Food & Agriculture Features
The GLP explores the role of genetic engineering in food production and the polarized debate surrounding it. We highlight the work of our own writers, as well as that of contributors from around the Web. The GLP does not take a position on genetics-related issues; any opinions expressed belong to the authors.
Categories include:
- Chemicals and pesticides
- Organics
- Conventional crops
- New breeding technologies
- Animal biotechnology
- Food systems
- Sustainability
- Regulations
- Politics
- Ideology
Plant-based meat critics say it’s not as healthy or sustainable as proponents claim. Let’s look at the nutrition and ecological science.
Education is not enough. Taste, cost, and convenience play dominant roles in shaping food choices ...
GMO sustainability advantage? Glyphosate spurs no-till farming, preserving soil carbon
Skeptics of GMOs decry the growing practice of no-till farming and its connection to herbicide-tolerant crops. Yet, agronomists say good ...
The Varroa destructor mite is the greatest threat to US honeybees, and why things could get worse.
Researchers are looking at a long-term solution: develop bees that can fend off Varroa themselves ...
Viewpoint: Safe and sustainable CRISPR crop revolution offers counterpunch to ‘misinformation’ and ‘fake dangers’ promoted by anti-GMO campaigners
Gene-edited crops usually can't be distinguished from conventionally-bred varieties. Opponents of NBTs may never comprehend this basic lesson of plant ...
Afraid of glyphosate and other synthetic pesticides? You eat 10,000 times more of the natural ones made by plants
Fruits and vegetables have evolved thousands of built-in pesticides chemically similar to the ones created in labs ...
Viewpoint: GMO crops should become a bigger part of the food system if we want a sustainable society
If we all work towards understanding science rather than being afraid of it, we can build a world where we ...
Does organic mean ‘pesticide free’? 5 things to know about the USDA organic label
Here's what you're actually getting for that 'organic' premium price ...
Famine in Africa and the Middle East? Devastating stem rust fungus threatens global staple crop, but genomic solution may finally be on the horizon
These tools could give wheat, one of our most important staple crops, some much-needed relief ...
39 biotech experts’ open letter protests anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva’s ‘anti-science’ talks at Stanford and UC Santa Cruz
An activist who compares GMOs to rape and fertilizers to war should not be given a platform ...
Viewpoint: After years of bashing agriculture and GMOs, Chipotle reverses course with ‘Cultivate the Future of Farming’ campaign
Given Chipotle's past cozy relationship with organic food marketers, this seems more like a marketing stunt ...
Do GMO foods or glyphosate cause gluten allergies?
Anti-GMO campaigners continue to link GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate to gluten allergies--even though there is no commercialized genetically engineered ...
Viewpoint: At least 200,000 people die every year GMO Golden Rice is kept off the market
This is not a story of incompetence and ignorance, but of an antediluvian hostility to science and technology ...
Beyond burgers: Why it’s so difficult to create ‘animal free’ steaks, bacon and chicken cutlets
A look at the food revolution of today, as well as Cultured Meat 2.0 ...
Viewpoint: Debunking bizarre conspiracy theory about western billionaires using GMOs to depopulate Africa
The truth is that African farmers need biotech crops as climate change makes farming an increasingly difficult profession ...
GMOs, biosensors and biopreservation: Tools that can fight global hunger by reducing food spoilage
We're feeding an ever-increasing number of people. Getting the rest of the way by 2030 will require every innovation we ...
Viewpoint: Confused about GMOs and pesticides? Here’s a science-based handbook for combating anti-biotech fallacies
The risk posed by junk science meant to skew our perception of food safety and biotechnology cannot be overstated ...
Philippines is first! Long-delayed Vitamin A-enhanced Golden Rice greenlighted, bucking activist opposition
The fortified food addresses vitamin A deficiency, which kills an estimated 670,000 children each year ...
Golden Rice inventors: ‘Why our life-saving GMO crop is still not getting to the impoverished people who need it’
Until science-based policy overrules a smear campaign against Golden Rice, VAD-induced death and blindness will continue ...
What’s missing from claims that neonicotinoids are killing bees, birds and fish?
Criticism of pesticides is often undeserved -- and sometimes absolutely bizarre ...
Viewpoint: How the glyphosate-cancer controversy became a moral crusade—and a threat to scientific progress
Sometimes the clear weight of evidence coupled with a dose of common sense is enough to show what’s right ...
Viewpoint: Science denialism threatens the potential of gene-edited crops
Undermining science that does not fit into one's intellectual or political framework is dangerous ...
Viewpoint: Wild bees on the decline? Lack of evidence challenges popular environmentalist narrative
'We can’t be simultaneously in the midst of a pollinator crisis threatening our ability to grow food and see continually ...
Viewpoint: With Conservative sweep of the ‘Brexit election’, Boris Johnson poised to steer the UK out of ‘outdated’ EU GMO, CRISPR regulations
If the UK replaces the EU's overly cautious biotech rules with a pro-innovation scheme, it could become a true global ...
‘Natural health’ and conspiracy sites exploit social media to fester opposition to GMO crops. Here’s a study about what can be done to stop it
The unsatisfactory answer to 'How do we control the spread of disinformation?" may be, "We don't know yet." ...
Billion-year-old microbes could give us new food, fuel sources—if we can figure out how to use them
We can’t afford to let this potential biotech breakthrough go to waste ...
Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch: The chemists who revolutionized fertilizer production, changing agriculture forever
Without the efforts of Haber and Bosch, the world’s population would be much smaller ...
Viewpoint: How a small group of scientists and pliable media created a ‘catastrophe narrative’ that hurts bees and farmers
The scientists who glommed onto the “bee-pocalypse” narrative never bothered to go back and correct the record ...
Podcast: How activists and politicians derailed South Australia’s attempt to embrace GMO crops
Activists in Australia are manipulating politicians with fear and doubt to restrict farmer choice ...
