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: No BuzzFeed, local food is not necessarily (or likely) more carbon-friendly
BuzzFeed News manages to make two mistakes here about food and the environment. One is the idea that if we ...
Sri Lanka poised to lift glyphosate ban that contributed to country’s food production crisis
The Sri Lankan Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Mahinda Amaraweera said the Ministry of Agriculture is ready ...
Study: History of CRISPR gene editing in food
The development of a method for genome editing based on CRISPR–Cas9 technology was awarded The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in ...
Why are seedless watermelons ‘genetically modified’ but not considered GMOs?
Before, there were two types of people: those who spit out the seeds of the watermelon and those who removed ...
Study: $261 billion — That’s how much GMO crops have boosted farmers’ incomes
This paper updates previous estimates for the global value of using genetically modified (GM) crop technology in agriculture at the ...
Global food consumption is rising, along with the need for carbon-emitting nitrogen fertilizer. Here’s what scientists are doing to address this fast-approaching crisis
Growing and producing food, fiber, and biofuels generates about one-quarter of all human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions. At the same time, yields ...
Podcast: Is there a future in the US for gene editing in animals? Kevin Folta talks with Alison van Eenennaam about her latest breakthrough research and regulatory hurdles she faces
Amazing innovations in animal gene editing have the promise to streamline agriculture, with benefits for agricultural producers, consumers and the ...
Synthetic biology: Potential game changer for climate change adaptation in Africa
While the rapid expansion of synthetic biology has to date mainly focused on the microbial sciences and human health, it ...
Study: How gene-edited crops are regulated around the world
To date, many countries have made decisions on the regulatory status of products of genome editing, by exempting some kinds ...
‘GMOs are just a new twist on what humans have been doing for centuries,’ says Hawaii based tropical agriculture scientist
The question is, are genetically modified organisms good or bad? The answer is that it all depends on how the ...
Viewpoint: Activists and radical ecologists publicize myth that ‘agrochemical lobbyists control global agriculture’
In the age of fake news and conspiracy theories, some find it seductive to assert that evil agrochemical lobbies would ...
The Economist urges regulators not to squander genetic revolution unfolding in agriculture and medicine
Thanks to great strides in fundamental research, biology is becoming ever more programmable. Two recent scientific advances show just how ...
Irish farmers hope to avoid oilseed rape crop failures encouraged in part by neonicotinoid insecticide limits
More Irish farmers are expected to sow oilseed rape this autumn, despite the crop's chequered and controversial history across the ...
Most expensive nuts in the world: Genomics could transform how we grow macadamia nuts
If we tried to feed the global population today on the average agricultural yields of the 1960s, we would need to farm ...
Our microbiomes respond positively to exercise, giving us a digestive boost
There is certainly no shortage of studies in humans that show doing moderate to vigorous exercise such as running, cycling and resistance ...
The Guardian’s anti-GMO columnist George Monbiot reports organic, pasture fed beef and lamb are ‘some of the world’s most damaging food products’
What are the world’s most damaging farm products? You might be amazed by the answer: organic, pasture-fed beef and lamb ...
Why are bumblebees dying? New study concludes climate change is causing earlier springs, awakening them from winter slumber before flowers ready for pollination
Climate change is triggering early spring across North America and prematurely waking bumblebees from hibernation before flowers have bloomed - leaving ...
65,000 Bangladeshi farmers now grow GMO insect-resistant eggplant as production soars among local farms
In 2020/21, more than 65,000 farmers in Bangladesh used genetically modified Bt aubergines. A rapid increase since the GM crop was ...
Gene editing could revive the American chestnut tree and help fight climate change — but familiar anti-biotechonology activist critics will have none of it
These trees once ruled the canopies of much of Appalachia, with billions of mature American chestnut trees that towered in ...
After deliberating less than an hour, Missouri county jury concludes glyphosate weedkiller did not cause plaintiff’s cancer, delivering Bayer/Monsanto 5th court victory in a row
A St. Louis County jury has determined Bayer and the former Monsanto should not be held liable in a lawsuit ...
Promising way to reduce spread of mosquito-borne dengue without gene drives or genetic modification
In 2009, the World Mosquito Program, or WMP’s research team discovered that a bacteria called Wolbachia could prevent the transmission ...
Can plant-based meat spur a just environmental transition for animals and food-factory workers alike?
There are plenty of ways in which fake meat is better than animal meat. Getting institutions like schools and hospitals ...
Tweaking crops to prevent disease and reduce pesticide use — a CRISPR solution
Applying new CRISPR-based technology to a broad agricultural need, researchers at the University of California San Diego have set their ...
Challenging global wheat shortage: Finding ‘hidden breeding resources’ to supercharge yields
Climate change is placing pressure on productivity. Yields have steadily increased from a global average of only just over 1 ...
Indonesia looks to GMOs to address inflation, though some farmers are skeptical
The government is set on boosting the development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), despite skepticism from experts and farmers that ...
How genetics, robotics and other technologies can protect French farms from drought
Claude Ménara was an icon in the early 2000s. The icon of the pro-GMO fight in New Aquitaine, who regularly ...
US consumers view gene editing in a favorable light
Consumers in the United States are generally favorable to the use of gene editing in agriculture, a new survey by the ...
