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.
New meta-analysis finds Bt crops have no impact on soil biota
A new meta-analysis finds that genetically modified Bt crops — in stark contrast to some pesticides — have no impact ...
Hangover free wine? CRISPR gene editing could produce new varietals and disease-resistant grapes
Gene editing offers a new tool for wine grape growers, who have for decades grappled with troublesome pests, high pesticide ...
Lab-grown…kibble? How cultured meat might sustainably feed our cats and dogs
The alternative meat movement is growing and quite literally for some companies. Companies like Bond see lab-grown meat as a ...
California appeals ruling barring Proposition 65 cancer warning for glyphosate
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra [September 9] filed a notice of appeal in the lawsuit National Association of Wheat Growers, ...
Cavendish banana faces extinction. Can scientists save this staple before it’s too late?
Pests and diseases are threatening Cavendish bananas with extinction. Dutch university Wageningen and plant research company KeyGene are jointly joining ...
Viewpoint: Research raises concerns about ‘ecosystem-wide impact’ of neonicotinoid pesticides
One of the main lessons that emerged from Silent Spring is that we overuse pesticides at our own peril because ...
Singapore sees 65-80% fewer dengue cases in areas where disease-fighting mosquitoes released
Releasing mosquitoes into the corridors of apartment complexes might seem like an unusual strategy for a city fighting its worst ...
Bayer, BASF, Corteva pledge $16.5 billion to help EU farmers cut pesticide use
Crop protection companies active in the European Union, including including BASF SE, Bayer AG, have pledged to spend $16.5 billion ...
Canada’s demand for GMO Impossible Burger grows as consumers cut meat from diets
Responding to “overwhelming demand” in Canada, the Impossible Burger will be available this year in a wider variety of restaurants ...
‘Ecocide’? Green groups blast France for lifting neonicotinoid pesticide ban to save sugar-beet growers
France has moved to reverse a ban on a class of pesticides only weeks after it came into force, reigniting ...
Viewpoint: India shouldn’t let activists derail field trials of insect-resistant GMO eggplant
In a welcome sign that the decade-long benign indifference to technology infusion in the farm sector is set to change ...
Meat alternatives are ‘mass-produced, processed imitations’—but could they save the planet?
Meat alternatives are mass-produced, processed imitations: “fake” foods. To borrow one of Michael Pollan’s rules for eating wisely, your “great-great-great ...
Animal biotech could help tackle disease that costs Africa’s cattle farmers $1 billion annually
Animal biotechnology has been primed to contribute significantly towards addressing the challenge of food security, especially in the developing world ...
CRISPR for cannabis: Gene-edited, disease-resistant marijuana poised for 2021 debut
Israeli startup CanBreed said it has reached a licensing agreement to use gene editing tools to provide cannabis growers with ...
Neonicotinoid insecticides probably not driving monarch butterfly declines, study finds
The long-term decline of monarch butterflies has been attributed to loss of their milkweed (Asclepias sp.) host-plants after the introduction ...
Anti-GMO activists move to block Bt insect-resistant eggplant field trials in India
Ten years after imposing a moratorium on commercial release of genetically modified Bt Brinjal, the [federal government] has now allowed ...
Viewpoint: Vegetarian diet won’t help you slim down—only cutting calories can do that
A vegetarian diet can be healthy for you. Just like any diet. Even if you only eat salads or any ...
USDA approves first ever CRISPR-edited petunia
The research team led by professor Geung-Ju Lee of Chungnam National University and Toolgen announced that the new variety of ...
Mexico’s anti-glyphosate environment minister steps down after losing battle to ban weedkiller
Bosco de la Vega Valladolid, president of the National Agricultural Council (CNA), celebrated the departure of Víctor Manuel Toledo Manzur ...
Edible plant-based vaccines could help quash infectious diseases in poor countries
Edible plant-based vaccines were developed to become part of the solution to address the possible hazards associated with the parenteral ...
Viewpoint: Why the USDA should approve GMO disease-resistant chestnut trees
You may [have] heard “chestnuts on an open fire” at Christmas but they are a lot of rarer than they ...
Pesticide-free crop protection yields sizable economic benefits in Asia-Pacific
Scientists have estimated for the first time how nature-based solutions for agricultural pest control deliver US$14.6 to US$19.5 billion annually ...
EPA may relax rules on some pest-resistant crops to promote ‘science-based’ regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to exempt from its regulation some biotech crops that are genetically engineered to be ...
Bacteria-infected mosquitoes cut dengue cases by 77 percent, study shows
Researchers have infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—the species responsible for passing on many diseases—with bacteria called Wolbachia with the intent of ...
Bayer appeals $20.5 million glyphosate-cancer verdict to California Supreme Court
Bayer AG has asked California’s Supreme Court to review a decision awarding $20.5 million to a groundskeeper who claimed the ...
Viewpoint: US farm productivity shows Europe why rejecting biotech crops was a mistake
Over the past two decades, Europe has decided to go its own way in agricultural policy. While both North and ...
GMO corn could help combat voracious pests, drought in Nigeria, field study shows
Nigeria’s quest to introduce maize varieties resistant to insect pests such as Stem Borer and Fall Army Worm (FAW) and ...
