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: From ‘Save the Whales’ to ‘Let Children Go Blind’ — Greenpeace’s descent into science rejectionism
From the early days of Greenpeace when its members were dodging harpoons and Japanese whalers in outboard motor boats – ...
Green transition: How agriculture can drive climate change solutions
It is widely recognized that we must transition our energy economies to a greener, more sustainable state. This will only happen ...
Insect-resistant Bt GMO crops have helped cut pesticide use. Now Nature is pushing back
In 2006, a small airplane started buzzing each cotton field in Arizona, a thin, dust-like cloud trailing behind it. The ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — Part 5: Soil health ― When synthetic pesticides are more sustainable than ‘natural’ organics
Most consumers believe organic farming avoids pesticides and prioritizes the health of the environment more than conventional farming. However, this ...
GLP Podcast/Video: Cell phones and cancer; Do you need a COVID booster? The case for/against eating bugs
There's no evidence that cell phone use causes brain cancer, so why do so many people, some scientists included, believe ...
Viewpoint: Scotland’s Green Party leads an “obstinate and visionless” opposition to sustainable gene edited crops while UK and Europe edge towards embracing agricultural science
In recent months, the pace of global policy developments in relation to gene editing has often been hard to keep ...
Viewpoint: How to restore public trust and regulatory fairness in the face of aggressive, coordinated disinformation efforts by anti-technology environmental activists
During my lifetime, Western societies have enjoyed innovations that have immensely improved public health and the quality of life as ...
Why we overeat — and how studying voracious locusts may help us learn to curtail a dangerous human vice
This story starts in an unusual place for an article about human nutrition: a cramped, humid and hot room somewhere ...
Should University Agricultural Research Scientists Partner With Industry?
Studies show research on GE crops is not significantly influenced by conflicts of Interest. However, it is important to remain ...
Viewpoint: Anti-agrobiotech activists claim European farmers who support relaxing the EU’s de facto ban on cultivating GMO and gene-edited crops are dupes of Big Ag. Here are the facts
Staunch opponents of the agricultural biotechnology revolution spin a narrative that large agribusiness have strong-armed governments to approve genetically modified ...
GLP podcast and video: PFAS bans could do more harm than good; Risks and benefits of ‘magic mushrooms’; ‘Ultra-processed’ foods are nutritious
There are growing calls to ban PFAS chemicals to protect public health. The problem is, these substances are used in ...
Africa faces the world’s largest food and hunger crisis. Why then are Africans so skeptical of genetically modified crops that could produce more and healthier food
Hunger and undernourishment are two elements of food insecurity that have plagued Africa for years. And the menace is growing ...
5x increase in rice yields? New CRISPR-created variety could help fight fungal pandemic decimating world’s rice crop
Thanks to CRISPR, farmers may finally have a good defense against rice blast, a fungal disease so devastating, it’s known ...
Viewpoint: EU gene-editing regulations requiring traceability and labeling to ‘protect co-existence’ with organic crops could stop innovation in its tracks
Major new developments in gene editing are now taking place with increasing frequency, as the world looks to harness the ...
Meet the beetles: Mealworms could be a food of the future
I have a special fondness for the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor. As a child, I fed the mealworm stage of ...
Growing more ancient grain millet could help American farmers adapt to climate change
The Midwest is known for its rows and rows of corn and soybeans that uniformly cover the landscape ...
GLP podcast and video: Dunning-Kruger debunked? The evil industry, noble activist myth; The real Vandana Shiva
The less informed someone is about a topic, the more likely they are to overestimate their knowledge of it. This ...
Protecting honeybees and wild bees from neonicotinoid pesticides? As environmentalists and politicians lobby for bans, science takes a backseat
There has been a recent surge in the number and intensity of campaigns by environmental groups lobbying to ban many ...
Why do lab studies suggest neonicotinoid pesticides can harm bees, while field research suggests they have minimal environmental impact?
Pollinators play a crucial role in the production of food crops. While many crops are open pollinated, meaning they don’t ...
We need another source of omega-3 supplements for food and animal feed. Enriched genetically modified rapeseed could fill the gap
In March this year, Norway’s Food Safety Authority became the latest country to conclude that using Omega-3 enriched GM rapeseed ...
‘Stabilize the climate, halt mass extinction, and reduce the risks of new pandemics’: Can rewilding help nature restore itself?
Rewilding has gone global, and rewilding projects are growing in more than 70 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, Latin America and ...
GLP podcast and video: How marriage impacted human evolution; ‘Tech bros’ back RFK, Jr. for president; Ban milk to slow climate change?
Marriage is a major milestone for many people, but how has the institution influenced human evolution? A growing list of ...
Chocopocalypse? Social justice, sustainability and economic threats pose increasing challenges to the cocoa industry
“Chocolate” represents a diverse category of products with distinctive and delicious flavors, often with pleasant “mouth feel,” and a range ...
Viewpoint: Simplistic anti-agrobiotech narrative — ‘Companies lie; activists are outraged; regulations are tightened further; companies lie again… Wash, rinse, repeat’
Today’s narrative has a simplistic view: Companies lie; activists are outraged; regulations are tightened further; companies lie again… Wash, rinse, ...
Viewpoint: ‘Think globally, act locally’? It’s a buzzy environmentalist catchphrase, but it may not be the best way to address climate change and conservation challenges
Few bumper stickers have made as large of an impression as “Think Globally, Act Locally.” Plastered on the back of ...
Viewpoint: OMG, humans might suffer convulsions from consuming parts-per-trillion of glyphosate? Here’s how wild headlines advance the ideological agenda of science-rejecting advocacy groups
Scrolling through the news has become a game of “What Great Horror Did Glyphosate Wreak This Week?” And the latest ...
GLP podcast and video: Eating meat = cannibalism? Glyphosate safety reaffirmed (again); The science-free campaign against aspartame
Is meat-eating analogous to human sacrifice? One Washington Post contributor says yes, but how strong is her case? Another expert ...
