sustainability
Reality check: Eating locally grown food isn’t always the most sustainable option
Eating local has not achieved its goal of reducing emissions through fewer food miles. The fix could include embracing genetic ...
7 ways biotechnology could change our lives in 2019
[Editor's note: Key researchers and scientists were asked for their thoughts on 2019.] Gene editing, food innovation, and synthetic biology ...
Can we meet a growing need for food without destroying our environment?
'Sustainable intensification' takes the best ideas from conventional and organic farming ...
Can we feed a growing world population without using yield-boosting technologies?
The production of food has environmental impacts, there is no way around this .... Nature is ruthless and weeds will ...
Viewpoint: Intensive agriculture is the only way to sustainably feed the world
[In December], the World Resources Institute (WRI) released a comprehensive study embracing agricultural intensification as the only way to simultaneously close what ...
We need to produce 56 percent more calories by 2050—can we do it sustainably?
If the world hopes to make meaningful progress on climate change, it won’t be enough for cars and factories to ...
‘Low to non-existent’ safety risks and higher yields support widespread adoption of GMO crops, researchers say
The anticipated world population growth emphasizes a need to produce more food on less land. Cutting-edge technologies, including genetic engineering, can ...
Could green benefits of biotech crops win over ‘ideological’ environmentalists?
A new study in Nature Sustainability reports that “[e]xtensive field data suggest that impacts on wild populations would be greatly reduced through boosting yields ...
How is India’s organic-only farming experiment in Sikkim going? Peering past the propaganda, not so sustainably.
India's farm sector is in massive flux and strife right now. After a massive ten-day strike in June, Indian farmers ...
With limited arable land available around the world, is organic farming sustainable?
This question comes up frequently in discussions of farming practices – how much arable land is there on the Earth, ...
Viewpoint: Eliminating pesticides from farming isn’t realistic—or desirable
In about 1980, I visited several International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) research sites in Mexico. The trip included ...
We produce enough food on this planet to feed everyone: So why do we need GMOs?
A new "planetary boundaries" study says agriculture can be more sustainable to save the planet. Others say the numbers don't ...
Viewpoint: If your interest is sustainability, organic and GMO labels won’t inform you
Focusing on tools and technologies—such as genetic engineering—can reduce agriculture's environmental footprint and promote sustainability, writes geneticist Maria Trainer ...
Viewpoint: Will Europe botch regulation of gene editing as it has GMOs?
Plant biologist: Europe's precautionary stance toward agricultural biotechnology has all but blocked the introduction of GM crops and could provide ...
Is organic farming sustainable? 5 carbon footprint challenges
Along with unsubstantiated claims of better nutrition and safety, supporters of organic farming often cite its lower carbon footprint as ...
Viewpoint: Anti-GMO online series promotes fear and ‘less sustainable’ farming
Works like the recently released "GMOs Revealed" are making it more difficult for new agricultural techniques to gain widespread acceptance ...
When genetic engineering is the environmentally friendly choice
The newest generation of genetically engineered crops, using CRISPR gene editing, can help farmers fight pests with only minimal changes ...
Farms are not like Eden: The case for aggressive human intervention in agriculture
Farming is controlling nature for our own purposes. There is no utopian state. We should stop trying to restore, recover, ...
To make farming more sustainable, don’t mimic nature — do it better
Behind many efforts to make agriculture more sustainable is the idea that our farming systems need to be more like ...