Crops & Food
We eat to live. Humans use approximately 11% of Earth’s land for the cultivation of crops for food, but also for clothing, medicine and biofuels. Globally, major crops include sugarcane, pumpkin, maize (corn), wheat, rice, cassava, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Zinc-fortified crops may fight diabetes, cardiovascular disease in poor countries better than supplements
The double burden of malnutrition is a rapidly growing global health problem. Many populations now face the combination of undernutrition ...
CRISPR crop development proceeds rapidly, but ‘bottlenecks’ limit promise
Since its discovery as a bacterial adaptive immune system and its development for genome editing in eukaryotes, the clustered regularly ...
Video: GMO insect-resistant Bt corn vs conventional corn—which is more vulnerable to pest attacks?
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. A video of my farm on social media has attracted more than ...
CRISPR-edited canola slated for 2021 field trials, moving crop closer to commercialization
Yield10 Bioscience....announced [August 17] that it has obtained a positive response from USDA-APHIS’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) for its CRISPR ...
Indian scientists call out anti-GMO groups trying to block insect-resistant Bt eggplant safety field trials
Alliance for Agri Innovation (AAI), a special interest group of [the] Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) has urged ...
Vegan eggs, lab-grown beef jerky and 10 other alternative proteins we could be eating soon
[On August 11], Big Idea Ventures (BIV) announces the launch of its second food technology accelerator program in New York City ...
Viewpoint: How body building culture and fad diets mislead consumers about protein
In most supermarket aisles you’re likely to come across at least one product that features ‘protein’ somewhere in the title ...
Sustainability report questions Beyond Meat’s environmental benefits, but is it a fair analysis?
Beyond Meat is lacking in environmental impact disclosures when compared to conventional meat giants Hormel and Tyson Foods, according to ...
Viewpoint: ‘All natural’ pet food is no better for Fido, and it’s terrible for the environment
Gone are the days when a proud new pet owner could waltz into the grocery store and pick up a ...
Podcast: Bill Nye The Science Guy explains his transition from GMO skeptic to advocate
Back in 2014, Bill Nye The Science Guy was skeptical of genetically modified foods, or GMOs. It raised some eyebrows ...
Scientists should consider public’s values when discussing GMOs, communication experts say
Scientists' inability to effectively engage with the public has partly contributed to public misunderstanding of gene technologies. This is according ...
Viewpoint: Animal agriculture is growing more sustainable, so don’t blame it for climate change
Simply put, U.S. cattle aren’t the major driver of climate change. So Americans can feel good about whatever kind of ...
Tinted solar panels could boost farm incomes
Tinted, semi-transparent solar panels can generate electricity and simultaneously produce nutritionally-superior crops, offering farmers the prospect of higher incomes and ...
Swapping red meat for plant-based beef may cut cardiovascular disease risk
Swapping out red meat for certain plant-based meat alternatives can improve some cardiovascular risk factors, according to a new study ...
Rwanda controls COVID-19 but its farmers struggle
Rwanda has achieved astonishing results in controlling the novel coronavirus, recording just five deaths from COVID-19 even as cases continue ...
Why grow GMOs? Because plants don’t naturally evolve into food fit for humans
Crop improvement has a history as old as human civilization. At its core is a strategy to pursue greater genetic ...
Viewpoint: While ‘elitist academics’ praise local food ‘industrial farming’ feeds us during a pandemic
With the world COVID-19 pandemic in its sixth month, food activists are back to trumpeting locally grown, and even home ...
7 years after the first lab-grown burger, is ‘cultivated meat’ any closer to commercialization?
Almost everything we consider a great invention is, in fact, a series of great inventions. Take the electric car, which ...
Viewpoint: Battling deadly disease with gene drives is worth the limited risk
The fate of society rests in part on how humans navigate their complicated relationship with insects – trying to save ...
Organic farming fraud is growing, prompting USDA crackdown proposal
Responding to increasing fraud threats to the organic industry, the US Department of Agriculture seeks to strengthen oversight and improve ...
With the global population growing, should we worry about future food shortages?
There's a common warning about our planet's future: the risk of food shortages. "We've got a growing world and a ...
‘On-off’ immune switch in plants could lead to more disease-resistant crops
Keini Dressano, Alisa Huffaker and their colleagues at the University of California San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences have discovered ...
Just 7 years old, CRISPR gene editing is making food more nutritious and battling COVID
Just seven years ago, the Broad Institute’s Feng Zhang, PhD, and Harvard geneticist George Church, PhD, separately demonstrated that in ...
Viewpoint: H&M clothing should drop its commitment to organic fabric, embrace GMO cotton
Dear H&M: I saw your recent commercial regarding sustainability. It shares your commitment to change your production now to help ...
Billions of people rely on rice for sustenance. Genetic engineering makes it more nutritious
Rice is a key source of carbohydrate and B vitamins. However, rice consumption as a major food is not sufficient ...
Inflammation-fighting foods could help you weather lockdown-induced anxiety, depression
Uma Naidoo is a nutritional psychiatrist and author of the new book “This is Your Brain on Food: An Indispensable ...
Viewpoint: Agro-ecology agendas are trapping African farmers in poverty
Rather than helping to address food insecurity, the agro-ecological agenda may in fact be trapping African farmers in poverty. That’s ...
Podcast: How 1970s fat-free fad launched organic, non-GMO and other ‘absurd’ labeling schemes
Go walk the aisles of your local grocery store and see how many products are being marketed for what they ...
