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.
‘Cognitive technologies’: Automated supply chains could alleviate pandemic-fueled food shortages
As the coronavirus crisis takes a massive toll on global markets, officials are increasingly raising alarms about the food supply ...
Plant-based bottles could help slash 300 million tons of plastic pollution
Beer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into ...
Africa needs pest-resistant crops and other biology-based solutions to crack down on fall armyworm
Most Malawians, 80 per cent of the population, are subsistence farmers, depending on agriculture for survival. After harvesting, many farmers ...
Biotech rice cuts pesticide and energy use compared to non-GMO counterpart, study finds
The release of environmental emissions, which partly emanates from the application of chemical inputs, is a major global concern. Planting ...
With neonicotinoid insecticides banned, wasps might help UK canola growers combat cabbage stem flea beetle
Researchers have determined that the Microctonus brassicae wasp species, and genetically similar parasitic wasps, could be used in controlled conditions ...
Iowa farmer: I was duped by misleading ‘organic’ food labels. Learn from my mistakes
Years ago, I watched a “documentary” about the American food supply. While I’m not going to tell you the U.S ...
Coronavirus pandemic slows booming sales of plant-based meat
No doubt about it: makers of plant-based meat are experiencing blockbuster growth during the pandemic for a variety of reasons ...
Study: Bt eggplant wins market and farmer acceptance in Bangladesh
Farmers have achieved significantly higher yields and revenues by growing genetically engineered, insect-resistant eggplant (Bt brinjal), which has gained market ...
Plant ‘probiotics’: Feeding crops good bacteria may prevent pest damage without chemicals
Scientists have developed plant ‘probiotics’ that help fight disease without the use of expensive pesticides. UK researchers say beneficial bacteria ...
India battles locust infestation that could destroy enough food to feed 35,000 people—every day
Massive swarms of desert locusts are destroying crops across western and central India, spearing into Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab ...
France reinstates ban on US cherry imports over pesticide safety fears
On April 8, 2020 France published its fifth emergency decree banning fresh cherry imports from countries where the use of ...
Gene editing among top ’emerging innovations’ needed to reach sustainable food system, 50 experts say
An international team of almost 50 experts identified 75 emerging innovations and 8 action points that can help speed up ...
Neonicotinoid insecticide ban, poor weather cut EU canola harvest area to 13-year low, USDA finds
Rapeseed production in the European Union (EU27 + UK) for 2020/21 is forecast at 17.0 million metric tons (mmt), 0.2 ...
Gene editing could help protect billions of ash trees from deadly Emerald Ash Borer
Billions of ash trees could be rescued from a killer beetle through cross-breeding with more resistant varieties and gene editing, ...
With glyphosate-cancer settlement nearing, is the Roundup controversy coming to an end?
Bayer AG is close to a turning point in its legal battle over the weedkiller Roundup. But it still has ...
Viewpoint: To feed the world with minimal environmental impact, we can’t rely on organic farming
If the goal in farming is feeding an increasing population with least impact, conventional agriculture is the approach most likely ...
Biotech potatoes: A case study of how genetic engineering can improve our food supply
To help demonstrate the power of biotechnology, consider the following analogy: Imagine you have two decks of cards, one red ...
Misconceptions about GMOs in Ghana due to weak education, study reveals
Knowledge about genetically modified (GM) food and biotechnology is low among the Ghanaian public due to low levels of education ...
Humans may have driven weeds to evolve to resemble crop plants—And they even became edible
Nikolai Vavilov’s story has stuck with Longjiang Fan ever since he learned about the Soviet plant biologist during his undergraduate ...
Impossible Foods says plant-based meat can ‘disrupt’ animal agriculture without displacing farmers
The plant-based meat industry will need the millions of workers now employed in animal agriculture, the founder of Impossible Foods ...
Infographic: Philippines could boost crop yields 192%, cut pesticide use 48% with GMO insect-resistant eggplant
In the Philippines, eggplant farming is a major source of income for thousands of farmers in the eggplant-producing regions in ...
Regenerative agriculture boosts soil health but unlikely to slow climate change, report shows
Agriculture needs to close an 11-gigaton greenhouse gas (GHG) gap between expected emissions in 2050 and those needed to hold ...
Viewpoint: Greenpeace lobbies to ban fungicides that kill cancer-causing mycotoxins
A vast network of organizations, including known players such as Greenpeace, are throwing a myriad of unscientific publications at the ...
Could CRISPR turn nutritious but unpopular vegetables into flavorful snacks?
You probably know that kale is packed with antioxidants and other nutrients and that you should be eating more of ...
Bees pollinate 1/3 of our food? Entomologist debunks 6 pervasive pollinator myths
.... [B]ees are ever-increasing in popularity across many sectors including conservation, gardening, fashion, marketing, and public/corporate strategies .... And as ...
Facing record-breaking temperatures, Belgium field tests drought-tolerant corn varieties
The effects of global warming are becoming evident even in Belgium. 2018 was exceptionally warm and dry and the summer ...
GMO eggplant contains 30 times more beta-carotene to help battle vitamin A deficiency
.... Osaka Prefecture University announced that it has succeeded in developing eggplants that contain about 30 times more beta-carotene, which ...
