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.
A yield-boosting wheat gene could help address growing climate and food insecurity crises
Wheat, one of the most important food rations, is an inbred crop with low genetic diversity and unique evolutionary constraints ...
The newest superfood: Environmentally-friendly seaweed may be a ‘one stop shop for our crucial nutrient needs’
Seaweed helps to support other marine life and to clean the water surrounding it. When out of the water, it ...
CRISPR seafood: Japanese restaurants now offer gene-edited pufferfish and seabream following 2021 approval
In 2021, Japan’s government approved three gene-edited foods for commercial sale: a tomato with increased GABA content and two fish ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s Green Deal Farm to Fork strategy brings innovation possibilities — but economic trade-offs are costly
The European Green Deal is the name of the EU’s overarching policy that aims to make the EU climate neutral ...
Viewpoint: Onerous dual-agency regulations could dramatically slow adoption of cell-based meats and seafood
Plant-based protein and “meat-alternative” products have streamed into the marketplace in recent years. The trend has been driven in part ...
Video: Reason TV examines California ruling that re-classifies bees as fish as a means to ‘protect’ them
For the past few years, government officials and agricultural groups in California have been fighting over the question: Are bees ...
Farmer’s perspective: In defense of judicious use of agricultural pesticides
I’m no stranger to the controversy that surrounds pesticide use. However, I’d love a chance to explain the benefits I ...
Sri Lanka’s pro organic/no pesticide policy fiasco brings woes to country’s once-flourishing tea industry
With Sri Lanka in the throes of its worst ever economic crisis, its prosperous tea industry has taken a hit, ...
Synthetic biology is more than just cruelty-free meat. Here’s how it could address biodiversity concerns and pollution
Advances in synthetic biology will be just a part of the solution to some of the most severe threats to ...
Viewpoint: ‘20-years late’ — Why we need to confront agricultural biotechnology innovation regulatory roadblocks
A recent study contracted by CropLife International found that the current time for a new GM trait to go from R&D to ...
Viewpoint — Agriculture without labels: It’s time to end the false dichotomy between organic and conventional farming
The debate on methods and techniques of agricultural production is usually fought between two extremes: large-scale agriculture, made in a ...
Viewpoint: Algerian newspaper makes case for agricultural biotechnology as key to limit climate change impacts
Genetic engineering has already been successfully applied to plants and animals in research to address the effects of climate change ...
Viewpoint: ‘Agroecology has better marks for biodiversity and soil health’ – UN panel urges communities to consider adoption
“Some might say agroecology is catching on in the world, and it is true that the momentum is undeniable,” says ...
Rwanda uses biotech potato variety to fight same blight that caused Irish Potato Famine — saving 80% of potatoes
Late blight, a potentially devastating disease affecting potatoes and tomatoes, infecting leaves, stems, potato tubers and tomato fruits, spreads quickly ...
Barriers to take-off of lab grown meat market: Producing cultured food at scale
The problems are daunting. The cells of living organisms are evolved to live as part of a body — a ...
What’s holding back the plant-based meat revolution?
Advocates of plant-based proteins hope that higher meat prices may eventually convince consumers to switch to meat alternatives if environmental ...
Viewpoint: Here’s the backstory on Sri Lanka’s organic experiment gone wrong
In an attempt to boost soil health and halt the progression of a kidney disease killing local farmers that was linked by ...
What is ‘Big Data’ in agriculture and why does it matter?
We should pay close attention. Agricultural big data is likely to have far-reaching detrimental environmental and social impacts ...
‘Unstoppable’ Varroa mites killing bees in Australia. Molecular keys may provide a way to protect the vulnerable honeybee
A University of the Sunshine Coast researcher is investigating whether spider and scorpion venoms have the potential to save Australia’s ...
Giving away free trees to address climate change? This company has plans to suck up CO2 with gene-edited forests
Living Carbon has developed a technique to genetically modify trees that can grow faster, and store more carbon. According to a ...
Wheat, nuts and shellfish trigger allergic reactions for many people. Why don’t other foods?
One of the adaptive immune system’s primary jobs is recognizing foreign substances in our bodies and unceremoniously rejecting them by ...
Viewpoint: What are key environmental trade-offs and advantages in transitioning to organic farming?
Producing enough food to provide adequate nutrition for the growing global population without wrecking the planet in the process is ...
How AI ‘robot bumblebees’ might dramatically improve pollination
Is AI taking over the jobs of bumblebees? Well, not exactly. Bumblebees are typically used to pollinate plants in glasshouses all ...
Viewpoint: Why commercializing GMOs would help Ghana and the rest of Africa address food shortages
A research scientist, Dr. Richard Ampadu-Ameyaw, has indicated that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have played major roles in addressing challenges ...
Making sunshine for crops obsolete? Food of the future will be grown 18 times more efficiently with the help of artificial photosynthesis
Scientists are creating food which will become independent of sunlight by using artificial photosynthesis technology, with only about 1% of ...
Viewpoint: Don’t believe fear-mongering — Here’s why trace pesticide residues in food pose no risk to to humans
Everyone, including me, would like food products to be free from pesticide residues. However, the question is, would the world be ...
Viewpoint: Are reports that organic farming led to Sri Lanka’s economic collapse overblown?
Sri Lanka is now in the worst economic crisis they have seen in decades, schools are closed, fuel is in ...
