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.
CRISPR immunizes rice, staple crop consumed by billions, against devastating bacterial infection
Genome editing has made one of the world’s most important crops resistant to a devastating bacterial infection. ... The researchers ...
78% of soybean, 76% of cotton grown globally in 2018 were GMO, as farmers continued adopting biotech crops
The four major biotech crops — soybeans, maize, cotton, and canola — were the most adopted biotech crops by 26 ...
Viewpoint: New study provides clear evidence of substantial insect biomass and biodiversity losses
There are certain times in life .... when we think that we know something but the evidence is less than ...
EPA, USDA, FDA launch food-waste collaboration to help ‘build sustainable agricultural’ system
On October 30, 2019 the leaders of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Department ...
Glyphosate-cancer lawsuit tally doubles to 42,700, as settlement talks attract more plaintiffs, Bayer says
Germany’s Bayer is now facing 42,700 U.S. plaintiffs blaming its glyphosate-based weedkillers for their cancer, more than twice the tally ...
We need pollinators to grow food in space, but bees may not survive harsh extraterrestrial environment, study shows
One of the world’s newest space analogs is inside a white ziggurat on top of a former nuclear bunker in ...
Robot-powered plant science helps grape growers predict yields, detect pest threats
For grape growers, accurately predicting each season’s yield is key to a successful harvest. Underpredict, and you won’t have enough ...
Viewpoint: Why agroecology alone won’t boost sustainable farming in the developing world
Global farmers must not only feed ten billion people by 2050 but do so while lowering agricultural greenhouse gas emissions ...
Environmental Working Group slams joint EPA-PETA effort to end pesticide testing on animals
Leaders from the Humane Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals flanked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler ...
Fifth farmer sentenced in $142 million fraudulent organic grain scheme, largest in US history
A Missouri farmer who played a role in the largest organic grain fraud scheme in U.S. history has been sentenced ...
Rat-munching monkeys could protect palm oil, most widely consumed vegetable oil, from rodents
Found as an ingredient in many processed and packaged foods, palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil. Now, ...
Soil fungi turn struggling wheat into ‘climate-smart’ crop with boosted nutrient uptake in new study
Introducing fungi to wheat boosted their uptake of key nutrients and could lead to new, 'climate smart' varieties of crops, ...
Mennonite family shuns gadgets but grows GMO corn
How many days could you live without your cell phone, laptop or favorite communications tool? Modern technology has become such ...
The Beepocalypse that wasn’t? Colony collapse disorder had ‘very small’ effects on commercial pollinators, study finds
Though colony collapse disorder has generated a great deal of concern, the phenomenon has had “very small effects” on commercial ...
Australian farmer: Anti-glyphosate activists resemble ‘climate deniers’ in their assault on mainstream science
The global war on glyphosate has arrived in Australia. Our media has been closely following media coverage of the recent ...
Viewpoint: On GMOs, energy production, ‘fear of progress’ is Europe’s main attribute
Shale gas, GMOs: here are two topics that usually arouse the public's worst fears. [Europe] has managed to ban the ...
Thailand glyphosate ban threatens over $500 million worth of American crop exports, USDA warns
Thailand’s ban on three chemicals used in farming that its government deemed hazardous could threaten imports of American agricultural products ...
Engineered molecule could protect key food crops from intensifying droughts as climate changes
An engineered small molecule called opabactin that targets the receptor for the hormone abscisic acid (ABA), which plants release in ...
CRISPR crops, precision medicine could fuel 17.2% annual growth in North American gene-editing research
"The growth of the genome editing market is primarily attributed to the rise in the production of genetically modified crops ...
Iron-carrying protein myoglobin improves growth, texture, color of lab-grown meat
A team of Tufts University-led researchers exploring the development of cultured meat found that the addition of the iron-carrying protein ...
EU lawmakers: New bee safety rules won’t protect pollinators from neonic pesticides long term
The European Parliament on [October 23] blocked a diluted proposal by the 28-nation bloc’s executive arm on protecting bees from ...
Cotton industry prepares to commercialize FDA-approved GMO seeds to help ‘feed 500 million people’
The cotton industry hopes to launch a new market for a genetically modified cotton plant whose seeds are edible for ...
Viewpoint: ‘There are no long-term GMO safety studies,’ and 9 other biotech myths debunked
Can salt be a GMO? Is it true that no long-term studies have been done on GMOs? There are many ...
‘No evidence’ low-level glyphosate exposure causes kidney damage in children, study shows
The goal of this study was to assess biomarkers of exposure to glyphosate and assess potential associations with renal function ...
California grows 1/3 of US produce—95% of state’s fruits, vegetables below EPA pesticide limits, and none pose a health risk
Once again, tests showed that the vast majority of fresh produce collected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) ...
Rodale Institute lashes out at Swedish study that finds yield shortfall, increased land use, ‘huge climate change downside’ in organic farming
Not surprisingly, the debate over organic versus conventional farming is heavily polarized in academic circles .... In December 2018, researchers ...
Simple test could speed development of drought-tolerant wheat as climate change accelerates
Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), ARC Center of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, and CSIRO Agriculture and Food ...
