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.
Urban food ecosystem: How vertical farms and 3D-printed food could feed world’s growing cities
In the next 30 years, virtually all net population growth will occur in urban regions of developing countries. At the same ...
How is your food grown? A trip to the farmer’s market might teach you
Wouldn’t that be great if we had an abundance of different types of food at our fingertips? Unfortunately .... The ...
Canada, US embrace AquAdvantage GMO salmon, Brazil and China may be next
Genetically modified salmon firm AquaBounty has found “very enthusiastic” buyers in Canada, according to president and CEO Ronald Stotish. The ...
Scientists devise new way to protect forests from habitat destruction
Globally, forest trees are increasingly at risk from habitat destruction .... But the guidelines for effective preservation of a tree ...
Bt and other biopesticides might stop fall armyworm advance across India
Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive insect which had severely affected maize crops in Africa has now spread to fields ...
Brexit could free UK farmers from Europe’s stringent GMO regulations
Like most United Kingdom citizens, English farmer Andrew Osmond lives with a certain sense of uncertainty brought on by Brexit ...
Kenya can achieve food security if government invests in agricultural technology
Kenya relies on only 10% of her landmass for food while 89% of the country’s landmass, home to 36% of ...
CRISPR-edited crops with better ‘ventilation systems’ could withstand climate change
As the world heats up, plants face a dilemma -- the same tiny holes they have to open to exchange ...
Viewpoint: America’s courts must keep ‘junk science’ out of legal proceedings
When jurors hear cases, they reasonably expect that they are presented only with reliable scientific information to support their deliberations ...
Organic vs. conventional: Which farming method produces consistently higher yields?
One of the primary challenges of our time is to enhance global food production and security. Most assessments in agricultural ...
Despite continued public debate, weed killer glyphosate is safe, EPA says
An EPA official said [September 10th] the agency’s work shows that glyphosate — the herbicide found in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup ...
Agricultural innovations in synthetic biology will help launch next tech boom
Civic and mechanical engineering harnessed the principles of physics to erect buildings, cities, and modes of transportation. Chemical engineering exploited ...
US promotes GMO acceptance in Africa to boost food security, public health
A Trump administration official [recently visited] Africa to promote government acceptance of genetically engineered crops. Peter Haas, a State Department ...
Industry group ‘resurrects’ USDA’s canceled organic food research program
Three months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture pulled the plug on a plan to establish a national organic promotion ...
Court blocks Monsanto subpoena of glyphosate documents from activist group Avaaz
On September 6th, a New York judge blocked Monsanto's attempt to subpoena documents from the political activist group Avaaz. The biotech firm requested ...
Are pro-GMO scientists corrupted by money?
Do you watch “crime shows? It’s intrinsically satisfying to see the facts proven and the truth revealed. Phrases such as ...
Did Canada overestimate the risks of neonicotinoid pesticides?
On Aug. 16, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency proposed to ban all outdoor uses of [the neonicotinoids] clothianidin and ...
Newly-discovered microbes could save endangered plants from extinction
One fine Hawaiian day in 2015, Geoff Zahn and Anthony Amend set off on an eight-hour hike .... The two ...
New studies questioning safety of GMO corn ‘contain serious flaws,’ experts say
Two -omics studies on genetically modified maize and Roundup-fed rats, recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, contain serious flaws ...
Scientists hunting Asian hornet—invasive ‘honey bee killer’ spotted in U.K.
An Asian hornet sighting has been confirmed in Cornwall, sparking a hunt for the honey bee killer's nesting sites. The ...
DNA test could help people with severe food allergies avoid peanuts
For people with severe peanut allergies, eating even minuscule amounts of the legume can trigger anaphylaxis -- a life-threatening condition ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO activists copy negative rhetoric of politicians to win public support
There is a reason that political campaigns run negative advertising–it works. This close to a national election you’ve probably seen plenty ...
Europe’s restrictions on gene-edited crops may cause ‘exodus’ of biotech scientists
Plant scientists have reacted with shock, even anger, to the July decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on gene editing ...
Memphis Meats vice president says traditional agriculture ‘required’ for success of lab-grown meat
Start-up company Memphis Meats says that in the future, consumer meat products won’t start in a pasture or a feedlot. Rather, they ...
Farmers say Europe’s neonicotinoid pesticide bans put their crops at risk
In April [2018], the EU introduced a ban on outdoor use of three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – ...
Skeptoid podcast: GMO food labels fuel public fear of biotechnology
Should foods be labeled based upon their content (like ingredient lists do now), or upon the process by which they ...
Scientists aim to engineer genetic defense system against deadly grapevine disease
A new discovery by Washington State University scientists could help grape growers roll back a devastating virus that withers vines ...
