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.
Germany’s environment minister pitches plan to ban glyphosate by 2023
Germany plans new conditions for pesticide approval and will seek an end date for the use of glyphosate-based weed killers, ...
Earth-friendly GMOs: How Bt crops eliminated 6 million tons of pesticides
[W]hen I first heard about genetic engineering when visiting my eventual graduate school home, I was really excited about the ...
How Omega 3-fortified GMO canola can help save our oceans
In 2017, over 100,000 acres of canola was grown in Montana, according to the United States Department of Agriculture ...
Video: Scientists take on Uganda’s tough questions about GMO crops
Uganda’s NTV features panel discussion on biotechnology and biosafety with Dr. Nina Fedoroff of Penn State University and Dr. Theresa Sengooba ...
Is organic produce hazardous to your health?
We’ve all heard the reports. Toxic organic pesticides cause problems for the environment. Organic pesticides are linked to Parkinson’s Disease, ...
UK neonicotinoid ban invites spread of deadly virus yellows disease, sugar beet farmers warn
When I was elected to the role of NFU Sugar vice-chairman, it was foremost in my mind that every grower’s ...
Bayer might seek settlements in some Monsanto glyphosate-cancer suits, but prepares to fight large claims
Bayer AG’s chief executive said .... the company might consider settling lawsuits over Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing weed-killers depending on how high ...
273 Colombian farmers sue government spraying glyphosate to destroy coca plants used to make cocaine
The Colombian government faces 273 lawsuits stemming from damages to crops, land and water caused by the spraying the herbicide ...
Why this farmer and mother changed her mind about the dangers of GMOs
As a 4-H kid with Hollywood dreams, my younger self would be SHOCKED to see me now, back on a ...
Viewpoint: Environmental gene editing shows promise, but requires ‘careful oversight’
In Burkina Faso, the government is considering the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to eradicate malaria. In Nantucket, Mass., officials ...
Video: Led by gene editing, these scientific breakthroughs are the future of agriculture
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that are ...
Why the USDA is finding it hard to combat surge in fraudulent organic products
USDA has an organic problem. The department wants to clamp down on fraudulent products, but needs to tackle inaccurate government ...
Can we ‘build’ a better banana with genetic engineering?
Reproductively, domesticated banana plants are self-copying machines .... With the emergence of the 20th century, the confluence of the Industrial ...
Teen farmer challenges myths about GMOs, ‘factory farming’
Growing up on a production agriculture farm .... I help to produce the food that we enjoy on a daily ...
Gene silencing could help boost rice yields in developing world
Scientists can examine the genetic basis for some of the changes that took place during rice domestication by comparing genes in cultivated rice plants with ...
Legal challenges expected after EPA re-authorizes controversial weed-killing herbicide dicamba
Farmers can use the pesticide dicamba to clear fields of stubborn weeds for two more growing seasons after the EPA ...
Plaintiff accepts reduced damages in first glyphosate-cancer trial, Bayer to appeal verdict
A Northern California groundskeeper said [October 31] that he will accept a judge’s reduced verdict of $78 million against Monsanto ...
Viewpoint: Challenging the hypocrisy of GMO critic Carey Gillam
Carey Gillam is a former journalist for Reuters, and is currently the research director for US Right to Know (US ...
Can biotechnology help protect the world’s chocolate supply?
[K]eeping pace with global cravings can be a tall order for chocolate producers — a challenge made even tougher as ...
China struggling with consumer skepticism in push to introduce GMO corn
China’s central government set a goal two years ago for commercializing genetically modified corn by the end of 2020, but ...
Replacing neonicotinoid pesticides is no easy task, Canadian farmers say
In 2015, the Canadian province [Ontario] instituted regulations requiring farmers to prove they have soil pest populations in corn and ...
Are more consumers willing to pay a premium for ‘natural, ethical, enhanced’ foods?
People haven’t always thought very hard about their food. For most of human history, simply getting enough to eat was ...
Global hunger and how agricultural biotechnology firms can profit by giving away technology
New research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln shows that agricultural biotechnology companies can do well by doing good. Agricultural economists ...
CRISPR gene editing could fuel fight against evolving cotton pests
[B]ugs are biting back by adapting to crops genetically engineered to kill them. A new study published in the Proceedings of ...
‘Goodish’ news for climate change models: They don’t account for plants’ nocturnal behavior
Climate scientists have not been properly accounting for what plants do at night, and that, it turns out, is a ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s GMO process-based crop regulations are a great way to kill innovation
In 2002, Europe establishing a new regulatory agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to resolve its regulation problems regarding ...
FDA launches initiative to support plant, animal biotechnology innovation
Today, [October 30] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the Plant and Animal Biotechnology Innovation Action Plan to outline the key ...
