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’s the background on India’s newly-approved high-yielding genetically modified mustard
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex regulator of genetically modified plants and food products, has approved the environmental ...
Some Kenyans eager to embrace GM crops to fight escalating drought, but opposition remains
As Kenya prepares to commercialise genetically modified crops, there is resistance from some farmers and campaign groups, who question their ...
Viewpoint: Evidence does not support ‘plant good, animal bad’ mantra. Humans are hard-wired to eat meat
While some question whether humans are supposed to eat meat, a University of Melbourne professor in food science and human ...
7 ways CRISPR gene editing could transform food
Here are some of the ways scientists are using CRISPR to create healthier, more appealing, and more resilient foods — ...
Podcast: How lab-grown fish can save Alaska’s threatened wild salmon stocks
Although wild salmon remains one of Alaska’s most lucrative seafood industries, it’s also one of the state’s most vulnerable, as ...
Are biotechnology and sustainability compatible in Africa?
Advancements in digital technology are beginning to reshape agriculture. The right combination of technology and processes allow farmers to apply ...
Could methane-burping cows one day become an unexpected part of the climate solution?
The concept of carbon neutral cows may seemingly conflict with the notion we must eat less meat and dairy to counter climate ...
Growing crops in space: International mission aims to develop plants that can adapt to climate change on Earth
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched seeds into ...
Bayer wins sixth consecutive glyphosate cancer verdict
Bayer scored another win over Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide after a Missouri jury came out with a defense verdict November 9 ...
Viewpoint: ‘End of policy paralysis’ — India’s approval of genetically-modified mustard brings major economic benefits
Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) is the first GM food crop to be approved in India. The only other crop that ...
Viewpoint: ‘Portugal, Spain, France and Italy are in the line of fire’ — How gene-edited crops could help address crippling droughts plaguing EU farmlands
While the worst of the summer drought has now passed, EU Commission researchers predict unusually warm and dry weather in ...
Adapting plants to our needs: From rudimentary hand pollination by ancient farmers to CRISPR, humans have always been genetically modifying crops
People have been taking plants from the wild and growing/cultivating them to both meet their needs and their pleasures for ...
Genetically-modified houseplant that can scrub the air? This startup may have a biological way to address pollution
It looks like an ordinary pothos, a common houseplant that you might already own. But a new plant called the ...
‘Agrivoltaics’: Crossover of farming and solar power could advance food security and synergize climate goals with farmer needs
So, for the uninitiated, what is agrivoltaics? The term refers to the simultaneous use of areas of land for both ...
Viewpoint: ‘Activists and organizations spread lies about GMOs’ — Nobel laureate chides dogmatic political discourse, highlights decades of GMO’s safe use
Misinformation about science, especially genetically modified crops, need to be dispelled and they should be adopted as it is backed ...
Distant tomato relative the groundcherry: Genetic modification poised to rescue key orphan crop
Over 34 million people in the U.S. don’t have enough food. More diverse and adaptable crops are needed to address challenges in ...
Viewpoint: Satellites, artificial intelligence and smart machines key to addressing agriculture’s sustainability and social challenges of the future
Migel Tissera, Co-Founder and CTO of Metaspectral, says that technology has a significant role in improving agriculture sustainability ...
The case for GMOs in Africa
Biotechnological studies on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) offer various options for solving the continent's hunger, malnutrition, and food security challenges ...
More than 3,000 plants — including some organic crops — developed by mutating seeds using radiation or chemicals. Here’s an explainer
Plant mutation breeding, also called variation breeding, is a method that uses physical radiation or chemical means to induce spontaneous genetic variation in plants ...
‘Hybrid meat’: Will consumers embrace food made of both cultivated meat and plant-based protein?
In much the same way that hybrid vehicles acted as a bridge between the electric vehicle experimentation of the 1970s ...
Bayer reaches confidential settlement with plaintiff alleging Monsanto’s QuikPRO weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Officials of Monsanto and their attorneys decided to pay off a St. Louis plaintiff, a professional landscaper who sued them ...
Video: UNESCO examines the environmental and biodiversity impacts of gene-edited plants and animals
Genome editing is a powerful tool. It allows us to modify genes not only to treat human diseases but also ...
Gene-edited GABA-enhanced tomatoes begin shipping in Japan
This month marks the start of shipments of tomatoes that control high blood pressure, the first gene-edited food to be ...
Why sustainably-produced lab-grown meat might be a pipe dream
The first lab-grown burger cost around $330,000 to make in 2013. Prices have dropped since then, but not to the ...
Viewpoint: If the Mexican government bans genetically modified corn, the country’s poorest and America’s farmers will suffer the most
Since 2008, U.S. corn exports to Mexico have been free of tariffs and quota restrictions thanks to hard-fought provisions in ...
Poultry meat and eggs are the most common sources of Salmonella infections. Here’s how CRISPR could address the problem and keep you from getting sick
The poultry industry is under intense scrutiny right now when it comes to Salmonella control, but a new next generation sequencing technique ...
Viewpoint: The world’s farmers are starting a ‘pro-GMO rebellion,’ challenging ‘dubious’ and ‘contradictory’ regulatory regime
Farmers across the world are desperate to grow genetically modified crops (GM) in their fields. So much so that in ...
