AGDAILY
Viewpoint: ‘Mass tort litigation is a big business’ — How litigation mills are targeting agricultural chemicals
If you were watching television in almost any U.S. market in March and April, you probably saw advertisements soliciting would-be ...
Viewpoint: USDA poised to spend $300 million to help farmers transition to organic to shore up supply chains. Here’s why that’s a bad idea for food security and the environment
[The USDA] plans on spending $300 million to help farmers transition to organic production. What?? USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack defended ...
Viewpoint: Environmental advocacy groups continue to push misinformation about non-existent honeybee crisis, distorting public policy
Given everything bees contribute to our lives, it’s not surprising that the public’s interest in pollinators has increased over time ...
Viewpoint: EU’s Farm-to-Fork policy inevitably means plowing rainforests to meet Europe’s expanding food needs
Meet the European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy. Considered the EU’s Green New Deal, the strategy’s goal is to make the continent ...
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: ‘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 ...
Viewpoint: ‘Pesticide choice should be about what works and what doesn’t’ — Challenging claims that organics are superior because they use ‘natural’ chemicals
Witness organics. Despite little evidence of its supposed merits, devotees will steadfastly defend their “team.” It’s widely touted in marketing ...
Viewpoint: No, coffee is not ‘steeped in pesticides’ or filled with bugs and mold
Myth #1: Conventional coffee is steeped in synthetic fertilizers and pesticides Truth: First off, this is something that is being ...
Viewpoint: Politicians are making a mess of regulating agricultural pesticides
In January, the New Jersey legislature enacted restrictions on most uses of neonicotinoids. The bill effectively bans about 70 percent of neonic ...
Viewpoint: GMO detractors think they can speak for Africa, but African farmers love biotech and dynamic farming solutions
The naysayers of agricultural biotechnology have made many arguments against GMO adoption in industrialized nations. A lot of this opposition ...
Viewpoint: Why is Neil Young portrayed as a hero for challenging Joe Rogan’s anti-vax rants while promoting crop biotechnology disinformation himself?
Neil Young doesn’t make the kind of music I enjoy. Instead I was familiar with his name because he was ...
Viewpoint: Challenging the ‘appeal to nature’ fallacy — Is being anti-GMO pro-starvation?
Almost anyone who is versed in agricultural science is pro-GMO. But for much of the United States, which are generations ...
Viewpoint: How European activists’ opposition to cutting edge crop technologies undermines global sustainability efforts
Well-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) — both in the EU and the U.S. — regularly pour millions of dollars into lobbying ...
Viewpoint: 10 stupid agriculture and food truisms that need to die
In the spirit of moving forward into the new year and helping to stop the spread of misinformation, here are ...
Viewpoint: Scientific American article claiming pesticides harm beetles and earthworms is ‘more hype than substance’
I picked up a Scientific American that came last August and thumbed my way to page 12, where alarm bells ...
USDA’s bioengineered label is coming soon. What can it tell consumers?
You may have already started seeing the [bioengineered, or] BE food disclosure on food packages since many companies have already ...
Viewpoint: Here’s how to respond to anti-biotech activist groups that disguise themselves as food experts
Activist groups and groups disguised as “authorities” on agricultural issues often use manipulative persuasive fear appeals in ways that impacts ...
Once an ardent GMO promoter, Soylent no longer touts the role of genetic engineering in making its drinks
Few food companies over the past decade have voluntarily promoted the use of genetic engineering on their labels. After all, ...
Videos: Debunking three viral social media videos that promote ‘snake oil’ products and spread misinformation about the ‘dangers’ of pesticides on produce
Here I’m going to explore three viral videos I’ve come across on social media in which [multi-level marketing, or] MLM ...
Viewpoint: The biggest threat to our food supply is not chemicals but chemophobia
My cousin is a baking whiz, and runs her own cookie enterprise. The recipes happen to call for potato flour ...
Viewpoint: Why criticism of the Green Revolution is misplaced
The wheat varieties developed by Norman Borlaug and his Mexican team [during the Green Revolution] swept over Asia in the ...
Viewpoint: 13 million American children go undernourished each day. Fad-based conventional food criticisms make the problem worse
As many as 1 in 6 kids in the United States are living in a food insecure household. These 13 ...
Viewpoint: Why terms like ‘regenerative agriculture’ and ‘intensive farming’ are meaningless
Quick: What do all of these terms have in common: Regenerative agriculture. Industrial agriculture. Organic agriculture. Non-GMO agriculture. Intensive agriculture ...
Who are the scientists who paved the way to modern crop breeding?
[Here are] some of the agricultural industry’s biggest game-changers over the past two centuries. They may not be household names, ...
Viewpoint: ‘Well intentioned’ Sri Lankan plan to embrace organic farming tainted by lack of science, damaging its economy, health, and food security
In Sri Lanka, world renowned for its tea production, an initiative to go all-organic — the textbook definition of a ...
‘There’s so much misinformation swirling around the internet’: Are pesticides really safe and necessary?
Here are 5 things you may not know about pesticides — from their long backstory to their development and testing ...
Viewpoint: New York’s ‘Birds and Bees Protection Act’ targeting neonicotinoid pesticides doesn’t protect either and would hurt farmers
[Recently,] the New York legislature began advancing the Birds and Bees Protection Act. If it passes both chambers and is ...
Viewpoint: ‘If it’s organic, it’s non-GMO’: Why consumers don’t need this recently introduced ‘irrelevant food label’ on grocery store shelves
While I typically try and shop around labels that are not supportive or have no relation to the actual product ...
