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.
We started eating chocolate 1,500 years earlier than previously thought, paper says
New archaeological evidence suggests humans were cultivating and consuming cacao—the crop from which chocolate is produced—as long as 5,300 years ...
CRISPR gene editing could save pigs from devastating disease
As flu season rears its ugly head, humans aren’t the only ones on the virus’ warpath. Pigs are also vulnerable ...
Healthier oil? US farmers poised for first harvest of gene-edited soybeans
Farmers in the United States are poised to harvest, for the first time, 6,500 hectares of genetically modified soybeans that ...
GM corn boosts yields as much as 58 percent in Tanzanian field trials
Tanzania's second year of confined field trials of genetic modified maize is bearing fruit, as the crop has significantly shown ...
6 things agroecology can do for farming and the environment
Agroecology has returned to the global spotlight, as one approach to bring farmers closer to meeting challenges [like rising food ...
Video: Why many food companies won’t pick a side in the GMO debate
In this video, Know Ideas Media founder Nick Saik explains why farmers and agriculture companies have to get involved in ...
Grass genes could help scientists breed crops better adapted to drought, high temperatures
Researchers from Cornell and the United States Department of Agriculture will tap into genetic information found in more than 700 ...
Video: How ‘turning down’ gene expression in pests can help protect crops and bees
In this video, CropLife International scientist Greg Heck discusses how researchers are using RNA interference (RNAi) to turn off or ...
We don’t grow enough vegetables to feed everyone a healthy diet, study claims
If everyone on the planet wanted to eat a healthy diet, there wouldn't be enough fruit and vegetables to go ...
Environmental Working Group or the EPA: Who should parents trust about glyphosate safety?
Remember a couple months back when an advocacy group found what it called “a hefty dose” of glyphosate, the active ingredient in weedkillers such ...
EU delays decision to re-approve ‘toxic’ copper compounds, widely used as pesticides in organic farming
EU countries have delayed a decision on whether or not to reauthorize the use of copper compounds — chemical substances ...
Food crops treated with synthetic plant hormone could grow in space, study suggests
With scarce nutrients and weak gravity, growing potatoes on the Moon or on other planets seems unimaginable. But the plant ...
Teenagers view scientific innovation as key to sustainable farming, UK survey shows
Four out of ten teenagers feel that their generation should be much more interested in where their food comes from, ...
Despite FDA safety data, media promote glyphosate scare stories to drive readership, farmer says
FDA Testing Finds No Glyphosate Residues in Over Half of Commodities Tested. And what they did find was well within ...
Bronchitis in chickens can cut egg production 70%. New vaccine may stem outbreaks
Infectious bronchitis virus is highly contagious and responsible for major economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Infected chickens experience ...
Burkina Faso aims to fight malaria with GMO mosquitoes, but activists warn of ‘species contamination’
Nonprofit group Project Target Malaria plans to conduct an experimental release of genetically engineered mosquitoes to stop the spread of ...
Biotech crops could make Kenya major cotton producer again, government says
Kenya has been losing at least 4,210 cotton farmers every year for the last 38 years due to low returns ...
Non-GMO Project logo not only deceives, it ironically features a genetically modified butterfly, scientist claims
Perhaps no group is more in the spotlight on the topic of labeling than The Non-GMO Project, whose monarch butterfly logo ...
Video: European farmers push for greater access to GMO crops to ensure better harvests
From adapting to climate change to ensuring a sufficient supply of food, agricultural innovation has enormous potential to help farmers ...
FDA, USDA tackle lab-grown meat label regulations at joint agency conference
[Ocotber 24 was] Day 2 of the joint USDA-FDA public meeting on cell-based meat — or whatever we end up ...
How one plant scientist challenges the ‘natural is better’ myth
Paul Vincelli spends a good deal of his time talking to the public about genetic engineering so it’s not surprising ...
Plants bred to survive freezing temperatures could save crop harvests from destruction
Researchers from The University of Western Australia have found that an enzyme in plants, ATP Synthase, plays a critical role ...
Eating organic food reduces risk of some cancers, controversial study claims
A French study published in the JAMA [Journal of the American Medical Association[ Internal Medicine journal links eating organic food ...
Eating organic food prevents cancer? New study offers more confusion than clarity
The JAMA [Journal of the American Medical Association] Internal Medicine journal has a report .... on the relationship between organic food ...
Announcing appeal of reaffirmed Roundup-cancer verdict, Bayer develops defense strategy of Monsanto’s flagship product
Bayer AG’s $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto .... made the German drug and chemicals company the world’s biggest supplier of crop seeds and ...
Robot farmers: ‘This is the revolution’
In a quiet corner of rural Hampshire, a robot called Rachel is pootling around an overgrown field. With bright orange ...
Judge upholds landmark glyphosate-cancer verdict, cuts punitive damages 84% to $39 million
A California judge has rejected Monsanto’s appeal to overturn a landmark jury verdict which found that its popular herbicide causes cancer. The ...
