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.
Viewpoint: American agriculture is far more efficient — and sustainable — than in Europe. Here’s why
Toward the end of the 1980s, the divergence between Europe and the United States in terms of agricultural output became ...
‘Challenge the poultry mafia’? Criticism of Pakistan’s food security minister who claims GM soybeans are toxic and linked to cancer mounts
Some statements deserve to be ridiculed. Earlier this week, the honorable Federal Minister for Food Security in Pakistan made one ...
Should you start fasting? What does science say about autophagy and ketosis?
Autophagy (which directly translates to self-eating) is a term that is often associated with fasting and longevity. This is a ...
Viewpoint: Why an EU ban on crop pesticide exports based on the misguided precautionary principle will hurt global farming
In France, on September 10, 2020, Le Monde headlined: ”The EU has authorized the export of more than 80,000 tonnes of ...
Everything you need to know about lab-created, climate-friendly cultivated meat
Cultivated meat is known under many names: cultured meat, synthetic meat, slaughter-free meat, and lab-grown meat, to name a few ...
Drivers of food security: European Commission report concludes chemical pesticides pose challenges to EU farmers
An intensive agricultural model “based on chemical pesticides” is likely to pose a food security threat due to a loss ...
How can we ‘climate proof’ our global seed system to increase yield and cut down on chemical usage?
We’re in a race against time to climate-proof our seed systems. Some estimates indicate that in countries faced with serious ...
Plastic pollution epidemic: Microplastics have found their way into our fruits and veggies
Unwittingly, we may be consuming tiny fragments of plastic with almost every bite we take. In 2022, analysis by the Environmental ...
Podcast: Behind the fungus-resistant chestnut that could save American forests
The American chestnut was a dominant tree in many of the forests of the eastern United States. In the early ...
Viewpoint: Anti-biotech advocacy group opposition to forest-restoring GM chestnut tree mimics their disingenuous rejection of nutrition-enhancing GM Golden Rice
Critics of scientists and science writers who speak plainly usually note it is better to be more neutral in tone, ...
‘Investing in a net zero economy’: Can ‘smart farming’ help steer us from climate disaster?
There is a strong investment case for including climate-smart agriculture and food security among a broader portfolio of net zero ...
Video: ‘Media bashing of pesticides is hysteria wrapped around a kernel of truth’: Rethinking essential crop protection tools
Headlines about agriculture chemical use aren’t always the most kind to the industry. And while these headlines may be flashy ...
Anti-biotech Canadian NGO ETC Group claims ‘precision agriculture’ would ‘further break’ global farming system
“We have a food system that is broken in so many ways — and this is even recognized by the ...
Viewpoint: ‘We take farmers for granted’ — The public doesn’t recognize the hard work and innovation of the farmers who grow our food
Farmers are using all kinds of technologies and innovations to grow your food. You’ve read about some of them here ...
Soaring butterfly levels: California county sees highest monarch numbers in two decades
More than 129,000 western monarch butterflies were counted in the San Luis Obispo county by Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation ...
Viewpoint: 7.4 quadrillion calorie shortfall by 2050 — Why we need to eat less meat and stop wasting food
If we are serious about cleaning up the mess we’re making for less influential species, there are four things individuals ...
Viewpoint: Are regulations on genetically modified crops too lenient?
Chantel Arendse, plant biotechnology lead at CropLife SA, gives insight into plant biotechnology, and the importance of quality and safety ...
Is global food security a realistic goal? UN FAO report details CRISPR gene editing’s role in building a more promising future
In the decade since CRISPR genome editing emerged, scientists have developed a toolkit to tackle the most pressing issues facing ...
Why are walnuts considered a new ‘brain food’?
A new clinical trial of undergraduate students during their university studies has shown positive effects of walnut consumption on self-reported ...
Viewpoint: Not a single peer-reviewed study supports the EU’s politically-induced pesticide bans — Why Africa should avoid the disastrous restrictions imposed and then rescinded by Sri Lanka
NGOs funded by Germany’s Green Party distribute rounds of videos starring local celebrities holding up tomatoes and sukuma wiki stating ...
How cultured seafood can transition from ‘technological delicacy’ into a sustainable protein source
Startups like BlueNalu and Wildtype have their sights set on first cracking into the high-end sushi market, with hopes of ...
99%+ of 10,127 foods test below EPA pesticide benchmarks, USDA reports
USDA’s Pesticide Data Program has just released its report for calendar year 2021. The PDP surveys pesticide residues in food ...
Viewpoint: Why investing in ‘climate smart’ precision agriculture is critical to promote sustainable farming
More farmers are transitioning to climate-smart practices and the U.S. is recognizing the critical role agriculture plays in driving climate ...
Viewpoint: ‘Adapt, or starve’ — Misconceptions that power vaccine rejectionism turn the public away from science-based food policy
There were a number of key takeaways: adapt or starve, help poorer countries help themselves, find out what works and ...
Is your festive Christmas tree damaging the planet?
Every year, millions of Christmas trees are grown and harvested in the United States and Europe. These are often fir trees cultivated ...
Viewpoint: ‘Unless we want to cut down our forests, we need to improve our crop yields’ — Practical biotech-based sustainable solutions are right in front of us
To feed a hotter and drier planet, Stanford scientists are building a smarter plant. The team has genetically reprogrammed plants, ...
Sustainable metrics: How much carbon, land and energy does your dinner require?
So, what would a protein-rich, low-carbon diet really look like? Just how bad for the climate are meat and dairy? ...
