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.
Search for the perfect cell-donor cow: Why cultured lab-grown beef is the future of sustainable meat
At a glance, the formula for cultured – or lab-grown – meat is simple. Take some animal cells, feed them ...
How CRISPR gene editing could dramatically reduce health threats posed by disease-carrying mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are one of humanity’s greatest nemeses, estimated to spread infections to nearly 700 million people per year and cause ...
Replacing unrecyclable plastics: Sustainable ‘biopolymers’ are made from tree bark and compost
Trees, crops and even organic waste can be transformed into a bewildering array of plastics to use in products ranging ...
Futuristic food: From 3D-printed meals to DNA-based diet analysis, here are the 10 biggest food tech breakthroughs over the last decade
[F]ood tech has changed how we eat, for good. So, what’s the driving force behind this activity? And where have ...
Facing mounting number of glyphosate lawsuits, Bayer offers 5-point plan to address future Roundup weedkiller claims
Bayer has announced [May 27] a series of actions it plans to implement following the denial of the motion to ...
‘Zero input’ seaweed burger? This sustainable kelp-based patty requires no fertilizer, land, or fresh water to produce
With the increasing consumer demand for plant-based meat alternatives, kelp could be an important sustainable solution: a zero-input crop that ...
Video: To feed nearly 8 billion people, we need to grow more food on less land. Vertical farming could increase yields by up to 700%
Vertical farming is a form of agriculture that grows plants indoors in floor-to-ceiling, tower-like walls of plant-holding cells. Instead of ...
Billions of baby male chicks are slaughtered every year because they can’t lay eggs. Here’s how CRISPR gene editing could prevent them from being culled after birth
The problem: Chick culling is the practice of killing small, day-old male chicks with a variety of fairly gruesome methods ...
Fast-growing genetically modified salmon arrives in South America, as Brazil approves AquaBounty fish sales
Genetically Modified (GM) salmon producer AquaBounty said [June 1] it has received regulatory approval from Brazil’s National Biosafety Technical Commission ...
Viewpoint: ‘Trading one moral catastrophe for another’ — Why swapping beef for chicken won’t fix animal agriculture’s ‘devastating’ environmental impact
[O]ften, the messaging is that we can save the world by switching out our beef consumption for chicken. The problem ...
Hemp is a ‘dream crop’ but challenging to work with. Here’s how Calyxt is mobilizing gene-editing technology to produce fiber with less water and pesticides than cotton
Calyxt, a Minnesota-based plant technology firm, has transformed the hemp genome to provide a “proof of concept” that the crop ...
Video: Tired of tasteless tomatoes? A juicier, faster-growing genetically-engineered breed is on the horizon
Scientists at the University of Oxford’s Department of Plant Sciences have discovered how the overall process of fruit ripening in ...
Viewpoint: National security and agriculture — Why the US needs a forward-thinking farming blueprint that ‘encourages local produce, livestock raising and meat processing’
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed an ignored truth of the American agriculture system: While the U.S. agricultural system is able to ...
‘Future foods’: How kelp, maggots, fungus and other nutrients grown outside of the traditional agriculture system can help fight climate change
In a new perspective piece, researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk explain that ...
2 in 5 dairy farmers believe cows should not be genetically engineered to reduce disease susceptibility. What might change their minds?
[E]ven before the consumer sees a product on the grocery shelf... farmers’ decisions can make or break a technology’s chance ...
Are bees disappearing due to ‘climate chaos’? Out of 250 bumblebee species around the world, only a few species are in danger
It’s easy to find... articles on the internet which claim that bumblebees and wild bees will be extinct in 20 ...
‘Gene hacking’ fall armyworm moths: Biotech company Oxitec behind Florida Keys gene drive mosquitoes approved for pest-release test run in Brazil
Oxitec, the British biotech firm behind the genetically engineered mosquitoes that just took flight in the Florida Keys [recently], is ...
Cultured meat is key to a sustainable farming future, but its success depends on a key, yet-missing ingredient: Fat
“When it comes to tasty and realistic meat alternatives, what you need is texture, cooking performance, and taste. Plant-based companies ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate is great at killing weeds, but there are concerns its use could imperil the microbiome of some insects — both beneficial and harmful
[A] study, published in the journal Communications Biology, showed that glyphosate inhibits a biochemical pathway in bacteria that was previously ...
‘Carbon is not our enemy but our ally’: Here’s a living laboratory in India studying how crop and livestock farmers can address agriculture’s adverse climate impacts
43 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [are] caused both by use of fossil-intensive fertiliser and land-use change, which in ...
‘Food culture disruptors’: Gen Z — the largest and most diverse generation ever — is demanding better prices, quality and ethics in agriculture
Gen Zers have been called “food culture disruptors” based on their culinary skills (thanks to internet tutorials and recipes, many ...
‘Less water, fertilizer, pesticides and land’? How next-generation soy and corn seeds optimized with CRISPR and AI can increase crop yields while lowering our carbon footprint
Inari wants to engineer crops that require less water, fertilizer, pesticides and land. The company is focusing on soybeans and ...
RNA technology brought us effective COVID vaccines. Next up: ‘Precisely targeted, environmentally-friendly’ techniques that dramatically reduce use of problematic chemicals
[RNA-based COVID vaccines let] a vaccine-recipient’s immune system learn to recognise a crucial part of the enemy before the real ...
Viewpoint: ‘It’s time to invest in meatless meat’ — Why Biden’s climate plan should address the environmental impact of animal agriculture
For decades, the US government has been pouring money into the meat industry. That funding effectively built the industry into ...
Bayer says it will reconsider ‘the future of glyphosate-based products in the U.S. residential market’ after a federal judge rejected its $2 billion settlement proposal to resolve pending and future cancer lawsuits
Bayer said on [May 26] it will review the future of its Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers in the U.S ...
Will biotechnology roil religious dietary laws? Cell-based meats raise prickly questions among Muslims about how to apply halal guidelines
[I]s cell-based meat halal? In the below interview, we ask [CellAgri founder Ahmed Khan] a whole slew of questions around ...
Viewpoint: Reaching net zero US agriculture emissions — As part of his infrastructure plan, Biden could ‘unleash climate-friendly food innovation’ by backing novel foods like alternative proteins, low-emission meats
By procuring novel foods like alternative proteins and low-emission meats, the Biden administration could unleash a wave of climate-friendly food ...
