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.
USDA has ‘no plans’ to regulate CRISPR gene-edited crops, says agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ... issued a statement making it clear that USDA does not regulate, or have any plans ...
Viewpoint: It’s time to fix flawed regulations and labels based on ‘utterly meaningless’ GMO term
“GMO” is an utterly meaningless term -- which is remarkable considering that if you Google it, you get about 21,000,000 ...
Seeds of Science: Mark Lynas’ journey from anti-GMO activist to biotech advocate
If there is a braver or more morally conscientious person in Britain than Mark Lynas, I should be surprised. Or ...
Calyxt’s gene-edited high-fiber wheat won’t be regulated as a GMO, USDA confirms
Calyxt, Inc., a consumer-centric, food- and agriculture-focused company, announced that the Company’s high fiber wheat product has been declared a ...
Which came first, intensive agriculture or complex society?
A fundamental question about the precise role of agriculture in early human history remains unanswered. Did the advent of intensive ...
Sri Lankan government split on whether to lift ban on glyphosate herbicide
The Cabinet [the council of ministers that form the central government of Sri Lanka] is to decide whether the ban on ...
Philippine anti-GMO groups step up attacks on Golden Rice as governments around the world affirm its safety
A regional coalition of farmers, consumers, and environment activists [in the Philippines] has called on the government to reject “foreign ...
Viewpoint: House Democrats’ ‘glyphosate-is-dangerous’ report shows liberals can be science deniers too
The discussions around agricultural technologies, especially herbicides, are nuanced and complex. So if someone gets the basic information completely wrong, ...
CRISPR strawberries? Monsanto-backed gene-editing venture developing sweeter fruit
In a move aimed at securing a place in the rapidly-evolving food technology scene, agricultural giant Monsanto has invested $125 ...
Video: How insect-resistant GMO crops help keep nearby organic farms pest free
Are Genetically Engineered crops good or bad for the surrounding environment? GREAT QUESTION! New research from the University of Maryland ...
Agroecologist: Gene-edited animals aren’t the solution to livestock diseases
It is very worrying not only to read about yet another blunder by the industrial farming sector (Pigs in the ...
Radiolab podcast: Can plants hear and learn?
Do you really need a brain to sense the world around you? To remember? Or even learn? Well, it depends on ...
6 ways GMO crops help farmers and consumers
Genetically modified crops provide a lot of benefits for farmers, including less pesticide applications and increased yields. These benefits are ...
Bangladeshi farmers may be able to start growing GMO blight-resistant potatoes this year
Researchers from the U.S., Indonesia and Bangladesh are embracing genetic engineering in hopes of increasing food security. The team is ...
Video: How ‘gene banks’ preserve crop genetic diversity and help farmers around the world
Global agriculture faces unprecedented challenges. Critical to overcoming these challenges is conserving the diversity of the plants and animals we ...
Correlation study of 71 Indiana women suggests glyphosate in urine may be linked to shorter pregnancies
In what they claim is the first prospective birth cohort study of its kind, U.S. researchers have linked likely environmental ...
Viewpoint: Why the ‘right to know’ argument for GMO labeling is nonsense
The USDA is set to review GMO labeling again. Apparently, the idea is to put QR codes on foods that contain genetically ...
Indian scientists develop hybrid corn variety high in vitamin A
Researchers at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have developed a maize variety which is rich in both Vitamin A ...
Regulations based on ‘spurious, undocumented risks’ keeping GMO and gene-edited foods from consumers, report says
Scientists continue to make advancements in biotechnology, while private and public entities invest in development of technologies to enhance agriculture ...
Nigeria on track to approve insect-resistant GMO Bt cotton and cowpeas in 2018
Rose Gidado, the Country Coordinator, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), says Nigeria has concluded plans to use biotechnology as ...
Bee-friendly pesticides? Protein discovery could lead to less toxic neonicotinoid insecticides
[S]tudies have shown that not all the compounds are equally toxic to [honeybees], suggesting that there might be variation in ...
Non-GMO labeled products cost US consumers 10 to 62% more, study finds
Added costs for non-GM ingredients and changes in demand for non-GM foods determine non-GM price premiums... US Consumers have been paying ...
New Zealand’s EPA says local scientists’ criticisms of glyphosate rely mostly on ‘media references and opinion’
The [New Zealand] Environmental Protection Authority is shrugging off criticism of its processes by a group of mainly Wellington scientists. Writing in ...
‘Regenerative Organic Certification’: USDA organic label gets competition as movement shows fissures
Frustrated by what they see as a continued watering down of the standards that define what foods may be labeled ...
CRISPR gene editing and other New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) face opposition from organic industry
Can organic and non-GMO agriculture offer innovative, tech-based solutions for our food system – or does hope lie in new ...
Video: Iowa farmer explains how GMO crops enable greenhouse gas reducing no-till farming
Ron Sass, a corn and soybean farmer from northeast Iowa, discusses how agricultural biotechnology has helped his family farm, and ...
How Bayer-Monsanto merger might impact research efforts to find alternatives to the herbicide glyphosate
Approval of the mega deal in Europe comes in the wake of similar decisions in South Africa, Brazil and China ...
