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.
FDA halts food manufacturing facility inspections to slow coronavirus spread
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to “flatten the curve,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is halting ...
Next-generation insect-resistant crops could beat back pests farmers can’t control with chemicals
To compensate for plant’s reduced defenses, farmers have used insecticides or pesticides to control pests and kill those which attack ...
Customized biotech yeast could make more plant-based proteins and replace artificial food additives
A Brazilian biotech start-up is custom-designing novel, natural yeast strains that can be used to make plant proteins, replace artificial ...
Coronavirus boosts likelihood of food shortage in Kenya as farmers battle crop-destroying locust swarms
Several counties are battling new desert locust invasions despite the ongoing spraying of hatchlings .... Farmers have urged the government ...
Europe fears empty grocery stores amid coronavirus outbreak, but food companies say there’s plenty to go around
Naked supermarket shelves and masked shoppers hoarding pasta have become the iconic images of the coronavirus crisis so far. But ...
Viewpoint: Lack of trust in science on GMOs, vaccines and climate change fuels coronavirus misinformation
What is driving the novel coronavirus infodemic? Fear, uncertainty and opportunistic marketing are all playing a role. But it is ...
Eat a big breakfast to lose weight? This old nutritional adage isn’t backed up by science
Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper is an old nutritional adage that at ...
Existing research may downplay environmental benefits of organic farming, new study claims
The environmental effects of agriculture and food are hotly debated. But the most widely used method of analysis often tends ...
Why it’s safe to order food and go grocery shopping during the coronavirus outbreak
President Donald Trump and governors of various states have suggested Americans should avoid restaurants due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead ...
Plant-based meat titans Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat face local competition as they expand into Asia
From lab-grown "seafood" to dumplings made with tropical fruit instead of pork, rising demand for sustainable meat alternatives in Asia ...
Activist-led lawsuit alleges EPA glyphosate weedkiller approval violated Endangered Species Act
EPA's interim registration approval of glyphosate in January now faces its first court challenge, as a number of food safety, ...
Coronavirus has ‘snarled’ food distribution operations, threatening shortages and higher prices
Global warehouses are stuffed with frozen cuts of pork, wheels of cheese and bags of rice. But as the coronavirus ...
Gene editing might help restore extinct plants used as food, medicine and perfume thousands of years ago
We debate the ethics of reviving extinct species like the passenger pigeon or woolly mammoth, with scientists clamoring to make some ...
Viewpoint: Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ produce list stokes pesticide fears in an ‘already anxiety-ridden world’
Each year, the pro-organic think tank Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases its 'Dirty Dozen,' a list of fruits and vegetables ...
Increased seed oil content could make CRISPR-edited Camelina a desireable choice for cooking and animal feed
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. [on March 19] announced the results from field tests conducted in the 2019 growing season in the ...
College undergraduates embrace biotech after teaching high school students the science behind GMOs
Some college students tested a class on their knowledge of GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. "Two of these chips are ...
Viewpoint: There’s no industry conspiracy to corrupt research on bees and neonicotinoid insecticides
There’s a stereotype that industry-funded research is inherently compromised. Perhaps this is true for some specific cases, but for honey ...
Responsible use of biotech crops can help feed 800 million-plus chronically undernourished people
In 2018, the number of chronically undernourished people in the world is estimated to have increased to 821.6 million, up ...
Should we abandon ‘monoculture’ farming to protect biodiversity and slow climate change?
How we farm can guard against climate change and protect critical wildlife -- but only if we leave single-crop farms ...
Ancient plant genes could increase food production without added fertilizer use, mitigating deadly algal blooms
Some 500 million years ago -- when our continents were connected in a single land mass and most life existed ...
Fall armyworm adds bitter note to farmer’s ‘sweet and sour journey’
For 83-year-old Florence Wambui Theiru, a life of farming in Central Kenya has been a sweet and sour journey. Over ...
51% of Americans say GMO-derived food is unhealthy, 59% know very little about it, Pew survey shows
Americans have mixed views about genetically modified foods (GMOs) and their implications for society. About half of U.S. adults (51%) ...
Podcast: How editing bacteria with CRISPR could make food more nutritious
Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou is the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North ...
Kenya GMO insect-resistant Bt cotton approval exposes ‘missed opportunity’ for neighboring Uganda
Kenya has made history as it joined six other African countries in commercial cultivation of BT cotton. Peter Munya, the ...
If the FDA doesn’t say they’re safe, ‘they won’t go to market’: What you should know about GMOs and food safety
Glow-in-the-dark mice, silk-producing goats, venomous cabbage — these are all wacky and downright unsettling examples of what can happen when scientists tinker with ...
Plant breeders rapidly adopting gene editing to commercialize more high-yielding crops
It would be inaccurate to say that plant breeders in Canada are ‘a dime a dozen’. A rough estimate places ...
Viewpoint: GMOs responsible for the coronavirus outbreak? That’s scientifically absurd
The “passage of species” of a pathogenic organism from animal to human being, which explains the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 ...
