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.
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 ...
Big Meat is alive and thriving: Plant-based and cellular meat may be a commercial flop
Meatless meat, it turns out, seems less a world-changing innovation than another food trend whose novelty is wearing thin ...
Viewpoint: ‘Going organic isn’t cheap’ — What does it cost farmers to switch from conventional farming to organic?
Farmland has to stop using industrial-strength pesticides and fertilizers on land for three years before it can meet the U.S ...
Viewpoint: It’s time for consumers to get over the ‘ick factor’ of lab-created food
Many people feel weird about eating innovation, as if Big Biotech is ramming science down their throats. They cringe at ...
CRISPR co-creator: 2023 sees mobilization of gene editing to develop crops that resist climate change, as world food demand rises
Crispr is being used experimentally to increase yield, reduce pesticide and water use, and protect against disease. The next space ...
Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture is the best way to overcome environmental impacts of conventional farming, claims Boston Consulting Group
Regenerative agriculture, we argue, is the only approach to farming that can overcome the agriculture industry’s status quo by significantly reducing the ...
Video: What does it take to feed the United States? Comparing organic and conventional crops and food
What does it take to feed a nation the size of the United States? Well, the good news is… a ...
What is a ‘sustainatarian’? A ‘regenivore’? Are fad diets targeting climate change just a new wave of virtue signaling?
Terms like "climatarian" are getting newfound attention from corporate America as young consumers gravitate toward what they perceive as "green" ...
Viewpoint: Despite ‘incredible amount of pseudoscientific claims,’ consensus confirms safety of GM crops — and they are often safer than organic
A paper, by Elisa Pellegrino et al. published in Nature Scientific Reports, a highly respected peer-reviewed journal, analyzed over 6000 published papers ...
How do we build houses on Mars? Bricks made of bacteria and fungi filaments could help
Rather than hauling construction materials or prefabricated modules aboard a spaceship, astronauts bound for Mars could bring synthetic bacteria cultures ...
Perspectives on cultured meat: Differences driven by ethics, education, ethics and views on how to address climate change
Last week I asked, “What do you think about meat grown in a lab? Would you eat it? Will your ...
Viewpoint: Biotechnology can help address climate change fluctuations and deliver sustainable food and farming, says World Economic Forum
Biotechnology holds part of the key to enabling a transformation of our economy and our food systems ...
