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.
China is growing crops on the moon in preparation for its proposed lunar base
There’s cotton growing on the far side of the moon—the first time plants have sprouted there. On January 3, a ...
French court bans Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup Pro 360 weedkiller, citing ‘potential health risks’
A French court canceled the license for one of Monsanto's glyphosate-based weedkillers on [January 15] over safety concerns, placing an ...
Why GMO advocates are failing in convincing the public that biotech crops are safe and beneficial
I have complained often about the lack of horizontal polling for public acceptance of genetically modified food – where the ...
Video: What are GMO crops—and are they natural? Pioneering plant scientist Mary-Dell Chilton explains
I write about GMOs on a somewhat regular basis, but sometimes it’s a topic worth revisiting on a very basic ...
Viewpoint: As most of Africa ‘dilly-dallied,’ Sudan, South Africa boosted food production with biotech crops
Why are South Africa and Sudan ahead of every other country on the continent when it comes to biotech?....The nations ...
4 expanding technologies that could help boost crop yields and preserve the environment
The scope of [agricultural] advances during the past three years is nothing short of astonishing. Today’s growers now have at ...
Peach-flavored strawberries, disease-resistant bananas? How genetic engineering is shaking up our fruit supply
New [fruit] varieties created through genetic editing and engineering promise to beat disease, and offer enticing new flavors. ... Genetically ...
Here’s everything you need to know about GMO crops
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs or GMs) are one of the most well-studied areas of biological and agricultural research. However, one ...
Canola farmers push back against Canada’s attempt to ban neonicotinoids
Health Canada is following in the European Union’s footsteps as it moves to ban the use of neonic pesticides due ...
Viewpoint: How the Organic Trade Association flunked Science 101—No, organics are not ‘chemical free’
I recently had an encounter on Twitter with the CEO of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), Laura Batcha. The OTA ...
Video: EU Parliament member calls for ‘pragmatic’ debate about crop gene editing in Europe
Dutch MEP Jan Huitema spoke before the Agriculture Committee of the EU Parliament on January 7. He called for a ...
Monsanto’s patent victory in India may grant farmers access to latest GMO crops
Monsanto’s [recent] victory in a patent case in India regarding genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds has raised hopes among farmers ...
Rice plants engineered to take up more CO2 could boost crop yields as much as 27%
A new bioengineering approach for boosting photosynthesis in rice plants could increase grain yield by up to 27%, according to ...
‘Psychology of extremism’: People most opposed to GMO crops are least informed about science
The people who hold the most extreme views opposing genetically modified (GM) foods think they know most about GM food ...
‘Blueprint’ of plant’s immune system could speed breeding of disease-resistant crops
Washington State University researchers have discovered the way plants respond to disease-causing organisms, and how they protect themselves, leading the ...
Short-stature hybrid corn, likely to debut next decade, could dramatically boost crop yields
Farmers who have waded and stumbled through corn decimated by green snap or stalk lodging may be in luck in ...
CRISPR-edited plants aren’t GMOs—and 4 other essential facts about gene editing
If you’ve been stunned by all the alarming reports of gene-edited babies, you might have the impression that the only ...
Monsanto Roundup controversy: Glyphosate unlikely to pose cancer risk, Canada confirms
Health Canada’s primary objective in regulating pesticides is to protect Canadians’ health and the environment. That is why the Department ...
New Zealand’s strict GMO laws force researcher to test new gene-edited apple in US
The red-fleshed apples developed by Plant and Food Research’s scientist Professor Andrew Allan and his team are so contentious they’re ...
Scientists can identify organic and conventional milk with a simple chemistry test
Food fraud is a substantial problem....because it is nearly impossible for consumers to tell the difference between, say, conventional and ...
Disease-resistant cassava could help safeguard against starvation in developing countries
[Ismail] Rabbi, a geneticist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, and his colleagues are on ...
Video: ‘Impossible burger 2.0’ on the verge of matching real beef—will it change how we eat?
To many meat-eaters, the Impossible Burger is a rude idea. This plant-based beef substitute is designed to look like meat, ...
Organic farming in US doubles as organic food sales reach $7.6 billion annually
There were more than 14,000 certified organic farms in the United States in 2016, according to the latest available data ...
Could spider venom replace some synthetic pesticides on the farm?
A major new project will see the use of spiders’ natural toxins to offer a more sustainable approach to crop ...
Plaintiffs may struggle to prove Roundup causes cancer in upcoming glyphosate trials
Bayer’s Monsanto is facing thousands of lawsuits from plaintiffs claiming exposure to glyphosate gave them cancer. Last August, a jury ...
Nigeria could lead Africa to innovative future in agriculture by approving GMO cowpea
Nigeria has commenced a historic process of leading other African nations on smart and innovative agriculture with the recent application ...
We must end ‘over-regulation’ of crop gene editing to halt global food insecurity, says prominent Canadian agricultural scientist
[W]hen it comes to food and agriculture, the future may be predictable, but it isn’t humorous. The current situation is ...
