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.
3D ‘bioprinting’ could help produce customized, sustainable and more nutrias lab-grown meats
Researchers at IIT-Guwahati [Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati] have developed lab-grown meat, which is nutritious and will be a step ...
Golden Rice approval in Bangladesh hits temporary snag but approval in early 2020 and planting by 2021 on track
Golden Rice was developed almost two decades ago by biologists Prof Ingo Potrykus of the Institute of Plant Sciences in ...
Bayer’s Monsanto division pleads guilty to misdemeanor for spraying banned pesticide and storing hazardous waste in Hawaii in 2014, will pay $10.2 million fine
Monsanto pleaded guilty to spraying a banned pesticide on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and agreed to pay $10.2 million ...
Does glyphosate or other common herbicides endanger beneficial earthworms? New study finds ‘low risk’, with Roundup among the safest
Agrochemicals are an important component of agricultural production systems. There are increasing concerns about the effect of agrochemicals on soil ...
Viewpoint: Proposed Philippines biotech authority could streamline GMO crop approvals, help farmers battle hunger
According to the biotech timeline prepared by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), the modern biotechnology ...
Can the ‘trendy’ microbiome diet ease consumer fear of GMOs?
The acceptance of the trendy microbiome diet among consumers has put wind in the sails of ag-biotech start up Joyn ...
Podcast: ‘OMG, GMOs!’ Bill Nye answers your questions about biotech crops
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) often gets a bad rap, but farmers have been using them for decades to feed the ...
CRISPR, disease-sensing technologies could yield a ‘cornucopia’ of healthier, tastier foods
Consumers may soon begin purchasing fun-sized fruits and vegetables, as well as processed foods that incorporate healthier ingredients .... And ...
Expanding India’s crop diversity could boost access to vital nutrients for 200 million people, study shows
There has been a substantial increase in food production over the last 50 years, but it has been accompanied by ...
Thailand glyphosate ban could boost weed-control costs by $268 million, pesticide trade group says
A trade group representing pesticide firms urged Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha to delay a ban due Dec. 1 on ...
Bill reinstating neonicotinoid pesticide ban on wildlife refuges gains traction in Congress
A bill that would reinstate a regulation banning certain pesticides from wildlife refuges was approved by the House Committee on ...
Bayer faces $500 million Monsanto glyphosate-cancer class action suit in Canada
Toronto-based law firm Diamond & Diamond is spearheading a $500 million class action lawsuit against various Roundup makers, including pharmaceutical ...
Bangladesh GMO Golden Rice approval was expected in November, but regulatory hurdles remain
Soon. That has long been scientists' answer when asked about the approval of Golden Rice, a genetically modified (GM) crop ...
CRISPR-edited sorghum could provide needed protein to 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa
RESEARCHERS have achieved a major breakthrough in sorghum, elevating the protein of the globally important cereal crop from 9-10 per ...
Nanotechnology helps farmers battle increasingly pesticide-resistant weeds, insects with fewer chemicals
A University of Toronto graduate school project is now extending the life of widely used crop protection products. Vive Crop ...
Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat success spurs Chinese firms to develop plant-based meats
While China is no stranger to food using vegetarian ingredients to give a meat-like flavor, the buzz around Beyond Meat ...
Biofortified CRISPR-edited rice could help battle global vitamin A deficiency
Genome editing could be an alternative approach to improve the vitamin A content of crops, according to a study by ...
Sugar-free sweetener derived from GMO yeast could hit grocery stores in 2020
Cargill Inc. and the Dutch ingredients giant Royal DSM this week began churning out a new sugar substitute that mimics ...
Tree planting can help slow global warming, but it’s no panacea, climate experts say
.... There’s room to plant enough trees, albeit many, many, many trees, to counter a big chunk of the planet-warming ...
How a genetically modified morning glory was almost the 2020 Olympics mascot
Sebastian Cocioba, a 29-year-old college dropout and self-styled “plant hacker,” has lived there with his parents for the past decade ...
First plants that moved from water to land were natural GMOs, research reveals
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group ...
Soybean designed to grow on exhausted pasture land could help protect Amazon rainforest
The agrichemical giant Syngenta wants to go green by developing specific varieties of soybeans to be grown away from the ...
Leaked document suggests EU may relax its strict CRISPR-edited crop regulations
The European Commission plans to create specific legislation to facilitate the production of genetically edited crops, following the July 2018 ...
Pesticide importers threaten lawsuit to block Thailand’s glyphosate ban, warning of serious economic impacts
Importers of three toxic farm chemicals, which are set to be officially banned from Dec 1, have vowed they will ...
Ghana’s parliament gives GMO crops a boost
Ghana’s parliament has approved regulations that open the door for the country to commercialize genetically modified (GMO) crops. The regulations ...
Nanosensor detects trace amounts of chemicals, helping farmers cut pesticide, fertilizer use
Good things come in small packages. Sadly, so do bad things. That’s where Iowa State University’s (ISU) Department of Mechanical ...
5 things plant-based meat makers can do to win consumer acceptance
Kerry, after completing proprietary consumer research this year, has identified five key issues that food companies should address when formulating ...
