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.
Why is the Impossible Burger under attack by anti-GMO groups?
The food start-up’s success is undeniable — and a noticeable affront to Big Meat — but Impossible Foods’ hasty rise has also ...
Natural insecticide from tobacco plants could fend off crop pests without killing them
Although it's associated with nasty cigarettes, the tobacco plant is also a potential source of vaccines, biofuel and antibiotics. Now, a chemical from the ...
Organic farming advocate Klaas Martens comes out in favor of gene-edited crops
Klaas Martens, a prominent voice in the organic movement and a third-generation grain and livestock farmer, says he would be ...
Indian scientists develop GMO mustard with higher yields
Researchers at Delhi-based TERI School of Advanced Studies have developed an early flowering transgenic variety of mustard. The work is ...
The future of meat: Can science replace animals?
All economic activities related to research, development, production, trade and consumption of plants, animals and all other living things are ...
Can Joyn Bio’s genetically engineered microbes replace chemical fertilizers?
Big Ag is addicted to nitrogen fertilizers. It’s a massive problem for the global climate, yet it may yield to a ...
GMO pigs could reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution up to 45%
In pig production, inefficient feed digestion causes excessive nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen to be released to the environment ...
Reviving the American chestnut: Genetic modification can save the iconic tree from extinction
We’re using the tools of biotechnology to produce fully American chestnut trees that successfully tolerate blight infections, protecting the tree ...
Uganda’s scientists strive to use biotechnology to solve agricultural, health and environmental challenges
It is morning time, we are in a hotel based at the center of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, ...
Humans have killed more than 80% of wild mammals
[S]ince the dawn of civilisation, humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants, ...
Former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo: Biotech crops needed to increase agricultural productivity
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo ... declared that unless innovative advances such as biotechnology are achieved in agriculture, global efforts at ...
Organic vs conventional food fight: Focus on pesticides distracts from real environmental problems
Has GMO use really led to a “flood” of pesticide use, as critics contend? That’s not what the data show ...
Mythbusting gone wrong: How the ‘dangerous’ organic pesticide myth began
One of the things that surprised me in researching this story was that I could not find a single organic-approved ...
Indigo Agriculture’s microbial seed treatments aim to replace synthetic pesticides
Indigo Agriculture CEO David Perry grew up raising corn and cows on his family's farm in Arkansas. While he wasn't the ...
A behind the scenes look at pesticide use in organic orchards, vineyards and fresh produce
This is part three of a four-part series attempting to separate fact from fiction regarding pesticide use on organic farms ...
How GMO crops help farmers, communities and the environment
1. Genetic engineering can be good for farmers.“GE crops are cultivated to help food grow better,” says [Dr. Tamika Sims, director of food ...
Talking Biotech: What’s keeping disease-resistant GMO bananas from Ugandan farmers?
Ugandan researcher Nassib Mugwanya: GMO bananas are the best tool we have to save bananas from bacterial wilt, but Uganda's ...
Viewpoint: EU’s GMO crop regulations should ‘evolve’ to recognize history of safe use, benefits
From [early draft legislative texts on GMOs in the EU], it is clear that the intentions were to have an ...
Cayman Island government scientists dispute Oxitec’s claim that GMO mosquito project was a success
A British biotech company seeking federal approval to release millions of genetically modified mosquitoes at 12 sites in the Florida ...
Are we done bleeding horseshoe crabs for pharmaceutical use?
Contemporary humans do not deliberately kill the horseshoe crabs—as did previous centuries of farmers catching them for fertilizer or fishermen ...
Can wild seeds from Syria save American wheat from climate change?
When a team of researchers set loose a buzzing horde of Hessian flies on 20,000 seedlings in a Kansas greenhouse, ...
Podcast: What it means to be a ‘sustainable’ farmer
Tim Hammerich sat down with journalist Marc Brazeau, founder and director the Food and Farm Discussion Lab for his Future of Agriculture Podcast. His question ...
Blight-resistant GMO potatoes reduce pesticide use 80% in Ireland field trial
The environmental impact of potato production can be reduced by 95% by using a genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potato in ...
UN food group: Sustainable bioeconomy can help tackle hunger, poverty and climate change
If done right, in particular with and for family farmers, bioeconomy can help efforts to tackle pressing global problems such ...
Once-promising field of advanced biofuels is in ‘shambles’—can it be revived?
[Jay Keasling, a synthetic biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and chief executive of the Joint BioEnergy Institute] did ...
How GMO crops can benefit Nigerian farmers
The application of modern Biotechnology in an integrated multi-disciplinary approach can be a valuable ‘tool’ for addressing the several challenges ...
Viewpoint: European organic industry’s obsession with ‘natural’ threatens CRISPR innovations and hurts the environment
What is nature? What is natural? Philosophers have been arguing about this since antiquity. Supporters of organic farming seem to ...
