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
Viewpoint: ‘Only 60 harvests remaining on Earth’? Environmentalist exaggerations obscure dramatic advances in biotechnology-boosted agriculture
A little over 200 years ago, one of the noted economists and philosophers of the day, Thomas Malthus published an essay ...
Honeybee health: Driving problem is not climate or pesticides but the deadly Varroa mite
Some food grown in the US, especially high-cost luxuries like almonds, are pollinated using bees. Since bees are most often ...
Changing negative perceptions about GMOs? Gene-edited purple tomato with great taste, longer shelf life and as much anthocyanin as blueberries is one of many new GM foods
The first genetically modified (GM) food ever made commercially available to the public was a tomato, invented in the US ...
How the war in Ukraine has derailed the European Union Farm to Fork initiative — and sparked debate about what constitutes sustainable agriculture
In March 2020, the EU, unveiled its Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, an ambitious policy designed to reduce agriculture’s carbon ...
Viewpoint: Before you blindly endorse a ‘meatless future’ to limit greenhouse gasses and protect the environment, read this
Many activists and reporters claim we should eat little or no meat to prevent climate change. But instead of presenting ...
Viewpoint: Innovation vs. extreme precaution — What should drive science regulation and policy in Europe?
People like me often claim we need science-based policy. Regulations have to follow the best available evidence and European agencies ...
Beepocalypse Myth Handbook: Assessing claims of pollinator collapse
After a decade of debate, the causes of the mid-2000s spike in bee deaths is coming into focus. Culprits are ...
Viewpoint: ‘Intransigent regulation’ — Genetic modification solution to limit crop frost damage waits for government green light
The EPA's intransigent regulation of genetically engineered bacteria that could mitigate frost damage to crops prevented their commercialization. Especially when ...
Concerned about pesticide levels in food? Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list ignores organic pesticides while misrepresenting conventional trace chemical dangers
The Environmental Working Group wants to insure allied journalists like Sheila Kaplan that their new "dirty dozen" list is almost ready ...
How green are biofuels? Does corn-derived ethanol promote sustainability?
Tyler Lark, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, grew up among farms, working on a neighbor’s dairy, vaguely aware ...
Regulatory inconsistency and the precautionary principle: Why the European Court ruling limiting neonicotinoid pesticide use is misguided
Important questions loom, now that European sugar beet and oilseed rape farmers face a potential ban on the use of ...
Viewpoint: The Guardian cites ‘shocking’ statistics from environmental lobby groups claiming increasing dangers from pesticide poisonings. Here’s why they are wrong, yet again
The evidence is quite clear at this point. Properly used, pesticides do not pose a serious risk to human health ...
How biotechnology over-regulation harms farmers, boosts food costs and fuels inflation
Recent months have been hellish for many American farmers and consumers who buy the food they produce. Many farms have ...
With Kenya’s tentative embrace of growing GM products, Uganda faces a resurgent anti-GMO movement. Here’s the havoc it’s causing and the activists behind it
Agro-technologies, including CRISPR gene-editing to tweak crops to tolerate the challenges of climate change, including the control of plant bacterial ...
Using cost-benefit analysis: Crop biotechnology offers sizable yield and sustainability benefits when compared to non-GM farming
What are the costs of not adopting the best food producing technologies? The ability to quantify a choice that is ...
Rethinking artificial sweeteners? Fake sugars may not cause cancer but they’re not great for losing weight either
Let’s start by noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned against using artificial sweeteners for weight control. What? ...
Viewpoint: What role should industry have in refashioning Europe’s food system?
I feel like Brussels is a puzzle where the pieces keep changing. The best way to start a puzzle is ...
Viewpoint: Global crop biotechnology revolution — 2022 saw dramatic advances in agricultural innovation
Conquest, war, famine, and death: Looking back on 2022 as the COVID-19 plague roars into its fourth year, the Four Horsemen ...
Viewpoint: Concerned whether pesticides in the environment are safe? Listen to hands-on experts, not ideologues
Few environmental issues are more controversial than the potential danger of pesticides used to tame weeds and disease in crops ...
50+ scientists challenge Boston College, Florida International for hosting philosopher Vandana Shiva, disseminator of science disinformation on vaccines and crop biotechnology
We are scholars and journalists of life sciences and social sciences from around the world who have published hundreds of ...
Here’s a primer on the technology behind lab-grown meat
Between population growth and rising economic status, global demand for food protein is expected to continue to increase for a ...
As seafood demand soars and the ocean is denuded of fish, plant-based salmon offers sustainable path forward
It is estimated that by 2050 demand for food overall will increase by 70% , while seafood demand will increase ...
Viewpoint: Why leftist GMO rejectionists should take notice of Cuba’s emergence as biomedicine and ag-biotech innovator
This past Christmas was not the best of times for Cubans. It was difficult to find food such as chicken, ...
Viewpoint: Controversial EU ruling banning neonicotinoid pesticides that will devastate beet industry is not based on evidence-based science
Last week the CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union) issued a ruling that is now threatening the beet ...
A ‘New Green Revolution’ is brewing — just in time, as the world population breaks past the 8 billion mark
You can mark the date on your calendar: On November 15, 2022, a mother will give birth to a baby ...
Soaring seed prices: What role do patents and regulation play?
Agricultural seed prices have soared over the last 20 years. Conventional seed prices have risen 200%, while genetically modified ones ...
Carbon tax on farming to reduce carbon emissions? New Zealand is pioneering this new policy. Here’s why its touted benefits may not be a sure thing
Agriculture contributes an estimated one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. The economy in New Zealand, a tiny country at the ...
