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.
‘Honeybees are not endangered and are doing just fine’: Xerces Society says it’s time to end public confusion, refocus on native species
When Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurred around 2006 and entire colonies of honeybees died, experts and the public alike were justifiably alarmed ...
Columbia University finally — but quietly — expunges connections to Trump-endorsed Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Oz, known for ‘quack’ science views and anti-GMO disinformation
After years of criticism, Columbia University Medical Center has finally—quietly—cut public ties with celebrity doctor turned Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz ...
How plant breeding innovations are helping feed a hungry world
As of 2019, nearly 26% of the globe’s population “experienced hunger or did not have regular” access to safe and ...
Growing cell-based meat in space? If humans travel intergallactic distances or colonize planets, this is how we might feed ourselves
Growing meat from cells - particularly at scale - even on Earth isn't easy. Aleph Farms is one of several ...
Pilot GM mosquito tests to control disease in the Florida Keys worked, Oxitec says. Here’s how they did it
Researchers have completed the first open-air study of genetically engineered mosquitoes in the United States. The results, according to the ...
Viewpoint: US farmer organizations offer blueprint to address climate change
As farmers, we’re committed to preserving the natural environment. It’s the foundation — literally and figuratively — of our success ...
Farms that use non-GMO feed generate more greenhouse gasses, study shows
New research shows that if more U.S. food companies require feed for the livestock and poultry that they source their ...
Viewpoint: Is cell-based meat oversold as a sustainability solution?
A new report by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems critiques the growing trend of alternative proteins. By promising a more ...
Russia has long used social media to undermine consensus science behind GMOs, vaccines and other Western-based technologies
Hoaxlines found accounts that had pushed false claims about the 2009 Swine Flu and the vaccine against it had also promoted Russian state media and ...
Ukraine crisis prompts anti-GMO German farmers to consider embracing CRISPR gene edited crops
[Joachim Rukwied, President of the German Farmers' Association:] The yields in organic farming on the same area are roughly a ...
Ghana farmers optimistic about GMO crops, survey finds
As Ghana considers approving its first genetically modified crop, a new report finds the country’s smallholder farmers are increasingly optimistic ...
How agriculture and climate change are shrinking the global insect population
The combination of climate change and heavy agriculture is having a profound impact on the abundance and diversity of insects, ...
The perfect wine? Biotechnology poised to upend ancient craft of winemaking
Winemakers have come to realize that there are many different strains of yeast (and even bacteria) at play that enhance ...
Saving forests: How genetic engineering can play key role
Emerald ash borer, sudden oak death, Dutch elm disease, oak wilt disease, walnut canker, hemlock woolly adelgid—in a globalizing world, ...
Creating self-fertilizing crops to help address climate change
Roughly a quarter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States are a product of agriculture. Fertilizer production and ...
‘It will be hard to find a farmer left’: Sri Lanka’s organic-only experiment collapses harvest and economy
There is barely a citizen of [Sri Lanka] who hasn’t felt the bite of catastrophic inflation and fuel, food and ...
Viewpoint: Politics and scientifically outdated anti-GMO sentiment undermines Europe’s regulatory lab-grown food embrace
The precision fermentation landscape is somewhat unbalanced. While the US and Europe both boast a growing number of start-ups working ...
Viewpoint: If the EPA sharply curtails herbicide atrazine, what are the environmental and economic trade-off?
Atrazine is a triazine herbicide used by American farmers to control broadleaf and grassy weeds. It’s largely used by corn ...
Viewpoint: Why we should trust farmers when it comes to herbicide application
Weed-killers have come under fire by activist groups opposing the use of crop protection, accusing it of harming endangered species ...
Viewpoint: ‘Green’ anti-pesticide activists spread misinformation about more environmentally-friendly sulfoxaflor insecticides
Sulfoxaflor is a new class of insecticides effective against certain insects that are increasingly resistant to older pesticides. The EPA ...
New Zealand’s two-decade, scientifically-outdated GMO ban under criticism as global technology advances
There’s a hole in the wall keeping genetically modified organisms out of New Zealand and it’s shaped like an impossible ...
‘Eating is believing’: Nigerian public campaign promotes health benefits of pest-resistant GMO cowpea
The Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) through the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) has embarked on a mobile kitchen ...
Viewpoint: Sri Lankan families still paying price for government’s misguided green organic obsession
“Sri Lanka is a classic twin deficits economy,” an Asian Development Bank working paper said in 2019. “Twin deficits signal ...
Most humans eat three meals a day. Is that what’s best for our health?
Intermittent fasting, where you restrict your food intake to an eight-hour window, is becoming a huge area of research. Giving our ...
Why climate change is forcing a rethink on the benefits of genetically engineered crops
All our food systems like agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, are under the stress because of rising temperatures leading to ...
How global disagreements over DNA data might undermine preserving genetic diversity of animals and plants
National leaders are scheduled to meet in China later this year to finalize a new strategic plan for the Convention ...
Nigeria begins national performance trials for GM maize
Nigeria is set to begin national performance trials (NPT) for genetically modified (GM) TELA maize as the West African nation ...
