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.
Oregon winemaker say organic vineyards not sustainable
“Organic practices have bred a class 11 resistant powdery mildew (PM) critter. OSU sent out a bulletin saying if you ...
Agriculture, food industries’ communication failures led to GMO vilification
In case you missed it, President Barack Obama late [July 29] signed the GMO labeling bill into law, nullifying Vermont's measure ...
Organic industry bitterly split over newly signed GMO label law
“Organic Traitors Team Up with Monsanto and [Grocery Manufacturers Association] on DARK Act,” reads a recent headline from Ronnie Cummins, director of the ...
GMO wheat, unapproved for commercialization, found growing in Washington state
Genetically modified wheat developed by Monsanto Co, and never approved by federal regulators, has been found growing in a Washington ...
Despite scare reports, honey bee populations not declining
. . . .Ask people on the street if they’re aware of this great bee die-off, and if they’re regular ...
Anti-GMO activist Jeffrey Smith says labeling push never about ‘right to know’
In a letter sent out [July 30], anti-GMO activist Jeffrey Smith admits what we have suspected all along. Labeling GMOs ...
Philippine scientists will apply for commercialization of GMO eggplant in 2017
Philippine commercial propagation for the heavily-opposed Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) "talong" (eggplant), a homegrown genetically engineered (GE) crop, is now underway ...
GMO crops essential for reducing farming’s carbon footprint, warming
The need for GM crops is growing rapidly as a consequence of the overriding priority for the sustainable generation of ...
Soylent, makers of popular meal-replacement drink, defend use of GMOs in products
. . . . Many of the criticisms of genetically engineered (GE) foods center on potential risks to human health, the ...
How pollsters frame GMO questions dramatically effects results
Biotechnological modification of food products is still controversial, and the conditions in which consumers accept biotechnological modification of food products ...
Did EU’s regulation of pesticides contribute to Brexit?
Historically, British farmers have supported the European Union, grateful both for subsidies and access to continental markets. Yet most of ...
Is growing GMO crops only way to feed India’s booming population?
There’s a food crisis looming over India. Farmers in the country currently lose some . . . ($5 billion) every year to pests ...
Monsanto’s greatest challenge may be communication, not technology
The technology used to create genetically modified crops has gotten dramatically better over the last 30 years. . . . But while the ...
Farmer weighs in on pros and cons of GMOs and organics
Greg Peterson is a farmer from Kansas . . . . . . . Organic farming has challenged the conventional way of ...
Obama signs compromise GMO labeling bill
President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that prevents states from requiring on-package labeling of genetically modified ingredients, capping an ...
Why people oppose innovations like GMOs
In a newly released book, Professor Calestous Juma of . . . Harvard . . . chronicles the history of . . . opposition ...
AquaBounty CEO says regulatory process for GMO animals overly rigorous
The Alliance for Science recently . . . interviewed Ron Stotish, chief executive officer of AquaBounty, to learn more about navigating ...
U.S. farmers have ‘nearly universally adopted’ GMO seeds
U.S. farmers “have nearly universally adopted genetically engineered seeds” despite their higher costs, the Economic Research Service of the U.S ...
Neonicotinoids may reduce sperm count, lifespan in male honeybees
Exposure to neonicotinoids. . . reduced the percentage of viable sperm in male honeybees (drones) and also shortened the insects’ ...
Switzerland bans GMO crops, but funds transgenic crop development in India
Despite a current ban on genetically modified crops in agriculture in Switzerland, taxpayer money is being used to develop transgenic ...
Can agroecology become mainstream?
So, what gives industrialized agriculture such staying power despite its adverse impacts, even as alternatives offer such benefits? And how ...
Discovery of ‘softening gene’ may allow for riper tomatoes in produce aisle
To reduce wastage, hybrid tomatoes are often bred to include natural mutations that slow the whole ripening process, but such ...
EPA to hold October public meeting on its evaluation of glyphosate
There will be a 4-day meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) to ...
EPA criticized for ignoring its own scientists’ findings that glyphosate isn’t carcinogenic
. . . . Following the EPA’s notice in the Federal Register that it was seeking nominations for an expert panel ...
Could CRISPR gene editing solve Florida’s growing citrus greening catastrophe?
Welcome to the [Nian Wang] lab, the hub of one of the most promising areas of research on citrus greening ...
South Korea rejects shipment of Argentine wheat after traces of GMOs detected
South Korea rejected a shipment of Argentine feed wheat after finding unapproved strains of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in the ...
Philippine Supreme Court rebuffs Greenpeace, opens path for GMO eggplant commercialization
The [Philippine] Supreme Court on [July 25] set aside its December ruling that stopped the field trials of genetically modified eggplants and ...
