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.
EPA mulling 2018 partial ban on dicamba spraying because of drift concerns
The U.S. environmental agency is considering banning sprayings of the agricultural herbicide dicamba after a set deadline next year, according ...
Genetically engineered crops could protect themselves by sterilizing pests
Plants are among many eukaryotes that can 'turn off' one or more of their genes by using a process called ...
GMO moths may be only way to control pesticide-immune cabbage-killing diamondbacks
NPR reports that as of now, the [diamondback moth], which cause billions of dollars in damage to [cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli ...
Fall armyworm threatens Nigerian crops; genetic engineering offers only long-term solution
Nigeria remains Africa’s largest [corn] producer, growing nearly 8 million tons annually. It is closely followed by South Africa, Tanzania, ...
New York farmer’s sustainability comparison—7 advantages of conventional farming over organic
[Editor’s Note: Tim Durham’s family runs Deer Run Farm on Long Island, NY. He holds a degree in plant medicine ...
Video: Successful Kenya GMO corn field trials show 40% yield increase compared to conventional corn
KTN News Kenya posted a news segment broadcasted from the site of a current GM maize field trial. Supporters of ...
Viewpoint: Irish farmers’ reliance on GMO livestock feed make biotech-free future unlikely
The idea of a GM-free Ireland is rising on the agenda. To date, the debate has been about using GM ...
Center for Food Safety sues USDA to spur release of GMO QR code labeling study
One of the most controversial aspects of the mandatory GMO labeling law signed by President Obama last summer is the ...
Open-source genomic platform could aid plant breeding in developing nations
The Genomic Open-source Breeding Informatics Initiative (GOBII), a global project funded by an $18.5 million grant from the Bill and ...
How biotechnology is making farming more sustainable
[Editor's note: Randy Krotz is the CEO of US Farmers and Ranchers.] There are some things that GMOs allow us ...
Public weighs in on GMO labeling standard
To help determine how to implement the GMO labeling law signed into law last year, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service asked ...
What’s a ‘natural’ food? Lawsuits mount as FDA lags on creating label standard
More than a year after the Food and Drug Administration signaled that it would soon nail down exactly what the ...
The story behind Monsanto’s dicamba weedkiller fiasco
The problem...is that dicamba has drifted from the fields where it was sprayed, damaging millions of acres of unprotected soybeans ...
Some farmers, activist critics concerned agri-business mergers could increase costs, reduce biodiversity
Three mega-mergers of agricultural chemical and seed companies are reshaping global food production and prompting fears of higher costs for ...
Judge tosses suit claiming Quaker Oats misled customers because its 100% natural cereals contain glyphosate
A federal judge has tossed a high-profile lawsuit accusing Quaker Oats of misleading shoppers with 100% natural claims on products ...
GMO controversies of 40 years ago are today’s science success stories
GMOs were a worry 40 years ago? Yes, though GMO insulin today is regarded as a gigantic success story for ...
Burkina Faso farmers advocate for return of GMO insect-resistant Bt cotton
As a farmer who has planted both Bt and conventional cotton, Mr Traore [former president of Africa Cotton Producers Association ...
Nigerian activist groups lobby against GMO cassava trials
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, [on August 27], alleged that moves were made by the International Institute of ...
Viewpoint: On GMOs, people who believe they are most well informed often have the lowest science IQ
[Editor's Note: Dr. Steven Novella is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine] People can feel as ...
After Glowing GMO plant Kickstarter failure, biotech company makes scented GMO moss
One of the most popular Kickstarter launches of the last several years was the Glowing Plant Kickstarter campaign, which raised ...
Vietnam mulling crop GMO response to climate change
Agricultural bio-technology policies, promotion of public-private partnerships in agricultural bio-technology research and applications and the use of agricultural bio-technology in ...
Next generation Golden Rice could be driven by CRISPR gene editing
Rice breeders today develop improved varieties from genetic breeding stock that has been advanced through thousands of generations and over ...
Syngenta CEO overseeing ChemChina merger believes introducing GMOs to Europe near hopeless
[Erik Fyrwald, Syngenta’s current CEO], joined Syngenta in 2016, after many years in senior management with US-based chemical companies, most ...
Iran’s scientists push back against activist scare-mongering on safe GMO foods
Those voicing their opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have no scientific or convincing proof, Iran’s chief of the Department ...
Viewpoint: Current GMO crops help farmers more than poor global consumers
A Professor of Geography at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dr. William G. Moseley, has written a short, compelling ...
Neonics and bees under the microscope: Foraging benefits of neonic-treated crops outweigh negative effects
Since 2013 the European Commission has restricted the use of three neonicotinoid insecticides as seed dressings on bee-attractive crops. Such ...
Catholic church aligns with anti-science activists in Nigeria to try to block biotech approvals
Catholic doctors in Nigeria are calling on the national government to regulate the use of Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs ...
