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.
Viewpoint: Why Greek organic-certified produce isn’t necessarily better or healthier than conventional food
Organic farming certainly has a lot to offer to humans and the environment, but that doesn’t mean it’s always better ...
How microplastics impact our food and our health
Small pieces of plastic, now termed microplastics have infiltrated all ecosystems, posing a severe threat to wildlife…and now us. New research has ...
Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture has many different definitions. Here are 5 main principles — and whether they stand up to scrutiny
What is regenerative agriculture? Why is it different from sustainable agriculture? And how do I reconcile what practitioners of this system ...
Viewpoint: At a time where drought and global instability threaten global food security, gene editing offers solutions to combat pests, pathogens and poor weather
Later this year gene-edited crops will be planted at about two dozen commercial farms across England for the first time ...
Debating sustainable agriculture: Weed management and crop biotechnology
Any discussion of crop chemicals must consider the broad sweep of agricultural history, the pivotal moments of technological innovation, and ...
Viewpoint: The keys to sustainable fishing lay in gene-editing and plant-based fish food
As worldwide consumption of fish increases and ocean fish are getting scarce, raising fish under the controlled conditions of aquaculture ...
Bumblebees threatened by pesticides? Independent German university study finds wild bees ‘relatively resistant’ to even potent chemical cocktails
Bumblebees appear to be quite resistant to common pesticides. This is shown by a new study, the results of which ...
CRISPR gene-editing technology heralds first generation of climate change resistant crops
CRISPR gene editing technology is beginning to deliver on a promise to quickly create crops with traits that withstand a ...
Viewpoint: The organic food industry is a $180 billion marketing fraud
As a biomedical scientist, it has never failed to annoy me that the term ‘organic’ has been co-opted to spread ...
Ghana approves 14 new genetically engineered seeds, including pest resistant and nutrition-enhanced varieties
As a farmer, I was recently excited to read a report that disclosed Ghana’s National Biosafety Authority (NBA) has approved ...
Unpacking effects of GM crops on global health, labor, and sustainability
Many people wonder what impacts GMO crops have on our world. “GMO” (genetically modified organism) is the common term consumers ...
Is tilapia a human-made freak that we should avoid — or an evolutionary rockstar?
Posts were appearing on my Facebook feed warning against the dangers of eating tilapia. So I decided to do a ...
Are we facing an ‘Insect Apocalypse’ caused by ‘intensive, industrial’ farming and agricultural chemicals? The media say yes; Science says ‘no’
The media call it the “Insect Apocalypse”. In the past few years, the phrase has become an accepted truth of ...
Disease resistance, crop diversity and enhanced fertilizer efficiency: Three desperately needed improvements that CRISPR brings to agriculture
Moderated by Howard-Yana Shapiro, a distinguished senior fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the March 19 and 20 World ...
Robots with poison guns target weeds and offer an alternative to some herbicides
The plants we eat have bitter enemies on all sides. Can robots with poison guns help them? “Aggressive weeds, insects, ...
Viewpoint: Do we have to give up beef to limit climate change?
Are cows really a major cause of climate change? Wealthy nations are not pushing people to switch to a plant-based ...
Pest resistant beans: Gates Foundation in Nigeria helps develop insect-resistant, higher yield cowpeas
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting the Kano State Government [in Nigeria] with anti-pest beans, a species developed ...
Viewpoint: Public investment in agricultural innovation is woefully inadequate. Here’s what should be done
Doubling government funding for agricultural research and development (R&D) would have tremendous environmental and economic benefits, according to a new ...
Small rise in global temperature ‘will make a big impact on honey bees’. Is there a solution?
The famous work ethic of honey bees might spell disaster for these busy crop pollinators as the climate warms, new ...
Viewpoint: Ready to abandon milk and meat to improve health and save the environment? Not so fast.
Substituting meat and dairy with more plant-based foods in our diets can achieve benefits for human and environmental health: this is ...
Farming uses too much water? These CRISPR gene-edited tomatoes resist drought and still bear fruit
Researchers have successfully used CRISPR to develop tomato plants that use water more efficiently, meaning they need less water to grow. This ...
How gene editing and AI can drive sustainable forestry and revolutionize the paper industry
About a quarter of wood consists of something called lignin. While lignin serves an important role for trees, helping them grow taller and get ...
Are GMOs causing an increase in allergies?
The potential for allergies from foods with genetically modified ingredients is no higher than that in any food, including organics ...
Defying critics, US honeybee population continues five-year surge to record high — but not all the news is good
After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new ...
Viewpoint: There’s enough common ground for organic, regenerative, and conventional agriculture to live in harmony
Agriculture has been mired in a philosophical war for decades. One, the so-called establishment: multi-generational, legacy farmers, who practice conventional ...
What is ‘carbon farming’ and could it provide a path to a more sustainable agricultural future?
As the effects of climate change intensify and paths for limiting global warming narrow, politicians, media and environmental advocates have rallied behind ...
‘Over a million seeds are safely locked away here’: Remote Norwegian island keeps Earth’s plant diversity safe in case of disaster
“Over a million seeds are safely locked away here,” Ola Westengen says. He is a researcher and former head of ...
