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.
China’s cloned super-cows can produce 100 tons of milk per cow — 30% more than U.S dairy cattle
Chinese scientists have cloned three "super cows" able to produce 18 metric tons of milk per year and more than ...
Viewpoint: ‘Fashionable organic fantasies’ — Global elite at Davos WEF convention endorsed failed agriculture policies amid global food crisis
While eating caviar and sipping on fine wine, wealthy elites at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos hobnobbed with ...
‘USDA has been aware for years that its oversight of organic food fraud has been a massive failure’. Here’s what’s needed
Amended U.S. Department of Agriculture rules announced last month suggest the agency has high hopes for plans to crack down on fraud ...
What might dogs eat in a post-meat era ushered in by climate change?
As managing director of British startup Yora Pet Foods, Rankin’s job is figuring out how to lure dogs — or ...
Do consumers accept gene-edited foods? Sharing health and environmental benefits does not soften resistance, research finds
The commercial success of gene-editing technology depends on the public's acceptance of its foods. This study used data from a ...
Facing global food shortages, will ESG investing embrace sustainable gene-edited crops — or continue to reject biotech?
The need to feed an expanding population while cutting agriculture’s high greenhouse gas emissions means farming must become more efficient ...
Natural crops untouched by human tinkering? Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussels sprouts are genetically-altered variants of the Brassica family
The cruciferous vegetable family, also known as the Brassicaceae or Cruciferae family, originally hails from the Mediterranean and Central Asia ...
Europe is mulling a food sustainability label. Here’s how it might work
A sustainability label, or at least the principles thereof, is expected in 2023, and is led by the European Commission’s ...
Will China’s latest Five Year Plan jump start food made with synthetic biology?
In 2021, China’s 14th five-year plan announced the importance of securing protein supply through cellular agriculture and synthetic dairy. It was the ...
Control harmful insect populations using CRISPR gene editing? Here’s how it could work
Biocentis has received investment to use CRISPR-based gene-editing to control insect populations that harm health, food security and biodiversity ...
Sustainable eating: Will politics slow adoption of cultivated foods and other technological innovations?
Cultivated meat is grown and harvested without traditional animal agriculture. A life cycle analysis of the cultivated meat industry by CE Delft, ...
Here is how agriculture has evolved over the centuries… and how the science of farming continues to change
Crop production evolved independently in several regions of the world. However, historians believe the first instance of agriculture took place ...
Does the ‘clean’ food label provide useful information?
The world of food labels is a confusing one — natural, organic, non-GMO, sugar-free, and clean are just a few ...
Are plant-based meats a healthy, sustainable alternative to traditional cuts — or is it just good marketing?
Plant-based meats have become more popular in recent years, with consumers being able to find alternatives to everything from hot ...
Viewpoint: Why Scotland’s rejection of genetically modified and gene-edited crops is backward
Routinely, it seems, politicians base their views on which scientific work should be suppressed and which supported on unfounded scare ...
Europe and Africa may take different stances on pesticides EU regulators have deemed harmful
Profenofos and cypermethrin, the active ingredients in the pesticide which Ugandan farmer Faustine Mugalula applies, have been banned within the ...
European Court of Justice reinforces ruling that crops gene edited via mutagenesis should not be regulated as GMOs
In-vitro plant gene editing techniques that are used conventionally and have a long safety record are excluded from EU laws ...
Oatly pioneers carbon impact labels on food. Is this unregulated junk science or useful information?
Four of its so-called Oatgurts are now carrying an eco-label intended to help consumers “compare the climate impact of different ...
Southeast Asia split on embrace of biotech crops: India ‘indecisive’, Bangladesh on board
Bangladesh is seen as the most willing nation to adopt a modern agricultural policy network, including the use of biotechnology, ...
Anne Hathaway leverages celebrity status and invests in ‘animal-free protein’ and precision fermentation. Will it drive consumer acceptance?
Actress Anne Hathaway’s investment in food-tech startup The Every Co., announced yesterday, brings more than capital – it also brings ...
Viewpoint: Are Americans being duped by the organic label and claims by its proponents?
The claim that organic farming produces tastier food is simply unsupported by scientific consensus at this time. However, this claim ...
Viewpoint: Tracking the quality of what we eat — ‘Diet is the single leading predictor for chronic disease risk in the modern world’
Diet quality, measured objectively, is the single leading predictor variable for all-cause mortality and total chronic disease risk in the modern ...
Micro-algae a panacea for sustainability woes? Microorganisms have the ability to treat wastewater, eat up plastic, feed plants, produce food, and control pests
Every drop of seawater is teeming with microscopic life. But researchers in Europe believe that one particular kind could be ...
Viewpoint: Societal hypocrisy — Farmers face unfair criticism for the pesticides they judiciously use, while lethal chemicals used elsewhere are embraced
Why are bugs so difficult to get rid of? If you’ve ever had an infestation even in your own home, ...
Viewpoint: ‘One of the greatest human accomplishments’ — GM insect-resistant cowpea quintuples yields without pesticides
African farmers, especially smallholders, will need to achieve much higher yields than they do today. Fulfilling this will require concerted ...
From 2,000 to 330,000: Monarch butterfly count soars in California since 2020 low — but still far below millions in the 1980s
The population of western monarch butterflies wintering along the California coast has rebounded for a second year in a row ...
Viewpoint: Deciding between growing conventional or biotech crops in Africa? Here’s what farmers need to know
Corteva Agriscience’s developing marketing manager, Charles Matlou, expands on the types of biotech crops approved for commercialisation in South Africa ...
