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.
UN World Food Program Director: If we want to beat world hunger by 2030, we need ‘Big Ag’ and biotechnology
Ertharin Cousin has spent her entire life providing people with food: as a child of a restaurant owner couple in ...
Viewpoint: ‘Ignorance and backwardness’ drive Ugandans’ rejection of GMO foods
Last month, a section of MPs led by Bufumbira County East MP, James Nsaba-Buturo were planning to introduce a bill ...
Why antioxidant genetically-modified purple tomatoes are considered a ‘super food’
With a couple swaps of genetic material, these purple tomatoes turn a deep purple when ripe. Why? Because they’re loaded ...
‘Critical milestone’: FDA greenlights cellular chicken — first lab-grown meat — for US market
The Food and Drug Administration on [November 16] declared a lab-grown meat product developed by a California start-up to be ...
‘We’re unashamedly pro-science and pro-innovation’: Scottish politicians debate opposition to gene-edited food
The Scottish National Party, or SNP has long opposed genetic modification of food to protect the “clean, green brand of ...
Will India miss out on the emerging agricultural biotechnology revolution?
As soon as the government took the decision to release India’s first genetically-modified (GM) food crop — Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 ...
The Séralini affair: How a discredited study set Kenya’s agricultural biotechnology revolution back a decade
GMO crops aren't new to Kenya; in 2012 we had GMO maize being imported into the country until the infamous ...
Slaughter-free, climate-friendly cultured meat on the horizon
Imagine a way to produce meat without slaughtering animals. Instead of raising livestock on farms, Uma Valeti, a cardiologist, and ...
Singapore – the first country to approve the sale of cultivated meat – has become the epicenter of alternative protein innovation. Here’s how
Singapore became the first country to approve the commercial sale of a protein grown “out of thin air”, according to its ...
‘A holy grail for agriculture’? Genetic modification can increase oil production in soy, sunflower and peanut plants by up to 18%
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have successfully genetically modified a plant protein that is responsible for oil ...
Onslaught of droughts and war soften EU opposition to crop gene editing
When GMO technology first arrived in Europe in the 2000s it met fierce opposition in a region that prides itself ...
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization weighs in on the regulation of cell-based foods
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has turned its attention to cell-based foods (also known as ...
Here’s the background on India’s newly-approved high-yielding genetically modified mustard
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex regulator of genetically modified plants and food products, has approved the environmental ...
Some Kenyans eager to embrace GM crops to fight escalating drought, but opposition remains
As Kenya prepares to commercialise genetically modified crops, there is resistance from some farmers and campaign groups, who question their ...
Viewpoint: Evidence does not support ‘plant good, animal bad’ mantra. Humans are hard-wired to eat meat
While some question whether humans are supposed to eat meat, a University of Melbourne professor in food science and human ...
7 ways CRISPR gene editing could transform food
Here are some of the ways scientists are using CRISPR to create healthier, more appealing, and more resilient foods — ...
Podcast: How lab-grown fish can save Alaska’s threatened wild salmon stocks
Although wild salmon remains one of Alaska’s most lucrative seafood industries, it’s also one of the state’s most vulnerable, as ...
Are biotechnology and sustainability compatible in Africa?
Advancements in digital technology are beginning to reshape agriculture. The right combination of technology and processes allow farmers to apply ...
Could methane-burping cows one day become an unexpected part of the climate solution?
The concept of carbon neutral cows may seemingly conflict with the notion we must eat less meat and dairy to counter climate ...
Growing crops in space: International mission aims to develop plants that can adapt to climate change on Earth
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched seeds into ...
Bayer wins sixth consecutive glyphosate cancer verdict
Bayer scored another win over Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide after a Missouri jury came out with a defense verdict November 9 ...
Viewpoint: ‘End of policy paralysis’ — India’s approval of genetically-modified mustard brings major economic benefits
Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) is the first GM food crop to be approved in India. The only other crop that ...
Viewpoint: ‘Portugal, Spain, France and Italy are in the line of fire’ — How gene-edited crops could help address crippling droughts plaguing EU farmlands
While the worst of the summer drought has now passed, EU Commission researchers predict unusually warm and dry weather in ...
Adapting plants to our needs: From rudimentary hand pollination by ancient farmers to CRISPR, humans have always been genetically modifying crops
People have been taking plants from the wild and growing/cultivating them to both meet their needs and their pleasures for ...
Genetically-modified houseplant that can scrub the air? This startup may have a biological way to address pollution
It looks like an ordinary pothos, a common houseplant that you might already own. But a new plant called the ...
‘Agrivoltaics’: Crossover of farming and solar power could advance food security and synergize climate goals with farmer needs
So, for the uninitiated, what is agrivoltaics? The term refers to the simultaneous use of areas of land for both ...
Viewpoint: ‘Activists and organizations spread lies about GMOs’ — Nobel laureate chides dogmatic political discourse, highlights decades of GMO’s safe use
Misinformation about science, especially genetically modified crops, need to be dispelled and they should be adopted as it is backed ...
