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.
Cow eugenics: Colombian ranchers breed cattle to stand their ground against big cat predators
If big cats don’t kill livestock, farmers won’t shoot them. ... Panthera, a charity that manages “corridors” for jaguars that ...
Campbell’s Soup works with federal agencies to craft national GMO label
Drawing on extensive consumer research, The Campbell Soup Co.'s GMO disclosure labels on packs and online could serve as a ...
Swiss parliament backs extension of GMO crop ban to 2021
The Swiss parliament has approved a plan to extend the current moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture from ...
National Academies: Conflict of interest claims directed at GMO report ‘unfair and disingenuous’
[Editor's note: The following is a statement by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in response to ...
How GM canola oil engineered with high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids could reduce over-fishing
The surging demand [for Omega 3 fatty acids] has pushed fish oil prices to a record high and presented the ...
New EPA head Scott Pruit poised to challenge ‘politics driven’ farm chemical regulations
[Editor’s note: Henry Miller is a physician and molecular biologist, and was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology.] ...
Kenya puts the breaks on GMO corn field trial
Kenya is withholding approval for field trials of genetically-modified corn because some officials argue that a ban on GMO imports ...
How genetically modified microorganisms could help humans farm on Mars
[A]s NASA gears up to touch down on Mars, research is turning to how astronauts will produce what they need ...
Is non-GMO label a ‘declaration of opposition to farmers, science?’
[Editor's note: Trevor Charles is a microbiologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada.] [M]y tweet about an example of a ...
Can farmers reduce pesticide use but maintain expected yields? Study of French farms says yes
A team of researchers with members affiliated with several institutions in France has found that lowering the amount of pesticides ...
Tanzania’s first ever GMO field trial: Drought-tolerant, insect-resistant corn ‘shows promising results’
Tanzania's first-ever genetically-modified crop trial was planted only a 30-minute drive from the capital. ... A year ago the Tanzanian ...
Only 1 percent of US farmland is certified organic. Why aren’t more farmers making the switch?
There are two stories to tell about the state of organic agriculture in the US. The first is a success ...
5 non-GMO ‘frankenfoods’ that can carry organic label
One of the most common food myths of our time is that GMOs are “frankenfoods” while heirloom or organic varieties ...
UK farmers push back against ‘pseudo-science attack’ on herbicide glyphosate
Hundreds of farmers across Britain are coming together in a concerted effort to show politicians and the public why glyphosate ...
Massachusetts mulls restrictions on neonicotinoid pesticides over bee safety concerns
A type of pesticide many beekeepers blame for mass bee die-offs would come under tighter regulation under a bill filed ...
African scientists developing GMO sorghum with higher levels of vitamin A to tackle childhood blindness
Up to half a million children around the world are going blind every year due to a lack of Vitamin ...
How to stop fungi that infect, destroy crops? Target their ‘friends’
By itself, [the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani] is responsible for the turfgrass disease called brown patch, sheath blight within rice, ...
Locavore’s dilemma: When buying food grown in distant locations may be best for the environment
[Editor's note: Pierre Desrochers is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. Hiroko Shimizu ...
Iowa farmer: 8 popular food companies that promote myths about GMOs
[Editor’s note: Michelle Miller, known on social media as the Farm Babe, raises lamb and beef cattle, and grows almost ...
Will Europe regulate gene-edited crops and research the same as they do genetically modified ones?
[The] European Court of Justice has entered the fray and may put a damper on research in Europe, even as ...
He’s baaaack: Natural News restored to Google, as founder Mike Adams escalates ‘censorship’ claim
[Editor's note: NaturalNews.com was delisted from Google search results on February 23, 2017, for what was later revealed to be ...
Blight-resistant genetically engineered potatoes that cut fungicide use approved
Three types of potatoes genetically engineered to resist the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine are safe for the ...
Idaho GMO sugar beet farmers mull ditching crop as more food companies adopt non-GMO label
Idaho sugar beet farmers have grown increasingly dependent on genetically modified seeds for cost savings and greater yields over the ...
Australia’s organic industry should drop ‘zero tolerance’ of GM food contamination, farmers group says
Flood waters have swept through parts of WA's grain growing region, sparking concern from some certified organic growers that contamination ...
Precision agriculture: How big data can make farms more sustainable
Farmers have numerous sources of technology and data available to use in their operations, but many producers struggle with what ...
Approval of GM crops, beef exports among priorities of Trump’s China ambassador pick
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, whom U.S. President Donald Trump has tipped to become ambassador to China, said ... that he ...
No, your body does not absorb genetic material from eating GM foods
A major new study ... has found no evidence that genetic material from the food we eat is absorbed via ...
