Sustainability/Climate Change
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.
South Africa urges neighboring countries to learn from its success with biotech
South Africa is urging other African countries to learn from its latest strategy and adopt more holistic policies around biotechnology ...
Climate change makes bugs hungrier, which could threaten our food supply
Climate change is already threatening our food supply by raising temperatures and causing wildfires, but as a new study in ...
Viewpoint: Want to slash pesticide use? Stop trying to ban GMOs
On Aug. 20, I gave a speech in Dublin, Ireland, at the International Association for Plant Biotechnology Congress .... where ...
Dead Sea plant genes could boost efforts to cope with drought, climate change
The biblical Joseph foresaw in a dream a seven-year drought and subsequently guided Egypt’s rulers to set aside enough stores ...
How genetics could help agroecology—the science, not the political movement
Agroecology isn’t rocket science So wrote Daniel Moss, head of the AgroEcology Fund, and Mark Bittman, former food columnist, in ...
Scientists could use CRISPR gene editing to combat ‘superweeds’ when herbicides fail
There is a pressing need for novel control techniques in agricultural weed management. Direct genetic control of agricultural pests encompasses ...
Researchers turn genetic corner in fight against devastating wheat disease
Researchers from the University of Sydney, CSIRO, the United Kingdom's John Innes Centre, Limagrain UK and the National Institute of ...
‘Smart plants’? Newly discovered genetic ‘messaging system’ could get us there
University of British Columbia researchers have discovered an internal messaging system that plants use to manage the growth and division ...
Agricultural drones offer high-tech relief for struggling farms
The next generation farmhand in Japan's aging rural heartland may be a drone. For several months, developers and farmers in ...
Dicamba controversy: EPA’s decision on herbicide’s future expected by end of September
Throughout this year, EPA has been monitoring reports during the application season and it’s expected the agency will announce its ...
New hybrid sugar beet could boost Europe’s sugar industry
Plant biotechnologists from the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway [Ireland] have identified genetic breeding strategies to develop bigger and better ...
What is a GMO? That’s a question with many answers
Nothing seems to upset those arguing about GMOs more than debating the definition of the term “GMO” itself. Most proponents ...
All-veggie ‘Impossible burger’ targeted by PETA’s cancer claims
Imagine sinking your teeth into a nice, juicy hamburger. Then, imagine being told that the hamburger isn't made from beef ...
Will glyphosate’s legal troubles pave the way for greater use of robots in agriculture?
Following a major blow in Californian courts recently, widely-used herbicide glyphosate has continued to take a battering, as industry professionals ...
Plants are great at storing CO2. These scientists aim to make them even better.
Researchers around the world are working to improve plants’ ability to combat climate change. Editor's note: This article was originally ...
Viewpoint: Public’s support for Canadian neonicotinoid ban obscures bigger threats to bee health
On Aug. 15 .... Health Canada held a news conference to explain why it was banning neonicotinoid insecticides .... Health ...
Viewpoint: US, Europe taking ‘equally misguided’ approaches toward gene-edited crops
Crispr is coming to the farm. The gene-editing tool, best known for its potential to prevent disease and fight cancer, ...
Exploring GMO canola as a cheap source of omega-3 fatty acid for farmed salmon
Something is amiss in the huge barley fields of Montana. Mini-planters punctuate a tiny canola patch an hours’ drive from ...
Cryopreservation: Scientists protect diversity of Uganda’s staple crops with cold storage
Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) is using liquid nitrogen to conserve banana cell lines .... to combat disease and ...
Pursuing alternatives: Honeybees may be helped by other pollinators
The honeybee, Apis mellifera, has been the dominant pollinator for decades but now is threatened by pesticides, pathogens, parasites and ...
Lab-grown microbes could reduce agriculture’s dependence on chemical pesticides and fertilizers
There's a potentially huge technology risk on the horizon [for] fertilizer companies .... next-generation biotech products called microbials .... Microbials ...
Cannabis farming is fueling development of less toxic biopesticides for ‘mainstream’ agriculture
As legal cannabis farms take the spotlight, safer methods of pest control are also taking root in more 'mainstream' agriculture. ... Regulators point out ...
Talking Biotech: Artemisinin—the malaria treatment that could help prevent 400,000 deaths a year
University of York's Dr. Ian Graham joins Kevin Folta to discuss how the plant-derived compound artemesia could help beat back ...
Crops engineered to consume less nitrogen fertilizer could protect vulnerable ecosystems
Rice, wheat and other grains that have been bred to produce larger harvests using less land have been critical to ...
Scientists hope to use sequenced wheat genome to cut pesticide use, but anti-GMO activists may slow progress
After 13 years of study, a consortium .... of .... 60 countries [sequenced] the wheat genome. [T]he scientific community now ...
Does Ireland’s GMO crop cultivation ban undermine push for sustainable agriculture?
At a time when we should be focussed on building a robust agriculture system that can cope with global climate ...
GMO Bt insect resistant eggplant accounts for 20 percent of Bangladesh market, sells for 6 times conventional
Eggplant is a staple in vegetarian diets throughout South Asia, and one of the cheapest vegetables to procure by resource-poor ...
