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: ‘We can’t reward less productive organic farming’ — A call to re-introduce science to agricultural planning
Faced with global food security concerns and soaring food and energy price inflation, the UK Government seems to have woken ...
Viewpoint: ‘Deadly consequences’ — Sri Lanka needs to replace disastrous ‘100% organic’ method with evidence-based sustainable agricultural plan
Among the decisions being singled out for criticism, both locally and globally, is Sri Lanka's now infamous overnight ban on ...
Extracting urine from wastewater and using it as fertilizer could be sustainability boon
Removing urine from wastewater and using it as fertilizer has the potential to decrease nutrient loading in water bodies and ...
Viewpoint: Next-generation of sustainable fortified crops are in the pipeline — but approval process lags
Exciting agricultural discoveries are happening every day. But these discoveries will become reality only if we have a clear, science-based, ...
Boosting photosynthesis: GMO soy bean trial demonstrates 25% jump in yield
Genetically modified soya beans designed to absorb light more efficiently produced a 25% greater yield in an advance that could ...
‘Meat can be a translucent liquid or crunchy bite’: How cellular agriculture is poised to reinvent cuisine
Near and long term, cellular agriculture opens the road for increased creativity. It would be difficult to find protein of ...
Viewpoint: Study claims tweaking one gene could raise rice yields as much as 68%. Here’s why you should be cautious about believing it
Science Magazine recently published a paper in which Chinese scientists reported massive yield gains in rice, thanks to genetic engineering. The journal ...
Farmer’s viewpoint: BBC and other British media ‘continue to falsely imply that genetic engineering remains highly controversial and uncertain’
Phil Lodge, who farms on the outskirts of Doncaster, explained his reasons for taking part in the GM crop trials: ...
Viewpoint: Aspirational India — Embracing genetic modification in agriculture key to country’s ‘nutritional security’
India has made stupendous strides in becoming self-sufficient in food, primarily driven by technological investments during the green revolution. Using ...
Viewpoint: Technology hypocrites? Greenpeace is far less ecological than it claims
In July 2022, Greenpeace leaders deplored the inclusion of gas and nuclear in the European green taxonomy (this new classification ...
Why smiley-face potatoes and other food with ‘human-like’ features repulse us
When food is given human-like features, people do not like to eat it, research from the University of Innsbruck, Austria ...
‘Without major changes to agriculture, government targets for mitigating climate change are at risk’, scientists warn
For decades, scientists have pursued a tantalizing possibility for bolstering food supplies and easing hunger for the world’s poorest: improving ...
GMO photosynthesis breakthrough: Genetically-tweaked food crops harness sunlight 20% more efficiently
Researchers developed a way to make photosynthesis - the natural process that all plants use to convert sunlight energy into ...
A plastic straw could take a thousand years to break down. This biodegradable plastic disappears within 60 days
A time-lapse video shows a baby blue straw sitting in a tank of water and rocks. Not much happens at ...
With chemical fertilizer supply still disrupted, Sri Lankan farmers struggle to feed their families
For more than half a century, Pahatha Mellange Jayaappu has tilled the field on his modest farm in Sri Lanka’s ...
Ghana plans for education, stewardship in GMO cowpea rollout
As Ghana readies genetically modified cowpea for commercialization, proper stewardship is paramount to safeguard the responsible management of the technology, ...
‘Science-denial playbook’: How the tobacco industry denied proof of smoking dangers for decades
In The Playbook: How to deny science, sell lies and make a killing in the corporate world, Jennifer Jacquet, an associate ...
Disease-resistant GM cassava promises to be game-changer for Kenya
At the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) center in Mtwapa, Kenya, scientist Paul Kuria uproots two sets of ...
‘Smart plants’: The next generation of crops will have genetic on-off switches
Climate change is going to put a severe strain on the ability of the world’s plants to survive. Entire ecosystems ...
Do British grocery shoppers want to try lab-grown meat? A deep dive into UK eating habits
If lab-grown meat was authorised for commercialisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, would consumers be willing to eat it? ...
Better seeds and biotechnology can boost Africa’s crop productivity, study finds
Though Africa has a quarter of the world’s arable land, its crop productivity falls well below the world average, particularly in ...
Viewpoint: Will late blight-proof GMO potatoes ever make it to Africa? Not if anti-biotech activists succeed in their scare campaigns
Despite increased potato production and high-yield potential, yields in developing countries have not reached their full potential. Smallholder farmers often ...
New biotech weapon fighting global hunger: Nanoparticles that can carry CRISPR gene-editing into plant cells
The CRISPR-mediated editing of plants is already paying off. In 2021, the first CRISPR-edited food was introduced to the market, ...
Viewpoint: Will crop biotechnology breakthroughs usher in a new ‘Green Revolution’?
A recent spate of crop biotech breakthroughs presage a New Green Revolution that will boost crop production, shrink agriculture's environmental ...
Nutrition, productivity, climate adaptability: Surge in African crop biotechnology research poised to address malnutrition and food security
Scientists are using genomics to tackle malnutrition in Africa and more. The African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC), founded in 2011, ...
Viewpoint: GMO and gene edited agricultural solutions will never gain traction if journalists continue to carry water for anti-biotechnology disinformation
Citizens' "vague sense of unease" about genetically modified (GM) crops and genome-edited foods will never be alleviated. Why? ...
In defense of meat: A sustainability and climate argument
The number of carbon atoms returned to the atmosphere from beef farming is less than that removed by grass growth ...
