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.
Food Evolution movie changing people’s minds about GMOs in Australia
Food for thought and central to [Food Evolution’s] central theme of changing peoples’ minds and choosing facts over emotional logic ...
UK farmers have ‘deep concerns’ over potential EU neonicotinoid ban, survey shows
British arable farmers have deep concerns regarding the European Commission's proposal to ban all outdoor uses of neonicotinoid seed treatments ...
Second Green Revolution: Stress-tolerant rice varieties increase crop yields, food security
According to [International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)], the global rice demand is estimated to increase from 439 million tons in ...
How genetics improves sheep immunity and meat quality
Professor David Hume of the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute studies sheep, and says that fresh insights into their genetic ...
GMO nitrogen-fixing microbes could one day help plants fertilize themselves
Peanuts, peas, and many types of beans are climate-friendly because they basically make their own fertilizer. They play host to ...
European Food Safety Authority report on glyphosate herbicide copied parts of Monsanto document
Glyphosate is the core ingredient in Monsanto’s $4.75bn a year RoundUp weedkiller brand and a battle over its relicensing has ...
Lack of controls at US ports and fumigation of imports feed doubts about ‘organic’ label, USDA finds
Bogus “organic” products may be reaching the United States because of lax enforcement at U.S. ports, according to a new ...
Filipino scientists push back against anti-GMO activists’ criticism of vitamin-A enhanced Golden Rice
Lawmakers should be open-minded about the biotechnological developments being conducted in the country so as not to impede progress of ...
Kenya approves field trials for disease-resistant GMO bananas
The National Biosafety Authority has approved field tests for genetically modified bananas, moving the country closer to accepting growing and ...
Viewpoint: Time for reassessment of ‘privileged’ organic industry as national program head steps down
[Editor’s Note: Hank Campbell is president of the American Council on Science and Health.] For the last 17 years, the United ...
Politics infuses pending EU decision over glyphosate reapproval
The European Commission stands ready to insert a clause referring to biodiversity in the glyphosate renewal proposal if it is ...
Viewpoint: Meatless meat could be next environment-saving breakthrough
[Editor's note: Dan Blaustein-Rejto is a food and agriculture analyst at the Breakthrough Institute. He holds a Master’s in public policy from ...
How biotechnology can help India’s small farmers meet ‘zero hunger challenge’
Biotechnology covers a range of low (biofertilizers and microbiology) to high-end technologies (genetic engineering, gene editing etc). However, when we ...
FDA approves first product claiming to reduce infant peanut allergies
A new powdered peanut product is the first food item allowed to claim it may reduce peanut allergies in infants, ...
Video: Miracle tomato? Israeli scientists developing tasty, drought-resistant variety
Finding out how to develop drought-tolerant tomatoes is one of the goals of this European Research project. Researchers here think ...
Ranch fights to preserve rare pre-hybrid US chickens and their unique genetics
Every bird on [Good Shepherd Ranch] was hatched there, from an egg that was laid there, from parents that were ...
Fiasco envelops Boulder County GMO-free farming plans, Rodale Institute deal
Shortly after the Boulder County Commissioners voted to ban GMO crops from Boulder County Open Space (in March 2016), it ...
Studying root traits could aid development of hardier crops
If you want a better corn crop, you need to get to the root of the matter. So says Duke ...
As Nigeria assures no GMO corn imported, environment minister embraces biotech
The [Nigerian] government, while placing alert on importation of unauthorized maize, made it clear that no genetically modified maize had ...
Dietitians challenge fears of ‘excessive chemicals’ in conventional foods
[Editor’s note: Mindy Hermann, MBA, RDN, is president of Hermann Communications in Somers, New York; Michael P. Holsapple, PhD, is ...
Syngenta CEO: Sustainability—not whether something is ‘organic’—should be food standard
[Syngenta chief executive Eryk Fyrwald] suggested neonicotinoid pesticides were not as dangerous as was being suggested. While France has confirmed ...
Monsanto-Bayer merger now unlikely until 2018
German drugs and pesticides group Bayer said on Tuesday it was now likely to be early next year before it ...
Viewpoint: Green groups reject agricultural technology in embrace of ‘utopian fantasies’
[Editor’s note: Ted Nordhaus is the co-founder and executive director of the Breakthrough Institute and a co-author of the Ecomodernist ...
7 meat alternatives that could reduce strain of feeding a growing population
Livestock production is a major contributor to climate change, especially in wealthier countries like the U.S., and won’t be able ...
Viewpoint: Vertical farming not nearly as feasible as popular media reports
[In] their efforts to develop a system that sustainably supplies cities with a large share of their food, theorists and ...
Fluorescent non-GMO cotton study in doubt after one day, and ‘glowing’ media headlines
Science has issued an expression of concern for a widely covered materials science paper published on Friday, citing issues with ...
GMOs protect bees by reducing use of more toxic pesticides
[Editor’s note: Michelle Miller is the Farm Babe, an Iowa-based farmer, public speaker and writer, who lives and works with ...
