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.
Cardboard-tasting tomatoes? 5,000 newly identified genes may lead to more flavorful fruit
Almost everyone agrees that most store-bought tomatoes don't have much flavor. Now, scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and ...
DNA sequencing reveals complicated evolution of peanuts, staple crop grown on 64 million acres worldwide
According to the USDA, farmers around the world grow 44.9 million metric tons of peanuts on more than 64 million ...
Breeding better steak: Geneticists aim to streamline development of heat-tolerant cattle
For Raluca Mateescu, the battle against climate change involves an unusual task: breeding a better steak. A researcher at the ...
Viewpoint: $2 billion glyphosate-cancer damages highlight why science is ‘no match’ for a persuasive lawyer
Bayer AG hoped it could rely on science to establish the safety of its Roundup weedkiller. But it has clearly ...
Jury in third glyphosate-cancer trial orders Bayer to pay over $2 billion in damages—eighth-largest ever product-defect claim
Bayer AG was ordered to pay more than $2 billion in damages to a California couple that claimed they got ...
Reduced pesticide use in organic farming boosts manual labor as much as 35%
Gleaming organic products have come to occupy an increasingly large portion of grocery store shelves. Many may think that compared to traditional ...
CRISPR, lab-grown meat boost sustainable farming amid fears of biodiversity loss
A global panel of scientists representing more than 130 nations [recently] released the summary of their Global Assessment Report on ...
Disease-resistant GMO chestnut trees could birth ‘new agroforestry industry’
Many Americans know the sad tale of how the American chestnut tree was driven almost to extinction in the 20th ...
Lab-grown burgers are coming, but heated political battle will determine future of cell-cultured meat
Companies in the United States and abroad are moving quickly to bring to market hamburgers and other meat, poultry and ...
Chemical-free gene silencing poised to ‘naturally’ target disease pests that cause $130 billion of annual crop damage
An estimated $130 billion worth of crops are lost every year to diseases caused by nematodes. Targeting the harmful nematodes ...
‘Pan genome’ of world’s wheat could supply genetic variation to breed new crop varieties
The growing demand for wheat, the onset of global warming, and the transitioning of Western farming away from intensive agriculture, ...
Expensive is healthier? How premium organic food prices mislead shoppers
Organic food and organic farming have a really strong association with being “better.” But not everyone means the same thing ...
Bayer to investigate allegation Monsanto collected data of influential journalists, politicians to influence their views on pesticides
Bayer said on [May 12] it was hiring an external law firm to investigate French media complaints that Monsanto, the ...
Viewpoint: Lab-grown meat may hinder effort to develop a ‘just food future’
At the 2019 Milken Global Conference, which brings together business and public policy leaders to explore how market-based solutions could ...
Vermont Senate approves bill restricting neonicotinoid insecticide use, ‘small step’ towards outright ban
Senators gave preliminary approval .... to a bill that would restrict the use of a class of pesticides considered to ...
French President Macron pledges glyphosate ban, halving of pesticide use by 2025 as EU election nears
Emmanuel Macron’s EU election campaign, dubbed Renaissance, finally released its manifesto for the European election taking place later [in May 2019] ...
Oregon bill would let farmers sue biotech firms if GMO crops ‘contaminate’ their fields
The Oregon Legislature is considering a bill that would let farmers sue companies, such as Bayer and Syngenta, that hold ...
Podcast: Burger King’s ‘Impossible’ Whopper—’breakout moment’ for plant-based meat?
The Whopper is an icon of American culture. But the Whopper is getting a complete overhaul — and when we ...
Ethos Chocolate, candy brand that hypes its GMO ingredients, back by popular demand
In its debut in February, the debut of Ethos Chocolate made a big, wonderful, delicious splash — the initial batch of 10,000 ...
Bayer sues former employee for allegedly sharing pesticide trade secrets with competitor
A former scientist at Bayer CropScience shared confidential information with his new employer, which was used to develop commercial biopesticide ...
UK issues emergency use exemption for neonicotinoid insecticide to prevent virus spread in sugar beets
An 120-day emergency authorization has been granted for the use of an insecticide for the control of peach–potato aphids to ...
Nigeria approves two GMO cotton varieties anticipated to boost production from 60,000 to 150,000 tons
Nigeria approved two genetically modified varieties of cotton for use by the nation’s farmers to help boost supply to its ...
Toxic chemicals in your food? How regulation, technological innovation protect consumers from pesticides
Understanding the magnitude and impact of dietary pesticide exposures is a concern for some consumers. However, the ability of consumers ...
Viewpoint: Modern farming, economic growth don’t cause biodiversity decline—they prevent it
Driven perhaps by envy at the attention that climate change is getting, and ambition to set up a great new ...
Higher CO2 emissions, pesticide use raise doubts about sustainability of organic wine
The popularity of organic food and wine is not going away anytime soon. Yet as the European viticultural debate increasingly ...
Video: Fine-tuning beneficial mutations breeds higher yielding tomatoes
Unexpected interactions between mutations can be a thorn in the side for plant breeders, especially when they’re trying to promote ...
When lab-grown meat hits the market, success will hinge on consumer preference, not price
Demand for plant-based options, such as the Impossible Burger, is rising quicker than companies can keep up with. However, for those ...
