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.
Activists, scientists spar over effort to restore American chestnut tree with genetic engineering
The American chestnut tree once sustained a way of life. Pioneers used the tall, straight, and fast-growing tree for fences, ...
Infographic: 1.3 billion tons of food end up in the trash. Here’s how biotech crops can help
Each year the world wastes 1.3 billion tons of food—1/3 of global production. The US throws away approximately 40 percent ...
Video: Where did the infamous needle-in-a-tomato anti-GMO image come from?
It’s become something of a personal quest: find the original “syringe-in-the-plant” image. For the last 5 years, I’ve been communicating ...
Viewpoint: EU precautionary pesticide bans threaten sustainable agriculture
Don’t blame it on sunshine or moonlight … Don’t blame it on good times (remember them?) … Don’t even blame ...
New data, novel research approaches help tackle declining monarch butterfly mystery
Monarch butterflies are an icon of nature: spectacular in form, known for their unfathomable annual migration, and frequent visitors in ...
Bayer asks appellate court to toss $78 million glyphosate-cancer verdict
Bayer AG on [April 24] asked a California appellate court to throw out a $78 million judgment it was ordered ...
Center for Science in the Public Interest calls for national registry for CRISPR-edited crops to address consumer biotech concerns
I am often asked which genetically engineered (GM) crops have entered the U.S. food supply. The question can be answered ...
This nutritionist doesn’t buy organic—and says you shouldn’t bother either
When I tell people that I’m a dietitian, the first questions I get are always, “Do you eat super healthy?” ...
Viewpoint: 5 popular Netflix documentaries serve up pseudoscience about agriculture, chemicals and nutrition
Netflix brought in $15.8 billion in revenue in 2018 in part because the streaming service floods subscribers with a deluge ...
Glyphosate exposure causes ‘transgenerational inheritance of disease’ in rats, study claims, but scientists question data
Washington State University researchers have found a variety of diseases and other health problems in the second- and third-generation offspring ...
CRISPR could save banana, major food source for 500 million people, from deadly disease, climate change
CRISPR/Cas9‐based genome editing is offering new hope for protecting a critical food security crop by developing climate-smart banana varieties. Research ...
How the USDA could help foster a technological ‘revolution’ in agriculture
Anyone paying passing attention to the agricultural sector understands that it is in the middle of an “agtech” revolution. Innovations ...
Plant-based GMO ‘Impossible’ Whopper a surprise hit at 59 Midwest Burger King locations
The St. Louis area, with 59 Burger King locations, has been chosen as the sole test market for the [plant-based] ...
Some wild bee populations declining, but ‘scarce data’ hamper impact and research efforts
More than a dozen wild bee species critical to pollinating everything from blueberries to apples in New England are on ...
Vietnam’s glyphosate ban: Beginning of a dangerous global trend?
Vietnam’s decision to ban farmers from using glyphosate is troubling in three ways: it appears to rely on decisions set ...
CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna: Gene-edited foods could hit stores by 2024
While ethicists debate the applications of blockbuster gene-editing tool Crispr in human healthcare, an inventor of the tool believes it has ...
Viewpoint: GMOs are an overlooked but consequential solution to climate change
GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are not only a lot less scary than pop culture would lead you to believe ...
Naturally mutating corn pollen genes may lead the way to higher-yielding crops
Pollen genes mutate naturally in only some strains of corn, according to Rutgers-led research that helps explain the genetic instability ...
Microbial biofertilizer could boost sustainable farming as food demand booms
Agriculture is facing tough challenges in the years ahead, including a rising world population and arable land and water becoming ...
Lab-grown meat startups see profitable future in Canada
Canadian companies plan to serve up chicken, beef burgers and mouse-meat cat treats in the coming years, all without the ...
Drought, neonicotinoid insecticide ban cut EU’s canola yields 18 percent, USDA reports
The European Union is picking a good time to produce its second straight subpar rapeseed crop. The United States Department ...
Food companies pursue ‘glyphosate free’ certification as Roundup-cancer legal battle rages
Companies are increasingly enrolling in a voluntary certification program that provides glyphosate-free labels for their products, as consumers grow more wary of ...
New model uncovers possible mechanism behind Varroa mite’s assault on honey bees
The association between the deformed wing virus and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor has been identified as a major cause of worldwide ...
First lab-grown burger may cost $50 at anticipated 2020 restaurant debut
On April 15, Bruce Friedrich ascended a stage in Vancouver, Canada to give a TED Talk to a packed room ...
CRISPR-edited wheat could cut China’s toxic weed killer use
Chinese farmers are facing worsening problems with jointed goatgrass (Aegilops tauschii) – a close relative to wheat – growing in ...
Pakistan announces field trials of 85 GMO pest-resistant Bt cotton varieties
The Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) has announced that 93 new cotton varieties will undergo National Coordinated Varietal Trials (NCVT) in four ...
Viewpoint: Roundup on trial—speculative glyphosate-cancer lawsuits based on ‘junk science’
“The art of junk science is to brush away just enough detail to reach desired conclusions, while preserving enough to ...
