Sustainability / GreenGenes
Food production needs are expected to roughly double over the next 35 years as the world population grows and people in under developed countries become more affluent and demand more calories. Healthy ecosystems are vital to the survival of all organisms. How can we grow crops without harming the environment? How can we balance technology and global food security? What is the right balance of organic and conventional farming? What role can genetics and biotechnology play without compromising the needs of tomorrow?
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Plant-based bottles could help slash 300 million tons of plastic pollution
Beer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into ...
Africa needs pest-resistant crops and other biology-based solutions to crack down on fall armyworm
Most Malawians, 80 per cent of the population, are subsistence farmers, depending on agriculture for survival. After harvesting, many farmers ...
Biotech rice cuts pesticide and energy use compared to non-GMO counterpart, study finds
The release of environmental emissions, which partly emanates from the application of chemical inputs, is a major global concern. Planting ...
Coronavirus pandemic slows booming sales of plant-based meat
No doubt about it: makers of plant-based meat are experiencing blockbuster growth during the pandemic for a variety of reasons ...
India battles locust infestation that could destroy enough food to feed 35,000 people—every day
Massive swarms of desert locusts are destroying crops across western and central India, spearing into Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab ...
Gene editing among top ’emerging innovations’ needed to reach sustainable food system, 50 experts say
An international team of almost 50 experts identified 75 emerging innovations and 8 action points that can help speed up ...
Viewpoint: To feed the world with minimal environmental impact, we can’t rely on organic farming
If the goal in farming is feeding an increasing population with least impact, conventional agriculture is the approach most likely ...
Impossible Foods says plant-based meat can ‘disrupt’ animal agriculture without displacing farmers
The plant-based meat industry will need the millions of workers now employed in animal agriculture, the founder of Impossible Foods ...
Infographic: Philippines could boost crop yields 192%, cut pesticide use 48% with GMO insect-resistant eggplant
In the Philippines, eggplant farming is a major source of income for thousands of farmers in the eggplant-producing regions in ...
Viewpoint: The Impossible Burger has sparked an ideological rift between anti-GMO critics
Redrawn battle lines expose a growing ideological rift in a once-cohesive anti-GMO movement and appear to signal a shift in ...
Regenerative agriculture boosts soil health but unlikely to slow climate change, report shows
Agriculture needs to close an 11-gigaton greenhouse gas (GHG) gap between expected emissions in 2050 and those needed to hold ...
Bees pollinate 1/3 of our food? Entomologist debunks 6 pervasive pollinator myths
.... [B]ees are ever-increasing in popularity across many sectors including conservation, gardening, fashion, marketing, and public/corporate strategies .... And as ...
Facing record-breaking temperatures, Belgium field tests drought-tolerant corn varieties
The effects of global warming are becoming evident even in Belgium. 2018 was exceptionally warm and dry and the summer ...
Viewpoint: Why GMOs? Biotechnology yields a drought-tolerant rice that conventional breeding couldn’t produce
“Photosynthesis: a feat of chemical engineering underpinning creation’s entire cathedral.” ― Richard Powers, The Overstory ...
Viewpoint: Expanding organic agriculture could make another pandemic more likely
Modern technology and agricultural intensification are the proven path to a safer future ...
‘Sell by’ dates not backed by science, study shows, leading to $32 billion in wasted food every year
.... [T]he lack of regulation, standardization, and general understanding of date labeling on food products (such as “best by” and ...
Can we prevent another pandemic with lab-grown, plant-based meat?
In September 2019—two months before the first reported case of the coronavirus—the World Health Organization published a report that said, ...
Podcast: COVID-19 a global communist plot? Glyphosate didn’t cause the pandemic. Time to embrace agricultural biotechnology.
While public health officials and policymakers struggle to contain the novel SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, anti-vaccine activists claim the pandemic was orchestrated ...
Why local food production doesn’t prevent shortages in a pandemic
Throughout this pandemic, there have been many prognostications about the future of eating and proposals to make sure we are ...
Africa saves food for 5 million people from destruction as battle against locust swarms rages
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, significant gains have been made against Desert Locust encroachment in East Africa and ...
How insect resistant Bt eggplant has made Bangladesh a global ‘role model’: A photo essay
Brinjal — also known as eggplant, aubergine and talong — is a very popular and important vegetable in South Asia ...
Coffee of the future? Lab-made ‘molecular’ version might feed the world’s caffeine habit while sparing the environment
The coronavirus pandemic has led to many shifts in how we eat, but our collective coffee habit remains strong. As ...
Microscopic algae diet could help honeybees fight off deadly pathogens and other threats
A microscopic algae ("microalgae") could provide a complete and sustainably sourced supplemental diet to boost the robustness of managed honey ...
Bolivian farmers reject activist opposition to GMO seed approvals, expecting crops yields to triple
The Federation of Peasant Workers of Cochabamba (FTCC) announced its discontent against the use of transgenic seeds promoted by the ...
Rescuing Africa’s staple orphan crops—sorghum, millet, cowpea, cassava and sweat potato—with biotechnology could help feed millions of people
The year is 2100 and Africa is home to the world’s largest population of young people, with its current leader ...
Video: Iceland breeds heat-tolerant trees to restore native forests amid climate change
The landscape of Iceland has changed a lot in a thousand years. When the Vikings first arrived in the ninth ...
As anti-pesticide sentiment builds, USDA backs plan to combat invasive Russian wheat aphid with wasps
Turning loose a non-native wasp to sting and kill an aphid that feasts on wheat and barley in the Western ...
Viewpoint: Coronavirus pandemic accelerates progress toward tech-driven, sustainable food system
COVID-19 presents our food system with unprecedented challenges that we must learn from. We must also remember that COVID-19 is ...
