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.
Can gene-edited plants reduce impact of climate change?
If there’s even a smidgen of hope in the climate change story, it’s that ultimately, humans will find a way to pull ...
Farming practices, not glyphosate, primary driver of weed resistance
Editor's Note: This article features a talk given by Peter Sikkema, researcher at the University of Guelph's Ridgetown Campus on ...
Sustainably produced ‘cow’s milk’ made using genetically engineered yeast coming to your breakfast table
...[T]he next trend for [milk] isn't a plant-based alternative: It's cow's milk—with a twist. Though nearly identical to the stuff you ...
Environmental, economic costs of EU neonicotinoid ban ‘devastating’, according to study
[A] potential ban or suspension of NNi [neonicotinoid seed treatment] technology would have tremendous economic implications.... To take few examples: over ...
Nobel Laureate Richard Roberts: Greenpeace, green lobby spread ‘lies’ about GMOs to raise money
Editor's Note: This article discusses a recent talk by Sir Richard Roberts, awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contribution to ...
Democratic politicians’ mostly anti-GMO views lead list of liberal anti-science positions
... The liberal obsession with things that are “natural” or “organic” often also clashes with science...just because a product is ...
Rusty-patched bumble bee listed as endangered, neonic pesticides pose ‘particular threat’, says USFWS
The rusty patched bumble bee ... was listed on [Jan. 10] as an endangered species, becoming the first wild bee in the ...
Myth busting: Is agricultural pesticide use in the US, and its impact, going down or up?
Anti-GMO groups have shifted their focus from demonizing GMO crops directly to criticizing chemical usage, particularly the herbicide glyphosate, for ...
New RNAi spray formulation protects plants from viral infection for 20 days
...[A] team at the University of Queensland in Australia has managed to achieve long-lasting gene silencing inside plant cells. They ...
Will gene editing promote ‘industrial farming’? Are there sustainable alternatives?
Editor's Note: This article was written by two members of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, an ...
Elephant grass shown to be higher yielding biofuel than switchgrass
Scientists have confirmed that Miscanthus [elephant grass], long speculated to be the top biofuel producer, yields more than twice as much ...
Video GMO story: The near death and rescue of the Hawaiian papaya
The anti-GMO movement in Hawaii grew into a sizable force in 2013 thanks to funding and directional support from activist ...
Water Wars? High tech farming, genetic engineering could derail what seems inevitable
More than a billion people around the world have no reasonable access to fresh water. ...just 0.5% of the Earth’s ...
Talking Biotech: Marketing expert Jay Baer’s tips on communicating about GMOs
Marketing expert Jay Baer's tips on communicating about GMOs ...
Scotts GMO grass, nearing approval, under fire in Oregon for ‘contamination’ claims
[Scotts Miracle-Gro's unapproved genetically modified] grass has taken root in Oregon...the self-professed grass seed capital of the world with a ...
UC Davis’ Alison Van Eenennaam’s deep dive into latest Séralini GMOs-are-dangerous paper
The controversial paper by the Séralini team challenges a central tenet of biotech proponents: are GM crops 'substantially equivalent' to ...
Insect resistance to Bt crops and weed resistance to herbicides rose in 2016
Insects and weeds pushed many chemical and genetic crop protection tools to their breaking point. A wealth of confirmed and suspected ...
Pro and anti-GMO activists’ goals for food and environment are not that different
I, too, am concerned about ... my children and grandchildren: will they have clean air and water? ... You’re frustrated by the ...
Why business journalists should not write on science: Washington Post botches India GMO cotton exposé
Business reporters should not attempt to write about science--a point underscored by a botched Washington Post "investigation" about growing cotton ...
Health Canada’s proposed ban of a neonicotinoid pesticide draws criticism
In November, Health Canada said that a nation-wide ban of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, was necessary because the chemical is ...
Understanding transgenics: How genetic modification in conventional crop breeding and GMOs differ
“GMOs are a hot topic and very misunderstood by many,” [Bejo Seeds Senior Tomato Breeder Doug Heath] says. “It is ...
Teenager raped to death in US Animal Research Center (NY Times’ Michael Moss’ F in journalism)
In January 2015, New York Times journalist Michael Moss skewered the research protocols of the US Meat Animal Research Center ...
Bacteria carried by Varroa mites may be key to unlocking mystery of honey bee deaths
A University of Wisconsin-Stout biology professor and his students may have made an important discovery in the effort to determine ...
What’s the most sustainable cover crop? It’s not mixture but monoculture
Research thus far has consistently found that cover crop polycultures are not necessarily better than cover crop monocultures. This is now ...
Crops raised for industrial meat production contribute to unsustainable agriculture practice
The way we eat in the industrialized world is unhealthy, unjust, and unsustainable. Far too much of the meat we ...
Could sustainable weeding provide alternative to pesticides in herbicide resistant plants?
Farmers are concerned about weeds becoming resistant to herbicides used on crops that have been genetically modified to withstand herbicides… ...
Uganda promotes new drought tolerant, disease resistant maize varieties
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Agriculture , Animal Industry and Fisheries (Maaif) released four new maize varieties. It was ...
