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.
Kenya needs to overcome inhibitions about GMOs, official says
Efforts to “put technologies in the hands of farmers that protect against drought and insects cannot be taken lightly.” ...
‘Post-organic produce’: Expanding indoor farming industry aims to make agriculture more sustainable
If you live in the U.S., the last time you ate a salad, the lettuce inside it almost certainly came ...
Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods eye 2020 expansion into China as plant-based meat market approaches $140 billion
Beyond Meat Inc aims to start production in Asia before the end of next year, as it gets closer to ...
DNA sequencing uncovers genes that could yield bigger, sweeter, crispier watermelon
Scientists from Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences took a comprehensive look at the genomes of 414 watermelons representing ...
Researchers want USDA approval to release GMO chestnut tree as part of forest restoration effort
Chestnuts harvested from high branches on a chilly fall morning look typical: they’re marble sized, russet colored and nestled in ...
Steak from protein powder: Next generation of lab-grown foods on the horizon
It may sound like science fiction, but in a few short years the family dinner table may be laden with ...
GMO Golden Rice lauded as one of the most important research projects over the past 50 years
The Golden Rice humanitarian project has been recognized by Project Management Institute (PMI) as one of the Most Influential Projects ...
Neonic pesticides offer negligible benefits to farmers? ‘Nonsense,’ says Iowa soybean grower
Most people would say that life is unpredictable. We have our plans and routines, but there’s no way to tell ...
Meet the ‘flavorists’: Food chemists who make plant-based Beyond, Impossible burgers taste like ‘meat’
Marie Wright dips four long strips of paper, the kind you’d sniff a perfume sample from in Sephora, into bottles ...
Microbes living in plant roots fight off fungal infection, cutting need for pesticides, study shows
Micro-organisms living inside plant roots team up to boost the plant's growth and tolerance to stress. An international research team ...
Video: ‘If I don’t farm, we won’t eat’: Kenyan farmer illustrates the impact of crop disease in Africa
Steven Oruko Kasamani is a smallholder farmer in Mayoni, Kenya, growing corn, soybean, kale and tomato to support a family ...
‘Artificial leaf’ converts CO2 into biofuel, potential new strategy in battle to slow climate change
Scientists have created an “artificial leaf” to fight climate change by inexpensively converting harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into a useful ...
Single genetic tweak in GMO corn boosts yields 10%—other crops could be improved, too
Supporters of genetic engineering have long promised it will help meet the world’s growing demand for food. But despite the ...
Microsoft previews ‘data-driven’ farming platform as solution to global food demand boom
The global population is expected to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, and the world’s farmers will have to grow ...
Farmers know switch to organic means lower yields, but expect price premium to make up for losses
For decades, the conventional wisdom surrounding organic farming has been that it produces crops that are healthier and better for ...
Podcast: CRISPR might save the banana from deadly disease. Will consumers get behind the technology?
Cavendish bananas seem to be abundant in grocery stores, but a fungus has been threatening its existence for years, and ...
Vancouver, Toronto continue to battle invasive weeds with Roundup after Health Canada rejects glyphosate-cancer link
The City of Vancouver uses the controversial Roundup herbicide. More than 42,700 Americans sued its maker, Monsanto-Bayer. They say that ...
Fifth US retailer announces plan to ‘phase out’ neonic pesticides from supply chain
Another food retailer has announced a plan to minimize its use of pesticides in a bid to help protect pollinators, ...
Severe drought threatens food security in sub–Saharan Africa
The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly severe in sub-Saharan Africa, where millions of people are facing severe food ...
Study claiming neonic pesticides harm wild birds has no relevance to real-world conditions, plant geneticist argues
Capturing wild birds and force-feeding 3-10% of a lethal dose (of anything) is cruel. It’s not surprising birds would become ...
Judge dismisses false advertising lawsuit against Panera over products containing glyphosate residues
A putative class action alleging that Panera LLC’s labeling and marketing of its food products as “clean” or “100% clean” ...
Sterile GMO grass could provide sustainable biofuel, cut water use on golf courses
As representatives from agri-chemical and seed companies seek ways to feed a world population that is projected to balloon during ...
Viewpoint: Anti-pesticide Environmental Working Group spreads chemophobia at taxpayer expense
.... It may sound crazy, but the federal government funds a network of activists that spew tons of needlessly alarming ...
Bayer says glyphosate-cancer legal settlement should cap future liability, as number of lawsuits surges past 40,000
Already reeling from an avalanche of lawsuits, German agriculture and healthcare giant Bayer AG said on [October 30] the number ...
Genetic tweak doubles yields of sorghum, globally important food source, in new study
Plant scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), in their search for solutions to ...
Danone, General Mills to Congress: USDA investment in carbon sequestration on farms can help mitigate looming ‘climate crisis’
CLIMATE CRISIS COMMITTEE LOOKS FOR AG SOLUTIONS: Congress took a rare dive into the nexus of climate change and agriculture ...
CRISPR-edited wheat cuts immune response in ‘gluten-sensitive’ patients by 85%, new study shows
Approximately one person in 100 has celiac disease, which means for them eating gluten is risking diarrhea, vomiting, malnutrition, and ...
