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.
Viewpoint: How anti-crop chemical activists are weaponizing the Endangered Species Act to block use of safe and effective pesticides
The EPA is supposed to perform so-called biological evaluations for each and every pesticide registered under FIFRA. Practically speaking, the ...
Nigeria: Learn from our experience with GMO crops
Nigerian leaders are urging other West African nations to adopt genetically modified cowpea given their own success with the crop ...
Viewpoint: EU hypocrisy — Europe bans atrazine weedkiller, but continues to produce and market it to Africa
Atrazine is a toxic herbicide banned on the European market, but paradoxically produced by European industries and intended for the ...
Facing low corn and soybean yields, Vietnam looks to genetic engineering to increase food security
Vietnam is dependent on imported feed materials because our corn and soybean yield is low, production costs are high, and ...
Glyphosate re-approved for Sri Lanka import as country attempts to recover from failed organic-only experiment
The Finance Ministry has lifted the import ban on the popular weedicide glyphosate with effect from August 5 while allowing ...
GMO Golden Rice tale of two countries: Philippines on track for fall sales while Bangladesh falters
A year after regulatory approval, the Philippines has started transplanting Golden Rice this wet season, becoming the first country in ...
Study: No link found between parental exposure to pesticides and childhood cancer
Maternal or paternal exposure to pesticides does not appear to be associated with increased risks for childhood cancer, according to ...
Viewpoint: ‘Precipice of a food security catastrophe’ — Re-shaping agriculture to fit the prejudices of urban perspectives could have dire global consequence
For many Canadians, crop production is an unknown concept. Because of this, it’s relatively easy to use fear to influence ...
Gene-edited rice can naturally fix nitrogen in the soil, vastly reducing the need for chemical fertilizers
Renowned botanist Eduardo Blumwald, professor at the University of California, and his team have found a new way to give cereal crops ...
Researchers ask Indian farmers to halt use of government-developed genetically modified Bt cotton use after bollworm pest scare
It is the end of the road for the country’s first genetically-modified Bt cotton seed variety developed by a public ...
Charles Benbrook’s Heartland Health Research Alliance under sharp questioning as high-paid expert-litigant-witness-for-hire in latest glyphosate cancer trial
In a trial accusing Monsanto maker of the weed killer Roundup of causing the cancers of three people, defense attorneys ...
Viewpoint: ‘Not even borderline dangerous’ — Activist groups stir fears of micro-traces of glyphosate in breast milk
For several years, rumors have been circulating online and through society concerning the presence of the weed killer, glyphosate (trade ...
Investigation Part II: Fraudulently marketing ‘organic food’ offers huge illegal rewards for growers
Over the roughly six years Anderson bought conventionally grown grain and fraudulently sold it as organic at a huge profit, ...
Investigation Part I: Growing fraud threatens trust in organic food industry, says South Dakota News
Kent Duane Anderson of Belle Fourche made $71 million in fraudulent income by selling thousands of tons of conventionally grown ...
Viewpoint: ‘Regenerative agriculture’ could lead the way in feeding the world — but to fulfill its potential it needs to embrace biotechnology
The use of technology - such as AI - in regenerative agriculture is key. Biotech is also increasingly creating potential ...
Here’s how GMO cowpea would transform the lives of Ghanian farmers
Maruca pest is a key challenge that renders cowpea production unattractive. The larvae infest the flower buds, flowers, and the ...
Another knock on processed food? New study suggests excessive amounts could feed cognitive decline
Eating highly processed foods like instant noodles, sugary drinks or frozen meals may be linked to a faster rate of ...
Exotic animals are off our plates for ethical reasons, but cell-cultivated meat could make cruelty-free substitutes a reality
London-based company Primeval Foods focuses exclusively on cultivating exotic meats, such as lions, tigers, and zebras. Similarly, the Australian company Vow Foods ...
India likely to see drought-resistant CRISPR gene-edited rice by 2026
A drought-resistant rice variety developed through the application of genome-edited technology for the first time in India, and is expected ...
Viewpoint: For centuries, grain yields remained stagnant — but they have tripled since 1960. We can thank biotechnology innovations
For centuries, yields for crops like corn remained relatively steady. Everything changed in the middle of the 20th century ...
Selling a myth: Former OXFAM development expert on why agroecology cannot address global food security
Agriculture shares with education the dubious honor of being a field of knowledge where everyone feels empowered to give their ...
Viewpoint: Could a GMO herbicide-resistant milkweed help save the Monarch butterfly?
Sobering news broke this month for those of us who love monarch butterflies – and who doesn’t? Those black and ...
40% yield increase: How tweaking one gene could create a super rice that adapts to climate change
Many people are hesitant to eat plants or animals that have been enhanced with foreign genes, citing health and environmental concerns, the ...
Viewpoint: EU’s approval to import genetically engineered corn for human consumption opens door for Africa to follow suit
The EU is among regions that have, for some time, resisted importing and cultivating genetically engineered (GE) crops. But this ...
Study: Why plant-based meats are healthier for you and better for the planet
There are increasingly strong reasons to move away from industrial animal agriculture for the good of the environment, animals, our ...
‘Feed Your Mind’: FDA releases guide on GMOs, emphasizing their safety, sustainability and occasional nutritional advantages
GMO foods have been available to consumers since the early 1990s. Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ...
Are robot bees a viable solution to pollination problems?
Every so often a headline will shout about the coming of the robo-bees, with the vision of a dystopian future ...
