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.
‘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 ...
‘Green wave’: Environmentalist gains in EU elections could cut farmer access to key pesticides
The ‘green wave’ which saw environmentalist parties make major gains across the continent in the European elections could threaten the ...
Plant-based meat sales hit $760 million in 2018, but GMO skepticism, nutrition concerns could slow industry’s meteoric rise
Amid soaring U.S. demand for meat substitutes — a market that grew 23 percent in 2018 to exceed $760 million ...
The more biotech science you know, the less you fear GMO crops, study finds
Genetically modified (GM) foods are often met with harsh public opposition, though little research has attempted to understand why this ...
Spider venom and fungi: The next generation of ‘eco-friendly’ biopesticides
The global population is predicted to reach 9.77 billion people by the end of 2050, before peaking at more than ...
As consumers become more and more detached from farming, ignorance about modern agriculture and GMOs grows
“Any farm is completely artificial. Even with organic farms, you strip away all the native vegetation,” says Pamela Ronald, a ...
14 EU nations call for ‘unified’ CRISPR crop regulation to boost sustainable farming
The Netherlands and Estonia are leading a coalition of 14 EU member states calling on the next European Commission to ...
Pesticide-focused Save America’s Pollinators Act overlooks primary threats to bees and other pollinators
Amid the continuing decline of pollinators worldwide, U.S. lawmakers recently revived a perennially struggling bill that aims to save these ...
From lab-grown burgers to 3D printed steak, here’s why alternative meat is mainstream in 2019
As the sustainability agenda rises in the food industry, innovators are increasingly looking at ways of swapping out meat for ...
Following US and Argentina, Brazil approves drought-tolerant, herbicide-resistant soybean
Brazil’s bio-security agency CTNBio has approved a new soybean seed that combines technologies to make it resistant to drought and ...
54% of consumers want sustainable food, survey shows, but knowledge of nutrition, farming lacking
Topics like sustainability, plant-based diets and clean eating seem to permeate news about food, but it turns out they’re not ...
‘Small victory’ for Bayer: Judge says firm can move upcoming glyphosate trials to farm states
In a win for Monsanto following more than $2 billion in cancer-trial losses in California against the company’s popular weed ...
Viewpoint: ‘Toxic’ chemicals fueled post-WWII economic boom in the United States—here’s why that’s a problem
[B]efore [World War II], the vast majority of Americans lived in cities, or they lived on farms. Suddenly, with all ...
Canada’s neonicotinoid insecticide rules haven’t hit farmers, and tighter regulations coming?
Health Canada’s April decisions on three neonicotinoid insecticides won’t change much for growers this year — but it also won’t ...
Irish scientist calls for reopening GMO debate
Award-winning Irish biochemist Dr. Richard Murphy says it’s time to revisit the debate around the use of genetically modified organisms ...
How pink bollworm may evolve resistance to GMO Bt crops
Insect resistant Bt crops are widely grown in many countries all over the world to prevent pest attacks in highly ...
Glyphosate-cancer lawsuits spur development of next-generation weed killers
"Total fear and shock." That's how Andrew Kniss, a weed scientist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, describes the ...
