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.
FDA vs USDA? Federal agencies ready for a turf war, but may partner to regulate lab-grown meat
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said [on July 17th] that the agency is working closely with USDA on early efforts to ...
Viewpoint: Consumers with special dietary needs forced to buy overpriced, less nutritious ‘non-GMO’ foods
Because of a tick-borne disease I contracted last year, I am no longer able to eat beef, pork, or dairy products ...
Viewpoint: ‘Regenerative agriculture’ could reverse soil degradation and save our farmland along the way
New technologies and genetically modified crops are usually invoked as the key to feeding the world’s growing population. But a ...
Viewpoint: German farmers say neonicotinoid ban throws them back into ‘plant protection stone age,’ forces use of ‘dangerous’ pesticides
With the ban on the three most effective insecticides [Imidacloprid, Clothianidin and Thiamethoxam] for the protection of beet seeds, beet ...
Increasing cases of crop injury could threaten future use of effective herbicide dicamba
Half way through the year, complaints about the weed killer dicamba are increasing. This could mean efforts to stop the ...
Viewpoint: Republicans signal support for Obama-era global agricultural aid bill that could usher in higher tech African Green Revolution
The Global Food Security Act, an Obama-era piece of legislation that marshals foreign aid to speed up agricultural growth and reduce ...
Viewpoint: Neonics don’t threaten bees, ban could raise food prices, increase toxic insecticide use
Neonicotinoid insecticides aren’t the problem for bees that activists have made them out to be. In fact, years of monitoring ...
Viewpoint: Organic industry allies ignore expert witness’s hypocrisy in Roundup weed killer trial
Chris Portier, Ph.D., an activist statistician who pushed to get the common herbicide ingredient glyphosate listed as a "hazard" for ...
Sustainable rewards worth the risks? India cracks down on farmers growing unapproved glyphosate-tolerant cotton
A high-level expert panel set up by the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has found that nearly 15% [of the ...
Lab-grown meat debate stirs ethical questions about the future of food and synthetic biology
More than a century ago, dairy farmers sounded the alarm on margarine, insisting that it wasn’t really butter, and it therefore ...
As European Court ponders regulatory fate of CRISPR and other New Breeding Techniques, anti-biotechnology groups lobby for GMO-like restrictions
There is a burning debate in Europe about the future of GMO regulation. The [European Court of Justice] will announce a ...
‘Farmbots’: Precision farming with agricultural robots could boost crop yields, cut chemical use
According to both the Government and farmers, the future of farming is one in which small robots will have a ...
Roundup trial: Monsanto lawyer, expert witness spar over glyphosate-cancer link
On the fourth day of a jury trial over whether Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer caused a Bay Area man’s deadly ...
FDA vs. USDA: FDA makes public pitch it has the most expertise to regulate cell-based meat
Food and Drug Administration officials and executives from companies that plan to make meat and seafood from animal cells made ...
‘Dirty Dozen’ list of ‘pesticide-poisoned’ fruits, vegetables used to be her bible, but Huffington Post food writer now sees it as more scare than science
It’s that time of year again, when the nonprofit advocacy organization Environmental Working Group publishes its annual list of the ...
Genetic beacon could detect ‘invasive scourge’ of stinkbugs before they ravage crops
If a farmer can grow it, a brown marmorated stinkbug can destroy it. This invasive scourge has ravaged apples, peaches, ...
Viewpoint: In act of retribution, organic trade group sues Ben & Jerry’s for false advertising
The Organic Consumers Association is up to its old tricks again and has filed a suit against Vermont-based Ben & ...
Despite judge’s finding of ‘weak’ evidence glyphosate causes cancer, Monsanto could face Roundup litigation onslaught
Hundreds of lawsuits alleging Roundup weed killer caused cancer cleared a big hurdle [July 10] when a U.S. judge ruled ...
Viewpoint: For consumers concerned about food safety, proposed USDA GMO label is a dismal failure
The USDA just ended their public comment period on their proposed execution of the terrible Federal GMO labeling law passed in 2016. The ...
Video: Nobel Laureate Richard Roberts recruits young scientists to counter Greenpeace misinformation about ‘failure’ of nutritionally enhanced Golden Rice, GMOs
When Monsanto first tried to introduce GMO seeds into Europe there was a backlash by the Green parties and their ...
China embraces artificial intelligence-driven agriculture, emerges as global technology hothouse
China is facing a number of growing pains, but one in particular has proved more taxing than most: How can ...
20 years of biotech crops generated $186.1 billion in economic, ecological and health gains, studies show
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) and PG Economics Ltd. released new studies highlighting the continued ...
From veganism to ‘post meat’ foods: The six varieties of meat substitutes
Civilians often clump the alternative meat companies and labs together in some kind of big meatless meatball, but, just like ...
Viewpoint: The 4 Ps threaten bee health—parasites, poor nutrition, pathogens and pesticides
Experts believe that multiple factors must be at play in the bees’ plight. The main suspects are referred to as ...
Use of illegal, older varieties of dicamba herbicide blamed for causing crop damage across 10 states
For some farmers and weed scientists, puckered leaves on certain crops and other plants have become a familiar summertime sight ...
Blundering through the food label controversy: How one poultry company exploits consumer fears over ‘natural’ and GMOs
I live in a super tiny town, about 1,000 people with no stoplight in the whole county...Therefore, it may sound ...
Viewpoint: Rapid advance of gene editing tools will make biotech regulations obsolete
The case of the unapproved genetically modified wheat plants showing up alongside an oil well access road in Alberta is ...
