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.
Upcycling food waste: Corn cobs, the circular economy and industrial production: Plant biomass offers alternative industrial products
The practice of upcycling –present in a variety of industries from fashion to construction– not only revitalizes discarded items, adding new values ...
Dozens of countries are planning to open their markets to agricultural gene editing. Here are the current regulatory status and opportunities for harmonization
The creators of CRISPR/Cas have been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their ground-breaking technology and its exceptional ...
As climate change threatens to eliminate land suitable for arabica production, cell-based coffee may eventually offer a solution
Scientists in Finland have shed new light on the process of making, roasting and analyzing lab-grown cellular coffee ...
The investment bubble surrounding indoor farming has burst. One plodding but high-tech startup is bucking the trend, and here’s how
Indoor farming startups seeking to revolutionize the nation’s food supply have endured a rocky year. Investors have significantly pulled back ...
Feather-based fuel? How millions of tons of poultry waste, an agricultural byproduct, could be transformed into clean, green hydrogen fuel cells
Look at a chicken feather, and what you’re seeing is 91% keratin. Now a team of scientists have found a way to ...
Why African farmers fighting against notoriously low yields need innovation to survive inflation and starvation in a warming world
Rising temperatures mean large chunks of Africa are whipsawing between increasingly severe droughts and more frequent and intense cyclones, threatening ...
Monsanto’s lingering shadow: Bayer grapples with growing Roundup legal costs
Three years after Bayer agreed to pay $10 billion to settle claims that its weedkiller, Roundup, caused cancer, juries continue ...
Viewpoint: Why we need to get over our gene-editing fears and embrace optimized, climate-resilient crops
As the planet warms, gene editing is one of our greatest hopes for developing resilient crops that allow for adaptation ...
Is eating vegan healthier than following an omnivorous lifestyle? Study on 22 sets of twins delves into diet
November 30, a study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by researchers at Stanford University, who studied 22 ...
Creating the perfect Christmas tree: Researchers spent four decades creating a faster-growing, shed-free fir tree
Christmas trees are the centerpiece of the holiday season. But the fear of needles falling can deter shoppers from buying ...
‘Agriculture catches blame for climate change’: Here’s 3 ways innovation can transform farming challenges into solutions
As climate change intensifies, the conversation around two of the most significant contributors — energy and transportation — has shifted ...
Will indoor farming revolutionize sustainable agriculture, or is it another case of greenwashing?
With the help of LED lighting plants are grown in indoor spaces, using closed nutrient and water cycles. As of ...
‘I asked for a greenhouse made of bulletproof glass’: Golden Rice developer feared activist retaliation for creating genetically modified vitamin A-boosted variety
In July 2000, Ingo Potrykus thought he was both at the peak and at the end of his career. He ...
CRISPR co-creator Jennifer Doudna: ‘I think many of us will experience CRISPR in the agricultural world before we experience it clinically’
It’s been a monumental year for Crispr, the molecular tool scientists use to edit genetic material. ...
Companies bet millions on the plant-based meat substitute revolution. Why hasn’t that panned out?
Futurists and pundits often make compelling cases for how the agricultural world will unfold. Here are a half dozen instances ...
Viewpoint: Hunger crisis — The number of countries unable to feed their populations has soared 400% since 2000. Here’s why crop biotechnology is a key solution
In the face of increasing population, adversely changing climate, shrinking agricultural lands, inputs such as energy, fertilizer and pestisite that ...
Food and your brain: ‘Ultra-processed’ foods high in salt, sugar and fat are cheap and accessible — but increase risks of anxiety and depression
Although many ultra-processed foods—soda, candy, energy bars, fruit-flavored yogurt, frozen pizza, and frozen meals—can satisfy cravings for sweet, fatty, salty ...
New study shows daffodils can reduce methane
Harnessing the power of daffodils to combat climate change is now a plausible idea if ongoing scientific experiments and field trials are ...
‘Gastronomic dreams of astronomical proportions’: Collaboration between government and companies key to producing cell-based meat at scale
Creating a technological (and delicious) wonder is one thing; scaling it to feed billions of people is another ...
President Macron’s attempt to appease French anti-glyphosate environmental lobby goes awry, alienating both his activist base and farmers
Good news for French agriculture. Finally, the European Commission decided to follow what a majority of Member States wanted, in this ...
Viewpoint: Why Italy’s cell-based meat ban is short sighted and alienates consumers
Italian lawmakers banned cell-culture meat and blocked plant-based proteins from being labeled with meat terminology ...
Foods can fight inflammation. Here’s what to eat to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and more
In the last few decades, researchers including [surgical oncologist Jennifer] Wargo have accumulated evidence to support some key ingredients in ...
Viewpoint: Nigeria may be running out of farmable land. Is there a biotech-based solution?
It is probable that Nigeria would experience a scarcity of cultivable land and a notable reduction in the nitrogen levels ...
Glyphosate cancer warning rejected: US appeals court rebuffs California’s attempt to require label that conflicts with global consensus that the herbicide is safe as used
A U.S. appeals court recently ruled that California lacks the authority to enforce a regulation mandating cancer warnings on glyphosate, ...
Should we be concerned that gene-editing seeds will cascade into unpredictable changes?
For tens of thousands of years, evolution shaped tomatoes through natural mutations. Then, humans came along. For centuries, we've bred ...
Viewpoint: GM crops already solving food insecurity — 37% less pesticides, 22% higher yields, and 68% greater earnings for farmers
Food insecurity and undernourishment are currently among the most serious anxieties for human health. As the world’s population goes on ...
How algae, mushrooms and grass can supplement ‘de-carbonization’ initiatives
The prominence of the forestry industry in Sweden’s bioeconomy has whipped up controversy. Many scientists, activists, and NGOs are critical of ...
