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.
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 ...
‘Burger wars’: Battle over meat consumption grows partisan as lab-grown protein options expand
At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC .... an unlikely political rallying cry was born. ‘They want ...
Indian geneticist: ‘Policy paralysis’ on biotech crops threatens country’s food production
An Indian farmer has been found illegally growing a genetically modified (GM) aubergine. The event immediately sparked anti-GM protests and ...
Plant breeders will move CRISPR gene-editing programs out of EU without updated regulations, industry group says
A number of breeding companies have promised to relocate their advanced mutagenesis breeding programs outside Europe and others will follow ...
Will complicated science, ‘rising anti-business sentiment’ cripple Bayer’s glyphosate defense?
The epic $2.055-billion jury verdict against Monsanto over accusations that its blockbuster weed killer Roundup causes cancer is just one ...
GMO salmon production begins as first batch of bioengineered eggs arrive at new US facility despite activist opposition
On a winding road on the outskirts of a small Rust Belt town in eastern Indiana, a fish hatchery is ...
Arkansas bans dicamba herbicide use until fall following more than 1,000 crop damage complaints
As of May 26, farmers in Arkansas can no longer rely on dicamba to kill their weeds. The Arkansas Plant ...
Harvard food security expert: European influence keeps GMO crops out of Africa
African countries have long maintained some of the strictest regulations on genetically modified agriculture, with only four out of 47 ...
Bayer GMO seed factory expansion in Chile sparks outcry from environmental groups
"Fuera Bayer-Monsanto de Chile" (Bayer-Monsanto out of Chile) is written on the colorfully painted posters held by protesters on the ...
Here’s how GMO crops preserve soil health and curb climate change
A healthy agricultural production system cannot exist without healthy soils. Aside from being the habitat of diverse organisms that contribute ...
German sugar beet planting drops nearly 3% following neonicotinoid insecticide ban
German farmers are estimated to have reduced sugar beet sowings by 2.8 percent to about 379,000 hectares for the 2019 ...
Royalty-free genes reduce GMO seed costs in Africa
Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa will be able to access improved seeds at low cost, thanks to the use of ...
