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 — Agricultural biotechnology: Government regulations and court rulings in 7 jurisdictions around the world
Many courts around the world have issued judicial opinions about agricultural biotechnology. ... In chronological order of issuing the opinion, ...
Europe takes first step toward greenlighting genetic editing of food animals
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA’s) Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Panel has published a new scientific opinion on the use of synthetic ...
How AI bots are redefining agriculture
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture is transforming the way farming operations are conducted, marking a significant leap towards more ...
Viewpoint: Heavy metal contamination of our food supply is a growing threat. MAHA needs to act
As the next phase of the Make America Health Again plan is developed, it must include a significant effort to ...
Lab grown, cell based salmon now on sale in San Francisco Bay area
It's lunchtime at the San Francisco headquarters of Wildtype. And company founders Justin Kolbeck and Arye Elfenbein, M.D., believe what's ...
RFK, Jr.’s checkered crusade targeting food safety rules he considers too lax could upend the supplement industry that he vigorously embraces
In his first weeks as health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared war on an obscure regulatory process that many ...
India determined to ‘protect’ country’s food system from what many claims is encroachment by U.S. farm and food practices
As the global food industry becomes highly corporatized, with businesses moving rapidly towards genetically modified crops and lab-grown meat, to ...
Gene edited oats contain more fiber and are more climate resilient
McGill researchers just changed how oats grow. Using CRISPR-Cas9, they edited the crop’s DNA without adding any foreign material. That ...
AI pushes sustainability envelope in vertical farming
In a world where arable land is shrinking and climate instability threatens food security, vertical farming has emerged as a ...
‘Cheap, convenient and tasty’ — over half of Americans’ calories come from ultra-processed foods
The consumption of ultra-processed foods is on a slow decline, though most Americans — and especially children — are getting ...
AI and robotics deployed to combat labor shortages and boost yields
Farmers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and robotics to combat labor shortages and boost yields, even as these technologies ...
Viewpoint: GMOs could improve global food and farm yields by more than 20%
In recent years, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become one of the most pivotal agricultural innovations, profoundly transforming the way food is produced and managed worldwide. With global populations on the rise and climate change introducing unprecedented challenges to farming and ...
Viewpoint: GOP-loyal farmers surprised by ‘friendly fire’ amid Trump agenda of deportations, trade wars, and pesticide bans
Farmers, a solidly Republican constituency, are scratching their heads over what they see as a barrage of friendly fire. Agriculture ...
Aquaculture revolution: Fish farming and the promise of gene editing
Experts from the UK and the United States have shared findings on the responsible use of advanced genetic tools to ...
Viewpoint: Misconstruing risk—Anti-glyphosate hyperbole sows unwarranted public anxiety and confusion
The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) was passed in 1996 and established new safety standards (i.e., tolerances) for pesticides. The act mandated ...
Genetic engineering is deeply woven into every aspect of modern life
For years, politicians and environmental organizations have been needlessly stoking fears about a technology that has been helping to conserve ...
3D printer turns rotting food scraps into household items
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have unveiled a groundbreaking innovation: a 3D printer that transforms food scraps ...
Viewpoint: What role can indigenous populations and agroecology play in promoting sustainable food
For millennia, Indigenous peoples have cultivated diverse, adaptive and evolving food systems, rooted in deep relationships with land, water and ...
Confronting the growing challenge of increased plastic pollution in agriculture
Over the past decades, plastic has become an integral part of agriculture and this use is increasing with the intensity ...
Florida E. coli outbreak linked to raw milk
Raw milk has been linked to an ongoing E. coli and campylobacter outbreak in Florida that has already sickened 21 ...
Can gene editing dramatically reduce global hunger?
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals with Goal 2 (SDG 2): Zero Hunger, aiming to ...
Politics of agriculture? Large southern farms expect to benefit from $258 million in Trump subsidies but others face grimmer future
In the high plains of western Texas, 600 or so farms in Gaines County are projected to receive an additional ...
Potato, tomato: Today’s French fries linked by evolution to tomatoes 9 million years ago
Ketchup and fries make a tasty pair. But the connection between tomatoes and potatoes may go beyond making a good ...
Why gene editing of food crops remains controversial
Gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9 have many uses in the area of food and agriculture. They can combat persistent drought ...
Agroecological farming is not financially sustainable and will need substantial government subsidies
A new study by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) has suggested that while nature-friendly farming methods improve ...
7 year study of the effects of GMO corn on primates shows what every other study has found: ‘No significant health risks’
A study spanning more than seven years has found no significant health risks associated with the long-term consumption of genetically modified (GM) maize in ...
The confluence of AI and biotechnology will drive the development of unprecedented sustainable crops
A major review published in the prestigious journal Nature today outlines how artificial intelligence and biotechnology could transform global crop production — ...
