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.
What chemicals are used in organic farming?
[N]atural agricultural chemicals ... provide organic farming with pest management, nutrient supplementation and soil improvement solutions. [These include:] ... Pyrethrins: ...
Unpacking RFK, Jr.’s claims: Are canola, soy bean and safflower oil feeding the obesity epidemic and poisoning America?
[Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.] has said...vegetable oils — extracted from the seeds of plants, like canola, soybean and safflower — are ...
Abu Dhabi’s ADQ to focus on vegetable gene editing as it seeks stake in seeds company
ADQ, Abu Dhabi's wealth fund, plans to acquire a 35 per cent stake in France's Limagrain Vegetable Seeds as the ...
From Lab to Forest: Biotech Trees for a Sustainable Future
Climate change is making forests more vulnerable to stress such as wildfires and pests, amid growing demand for their products ...
Viewpoint: ‘Alarming new research on glyphosate?’ Here’s how the Ramazzini Institute distorts science, spreads alarmism and fuels baseless lawsuits
According to a new study, glyphosate, the most widely used pesticide in the world, is extremely carcinogenic. In this study, ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s meandering path on gene editing policy may soon near a breakthrough moment
A very large number of countries (more than 30 spread over every continent: America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Rim) ...
Tennessee becomes 16th state to require labelling of cell-based meat
Tennessee is laying the groundwork for how any "cell-cultured food product" can be sold in the state as lab-grown meat ...
AI is helping to develop gentically engineered food for long-term space missions. We may all benefit
Stored meats, tomatoes and even onions can't last a few weeks let alone a seven-to-10 month journey to Mars but ...
Opportunities, challenges and concerns as gene edited pigs may soon be on the regulatory platter in Europe
The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) recent decision [approving gene edited pigs] has prompted [quesions about] what this technology ...
Younger Chinese farmers readily embracing AI and other smart technologies
From AI-powered data platforms to drones flying across the skies, Generation Z farmers in China are embracing a modern approach ...
How plant-based meats are made
As a vegetarian I’d be the first to say that plant-based meat has gotten significantly more pleasant in the last ...
Gene editing could revolutionize sustainable food production in Peru
Peruvian agriculture is [characterized] by crops such as potato, maize, rice, asparagus, mango, banana, avocado, cassava, onion, oil palm, chili, ...
M&M’s and Fruit Loops — two symbols of dyes in processed food — are resisting RFK, Jr.’s call for ‘voluntary’ replacements
[A]fter he declared war on synthetic food dyes, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already secured the cooperation of ...
USDA takes aim at Chinese farmland holdings amid rising national security concerns
U.S. Department of Agriculture chief Brooke Rollins announced...that the U.S. government will move to ban sales of farmland nationwide to ...
Will AI undermine or advance the fast-growing regenerative agriculture movement?
For many, the essence of regenerative agriculture lies in working with nature, not against it. This perspective often views high-tech ...
Gene editing may be the only hope to combat the citrus greening scourge
CRISPR is now steering fresh new advancements in agriculture, particularly in combating Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, a ...
Viewpoint: Can gene editing address the looming food supply crisis?
As our civilization faces the conjunction of rising population and climate instability, the question of food security is rising back ...
Farm chemicals and technology: Challenges, risks and opportunities
Agricultural chemicals, including insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, and plant growth regulators, are indispensable tools in modern farming. They play a crucial ...
China, U.S. and Australia emerge as central hub of smart agriculture as AI and new technologies revolutionize farming
A bibliometric analysis published in Agriculture...maps the explosive growth of digital agriculture research from 1979 to 2025. ... Using Web of ...
Decades of fishing permanently rewired the DNA of cod
According to researchers from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, decades of intense fishing pressure didn’t just reduce the [cod] ...
Could soybeans replace toxic foams used to douse fires to cut down on spraying toxic chemicals?
Cross Plains began to look into creating a PFAS-free, soy-based firefighting foam after being approached by the United Soybean Board ...
Viewpoint: Food as medicine — with obesity and medical-related issues growing, we need to refocus our perspective on fruits and vegetables
University of Florida researchers are calling for a national transformation in how we address the ongoing epidemic of obesity and ...
Does reverse evolution exist? Tomatoes grown on the Galapagos Islands appear to be de-evolving
Researchers argue that despite how controversial it might sound, tomatoes in the Galápagos actually seem to be going backwards, not ...
Viewpoint: Anti-pesticide activism in Kenya could lead to a repeat of Sri Lanka’s disastrous rejection of pesticides five years ago
In 2025, Kenya demonstrates why scientists plead for evidence-based pest control policies, as the country succumbs to misinformation with devastating ...
Viewpoint: Correlation vs. Causation: How epidemiological studies misleads regulators, misrepresents risk and feeds chemophobia
In 1915's The Temperance Program, Thomas F. Hubbard et al. laid out the progressive case for why alcohol needed to ...
Australia’s deregulation of gene edited foods moves forward despite organic industry opposition
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved updated definitions for genetically modified (GM) food in the Australia New Zealand Food ...
Lab-grown salmon on sale in the U.S.: First seafood to earn FDA approval
The Coho salmon, pinkish orange and streaked with lines of white fat, wasn’t wild-caught in Alaska or farmed in Chile. It ...
