Food & Ag 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
What impact will the global trade war and RFK, Jr.’s MAHA agenda have on European farming, health and the U.S. science brain drain?
A global trade war jeopardizes agriculture worldwide. EU’s Farm to Fork plan also faces criticism. Jon Entine, editor-in-chief of the ...
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 ...
GLP podcast: ‘Industrial’ food is very nutritious; Porn might be harmful; Love of music is (partially) in your genes
This week on Facts and Fallacies, a farmer and plant geneticist refutes activist claims that modern agriculture drastically reduces nutrient ...
Viewpoint: U.K. poised to approve the Precision Breeding Act, reverse 25 years of science rejectionism
I served more than two decades ago as a Minister at the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) ...
Viewpoint: Organic or intensive agriculture? Brazil reframes the debate over the most promising future for farming
It's the year 2050, and the world's population has just passed 9 billion people. Economic growth has lifted hundreds of ...
‘We eat first with our eyes’: The line between appetite and indulgence is dangerously blurred
From an evolutionary point of view, finding nutritious food sources is essential. While today, our foraging consists of walking down ...
Viewpoint: Here’s how Environmental Working Group’s Carey Gillam, Le Monde and the Oak Foundation destroy reputations while promoting the tort industry
The small media and political monitoring company v-Fluence – also known for one of its products, Bonus Eventus – has been the target ...
Viewpoint: Challenging simplitic activist calls for more ‘nutrient dense’ foods and its attacks on ‘industrial’ food
There’s a new trope in town, a common mantra on webpages critical conventional agriculture: today’s fruits and veggies aren’t like ...
Food waste: How critical a crisis? What can be done?
The documentary BUY NOW! has ignited important conversations about the impact of consumerism on waste and environmental degradation. The documentary ...
Viewpoint: Every independent risk agency in the world has concluded that the herbicide glyphosate is safe as used. What about its impact on wildlife, soil and watersheds?
Glyphosate is the most controversial pesticide in the world, even though it is the most studied and generally deemed as ...
RFK, Jr.’s food and farming revamp is ‘based on thin scientific evidence’ that will make the food less healthy and more expensive
With the establishment of the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission, the MAHA movement is taking aim squarely at industrial ...
Viewpoint: Challenging rewilding myths—Reclaiming cropland for nature can be five times more damaging for global biodiversity than the benefit it provides
Efforts to preserve or rewild natural habitats in industrialised nations risk shifting harmful land use to other, less developed parts ...
Toxic tort opportunists: What’s behind the ballooning number of court cases targeting ‘dangerous’ chemicals?
Some day you may be on a jury trial, and it may be about “toxic” chemicals. Although you may be ...
Viewpoint: Agroecology is a cult dogma that is taking global agriculture hostage
Agroecology is a cult dogma that imposes arbitrary political restrictions on agriculture (no industry involvement, no global trade, no innovative ...
Viewpoint: Basil, clove, hand creams and perfumes contain killer chemicals? Here’s why the European hazard agency IARC is considered a running joke in the science community
While aspartame’s classification as a possible carcinogen grabbed headlines, the classification of another ubiquitous chemical slid silently beneath the diet ...
Viewpoint: NPR and hypocrisy on science: It defends Girl Scout cookies under attack from the MAGA right after years of promoting crackpot chemophobia
If NPR’s latest defense of Girl Scout cookies doesn’t leave you scratching your head, you might need to check your ...
Greening cows: How farmers can accelerate the transition to more sustainable milk production
This past summer, we read about Danish farmers paying a carbon tax on their cows and pigs. Starting in 2030, ...
Challenging fears and misconceptions about crop biotechnology is a challenge in an era of disinformation
My friend Kevin Folta, professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida, recently tweeted: ...
Will Trump’s global tariffs disrupt the U.S. agricultural and food system?
Trump is using tariffs to bring jobs back to America, keeping illegal immigrants from crossing the Canadian and Mexican border, ...
Aquaculture in the Amazon—enhanced food security comes with sustainability risks
Expanding aquaculture in the Amazon could provide nutritional and economic benefits at a fraction of the environmental cost of cattle ...
Viewpoint—Greenpeace’s conviction and humiliation in the pipeline court case raises the question: What’s the global future for science-rejectionist NGOs?
On March 19, a North Dakota court jury ruled against Greenpeace USA, awarding $660 million to Energy Transfer LP for ...
Africa’s food security challenges: Is nuclear agriculture a solution or a problem?
Climate change is an ongoing and increasing threat to African agriculture. Prolonged droughts, pest outbreaks, and poor soil quality are ...
From toxic fungus to soy sauce superstar
Nearly 9,000 years ago, around the time that humans were first domesticating corn and pigs, some people in China were ...
Viewpoint: How ‘dark money’ donor advised foundations partner with tort lawyers, the organic industry and activist environmental funds to manipulate the media and target conventional agriculture
A herbicide company pays $25,000 to a pro-GMO plant biologist’s university for six months of travel expenses and the activist ...
Varroa mites, not pesticides, are by far the largest threat to honeybee health. Developing RNAi technology shows promise in addressing that crisis
Pictures of honeybees show up in prehistoric cave paintings, one stretching back 8,000 years ago in Spain. The ancient Egyptians were ...
GLP Spaces on X: Deadly Thin Mints? $5 million chemical tort scam targets Girl Scout cookies
Tired of chasing ambulances and suing chemical companies, tort lawyers have identified a new villain: the Girl Scouts. You may ...
Push for transparency in research: Corporations and academic institutions under pressure to advance public disclosure
If you Google my name along with “Monsanto,” you will find a series of allegations from 2013 that my scholarly ...
