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.
Viewpoint: Regardless of benefits, the current renaissance of biotech breakthroughs still requires guardrails to mitigate risks
Biotechnology - synthetic biology, the engineering of living systems - is no longer something locked away in high-tech labs. It’s ...
Bio-based UV filter extracted from onions could replace petroleum in solar cells, improving solar tech sustainability
Solar power is one of the best tools in humanity’s decarbonization toolbox, but even these green energy technologies aren’t 100 percent sustainable. For ...
From tubers to tree seeds: Solynta’s tech to overcome centuries of potato breeding challenges
Breeding potatoes is notoriously difficult. First, commercial potato cultivars don’t self-pollinate, which has historically prevented breeders from creating stable, genetically ...
Viewpoint: If activists and trial lawyers have their way, the herbicide glyphosate will be banned. What would that world look like?
As a reminder for the doomsayers, the Environmental Protection Agency classifies glyphosate as “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” ...
Viewpoint: Gene-edited crops can save the planet—if regulators don’t screw it up
Crop breeding has long been used to improve agricultural productivity, but as modern biotechnology tools reshape the field, discussions over ...
How modern farming and science are driving a global rice boom
In a world worried about looming food shortages triggered by the climate crisis, the collapse in rice prices — now ...
Supporters of organic and genetically engineered crops want the same thing. How we get there most sustainably is the sticking point
Glyphosate (Roundup) is out but fungicides like copper sulphate are in. Genetically modified Bt corn is out but Bt spray ...
Ghanaian farmers hesitant on GM maize despite benefits
A new study of 550 maize farmers across five regions in Ghana found that while the majority are aware of genetically modified (GM) maize, ...
Viewpoint: Challenging Big Cattle’s attempt to illegally block the boom in cell-cultured food
Under Senate Bill 261, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on June 20, "a person may not offer for sale ...
When farmers deny science: The hypocrisy hurting agriculture’s credibility
There is vast scientific consensus that our planet is experiencing a long-term climate change, and denying this trend — as ...
From ‘Frankenfood’ to superfood: Can the purple tomato overcome GMO myths to win over consumers?
Consumers know it’s important to eat a rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables, however, they often fall short of meeting ...
CRISPR pork: U.S. approves first gene-edited pigs for consumption
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved new genetically modified (GM) pigs for human consumption. Researchers engineered the ...
30-year-old tomato line shows genetic resistance to devastating virus
Researchers found that a tomato line developed 30 years ago is showing good resistance to the emerging tomato brown rugose ...
Fighting deforestation with CO2: Biotechnology breakthrough creates sustainable palm oil alternative for cosmetics
A significant advancement in sustainable innovation has emerged from a collaboration among the Mibelle Group, LanzaTech, and the Fraunhofer Institute ...
The free-range chicken dilemma: Better for birds, but with substantial costs
In the 2021 study, researchers looked at organic and free-range farms, which offered birds more space to roam and raised slower-growing breeds as ...
$250 billion—that’s how much money AI is predicted to save farmers and producers, but the agricultural revolution it’s igniting won’t stop there
[The] food-manufacturing industry has a new AI tool for boosting productivity on farms and in factories: advanced large language models. With this type ...
Raspberries are one of the quickest fruits to spoil. That may soon change
One of our most popular summer soft fruits could last longer in the fridge thanks to pioneering new research conducted ...
Nigeria’s government pairing with scientists to convince a skeptical public of the virtues of agricultural biotechnology
The Federal Government has clarified that the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and their products in Nigeria is not ...
How self fertilizing gene-edited wheat could be a boon for developing world farmers
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have developed wheat plants that stimulate the production of their own fertilizer, opening ...
Steam technologists test a partial alternative to farm chemicals to control weeds
Recently a report published by the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) ... featured a field implement designed to be ...
Ultra-processed foods found to harm male fertility and metabolism, study shows
A small but rigorous new study found that eating ultra-processed foods caused otherwise healthy men to quickly gain body fat and led ...
25 years ago, India approved GMO rice and was poised to be the developing world’s crop bioengineering innovator. What went awry?
In the early 2000s, India’s fields promised to become laboratories of the future. When genetically modified (GM) cotton was approved ...
Why do some people gain weight more easily or develop liver problems while others don’t, even when they eat similar diets?
Our bodies follow a natural 24-hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm that influences everything from sleep to metabolism. While ...
Speed breeding: AI pollinating CRISPR gene-edited flowers are in development
For millennia, developing resilient crops relied on pollination by nature or humans—making the process long and often costly. Now, scientists ...
Just because a chemical ingredient used in food is found in household products or medicine does not mean its unsafe
"Many food-grade additives share names with industrial products, but concentration makes all the difference," said Jessica Steier, a public health ...
Resilience, sufficiency, efficiency: Balancing the challenges facing modern agriculture
There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to the future of agriculture. Across Europe and beyond, the debate is ...
The science skinny on synthetic food dyes: There is no evidence they are unsafe but they do make some unhealthy food more enticing
The appeal of a brightly colored candy, the vibrant hue of your mouthwash, the pigment of your sports drinks — ...
