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.
New database tracks development of CRISPR-edited plants to spur biotech crop innovation
Recently developed gene editing tools, such as CRISPR / Cas, allow plant scientists to discover the functions of innumerable plant ...
Viewpoint: Despite anti-GMO opposition, poor farmers will finally plant ‘life-saving’ golden rice
Golden Rice which has been genetically engineered to have higher levels of the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene is finally about ...
Are houseplants indoor air filters? Science busts a popular home gardening myth
Houseplants have much to recommend them. They’re fun to care for, they look good on Instagram, and they express environmental ...
Video: How we fool ourselves into fearing our food—and how to stop
Pesticides, chemicals, cancer - the world is a scary place and our dinner plate even more so. Or so it ...
Ban on aerial glyphosate spraying of coca crops could ‘derail’ peace efforts, Colombia’s president warns
A judicial ban on aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to eliminate coca crops should be modified, Colombia’s President Ivan ...
Buy local; save the bees; avoid GMOs: Americans’ top food-related causes
For companies to successfully fulfill [consumer demand for transparency], they need to be in tune to what causes and concerns ...
Viewpoint: Clif Bar is ‘concern trolling’ competition with its organic food propaganda
Clif Bar published an open letter [March 6] to their “largest competitor” in the New York Times. The letter asks ...
FDA lifts 2016 import ban on GMO AquAdvantage salmon, confirms fish safe to eat
The Food & Drug Administration announced [March 8] that it will be deactivating a 2016 import alert that prevented genetically ...
Court-mandated release of unpublished glyphosate studies could ‘reinvigorate’ EU’s Monsanto Roundup controversy
An EU court ruled [March 7] that European lawmakers must be given access to scientific studies examining the safety of ...
Researchers petition UK officials to launch disease-resistant potato field trials
The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich [in the UK], has applied to [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] Defra for ...
As trade talks progress, China may slow already lengthy approval process for US biotech crops
China may agree to buy more U.S. agriculture commodities and lift onerous trade barriers in the ongoing talks, but unless ...
Sequenced nematode genome could help win ‘arms race’ against devastating soybean pest
Iowa State University researchers overcame the quirks of the soybean cyst nematode’s DNA to sequence its genome, paving the way ...
Biotech experts say gene-edited plants will yield greater benefits than GMOs or conventional crops
Here we present the results of an expert survey on the added potential benefits of genome-edited crops compared to those ...
Viewpoint: Sri Lanka’s glyphosate-kidney disease scare illustrates why science, not politics, should dictate public health policy
On Feb. 4, the [American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)] announced that “two public health researchers who battled powerful ...
African biotech scientist challenges activist opposition to Bt pest-resistant cowpea, Nigeria’s first GMO crop
Cowpea is one of the most important indigenous African legumes in Nigeria due to its ability to grow in drought-prone ...
UN report warning of ‘disappearing’ biodiversity raises unjustified alarms about food security, agronomist argues
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has just published a voluminous report, The State of the World ‘s Biodiversity for ...
First case of dicamba, 2,4-D herbicide resistance detected in hard-to-control Palmer amaranth weed population
Kansas State University (KSU) weed scientists have confirmed a Palmer amaranth population that resists the synthetic auxin (Group 4) herbicides ...
While Americans are ambivalent about plant-based ‘clean meat’ protein alternatives, Chinese and Indians are enthusiastic
Would you eat a burger grown from animal cells rather than a whole cow? What about a plant-based burger, once ...
Roundup lawsuit: Plaintiff takes the stand against Monsanto in first federal glyphosate-cancer trial
Edwin Hardeman, the first person to challenge Monsanto’s Roundup in a federal trial, testified [March 5] that he sprayed the ...
Dear Anheuser-Busch, stop scaring people about alleged dangers of corn products to sell Bud Light
Anheuser-Busch caused quite a farm controversy with its Bud Light Super Bowl commercials. Remember, Bud Light bragged in those commercials ...
RNA-based pesticides are coming, but how will they affect the ecosystem?
New research shows how a new kind of genetically engineered pesticide moves through and degrades in the soil. This new generation ...
Food companies can boost public trust in GMOs by engaging consumers, marketing researcher says
Sixty-two percent of U.S. consumers say the fewer ingredients a food product contains the healthier it must be to eat ...
Uganda GMO banana research progresses despite legal uncertainty
The Ugandan researchers who have been working since 2005 to breed more nutritious bananas say their progress won’t be hindered ...
Reexamining the agricultural ‘Green Revolution’: Did Norman Borlaug really save a billion people from starvation?
A memorable episode of The West Wing....features a President Nimbala of a fictive African republic. Nimbala holds forth at a press ...
Podcast: Roundup resistance—new tactics help farmers keep glyphosate-resistant weeds in check
Weed resistance to herbicides has no field boundaries....Jeff Evans is an ecologist and the owner of Farmscape Analytics, LLC. He ...
Biotech startup aims to challenge ‘Big Ag’s’ dominance in the US seed market
Farmers don’t have a reputation for skewing to the political left, but just get them talking about seeds. At an ...
Video: Think ‘Non-GMO Project Verified’ foods are GMO free? Think again
Did you ever wonder why products with the Non-GMO Project label don’t say “contains zero GMOs” or “GMO-free”? It’s because ...
