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.
The case for GMOs in Africa
Biotechnological studies on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) offer various options for solving the continent's hunger, malnutrition, and food security challenges ...
‘Hybrid meat’: Will consumers embrace food made of both cultivated meat and plant-based protein?
In much the same way that hybrid vehicles acted as a bridge between the electric vehicle experimentation of the 1970s ...
Viewpoint: ‘Science doesn’t work through ad hominem attacks’ — UC Davis’ Alison Van Eenennaam challenges NY Times’ unsupported exposé of fellow scientist researching ways to reduce carbon footprint of cattle industry
Look I get it. The New York Times (NYT) does not like GMOs, industrial agriculture, factory farming or meat consumption ...
Viewpoint: If the Mexican government bans genetically modified corn, the country’s poorest and America’s farmers will suffer the most
Since 2008, U.S. corn exports to Mexico have been free of tariffs and quota restrictions thanks to hard-fought provisions in ...
Viewpoint: The world’s farmers are starting a ‘pro-GMO rebellion,’ challenging ‘dubious’ and ‘contradictory’ regulatory regime
Farmers across the world are desperate to grow genetically modified crops (GM) in their fields. So much so that in ...
Viewpoint: ‘Cattle laundering’ — Is the beef industry deforesting the Amazon?
On paper, the Brazilian Amazon is one of the most protected ecosystems on the planet. There are thousands of protected areas, in ...
Viewpoint: Do you avoid GM crops because they were ‘made by science’ but buy organic food because it’s more ‘natural’? What does naturalness even mean?
Our obsession with products and farming systems perceived to be more natural risks preventing our food from being plentiful, affordable, ...
Viewpoint: ‘25 years of proof that GM foods are safe for the environment and humans’ – Nobel Prize winning geneticist makes case for embracing gene editing
Genetically modified plants are not cultivated in Europe, the regulatory requirements are too strict and the reservations of the population ...
Viewpoint: Ukrainian farmers ‘increasingly bleak’ in face of Russian shelling and dropping temperatures
Ukrainian farmers are doing their best to keep farming and producing food in their war-torn country, but the outlook is ...
Kernza — a sustainable, perennial grain — may be a wildcard tool to help address climate change challenges in agriculture. What might limit its effectiveness?
In early April, a storm swept central Montana’s plains with 70-mile-per-hour winds. The gusts clawed at wheat fields, sending soil ...
Shrink shrimp’s carbon footprint by half? Here’s how AI-led land-based seafood farms can sustainably meet our protein needs
Inside a humid warehouse in suburban Indianapolis, a company called Atarraya is using large metal containers and the latest technology ...
New Zealand’s commitment to removing invasive animal predators opens the door to reconsidering its 20-year rejection of genetic modification
Aotearoa New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud, is the first place to see the sunrise on a ...
Would you pay $300 for a 3D-printed steak? One day you may be able to print your own meat for a fraction of the cost
Would you eat lab-grown steak? A recent study from the Good Food Institute — a nonprofit thinktank — indicates that about 40% ...
‘Splatometer’: Here’s how scientists are trying to understand the environmental implications of the sharp drop of dead bugs on windshields
Experts say the lack of insect innards on our summer windshields is just one symptom of a broader decline in ...
‘Fuel of the future’: South Africa factory uses renewable energy to create ‘green’ ammonia
Ammonia is also used to manufacture explosives for the mining industry and is a key ingredient in many pharmaceutical and ...
Viewpoint: Kenya needs hundreds of thousands more tons of corn to feed the country’s population. Lifting the GMO ban is a great first step
I don’t know much about Kenya’s new president, William Ruto, but I already like his approach to agriculture. In the ...
With organic demand outstripping supply, USDA commits $300 million to help convince farmers to grow organic
Over the decades, something unexpected happened — demand for organics started increasing so fast that it began outstripping the supply produced ...
Targeting sustainable farming: Here’s how much money low and middle-income countries are missing out on if they reject genetically-modified crops
GM crops produce higher farm incomes plus reduced land tillage practices and lower insecticide use, bringing substantial environmental benefits. While ...
Rice paddies in the desert? How China is creating productive farmland and growing ‘seawater rice’ using heat-tolerant biotech crops
In a bid to finally ensure that nobody ever needs to go hungry in China again, researchers there have been ...
Podcast: ‘Regenerative’ farming—a green fad; Gene-edited bacteria destroy tumors; Banana-flavored beer
So-called "regenerative" farming is gaining traction as a method of sustainable food production. Does it live up to the hype ...
Carbon removal breakthrough: Genetic tools that have created climate resilient crops could capture carbon dioxide as well
To understand just how powerful genetic tools can be in agriculture, take a look at [Pamela Ronald, a plant geneticist ...
Next generation biofuel: Genetically-modified duckweed can grow in wastewater, and it yields seven times more oil than soybeans
While plants such as corn and soybeans are major sources of biofuel, they're grown on land that could otherwise be ...
Uganda’s challenge: Climate change, crop disease and pests are crippling agriculture. Here’s why new solutions are so desperately needed
Climate change has come along with incurable crop diseases and insurmountable pests and our main cash and food crops are ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO activists, from Organic Consumers Association to Joe Mercola to Vandana Shiva, formed an alliance. Why this is good news for biotech and science supporters
Alliances and networks is the new game plan among anti-GM activists. Recently, Organic Consumers Association [read GLP profile head Ronnie ...
Viewpoint: Sri Lanka’s ban on synthetic crop chemicals put ideology ahead of science. Here’s a rethink on sustainable agriculture
In April 2021, the Sri Lankan president announced that the import of synthetic fertilizers was banned and no more would be procured ...
India approves first genetically-modified crops in 20 years: Herbicide-tolerant cotton and mustard
The commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops may get approval in the country after 20 years. These crops are ...
‘Globally we are no longer innovating’: Agricultural productivity is faltering — and that’s why we need to streamline regulations of new technologies
The recently released 2022 Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Report tells a disturbing story: Growth in global agricultural productivity is in steep ...
