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.
Pakistan weighs embracing GMOs and gene editing to spark an agricultural revolution
Today, more than 240 million Pakistanis rely on a farming model that is outdated, inefficient and increasingly vulnerable to extreme ...
Generative AI is shaping the future of plant gene editing
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the fight against viral infections in crops through precision CRISPR genome editing, strengthening global food ...
AI is already revolutionizing food and farming
Through satellite imagery, AI can highlight where irrigation systems are drying up, spot greenhouses that weren't there a decade ago, or flag fields ...
Black goats that endure hot days? Chinese scientists developed them using gene editing
Chinese researchers have produced the world's first gene-edited black goat designed to tolerate high temperatures and humidity, a breakthrough that ...
Ways precision genetics is revolutionizing agriculture
Agricultural engineering—often referred to as agri engineering—continues to be a catalyst for sustainable farming, productivity improvements, and precision practices worldwide. As global populations rise and climate change challenges intensify, the need for ...
How will climate change affect the flowers of the future?
We might notice the time of year they bloom and connect that to our changing climate. Perhaps we are familiar ...
The social roots of sustainable eating
The term sustainability usually elicits ideas of a green planet, solar panels, electric vehicles, and plastic-free oceans. However, this outlook—sustainability primarily focused ...
Our global food system is increasingly under strain. What needs to be done?
Much has been written about the inherent complexity of global food systems. They shape outcomes for individuals, organizations, communities and ...
As China doubles down rejecting U.S. exports of soybeans, food security takes central focus in next 5-year agricultural plan
For decades, one of the most common mantras from China's leadership has been to "firmly hold the rice bowls of ...
Viewpoint: While overall cancer rates remain steady, it’s rising in Midwest farm country. Are pesticides to blame?
Cancer rates among young adults in the Corn Belt, a patchwork of golden fields and straight-line highways stretching across the ...
How AI can improve food safety and nutrition
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming food safety and nutrition practices by offering scalable, real-time, and personalized solutions. In food safety, ...
Video: 101 seconds on the plant biology synthetic revolution
There’s a famous quote attributed to the eminent scientist Richard Feynman: “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” Those ...
The world’s agricultural farmland is shrinking but production is up. Can this trend continue?
Throughout the 20th Century, humanity demanded more and more land leading to the loss of vast areas of natural forest ...
Will Europe squander its biotechnology opportunity?
Europe’s next wave of biotech innovation could determine how the continent feeds itself as climate disruption and supply-chain shocks intensify ...
Viewpoint: What’s on the line as India ponders the future of biotechnology and agriculture?
Reports suggest that over 60% of industrial products could be made using biotechnology, though technical difficulties need to be resolved ...
Can we expect a wave of corporate breakups as seed industries liberate themselves from litigation-laden pesticide businesses
Companies involved in both the seed and pesticide sectors see a pipeline of pesticide-related class action lawsuits, MDLs and unlimited ...
Future of food security: The downside of the digitalization of agriculture for the most vulnerable countries
With an average temperature increase of more than 1.2°C, and extreme weather events compromising 30% of global harvests, applied genetics ...
A remarkable discovery may open the door to gene editing, tripling yields of wheat and other grain crops
A groundbreaking discovery from the University of Maryland promises to revolutionize wheat cultivation and dramatically boost global food security. Researchers ...
Colade Royale: Dole’s brain-enhancing pineapple bred to taste like a piña colada arrives in grocery stores next month
For pineapple lovers, a new chapter in tropical indulgence is about to unfold. ... Consumers and food enthusiasts are buzzing with ...
Viewpoint: Indigenous groups and their Western NGO allies line up to block the genetic engineering revolution
[Members] of the International Union of Conservation of Nature, one of the world’s largest conservation groups, voted against a moratorium on the ...
Trump’s plan to import millions of dollars of Argentinian beef to lower prices runs into opposition from ranchers and economists
President Donald Trump ’s plan to cut record beef prices by importing more meat from Argentina is running into heated opposition from U.S ...
Australia approves commercial planting of genetically modified cotton
Australia's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has issued license DIR 216 to Bayer CropScience Pty. Ltd., authorizing the ...
Mexican scientists call for quick approvals of gene-edited crops even as restrictions persist on GMO agriculture
Researchers in Mexico are urging the government to develop clear regulations that distinguish gene-editing technologies, such as CRISPR, from genetically ...
Will ‘neophobia’ kill the newly-developed gene-edited, non-browning banana
When a banana is bruised, cut, or peeled, enzymes trigger a chemical cascade that ends in melanin, the same pigment ...
Argentina and Japan far ahead of U.S. and Canada in developing gene-edited livestock
A more permissive approach to gene editing regulation in Argentina has led to greater diversity of innovation and a shift ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate is agriculture’s scapegoat
Glyphosate has played a central role in modern agriculture’s ability to increase yields, reduce labour costs and conserve soil through ...
Transforming food waste into biodegradable ultra-thin plastic
In the face of the growing global crisis due to plastic pollution, a team from Monash University in Melbourne (Australia) has managed to transform food ...
