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.
Global access to education is growing. Here’s how GMO crops might be helping
One of the consistent benefits of GM crop adoption has been a higher farm and household income. In an assessment ...
Online grocers struggle to meet demand as COVID-19 keeps shoppers away from supermarkets
A pandemic forcing everyone to stay home could be the perfect moment for online grocery services. In practice, they’ve been ...
Viewpoint: AARP misleads elderly about health, environmental benefits of organic food
Scaring old people is a time-tested strategy to scrounge up votes .... The coronavirus has made scamming even easier. The ...
‘I’m a GMO’: Melanoma survivor explains how biotech improves cancer treatments and our food supply
Several years ago I felt several bumps on my head which turned out to be active melanoma tumors .... The ...
Viewpoint: Africa’s battle against locust swarms exposes folly of fearing pesticides and GMOs
Europeans are panic-buying in the supermarkets around the continent .... The retailers are being overrun, but the only real shortage ...
Video: As coronavirus closes restaurants, farmers sell produce directly to consumers
Farming is becoming a forgotten business due to the coronavirus. Normally, around this time of year, farmers in Florida would ...
This health writer used to fear the ‘Dirty Dozen.’ Here’s why she quit worrying about pesticides on food
I have a confession: My shopping and eating habits have been influenced by the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” lists ...
Many grocery stores are running low on milk, so why are dairy farmers throwing out their supplies?
We are holding our breath waiting for the call that others have received telling them that the milk their farm ...
Coronavirus may force massive changes to restaurant industry, including customer temperature checks
Many are dreaming about what they'll do when the coronavirus pandemic is behind us. People are already imagining their first ...
Tequila-powered cars: Will biofuel from agave plants help avert energy shortages?
The agave plant used to make tequila could be established in semi-arid Australia as an environmentally friendly solution to Australia's ...
Viewpoint: From GMOs to vaccines to climate change, we need to challenge anti-science activism in the 2020s
The last decade was remarkable for a rise in antiscience activities, especially in the areas of climate change, air pollution, ...
Soy protein could help turn lab-grown steaks into realistic beef alternatives
Currently scientists have only produced relatively tiny nuggets of lab-grown meat, which can imitate ground beef for use in hamburgers ...
Could indoor ‘freight farms’ provide ideal growing conditions for CRISPR-edited crops?
The technology and innovation moving within modern day agriculture is so fast-paced and expansive, you can find futuristic solutions, ideas, ...
Washing your food with soap won’t kill coronavirus—but it could make you very sick
The debate around giving your fruits and veggies a bubble bath blew up [in late March] following a viral video ...
95.5% of Europe’s produce below legal pesticide limits, posing little risk to consumers, food safety officials say
EFSA has published its annual report on pesticide residues found in food in the European Union. The report is based ...
How GMO, gene-edited crops can help feed billions of people without fueling climate change
We face a formidable challenge in the years ahead. We need to reduce [carbon] emissions and also sustain a growing ...
Video: What would happen if all the world’s farmers grew organic food?
Stuck at home without your usual organic veggies? Just buy regular ones. They're safe, nutritious and might even be better ...
Pigs could accelerate coronavirus vaccine development
The Pirbright Institute is joining in the global battle to help control COVID-19 by using its unique expertise and facilities ...
Viewpoint: Bees and pesticides—Europe’s precautionary rules neglect science, hinder sustainable farming
A core element of EU environmental law is the precautionary principle (PP), which theoretically requires regulators to err on the ...
Glyphosate and other pesticides pose little threat to soil health, many studies show
Most no-tillers use some external inputs like herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, though there are certainly those who have or are ...
Coronavirus presents ‘looming food crisis,’ FAO warns
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the global coronavirus pandemic may trigger a “looming food ...
New GMO crops are coming, but why do just four companies develop so many of them?
In November, Science magazine .... described how corn breeding researchers were able to activate a gene that regulated corn growth ...
Clones, enzymes, stem cells and more: Learn these scientific terms to better understand biotech news
Quite often, you hear about advances in biotechnology in the news .... [Y]ou might feel as if the science and ...
EPA green lights weedkiller for use on GMO soy, helping farmers control herbicide-resistant weeds
[March 30], the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the registration of the use of isoxaflutole on genetically engineered soybeans, ...
Restricting trade to clamp down on coronavirus may lead to food shortages
As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, fears of a deep global recession are mounting. Some also fear that food supplies ...
How America’s obesity epidemic could exacerbate deadly impact of coronavirus
With businesses facing bankruptcy, schools closed and sports events canceled, President Trump and others have now asked: Is the cure ...
Low-toxicity pesticide tricks fungi into ‘committing suicide’, safeguarding key food crops from disease
Pathogenic fungi pose a huge and growing threat to global food security. Currently, we protect our crops against fungal disease ...
