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.
EPA/Monsanto collusion alleged in lawsuit challenging safety of Roundup herbicide
[Editor's note: Read the GLP's coverage of glyphosate's cancer risk here and here. Read the American Council on Science and Health's ...
Tanzania’s biosafety regulations force researchers to burn harvest from GMO corn field trial despite food shortages
In keeping with strict biosafety regulations, all the GM maize material is burned once the harvest data is collected. The ...
With pesticide resistance rising, crop scientists look to CRISPR, bacteria for solutions
Resistance to conventional pesticides — among insects, weeds or microbial pathogens — is common on farms worldwide. CropLife International, an ...
Australian election results could spell bad news for GMO farmers
Labor's comprehensive victory at the [March 2017] WA [Western Australia] election raises questions about the future status of plant biotechnology ...
To boost crop yields, stress tolerance one biotech startup turns to epigenetics
The news that’s arrived is that TechAccel, the Kansas City-based technology and venture development company, announced it has completed an ...
‘Environmental DNA’ tests could aid in management of commercial, endangered fish
Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is at the center of a brand new kind of fish and wildlife biology, and it ...
To make farming more sustainable, don’t mimic nature — do it better
Behind many efforts to make agriculture more sustainable is the idea that our farming systems need to be more like ...
Facing climate change, plant breeders use genetics, robotics to develop crops ‘that can adapt to it all’
Variable weather is creating extreme challenges for crop breeding in California. How do you develop crops that will thrive under ...
To boost crop yields and stress tolerance, one biotech startup turns to epigenetics
The news that’s arrived is that TechAccel, the Kansas City-based technology and venture development company, announced it has completed an ...
Corn genetically engineered to neutralize toxic mold would be boon for health of poor women in Africa
It’s a silent killer lurking in common foods. A carcinogenic toxin made by [mold] kills thousands around the world and ...
UN Commission report promoting organics, critical of pesticides challenged as biased
A recent UN report grabbed headlines for dismissing as ‘myth’ the notion that pesticides are necessary to feed the world ...
Sensors developed for national security used to monitor plant health, improve breeding
Agriculture consumes about 80 percent of all U.S. water. Making fertilizers uses 1 to 2 percent of all the world’s ...
Is organic farming ‘holy grail’ to environmental, food scarcity problems? Study says no
Many people choose organic thinking it’s better for humans and the planet, but a new UBC study published today in ...
8 ways farmers around the world are fighting drought
As farmers worldwide experience more frequent drought and erratic rainfall linked to climate change, the race to find and improve ...
Quest for higher yields is enemy of biodiversity on farms — both conventional and organic
What kind of agriculture most benefits biodiversity? In recent years, few questions have animated conservationists and land-use scientists more than ...
Talking Biotech: Habitat loss, parasitic mites — not GMOs, pesticides — prime culprits in butterfly, bee losses
GMOs and pesticides are often blamed for pollinator losses. Recent research indicates that other factors are likely more important, says ...
Honey bee defenses could be strengthened through genes linked to stress resilience
A core set of genes involved in the responses of honey bees to multiple diseases caused by viruses and parasites ...
Buying organic food to avoid pesticides? You may want to reconsider
Do you seek out organic fruits and vegetables to avoid those on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list, fearful ...
Using genetic modification to revive American chestnut trees could pave way to saving disease-threatened ash, elm, hemlock and walnut trees
Scores of tiny American chestnut seedlings that grow in a field in the upstate New York countryside could be the ...
Nigerian agriculture minister: Country has not officially embraced GMO crops but ‘we are watching’
Nigeria has not adopted Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or genetic technology in agriculture and food production. Chief Audu Ogbeh, the ...
UK could become gene-editing leader in farming post-Brexit
Scientists at the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, said [February 2017] that they had edited the genomes of pigs, rendering them ...
Infographic: How GMO insect-resistant Bt crops work
[Editor's note: Karl Haro von Mogel earned his Ph.D. in plant breeding and plant genetics at UW-Madison, with a minor ...
Insect-resistant GMO cowpeas could be available to Ghanaian farmers in 2018
Ongoing field tests on genetically modified cowpea (Bt cowpea) have produced successful results and will be ready for commercialisation and ...
GM crop successes in South Africa offer hope for continent wrestling with climate change
[Editor's note: Wandile Sihlobo is an agricultural economist and head of agribusiness research at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) in ...
Organic 2.0: Biodynamic farming gains popularity in the US, but could it feed everyone?
National retailers like Whole Foods are stocking more biodynamic brands – but critics are questioning biodynamic farming’s ability to feed ...
Wrong message? Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen ‘pesticide-soaked’ fruits, vegetables to avoid may make us less healthy
Regardless of whether you’re a parent, an environmentalist, or just a plain old shopper, chances are you’ve gazed out over the supermarket ...
Video: Fruit, vegetable shelf life extended by spray made from plant extracts
[Editor's note: Watch the video here.] “We use food to preserve food,” [Apeel Sciences CEO James] Rogers said. They start ...
