Daily Food & Ag Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of agricultural and food issues, including the GMO debate, conventional and organic farming, regulations, new breeding technologies and sustainability. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
‘The Insect Crisis’ book review: From climate change to habitat loss to chemicals, what’s behind the die off of insect populations?
When was the last time you had to clean bug splatter from your windshield? This ritual was once an inevitable ...
6 best foods to improve brain functioning? Here’s one Harvard scientist’s list
Based on my work with hundreds of patients, below are the best brain-boosting foods that people aren’t eating enough of ...
Regenerative agriculture: How a Canadian farm repurposes food waste to combat climate change
Jocelyn Molyneux has an army of around a million red wiggler worms at her Caledon, Ont.-based Wastenot farms, diverting the organic ...
Sustainable seafood? This company believes it can make tasty vegan fish from plants and cultivated cells
One-third of the world’s tuna stocks are now fished at unsustainable levels, according to the most recent State of the ...
Japanese journalist explains why he flipped from anti-GMO campaigner to embracing agricultural biotechnology revolution
Masami Kojima, a reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun... initially took a negative position on GM crops, but now he is ...
Winners and losers in plant evolution: How humans are driving hundreds of species to extinction
A new analysis spanning more than 86,000 plant species from John Kress, botany curator emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of ...
Viewpoint: Politicians are making a mess of regulating agricultural pesticides
In January, the New Jersey legislature enacted restrictions on most uses of neonicotinoids. The bill effectively bans about 70 percent of neonic ...
Viewpoint: How can we deliver on agricultural gene editing’s sustainability promise?
The pace of research in the field of genome editing — understanding, modifying and altering gene function — has quickly ...
EPA poised to extend use of four neonicotinoid pesticides, rebuffing environmentalist claims they endanger bees
The US Environmental Protection Agency is poised to allow the use of four of the most devastating chemicals to bees, ...
Increasing yields without genetic modification? A bio-spray that silences plant genes is in the works
The use of bioactive molecules has shown the capability to infiltrate into plant leaves and into the cells themselves with ...
Viewpoint: The messy details of how lab-grown meat is made
Lab meat—flesh grown in massive tanks instead of in the bodies of sentient animals—offers the promise of having our steak ...
2.5 billion gene altered mosquitoes — designed to end spread of Zika, dengue and malaria — to be released in two-year experiment in California and Florida, EPA decides
Genetically modified mosquitoes might soon be whining on both U.S. coasts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved two more years of ...
Future bakery: Genetically edited grains, artificial intelligence and novel ingredients poised to bring sustainable practices and healthier tastier, foods
Novel ingredients, genetically edited grains and artificial intelligence could play an integral role in the future of the baking industry, ...
Viewpoint: Food activists lobbied for an organic-only, no synthetic pesticide model in Sri Lanka. Here’s why it went so catastrophically wrong
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the country’s farmers to organic agriculture over a period of years. The ...
Viewpoint: Human activity and modern agriculture are threatening pollinators
The arrival of the Anthropocene has brought with it considerable challenges for wild bees. In particular, the spread of industrial ...
Ghana closer to commercializing disease-resistant GMO cowpeas
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has submitted an application to the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) requesting for ...
Brazilian researcher exposes ‘magical thinking’ of agroecology advocates and GMO opponents
When I did field research to understand the reasons why rural workers preferred to plant GM soy (year 2003), the ...
Opinion: Synthetic biology can help protect Africa’s biodiversity
Despite contributing the least to the climate crisis, Africa is experiencing the worst effects of climate change. Our successful adaptation ...
Will climate change threats force crop biotechnology skeptics to rethink opposition to food innovation?
Some might argue that [CRISPR] could help alleviate some of the carbon emissions from agriculture and reduce some types of ...
Viewpoint: How precision fermentation is changing the food system — and what you should know
Precision fermentation is a relatively new food technology that is rapidly entering the mainstream. Products such as milk protein, animal fats, collagen, honey, ...
‘Window to act is closing’: Climate change is already devastating our global food system, UN report co-author says
In a cautionary tale to the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – a group organized by the ...
Viewpoint: Food advocate makes plea for increased commitment to agroecology
To truly understand the dynamism of food systems and catalyze meaningful change, diverse forms of evidence, knowledge and expertise, including ...
Genetically modified crops pose unique dangers? We’ve used nuclear energy to improve fruits, vegetables and grains for almost a century–including organic foods
Getting fruits and vegetables from seed to plate is an obstacle course that involves navigating climate changes, pests and diseases, ...
Here’s how climate change is poised to devastate the most productive agricultural region in the world
The San Joaquin Valley – the most profitable agricultural region in the United States, with eight million acres of farmland ...
Nigerian companies ramp up production to meet high demand for GMO cowpea seeds
Nigeria’s private local seed companies are expanding production of genetically modified (GM) cowpea seeds to supply farmers eager to grow ...
Viewpoint: Are we overusing agricultural chemicals? Not if we we want increased yields, lower prices and more sustainable practices
We would be remiss to ignore the positive effects that modern crop protection has had for us. Without pesticides, crop losses ...
Is organic food healthier or just a lifestyle buzzword? A nutritionist weighs in
“Organic” has become a buzzword, and these products are marketed as a healthier alternative to conventional options. An important question ...
