Ag Gene Editing
Tomatoes that are delicious, not too fleshy and yet harvestable? With gene editing, they may be on the way
A supermarket tomato can be a delicate thing, easily squashed. Tomatoes grown for canning are a lot tougher. Even when ...
Hot-weather cherries? Drought-resistant melons? Here are 8 new climate-hardy fruits and veggies on the horizon
Recent floods left more than a third of California’s table grapes rotting on the vine. Too much sunlight is burning apple crops ...
The good and problematic elements of the ‘Green Revolution’ — and prospects for genetics-driven version 2.0
The Green Revolution led to a significant increase in agricultural productivity. New high-yielding crop varieties, such as dwarf wheat and ...
Viewpoint: Crop biotechnology skeptics — who insist that elusive ‘consumer acceptance’ should trump science — block agricultural innovation
When it comes to certain activists’ decades-long objections to societally important advances in “genetic engineering,” or “genetic modification,” we would ...
AI helps craft crops that can stand up to climate change
Previously, we grew improved versions of crops by growing multiple, comparing them, and then planting the seeds of the one ...
Viewpoint: Do supporters of CRISPR gene-edited crops overpromise the technology’s ability to address pesticide overuse, land scarcity and crop losses?
The discovery of CRISPR has allowed scientists to successfully mimic this process in the lab, by inserting the genetic makeup ...
Sheep bred to be pathogen-free protect farmers from disease and could be a source of customized human organ replacements
[Specific pathogen-free, or] SPF sheep sell for roughly $3,400 per head, compared to the $200 or so a sheep would ...
Viewpoint: With meat demand expected to grow by 50% by 2050, it’s ‘immoral’ to oppose disease-resistant gene-edited animals
Gene editing research in livestock is advancing rapidly on a global basis, opening up major opportunities to improve the sustainability, ...
China’s CRISPR gene-edited silkworms spin fibers 6 times tougher than Kevlar
Scientists in China have synthesized spider silk from genetically modified silkworms, producing fibers six times tougher than the Kevlar used ...
Viewpoint: In a world of dysfunctional food systems, is it realistic to hope for CRISPR gene editing to save agriculture?
Considering that farmers already lose 20-40 percent of their crop yields to pests, which costs them $200 million per year, they can’t ...
Viewpoint: European concessions to green activists undermine their own technology-rejectionist agenda, opening door to CRISPR and other new breeding techniques
Legislation in Europe either dies a quiet death or goes out with a lot of fanfare. The “Farm to Fork” ...
‘Museum of Agriculture’? Could that be the fate of European farming if Greenpeace and other environmental activists succeed in blocking deregulation of crop gene editing?
The war between science and anti-crop biotechnology advocacy groups has escalated since the summer release of the European Commission Report ...
Gene editing legislation on horizon may signal new dawn for EU’s sustainability and food security potential
On July 5, 2023, the European Commission presented a bill aimed at the partial deregulation of plant varieties resulting from ...
German Liberals break from Green Party, advocate for anti-biotechnology policy rethink as coalition totters
The Greens, a partner in Germany’s three-party coalition, must tear down internal walls to overcome the tug-of-war over genetic engineering ...
Where did wheat come from? Uncovering the grain’s genetic genesis at the dawn of agriculture
From the dawn of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, to modern genetic improvement techniques, wheat has been a key witness and ...
Viewpoint: With food security on the line, Africa needs to be a leader in biotech crop development, not just an eventual buyer
The raging debate as to whether Ghana (Africa) should accept biotech crops, including Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or not will ...
Viewpoint: Finding optimal crop traits using traditional breeding is like finding ‘a needle in a haystack’. Here’s how precision breeding can help
Finding the best genetic characteristics of a crop one season at a time through traditional plant breeding was like finding, ...
‘Pinkglow’ pineapple: What gives this genetically-modified pink pineapple its distinctive rosy color?
Scientists have engineered a pink pineapple: It's unassuming on the outside but a blushing pink on the inside. The new ...
How heirloom seeds help preserve genetic diversity
Safeguarding heirlooms may be more important now than ever, as the full scope of our current biodiversity emergency continues to come into ...
Sequencing the watermelon family tree reveals ‘lost’ disease-resistance genes that were bred out generations ago
As autumn looms, we’re enjoying the last bites of sweet, juicy watermelon ...
Viewpoint: Growing gene-edited food in Europe still faces long delay despite recent reform recommendations
The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, recently announced that it intends to loosen rules ...
How gene editing can keep melons fresher for longer
The gaseous plant hormone ethylene has been long known to promote fruit ripening and play a certain role in shelf-life ...
Green transition: How agriculture can drive climate change solutions
It is widely recognized that we must transition our energy economies to a greener, more sustainable state. This will only happen ...
Reconstructing the ‘perfect’ watermelon: Returning ‘lost genes’ from wild relatives to modern fruit
Could farmers soon be growing and harvesting the perfect watermelon? It is no secret — delivering juicy, delicious “summer smiles” is no ...
Viewpoint: Scotland’s Green Party leads an “obstinate and visionless” opposition to sustainable gene edited crops while UK and Europe edge towards embracing agricultural science
In recent months, the pace of global policy developments in relation to gene editing has often been hard to keep ...
Should University Agricultural Research Scientists Partner With Industry?
Studies show research on GE crops is not significantly influenced by conflicts of Interest. However, it is important to remain ...
How to design climate-adaptive next-generation gene-edited plants while preserving biodiversity
A special issue of the journal PLOS Biology explores plant engineering as a tool to improve the climate resilience and carbon capture potential ...
