...
How CRISPR can protect berry crops from disease-carrying fruit flies — without pesticides
As winters get warmer and springtime comes earlier, farmers in states such as Maine and Minnesota are having more trouble ...
Why small African pig farmers are losing out on big data revolution globally transforming agriculture
The Cloudfarms pig-production-management software program provides real-time reporting through big data captured via workers’ smartphones as they move through the pig ...
Orange ‘super banana’: Gates-funded Ugandan scientists develop vitamin A enhanced fruit that could help reduce blindness and save lives
Wilberforce Tushemereirwe holds up a genetically modified banana that took millions of dollars and 20 years to make. It contains ...
Viewpoint: Using selective chemistry — Burdensome EU regulations prevent introduction of lower-impact agricultural pest control products
The EU has outlined its ambition to slash in half the use and risk of chemical pesticides in its flagship ...
What’s trendy isn’t always best: Why land-sharing and rewilding risk driving up food imports and accelerating biodiversity loss
Numerous studies show that some of today’s most popular conservation policies are doing little to help those species most affected ...
Multi-country effort helps develop gene-edited rice that both boosts yield and resists disease
Researchers from the University of California, Davis, and an international team of scientists used the genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas to create ...
The enemy of my enemy is my friend: How plants recruit predators to control pests
Plants may seem defenseless against insects, having neither hands nor tail to brush them away. But many produce potent repellent chemicals, ...
Flipping the script: Gates Foundation funds ‘farmer-centric’ approach to developing next-generation agricultural technologies in the developing world
Across the world, agricultural scientists are starting to work backward. For years, they’ve seen how improved crop varieties — which ...
Viewpoint: The ongoing battle between technology and ‘buzzword’ farming approaches, from agroecology to biodynamics to regenerative to organic
“Genetic Engineering” (GE) has been practiced by humans for more than 10,000 years, first by selecting and hybridizing plants. For ...
Video: Do pest-resistant GM crops harm workers? Kenyan farmers say no, tout benefits of Bt cotton grown harvested in semi-arid region
Farmers from Kenya's semi-arid Mbeere region have embraced Bt cotton, a genetically modified variety, despite the discussions on the dangers ...
Viewpoint: ‘A crucial turning point’ — Italian researcher says CRISPR gene editing of seeds is crucial to prevent crop diseases
Italian agriculture could be close to a turning point, thanks to genetic engineering. This would make fruit and vegetables more ...
Viewpoint: Is US agriculture a toxic soup of factory farming, corporate greed and gene-altered crops? Debunking 10 myths that shape the narrative around modern agriculture
Here are 10 common myths about agriculture, debunked ...
‘We live in a changed climate’: Here’s what may happen to wheat crops as number of heat waves and droughts increase
The world is getting hotter, causing shifts in seasonal patterns and increasing the amount of extreme weather such as severe ...
Viewpoint: Mexico claims glyphosate and GM corn bans will increase ‘food sovereignty’. Here are the facts
On June 2, the U.S. filed for consultations with Mexico over its bans on genetically-modified (GM) corn and the herbicide glyphosate, invoking ...
‘It’s the only way we’ll have Cabernet Sauvignon in 50 years’ — Disease-resistant gene-edited ‘SuperGrapes’ can help farmers control pernicious powdery mildew that’s destroying vine crops
Powdery mildew comes from a fungus called Erysiphe necator that’s native to eastern North America. While America’s native grape species have developed ...
How can humans become an interplanetary species? Flies, fungi and microgreens
“Happiness is bacon squares for breakfast,” proclaimed Apollo 8 crew member Jim Lovell while midway to the moon in 1968 ...
