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.
Viewpoint: Back to the 1980s—Federal suit won by anti-crop biotechnology activists could cripple US agricultural gene editing innovation
On December 2, the Northern California District Court vacated rules adopted in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through ...
Hydroponics: Can growing food without soil be mass scaled?
Growing plants in water rather than soil actually uses a small fraction of the water used in traditional farming—since there’s ...
Teen and tween rush: Now you and your kids can both get a sugar fix at Starbucks
Starbucks said it doesn’t share what percentage of its sales are attributable to customers under 18, but the menu is ...
Are ultra-processed foods ‘addictive’? It depends
Are some foods actually addictive? The answer is straightforward and, you might think, inconsequential: It depends entirely on your definition ...
Islamic eco-systems a millennium ago supported farming in marginal desert environments but were largely abandoned. They could be sustainability models today
As global water resources become more strained, the insights gained from traditional agricultural systems could pave the way for the development of ...
Bernie Sanders says RFK, Jr. is ‘exactly correct in criticizing the food industry but his views on health are ‘extremely dangerous’
Sen. Bernie Sanders praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s message on food issues ... and said he had not [decided] whether ...
Is the Chinese Communist Party targeting our burgers? Here’s why Republicans in Congress are worried China is poised to “dominate global food supply chains’
In late September, 11 Republican members of Congress wrote to the directors of national intelligence and the Department of Agriculture’s ...
Brilliant or bizarre—or both: PETA proposes to convert closed meat processing plant into an ‘empathy museum’ and vegan cafe
Following [the] announcement that Tyson Foods will soon close its meat processing operation in Emporia, Kansas, PETA today sent a ...
Viewpoint: NGOs are run by ‘lawyers and fundraisers’ who ignore science in their obsession to kill agricultural genetic engineering
If you read Twitter, and probably Bluesky, if anyone reads that, Republicans are in a War On Science and the ...
RFK Jr. is touting regenerative agriculture. The problem is no one knows what it is.
Indigenous farming practices are the trendy new agricultural craze sweeping both sides of the political aisle. The fight is over ...
What impact can regenerative farming have on climate change?
Regenerative agricultural practices are a set of rejuvenating farming and agricultural sustainable practices that seek to boost soil health, water resources, soil organic ...
Can cultured meat be considered vegan?
Since veganism means no animal inputs whatsoever, by definition, cultivated meat doesn’t fall under this umbrella. But it has been ...
What is the likely future for glyphosate and other synthetic crop chemicals under the Trump Administration
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, will likely not be ...
Australian start up that brought us the cell-derived wooly mammoth meatball rolls out cultured foie gras
Sydney-cultivated meat startup Vow, best known for its “woolly mammoth meatball“, has launched ... a new product resembling the French ...
35% greenhouse emissions: Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change. How can we turn that around?
Plants rely on nitrogen to grow, but they fail to take up a lot of the nitrogen in fertilizers applied ...
Trump pledges to crack down on ‘harmful chemical poisoning’ and address a ‘chronic disease epidemic’. Here are some details
The next four years of federal food and health leadership could bring changes to what packaging materials are allowed in ...
How to improve crop yields
Conventional plant breeders [have] already optimized factors like plant size and [are] working on disease resistance. Based smack in the ...
Viewpoint: Facing steep agricultural challenges, Spain turns to technological innovation
The panorama of biotechnology ... such as genetic editing [enables] development of crops resistant to pests and diseases, and the optimization ...
The first AI-guided garden where the plants tell you when they are thirsty
Have you ever joyously stepped out to your backyard garden, freshly brewed coffee in hand, only to find your meticulously cared-for ...
European Green Deal: European Union rolls out sustainable food agriculture monitoring platform
Transforming the food system is an urgent challenge to achieve the sustainable development goals and key EU policy priorities, among ...
Gene-edited soybeans are the latest plant to pave the way towards sustainable agriculture
A new experiment in soybeans is genetically engineering soybean plants in ways that improve their resistance to differing stresses like ...
The global food system is already under stress from climate change. Here’s what the future might hold
The impact of climate change on yields will depend on several factors: the type of crop, how much warmer the ...
Podcast: Banned in Europe? Here’s how and why the US is more relaxed in its approvals of chemical additives in food
“How is America allowed to feed us certain products that are harmful and banned in other countries?” [Vox reader, Sommer] ...
Balancing traditional farming practices with agricultural biotechnology
Agtech innovations, such as drones and robotics, are being used to address labor shortages in agriculture across various countries. These ...
With climate change threatening commodity foods, these technologies are coming to the rescue
Food staples like coffee and cocoa are already suffering the effects of severe weather brought on by climate change and ...
Who would be hit hardest if the herbicide glyphosate is banned on US farms?
Marketing consultant The Directions Group has released a report titled Farm Bill Programs and the Role of Crop Protection Tools, exploring ...
As risks in agriculture from climate change escalate, gene editing offers potential remedies
In the words of Luis Planas, Minister of Agriculture [of Spain]: “ The future demands producing more and better and ...
