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
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 ...
Viewpoint: Kill Prop 65—It’s past time to ditch California’s science-twisting and misguided attacks on safe-as-used chemicals
Proposition 65 was a voter referendum that stated if a chemical was correlated to cancer, it needed to have a ...
Viewpoint: Trump’s announced “much-needed” agricultural ‘reforms’ are ‘indiscriminate’, ‘contradict the administration’s stated priorities’ and ‘undermine American innovation’
The early days of Donald Trump’s second presidential term saw a record number of executive orders, an almost immediate freeze ...
Viewpoint: Food security vs. sustainability aspirations—Reality hijacks European Green Deal advocates
The EU aimed to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 with the European Green Deal (GDR) announced in December ...
GLP Spaces on X: Raw milk—a crunchy, countercultural food fad goes right wing
Raw milk. Once a crunchy, progressive cause is now a rallying cry for "food freedom," with Republican lawmakers pushing legislation ...
European Union takes giant leap forward toward embracing technologically-enhanced agriculture, advances de-regulation of gene edited crops
European Member States' representatives endorsed the European Council's negotiating mandate on the regulation on plants obtained by new genomic techniques ...
Viewpoint: Challenging the agricultural misinformation zealots—Sustainable agriculture requires judicious weed management and crop chemicals
Any discussion of crop chemicals must consider the broad sweep of agricultural history, the pivotal moments of technological innovation, and ...
Viewpoint: MIT computer scientist (frequently cited by RFK. Jr.) predicted that by 2025 50% of all U.S. children would be born autistic due to glyphosate exposure. She was off by only 1600%
In the annals of failed doomsday predictions, Dr. Stephanie Seneff’s claim that half of all U.S. children would be autistic ...
