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.
Virus-resistant cassava could join other GMO crops in battling food insecurity and climate change
Nigel Taylor spreads apart the wilted and discolored leaves of a cassava plant. He wants us to see its sickness ...
Regulators unreasonably stifling ‘biopharmed’ life-saving drug development from genetically engineered plants
Obtaining medicines from plants is not new. Aspirin was first isolated from the bark of the willow tree in the ...
Debate over GMOs and other science controversies should center more in values and politics
Looking upon all the polarized rhetoric concerning vaccines, GMO crops, climate change, and processed foods one might be tempted to ...
GMO Bt cotton can increase Indian farmer bankruptcy, suicide risk, claims study
The cultivation of Bt cotton, a genetically modified, insect-resistant cotton variety, is a risky affair for Indian farmers practising rain-fed ...
What Brazil can teach Uganda about GMO crops
Brazil presents a suitable example to learn from in adoption, processing and export of Genetically Modified (GM) crops and products, ...
Seed business may radically reorganize if Monsanto-Syngenta merger goes forward
A successful attempt by Monsanto Co. to buy Syngenta AG and form an agrochemical powerhouse would prompt major rivals to ...
Ancient wheat relative Kernza resists diseases and pests without gene manipulation
Kernza’s arrival has been a long time coming. The new grain variety from the Land Institute is derived from an ...
Modern genetics could bring back mouth-watering strawberries
Think about the best strawberry you ever tasted. Sweet, with a flavor that’s a greater-than-the-sum mix of overripe peach, underripe ...
Plant geneticist Pamela Ronald on why organic farming can benefit from advanced genetics
Pamela Ronald is a professor at the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at UC Davis. Ronald is also the ...
Diet must change to put end to factory farming
From the look of things, you’d be correct in thinking that a revolution in food production was underway. Calls for ...
Pope’s concern about GMOs is about corporate power, not safety
Needless to say, there’s a lot to explore in Pope Francis’s encyclical, “Laudato Si’ — On the Care of Our ...
Whole Foods rating system highlights hypocrisy of organic food claims
Whole Foods has concocted a rating system for produce and flowers called “Responsibly Grown.” It takes into consideration such factors ...
Is there need for clear US policy on importing GMOs?
The processes by which different countries regulate genetically modified crops vary, which can lead to billions of dollars in disrupted ...
Vermont GMO labeling law could cost grocers millions daily
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation law requiring the labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms could cost the nation’s grocers up to ...
Federal judge to decide whether Maui has authority to ban GMOs
A federal judge said that the key question before her in lawsuits related to a Maui County ban on the ...
Paranoia about GMOs more harmful than rejecting evolution
This year is the tenth anniversary of a book called The Republican War on Science. I could just as easily write ...
Former UK ag minister: Neil Young ‘tragically wrong” on GMOs
Neil Young is following the lead of activists who claim that GMOs are harmful to health, farmers and the environment. This ...
Cloning farm animals could be banned in Europe
EU lawmakers on Wednesday backed a ban on cloning farm animals and products derived from them, citing deep public unease ...
Pope says research and debate needed over GMO pros and cons
Pope Francis has called for a “scientific and social debate” on genetically modified foods that considers all the information available ...
Organic pesticides substituted for ‘dangerous’ neonicotinoids found far more toxic to bees
There are two toxic pesticides, Rotenone in Europe and Azadirachtin in the US and Europe, that need to be banned ...
Activists wary Indian government secretly considering GMO mustard approval
While the central government is yet to take a call on introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the country, ...
Non-GMO trend driven by emotion over food fads like ‘gluten free’
Ilene Gordon, Fortune 500 CEO of Ingredion, said the non-GMO movement was driven more by consumer sentiment than hard scientific evidence ...
Wall Street’s view of Monsanto in midst of Syngenta takeover battle
Monsanto is best known for its famous (infamous, perhaps) Roundup weed-killing product. In addition to agricultural products, Monsanto also sells ...
Synthetic biology biocontainment ‘lock and key’ prevents accidental releases
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an easy way to put bacteria under a molecular lock and ...
Consumers opposition to GMOs based mostly on “intuition” and not science
Approximately 88 percent of U.S. scientists agree that GMOs are safe to eat, but this position is only shared by 37 percent of laymen ...
Disease-resistant cloned bananas in development Australia
An Israeli agricultural biotechnology company is looking to trial tissue cultured banana varieties in major Australian growing areas and to ...
Activists claim WHO glyphosate reassessment “nail in coffin’ to glyphosate and GMOs
Could it be that the World Health Organisation's classification of glyphosate as a 'probable carcinogen' (Glyphosate 'Probably Carcinogenic to Humans' ...
