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.
After RFK, Jr. is replaced: A breakthrough mRNA vaccine that suppresses food and seasonal allergies
A new mRNA vaccine stopped allergens from causing dangerous immune reactions and life-threatening inflammation in mice, according to researchers from ...
Bees in distress: Climate change is depressing the aroma that attracts bees for pollination. Scientists are scrambling for a solution
Across 120 publications from 19 countries, ozone pollution decreased performance of beneficial invertebrates by more than 31%, while nitrogen oxides ...
Sashimi that promotes healing and skin rejuvenation? It’s not the latest fad skin care breakthrough, but a yummy-tasting cultivated Omega-3-rich fish fat made using stem cell technology
Sashimi that looks, feels and tastes just like the real deal, but is actually grown in a laboratory. That is ...
What do we need Seed Banks? 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost since the early 20th century, and its losses are accelerating
Gene and seed banks are not static museums. They are living collections of genetic material, designed to support food security, ...
Sustainability breakthrough: Scientists targeting the genetic code of pests
Pests can be the make-or-break factor for a season’s harvest. Between 20% to 40% of global crop production is lost ...
Why the chemophobia obsession is baked into America’s consciousness
'No nasties’, ‘non-toxic’, ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘mineral’ – there are a multitude of health buzzwords sprinkled through grocery store shelves aimed ...
China’s bought about 50% of U.S. soybean exports since 1920. This year? Zero, thanks to Trump’s trade war
For U.S. farmers, abundant rains to fuel a bumper crop would normally be good news — but it won’t matter ...
Viewpoint: No burgers or bangers: EU environmental activists mobilize to remove all ‘meat words’ from plant-based proteins
I ate some Quorn sausages last night. I wasn’t confused when I bought them. I didn’t buy them because I ...
Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine?
Disease control within crop production systems has been very much centred on the development of complex organic chemicals such as ...
Viewpoint: Is the MAHA – MAGA alliance fraying
[Zen] Honeycutt and other “MAHA moms” were disappointed by the MAHA commission report released in September that they say lacked meaningful ...
Viewpoint: ‘Farmageddon’—Trump’s chaotic trade and tariff policies doesn’t hurt ‘industrial agriculture’ but smaller farms are in crisis
“We’re in a hell of a mess here,” said Ohio farmer Chris Gibbs as he worked on his combine at ...
What’s driving food costs inflation?
From rice to coffee, cocoa to olive oil, extreme weather conditions are driving up the prices of staple foods around ...
Michael Grunwald: ‘How to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate?’
When veteran journalist Michael Grunwald set out to write his third book, he was determined not to produce a “Debbie ...
How would a prolonged shutdown impact federal food assistance programs?
Historically the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has been unaffected by government shutdowns, including ...
Viewpoint: The farm economy in the U.S. is cratering. Here’s why farmers are unlikely to abandon Trumpononics
Fall is here, the harvest is coming in, but President Donald Trump’s trade war rages on and China won’t buy American farmers’ soybeans. That’s ...
What’s the difference between GMO and CRISPR
What is a GMO? GMOs (genetically modified organisms) involve transferring a gene from one species to another to provide an ...
Viewpoint: The MAHA movement’s wrongheaded war on glyphosate is part of a misplaced broader attack on modern agriculture
The MAHA movement’s war on glyphosate is part of a broader war on modern farming — not only herbicides and ...
Viewpoint: Starbuck’s synthetic pumpkin spice: The drink RFK, Jr. should ban if wants to protect our health
In 2003, the Human Genome Project was completed and both Tesla and LinkedIn were founded. Those were all interesting but ...
Video: How our food choices impact climate change
Our food production systems emit greenhouse gas emissions just like fossil fuels. But we don't talk enough about it. This ...
CRISPR poised to help jump-start space exploration
CRISPR holds significant potential for enhancing various aspects of space exploration and long-duration space missions. One of its promising applications ...
‘DEI is a red herring’: How Ag Secretary Rollins’ targeting of food programs is hitting the rural poor in the U.S. hard
Shape Up’s garden was caught in the political crosshairs of a dramatic shift at the USDA. Since assuming power, the Trump ...
The first human trial of nutrient-rich gene-edited tomatoes is underway in England
The Quadram Institute in Norwich is recruiting 76 people with low vitamin D to take part in the ViTaL-D Study, ...
Viewpoint: The promise and challenges facing India’s turn toward gene-edited rice
In a notable milestone for India’s agri-biotechnology sector, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) announced the development of two ...
Unresolved mystery: Why has Bill Gates quietly become the largest private owner of farmland in the United States
Bill Gates, the tech titan turned global philanthropist, has quietly amassed a portfolio of over 100,000 hectares of farmland across the United States, ...
America’s farming economy in a recession? Depends who you ask.
Fifty-three percent of agricultural economists surveyed in Farm Journal’s July Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor say the row crops side of ...
India and other warm-weather countries are growing climate resilient crops to blunt climate change
A sweltering heat wave decimated Pritam Singh’s wheat crop in 2022. That year, temperatures reached a record-breaking 127 degrees Fahrenheit ...
Is the global food supply collapsing as temperatures gradually increase? Just the opposite, as world is on track for record harvests
It’s not uncommon for people to tell me that global food production is already collapsing due to climate change. They ...
