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.
U.S. agriculture can change the GMO conversation
Despite the head start biotechnology opponents have, there’s still plenty of opportunity for farmers, ranchers and the biotechnology industry to ...
An example of how much pesticides have changed
The pesticides that farmers use to protect their crops have changed a great deal over the last few decades. While ...
Sustainability case for GE crops
The public debate about food has become deafening. "Local" and "organic" are mantras of the organic lobby, but organic food ...
Grist for the genetic engineering mill
A “what I’ve learned about GMOs” (“genetically modified organisms”) end-of-the-year column by Nathanael Johnson, Grist’s food writer, would ordinarily not warrant much attention ...
China vows ‘active, cautious’ GMO food stance
With the safety certificates for China's GMO rice and corn expiring soon, the country will take an "active and cautious" policy ...
Massive data do not support Don Huber’s GMO/glyphosate pathogen claims
Anti-GMO figure Don Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, has stirred quite a bit of controversy as ...
The fable of Hawaiian ‘Frankencorn’
Hawaii is the epicenter of a furious campaign to shut down production farms that yield genetically modified seed. It was ...
Organic food and farm groups ask Obama to require GMO food labels
Four U.S. lawmakers joined with more than 200 food companies, organic farming groups, health and environment organizations and other groups on Thursday ...
Uganda: ActionAid, other NGOs face scrutiny for false claims that GMOs cause cancer, infertility
Last November, the National Agricultural Research Organization (Naro) took concrete steps towards beating off any opposition to the draft bio-technology ...
Addressing belief that organic farming uses fewer/less harmful ‘natural’ pesticides
Go shopping in any large supermarket in a Western country and you are likely to find yourself bombarded with enticements ...
Social benefits of biotech crops
Ask any sugarbeet grower in the US how their lives have changed since the commercialization of Roundup Ready beets. Really ...
Ex FDA official analyzes industry draft GMO labeling and ‘natural’ proposal
It might have enraged those in favor of mandatory GMO labeling, but a leaked document outlining the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s ...
Weighing the plusses and minuses of GMO labeling
The most visible and contentious debate in our food supply is undoubtedly over labeling of genetically modified organisms. In the ...
Kenya to lift ban, commercialize GMOs
Kenyan Education, Science and Technology Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has revealed plans by the government to lift a ban on Genetically ...
State of the planet: GMOs not just about crops
While much attention is focused on genetically modified foods and the debate over their safety, fewer people are aware that many ...
China cloning on an ‘industrial scale’
Fast-growing Chinese company BGI is not only the world's largest center for gene sequencing, it's also the world's largest center for cloning ...
Biotech crop opponents slowing federal approval
The opposition to biotech crops is slowing the approval by U.S. regulators of new genetically modified products that is hurting ...
Hostility to GM putting EU in ‘global slow lane’
The growing influence of green lobbyists and anti-capitalists on European policymaking is condemning the EU the ‘global slow lane’ when ...
Pro and Anti GMO forces spar in Hawaii
State Senator Russell Ruderman used his own company’s letterhead when he submitted anti-GMO testimony recently to the Hawaii County Council ...
Deadly bacteria could put an end to Florida orange juice
For years, Florida orange farmers have been fighting an incurable bacterial infection that threatens the very existence of the state's ...
China’s ‘father’ of conventional hybrid rice says ‘GM is the future’
China's "father of hybrid rice," Yuan Longping, says he is working with researchers on rice that has been genetically modified ...
New technique to trace GMOs in food but not ready for prime time
As more governments across the globe start requiring food producers to label products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or even ...
Crucifying Amy Harmon: What happens when good journalists challenge anti-GMO orthodoxy
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Amy Harmon recently wrote another excellent, nuanced piece of science journalism when she explored one ...
Are farmers forced to adopt GM seeds?
In the ever-growing debate about genetically modified seeds and the crops that come from them, misinformation too often distorts the ...
SCOTUS rejects activist appeal to restrict Monsanto’s biotech seed patents
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a coalition of 73 organic and conventional farmers, small seed companies and ...
Kaua’i to use pro-bono attorneys to fight industry GMO suit
Kauai County will be taking law firms up on their offers for free legal help defending an ordinance regulating the ...
Are GMO-free Cheerios the first domino?
Activists are trumpeting General Mills’ decision to remove GMOs from Cheerios as a watershed moment. It is; but not for the reason ...
