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?
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Beepocalypse Myth Handbook: Assessing claims of pollinator collapse
After a decade of debate, the causes of the mid-2000s spike in bee deaths is coming into focus. Culprits are ...
Economic ‘de-growth’ or ‘green growth’: Which climate change strategy makes the most sense?
Scientists have long debated whether carbon emissions reductions and economic growth can co-exist. The developments of the last decade show ...
‘Good for climate and welfare’: Assisted fertilization in development for pigs, but some animal rights groups push back
A research group at the Norwegian company Norsvin will study better methods for fertilizing pigs in the laboratory and transporting ...
Plastics make agriculture possible — but are microplastics harming soil?
Frequent extreme weather and growing food demand have exacerbated reliance on plastics to increase grain yield. Plastics used in agriculture ...
Viewpoint: ‘Our planet is at a breaking point’ — Is it time to foster innovations like precision fermentation and cultivated meat to realign food systems with climate reality?
Many of us have enjoyed a boom of eating what we want, when we want it, and are only now ...
Climate change ripple effect: Rising temperatures allow mosquitoes to spread across Africa, bringing malaria with them
Mosquitoes that transmit malaria have moved away from the Equator by about three miles per year over the past century, ...
Do conventional crops reduce biodiversity as advocacy groups claim? Is modern plant breeding necessary? Examining populist views on modern agriculture
The aim of the European Seed series on Myths, Fake News, Misinformation and Disinformation is to dive deeper, taking a closer ...
Grains, coffee and citrus are among foods threatened by rising temperatures. Some species may go completely extinct without new solutions
There are some ways in which we can definitely expect climate change to alter what we eat. Here are some ...
Viewpoint: ‘Every approved biotech crop has benefited the environment’ — Why streamlining regulations are key to sustainability and food security goals
Today, there is much discussion about how agriculture contributes to climate change. Most agree that we should continue improving food ...
Viewpoint: Buzz words like ‘eco-friendly’, ‘net-zero’ and ‘regenerative agriculture’ represent a new wave of greenwashing
Dairy company Arla has been banned from using the claim ‘net-zero climate footprint’ when marketing some of its products ...
How green are biofuels? Does corn-derived ethanol promote sustainability?
Tyler Lark, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, grew up among farms, working on a neighbor’s dairy, vaguely aware ...
Viewpoint: ‘We need more agricultural land than is available’ — Here’s why organic agriculture cannot address biodiversity and sustainability
For Germany and the EU, boosting organic farming is a political priority and both have set targets for 2030: The ...
Changes to Farm to Fork? Will Europe open the door to ‘sustainable intensification’ in the wake of dire COP27 climate change findings?
The aim to promote inclusive forms of sustainable intensification through public-private partnerships may eventually clash with the popular view in ...
GLP Podcast & Video: Synthetic biology makes $10,000 perfume way cheaper; ‘Fashionable organic fantasies’ at the WEF; Sleeping pills cause dementia?
A bottle of perfume used to cost more than $10,000. The price has dropped precipitously thanks to advancements in synthetic ...
India’s potential approval of GM mustard may open door to insect-resistant cotton, anti-fungal potato and vitamin-boosted banana
While controversy has dogged the environmental release of genetically engineered (GE) mustard, other GE crops are being prepped at institutes ...
Grains make up 70% of global cropland. Here’s how perennial grains, legumes, and oilseeds could dramatically improve sustainable farming
When left undisturbed, naturally-occurring vegetation tends to grow back year after year. In agriculture, this is also true of perennial crops ...
Gene editing poised to rescue banana production from plant disease sweeping through Central America
There are more than a thousand types of bananas in the world. But one variety, the Cavendish, is ubiquitous in ...
Viewpoint: Farms and judicious pesticide use pose no mortal threat to endangered butterfly, Monarch Conservation Consortium concludes
Here’s the situation. The North American monarch butterfly travels every summer to the northern United States where it breeds. Its ...
China’s cloned super-cows can produce 100 tons of milk per cow — 30% more than U.S dairy cattle
Chinese scientists have cloned three "super cows" able to produce 18 metric tons of milk per year and more than ...
Viewpoint: ‘Fashionable organic fantasies’ — Global elite at Davos WEF convention endorsed failed agriculture policies amid global food crisis
While eating caviar and sipping on fine wine, wealthy elites at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos hobnobbed with ...
With Kenya’s tentative embrace of growing GM products, Uganda faces a resurgent anti-GMO movement. Here’s the havoc it’s causing and the activists behind it
Agro-technologies, including CRISPR gene-editing to tweak crops to tolerate the challenges of climate change, including the control of plant bacterial ...
Using cost-benefit analysis: Crop biotechnology offers sizable yield and sustainability benefits when compared to non-GM farming
What are the costs of not adopting the best food producing technologies? The ability to quantify a choice that is ...
Facing global food shortages, will ESG investing embrace sustainable gene-edited crops — or continue to reject biotech?
The need to feed an expanding population while cutting agriculture’s high greenhouse gas emissions means farming must become more efficient ...
Europe is mulling a food sustainability label. Here’s how it might work
A sustainability label, or at least the principles thereof, is expected in 2023, and is led by the European Commission’s ...
Sustainable eating: Will politics slow adoption of cultivated foods and other technological innovations?
Cultivated meat is grown and harvested without traditional animal agriculture. A life cycle analysis of the cultivated meat industry by CE Delft, ...
Are plant-based meats a healthy, sustainable alternative to traditional cuts — or is it just good marketing?
Plant-based meats have become more popular in recent years, with consumers being able to find alternatives to everything from hot ...
Mysterious kidney disease epidemic flares up in Central America with climate change and chemicals suspected as drivers
José Lopez didn't want to die, but the alternative — having a scalpel plunged through his abdominal wall to install ...
