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.
The Economist urges regulators not to squander genetic revolution unfolding in agriculture and medicine
Thanks to great strides in fundamental research, biology is becoming ever more programmable. Two recent scientific advances show just how ...
Irish farmers hope to avoid oilseed rape crop failures encouraged in part by neonicotinoid insecticide limits
More Irish farmers are expected to sow oilseed rape this autumn, despite the crop's chequered and controversial history across the ...
Most expensive nuts in the world: Genomics could transform how we grow macadamia nuts
If we tried to feed the global population today on the average agricultural yields of the 1960s, we would need to farm ...
Our microbiomes respond positively to exercise, giving us a digestive boost
There is certainly no shortage of studies in humans that show doing moderate to vigorous exercise such as running, cycling and resistance ...
The Guardian’s anti-GMO columnist George Monbiot reports organic, pasture fed beef and lamb are ‘some of the world’s most damaging food products’
What are the world’s most damaging farm products? You might be amazed by the answer: organic, pasture-fed beef and lamb ...
Why are bumblebees dying? New study concludes climate change is causing earlier springs, awakening them from winter slumber before flowers ready for pollination
Climate change is triggering early spring across North America and prematurely waking bumblebees from hibernation before flowers have bloomed - leaving ...
65,000 Bangladeshi farmers now grow GMO insect-resistant eggplant as production soars among local farms
In 2020/21, more than 65,000 farmers in Bangladesh used genetically modified Bt aubergines. A rapid increase since the GM crop was ...
Gene editing could revive the American chestnut tree and help fight climate change — but familiar anti-biotechonology activist critics will have none of it
These trees once ruled the canopies of much of Appalachia, with billions of mature American chestnut trees that towered in ...
After deliberating less than an hour, Missouri county jury concludes glyphosate weedkiller did not cause plaintiff’s cancer, delivering Bayer/Monsanto 5th court victory in a row
A St. Louis County jury has determined Bayer and the former Monsanto should not be held liable in a lawsuit ...
Promising way to reduce spread of mosquito-borne dengue without gene drives or genetic modification
In 2009, the World Mosquito Program, or WMP’s research team discovered that a bacteria called Wolbachia could prevent the transmission ...
Can plant-based meat spur a just environmental transition for animals and food-factory workers alike?
There are plenty of ways in which fake meat is better than animal meat. Getting institutions like schools and hospitals ...
Tweaking crops to prevent disease and reduce pesticide use — a CRISPR solution
Applying new CRISPR-based technology to a broad agricultural need, researchers at the University of California San Diego have set their ...
Challenging global wheat shortage: Finding ‘hidden breeding resources’ to supercharge yields
Climate change is placing pressure on productivity. Yields have steadily increased from a global average of only just over 1 ...
Indonesia looks to GMOs to address inflation, though some farmers are skeptical
The government is set on boosting the development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), despite skepticism from experts and farmers that ...
How genetics, robotics and other technologies can protect French farms from drought
Claude Ménara was an icon in the early 2000s. The icon of the pro-GMO fight in New Aquitaine, who regularly ...
US consumers view gene editing in a favorable light
Consumers in the United States are generally favorable to the use of gene editing in agriculture, a new survey by the ...
Viewpoint: ‘We can’t reward less productive organic farming’ — A call to re-introduce science to agricultural planning
Faced with global food security concerns and soaring food and energy price inflation, the UK Government seems to have woken ...
Viewpoint: ‘Deadly consequences’ — Sri Lanka needs to replace disastrous ‘100% organic’ method with evidence-based sustainable agricultural plan
Among the decisions being singled out for criticism, both locally and globally, is Sri Lanka's now infamous overnight ban on ...
Extracting urine from wastewater and using it as fertilizer could be sustainability boon
Removing urine from wastewater and using it as fertilizer has the potential to decrease nutrient loading in water bodies and ...
Viewpoint: Next-generation of sustainable fortified crops are in the pipeline — but approval process lags
Exciting agricultural discoveries are happening every day. But these discoveries will become reality only if we have a clear, science-based, ...
Boosting photosynthesis: GMO soy bean trial demonstrates 25% jump in yield
Genetically modified soya beans designed to absorb light more efficiently produced a 25% greater yield in an advance that could ...
‘Meat can be a translucent liquid or crunchy bite’: How cellular agriculture is poised to reinvent cuisine
Near and long term, cellular agriculture opens the road for increased creativity. It would be difficult to find protein of ...
Viewpoint: Study claims tweaking one gene could raise rice yields as much as 68%. Here’s why you should be cautious about believing it
Science Magazine recently published a paper in which Chinese scientists reported massive yield gains in rice, thanks to genetic engineering. The journal ...
Farmer’s viewpoint: BBC and other British media ‘continue to falsely imply that genetic engineering remains highly controversial and uncertain’
Phil Lodge, who farms on the outskirts of Doncaster, explained his reasons for taking part in the GM crop trials: ...
Viewpoint: Aspirational India — Embracing genetic modification in agriculture key to country’s ‘nutritional security’
India has made stupendous strides in becoming self-sufficient in food, primarily driven by technological investments during the green revolution. Using ...
Viewpoint: Technology hypocrites? Greenpeace is far less ecological than it claims
In July 2022, Greenpeace leaders deplored the inclusion of gas and nuclear in the European green taxonomy (this new classification ...
Why smiley-face potatoes and other food with ‘human-like’ features repulse us
When food is given human-like features, people do not like to eat it, research from the University of Innsbruck, Austria ...
