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.
Growing food in space may offer sustainability benefits beyond genetically engineering plants on Earth
Sending fancy French grapes into orbit might sound like an expensive PR stunt. There is, after all, a long history ...
Gene editing could boost UK’s virus-plagued sugar beet industry, country’s agriculture minister says
[British farming and environment minister George] Eustice told the annual conference of the National Farmers Union [on February 23] that ...
GMO salmon two months from introduction: AquaBounty fights anti-biotechnology misinformation as it gears up for April launch of fast-growing, sustainable AquAdvantage salmon
AquaBounty's genetically engineered, fast-growing salmon could be sold at US restaurants and grocery stores as soon as this April. The ...
East Africa battles locust swarms by turning them into animal feed and organic fertilizer
Scientists say warmer seas are creating more rain, waking dormant eggs, and cyclones that disperse the swarms are getting stronger ...
GM crops could support food security in Africa, new study suggests
Genetically modified (GM) maize has produced higher yields than conventional hybrid varieties in South Africa, highlighting the technology’s potential to ...
Viewpoint: Eco-hypocrisy—Mexico bans GM corn and glyphosate to promote sustainability while subsidizing fossil fuels
Imagine for a moment that the US government banned smart phones and tablets and forced everyone to use home telephones ...
China launches GM crop research initiative to strengthen food security
China will support R&D of innovative agricultural GMOs, such as new genes, new technologies and new products. Wang Gangyi, a ...
GMOs in Bangladesh: Insect-resistant eggplant a sustainability success. Here’s how the country can safeguard its progress
In the seven years since Bangladesh approved its first genetically modified crop — insect-resistant eggplant (Bt brinjal) — the number ...
‘False paradigm’: Pitting organic and conventional farming against each other won’t promote sustainability, says GLP’s Jon Entine at USDA Ag Outlook Forum
Interest groups have become so hardened in their views about which types of agriculture benefit the environment that the fact ...
Bill Gates under fire for urging wealthy countries to give up beef and switch to synthetic meat
The Microsoft founder-turned-global health philanthropist [Bill Gates] discusses ways to tackle climate change in his new book, “How to Avoid ...
25 years of GM crops: Biotechnology a blessing to many farmers, but not without costs
Brent Rendel, who started farming in the early 1990s, easily remembers how magical Roundup Ready crops seemed and the awe ...
GM canola, soybean don’t harm biodiversity, 15-year Japanese government study finds
According to the report by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), [to] date no sign of any ...
Anti-GMO Europe wants to fight climate change. Will it approve the eco-friendly (but GM) Impossible Burger?
Impossible Foods’ efforts to enter the European market have faced a 15-month-long battle over the key ingredient that gives its ...
Peru extends GM crop cultivation ban to ‘investigate’ biotechnology’s impact on biodiversity — which government says will take until 2035
The Peruvian Congress approved a moratorium that prohibits the entry of Living Modified Organisms (transgenic) for cultivation or breeding purposes ...
CRISPR could help produce allergen-free soybeans. Here’s how it works
Food allergies occur when you eat .... and your immune system reacts to certain proteins in the food. Proteins that ...
GMOs and nutrition: Disease-resistant, biofortified cassava could boost Africa’s access to essential minerals
For the first time, an international team of scientists… have developed cassava displaying high-level resistance to cassava mosaic disease (CMD), ...
Viewpoint: Challenging organic myths — Big Ag doesn’t ‘control the food supply’ with patented GMO seeds, patented seeds are planted on organic farms, too
GMO critics demonize the concept of seed patents, equating it with 'Big Ag' and what they see as a takeover ...
Feeding astronauts on the Moon and Mars means sustaining plants and animals in space. Can science make it happen?
Given that missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond will not be able to rely on regular resupply missions, these ...
Viewpoint: Giving up hamburgers won’t stop climate change
Climate change is the biggest challenge of our lifetime, which we must address with urgency, but swapping out a hamburger ...
Lab-grown wood: Could scientists make better trees than nature?
Wood and other plant-based materials may be renewable resources, but obtaining usable forms typically requires lots of transportation, milling, and ...
High-yielding sweet potato that fights vitamin A deficiency could be Ghana’s first gene-edited crop
Research on Ghana’s first gene-edited crop — a high-yielding sweet potato with increased beta carotone content — is under way ...
Cuba establishes expert commission to ensure safe, sustainable use of GM crops
The National Commission for the Use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Cuban agriculture was established. The head of CITMA ...
EU’s refusal to permit GMO crops led to millions of tons of additional CO2, scientists reveal
Europe’s refusal to permit its farmers to cultivate genetically engineered (GE) crops led to the avoidable emission of millions of ...
Podcast: ‘Greedy’ factory farms? Milk without cows; Vaccine for melanoma
Farms are larger today than ever before, but it's not because they're "greedy factory farms." Milk of the future might ...
GMOs and the environment: ‘No significant difference’ and no unintended gene transfer in GM rice compared to conventional varieties, study shows
In this research, we analyzed the potential for weediness, unintended gene transfer, and viability in the natural environment for risk ...
CRISPR and climate change: Philippines sees crop gene editing as powerful ally in fight against global warming
[Philippines Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunado de la Peña has] underscored the importance of [new breeding techniques, or] ...
First lab-grown steak is here. Will lack of regulation stymie its race to the market?
Frequently plant-based products have been patties or processed nuggets — “everyday” foods easier for companies to produce — that aim ...
