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.
EPA moves to streamline process for evaluating pesticide impacts on endangered species
[June 6] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler hosted [a panel of federal regulators] to discuss improving the ...
Biopesticide spinosad, popular in organic farming, may harm honeybees, study shows
Bees have experienced substantial colony losses, which were often associated with insecticides. Besides synthetic insecticides biological compounds such as spinosad ...
Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat can’t keep up with demand for plant-based burgers
Fast-food restaurants are rushing to add meat-free burgers to their menus, hoping these higher-priced alternatives will help them capture additional ...
Viewpoint: Want to understand crop biotech? Avoid these discredited anti-GMO sources
Here’s a tip for all the anti-GMO activists out there: If you ever want to get the last word in ...
Can processed food boost global nutrition, despite its unhealthy reputation?
There’s a lot of debate about the safety and value of food that’s been processed .... UMass Amherst food scientist ...
Will warming planet, population boom push skeptical consumers to embrace GMO, CRISPR crops?
As part of an agricultural charm offensive by the US government, a group of British journalists was invited into the ...
Food waste-reducing non-browning Romaine lettuce edges closer to market
The agriculture industry is constantly trying to reduce food waste. To continue that effort, Intrexon Corporation announced it is advancing ...
‘Carbon farming’: The answer to climate change, flooding and declining biodiversity?
The chemical in question is carbon. Too much of it in the atmosphere (in the form of carbon dioxide, a ...
GMO insect-resistant Bt corn cuts pesticide spraying in Spain and Portugal by 37%, study shows
Renowned agricultural economist Graham Brookes of PG Economics published the latest findings on the use of insect resistant maize in ...
USDA proposes regulation ‘overhaul’ to streamline new biotech crop development
Many new genetically engineered crop traits would be exempt from regulation by the Agriculture Department under a sweeping rewrite of ...
Glyphosate-tainted tampons threaten public health? 4 pesticide safety agencies say no
Just like other feminine hygiene products, tampons consist mainly of cotton. As cotton is treated with plant protection products, pesticide ...
Viewpoint: UK bans neonic pesticides, then imports neonic-treated crops at expense of its farmers
The key parts of any fully integrated [pest] management system are the building blocks which are integral to a balanced ...
Bayer asks judge to overturn $80 million glyphosate-cancer verdict, citing evidence excluded from trial
Lawyers for Monsanto Co.’s parent company, Bayer AG, have asked the federal judge overseeing a batch of lawsuits accusing the ...
Almost 10% of French farms now organic, as switch from conventional hits new record
A record number of French farms switched to organic production [2018], helped by the grains sector catching on to the ...
A tale of two GMO crops: Why were omega-3 producing plants developed faster than golden rice?
One of the arguments that has been advanced to promote genetically engineered crops is that .... [c]rops could be engineered ...
Kenya plants demonstrations of drought-tolerant, insect-resistant GMO maize
Kenyan scientists have planted demonstration plots in the country’s eastern and western regions to show how genetically modified (GM) maize ...
From health clinics to farms, CRISPR has a bright future, but diligence required to limit ‘off-target’ effects
The ability to make targeted, intentional changes in chromosomal DNA using the tools of genome editing has been a tremendous ...
Following debut of biotech firm Corteva, farm sector ‘more consolidated than ever’
Corteva Agriscience Inc.’s first day as a stand-alone company is a milestone in an agricultural deal making spree that has ...
Nutritionally enhanced GMO crops could boost public health worldwide, so why have we developed so few?
The potential for using genetic modification (GM) to enhance the nutritional composition of crops .... has been recognized since the ...
William Vogt vs. Norman Borlaug: How two intellectual giants shaped the modern GMO debate
In the book The Wizard and the Prophet, Charles C. Mann exposes the implicit controversy between two visionaries at the ...
Podcast: ‘Endarkenment’—How glyphosate-cancer hysteria spreads despite ample evidence of weed killer’s safety
It's hardly possible to turn on the news, to talk to a farmer, or to visit a nursery without hearing ...
Plants have circadian clocks; knowing how they ‘tick’ could optimize crops for diverse growing conditions
It's widely understood that humans have a circadian clock. When we travel long distances, things get knocked out of kilter ...
GMO Bt crops slow global spread of fall armyworm pest, but some bugs resistant to insecticidal plants
The fall armyworm is hungry, on the move and scaring farmers the world over. The crop-devouring pest has spread from ...
Viewpoint: International science communicator warns crop biotech proponents not to oversell its benefits to wary consumers
We all agree any mention of “genes” and related techniques, tools and applications evoke strong emotions and varied opinions. This ...
Dietitian: ‘Ancient, non-GMO’ salt is a marketing scam—don’t fall for it
My head was spinning after a recent salt-buying trek .... I saw salts with a non-GMO label. To be GMO, ...
GMO lab-grown insect meat key to sustainable food production, researchers argue
Livestock farming is destroying our planet. It is a major cause of land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, ...
Opuah Abeikwen: Fighting to protect Nigeria’s indigenous crops
Opuah Abeikwen was introduced into agriculture and food production by his grandmother, a famous pigeon pea farmer in her local ...
