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: 10 reasons why we should not fear GMO fruits
[1.] Many people think genetically modified fruit is a recent invention, but the first GMO fruit hit the market in the 1990s. ...
Battling rising feed costs and misinformation, Kenya explores GMO solutions to revive its struggling livestock sector
For years, Kenyan farmers have been complaining of expensive and poor quality livestock feed that is eating into their profits ...
Growing rice traditionally releases dangerous greenhouse gas. Here’s a solution
Rice is perhaps the world’s most important foodstuff — it feeds more than half the global population. But it is ...
Avocado orchard of the future: ‘Creating novel types with vibrant skin colors, unique and distinctive flavors and very large sized varieties’
The future of the avocado could look very different, thanks to Westfalia Fruit’s innovative precision breeding programme in South Africa ...
Industry and Trump’s agriculture department: It’s a revolving door
For decades, regardless of who’s been president, some leaders in key government food and farm departments have had strong industry ...
Understanding why coffee is good for our health
Studying the effects of coffee is particularly challenging. Isolating for a beverage with over 1000 compounds is so tricky that ...
Viewpoint: What happened when a liberal food writer makes a science-based case for glyphosate’s safety and importance—in the New York Times
You shouldn’t drink Roundup. You shouldn’t bathe in it, either. But you shouldn’t worry about eating crops sprayed with Roundup ...
As few as 1% of the world’s population are eating healthy, sustainably-grown food
A major report on the global food system has found that less than 1 per cent of the world is ...
Can CRISPR and other forms of gene manipulation create a new generation of seedless fruits—without the structural risk to food security
Seedless fruit feels like a UX win—no pips, no fuss, just vibes. But the biology behind that convenience is a ...
Food producers exploring another alternative meat: Add proteins from plants, fungi, insects and microbial fermentation. It tastes better than it sounds
Alternative proteins derived from various non-animal sources such as plants, mycelium, cultured cells, microbes, and insects are gaining increasing attention ...
Bees in distress: Climate change is depressing the aroma that attracts bees for pollination. Scientists are scrambling for a solution
Across 120 publications from 19 countries, ozone pollution decreased performance of beneficial invertebrates by more than 31%, while nitrogen oxides ...
Sashimi that promotes healing and skin rejuvenation? It’s not the latest fad skin care breakthrough, but a yummy-tasting cultivated Omega-3-rich fish fat made using stem cell technology
Sashimi that looks, feels and tastes just like the real deal, but is actually grown in a laboratory. That is ...
After RFK, Jr. is replaced: A breakthrough mRNA vaccine that suppresses food and seasonal allergies
A new mRNA vaccine stopped allergens from causing dangerous immune reactions and life-threatening inflammation in mice, according to researchers from ...
Sustainability breakthrough: Scientists targeting the genetic code of pests
Pests can be the make-or-break factor for a season’s harvest. Between 20% to 40% of global crop production is lost ...
What do we need Seed Banks? 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost since the early 20th century, and its losses are accelerating
Gene and seed banks are not static museums. They are living collections of genetic material, designed to support food security, ...
Why the chemophobia obsession is baked into America’s consciousness
'No nasties’, ‘non-toxic’, ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘mineral’ – there are a multitude of health buzzwords sprinkled through grocery store shelves aimed ...
Viewpoint: No burgers or bangers: EU environmental activists mobilize to remove all ‘meat words’ from plant-based proteins
I ate some Quorn sausages last night. I wasn’t confused when I bought them. I didn’t buy them because I ...
Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine?
Disease control within crop production systems has been very much centred on the development of complex organic chemicals such as ...
China’s bought about 50% of U.S. soybean exports since 1920. This year? Zero, thanks to Trump’s trade war
For U.S. farmers, abundant rains to fuel a bumper crop would normally be good news — but it won’t matter ...
Viewpoint: Is the MAHA – MAGA alliance fraying
[Zen] Honeycutt and other “MAHA moms” were disappointed by the MAHA commission report released in September that they say lacked meaningful ...
Viewpoint: ‘Farmageddon’—Trump’s chaotic trade and tariff policies doesn’t hurt ‘industrial agriculture’ but smaller farms are in crisis
“We’re in a hell of a mess here,” said Ohio farmer Chris Gibbs as he worked on his combine at ...
What’s driving food costs inflation?
From rice to coffee, cocoa to olive oil, extreme weather conditions are driving up the prices of staple foods around ...
How would a prolonged shutdown impact federal food assistance programs?
Historically the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has been unaffected by government shutdowns, including ...
Viewpoint: The farm economy in the U.S. is cratering. Here’s why farmers are unlikely to abandon Trumpononics
Fall is here, the harvest is coming in, but President Donald Trump’s trade war rages on and China won’t buy American farmers’ soybeans. That’s ...
Michael Grunwald: ‘How to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate?’
When veteran journalist Michael Grunwald set out to write his third book, he was determined not to produce a “Debbie ...
What’s the difference between GMO and CRISPR
What is a GMO? GMOs (genetically modified organisms) involve transferring a gene from one species to another to provide an ...
Viewpoint: The MAHA movement’s wrongheaded war on glyphosate is part of a misplaced broader attack on modern agriculture
The MAHA movement’s war on glyphosate is part of a broader war on modern farming — not only herbicides and ...
