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.
GMO mosquitoes produced hybrid offspring in the wild? New study says yes—but under fire from critics
A field experiment in Brazil that deployed genetically modified mosquitoes to control wild populations of the pest may be having ...
‘Jumping genes’ from tomatoes could help breed next generation of GMO crops
Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Sainsbury Laboratory (SLCU) and Department of Plant Sciences have discovered that drought stress can ...
Genes from wild wheat could boost domesticated crop yields as global food demand explodes
Wild relatives of food crops, such as wheat, host an abundant array of genetic material to help the plants cope ...
Viewpoint: Paper straws, vegan diets won’t stop climate change—but sustainable ‘bioproducts’ might
Are you slurping through a paper straw, searching for the next green product that will save the planet? Sorry to ...
Will meat, milk and eggs from ‘microbial protein factories’ replace animal agriculture?
“By 2030, the US dairy and cattle industry will have collapsed,” as ‘precision fermentation’ – producing animal proteins more efficiently ...
Developing countries likely to boost CO2 emissions to combat hunger, study finds
Achieving an adequate, healthy diet in most low-income countries will require a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions and water ...
Viewpoint: Do neonicotinoid insecticides really boost crop yields? New study raises doubts
Ever year, farmers in the United States devote at least 80 million acres, a combined landmass three-quarters the size of ...
SeaWorld adds GMO Impossible Burger to its theme park menus as plant-based meat popularity soars
A handful of Central Florida theme parks are now adding a fierce veggie option. Today, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment announced ...
GMO eggplant developed by Bangladesh government cuts toxicity of pesticides used 41%, farmers increase revenues 27%, study finds
"Bt brinjal can improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in a developing country while protecting the environment.” ...
Pesticide-carrying bees help cut synthetic chemical use on farms
Bees are great at retrieving tiny cargo: their main job is to visit flowering plants in order to gather pollen ...
Video: Can meat substitutes like the GMO Impossible Burger make inroads as a meat substitute in China and other countries?
Meat substitutes are surging in popularity as an environmentalist backlash against meat intensifies and as the taste of meat substitutes ...
EU rapeseed could recover from poor summer harvest, but neonic insecticide ban poses ‘painful’ challenge
Rapeseed sowings in major EU producers could increase after this summer’s poor harvest although restrictions on insecticides are causing problems ...
USDA reinstates honeybee population survey controversially suspended amid budget cuts
The US Department of Agriculture will resume data collection for its annual Honey Bee Colonies report on October 1 -- ...
Viewpoint: GMO, CRISPR-edited crops can cut pesticide use—if environmental activists do not block them
Anti-GMO activists should take a step back and look closely at some of the benefits that new genetically modified crops ...
Video: Crops engineered with nanoparticles could survive bleak environments—including space
A family of nanoparticles known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, can absorb harmful UV radiation. Joseph Richardson is a nano-engineer ...
Bacterial leaf streak disease can slash corn yields 20%—will science stop it?
Bacterial leaf streak, a foliar disease in corn, has only been in the United States for a handful of years, ...
GMO crops and insects help stem overfishing, protect vulnerable marine ecosystems
For the first time in history, humans are poised to harvest more fish and seafood from farms than they catch ...
Flood-tolerant crops could survive intense rainfall as climate change accelerates
Global warming has resulted not only in increased incidences of drought and heatwaves but also increased rainfall which brings higher ...
Sequenced pea genome aids effort to improve global nutrition, boost sustainable farming
An international team of researchers has assembled the first genome of the field pea, providing insight into how Mendel's original ...
Taco Bell rolls out vegetarian menu without Beyond, Impossible meat options
As more fast-food chains double down on menu items with meatless alternatives from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, Taco Bell ...
Pesticides don’t pose acute health risk to honeybees foraging on farmland, two-year study finds
Honey bees forage across a large area, continually scouting the local landscape for ephemeral food resources. Beekeepers often rely on ...
Plant breeding innovations required to weather climate change, report says
The world needs plant breeding innovations to address challenges of climate change and a growing population ...
US soybean and corn farmers fear plant-based burgers and glyphosate lawsuits signal uncertain future
I’m flat busted. My Missouri corn and soybean farm is bankrupt, financially incompetent, a lousy credit risk, upside down--you pick ...
We need phosphorus to fertilize crops and feed the world—can we mine it sustainably?
If you wanted to really mess with the world's food production, a good place to start would be in Morocco ...
Animal proteins from GMO microbes: More synthetic food ingredients to launch in 2021
The first three proteins from Motif FoodWorks’ fermentation-based food ingredient platform will be ready for launch in early 2021, says ...
Consumers largely prefer ‘real’ beef, despite plant-based burger’s surging popularity, survey shows
With all the news about Beyond Meat’s stock price and the rolling out of the Impossible Burger at Burger King, ...
Chemical-free pest control tools on the way thanks to novel gene silencing strategy
In insects, rapidly evolving primary sex-determining signals are transduced by a conserved regulatory module controlling sexual differentiation. In the agricultural ...
