Food & Agriculture Features
The GLP explores the role of genetic engineering in food production and the polarized debate surrounding it. We highlight the work of our own writers, as well as that of contributors from around the Web. The GLP does not take a position on genetics-related issues; any opinions expressed belong to the authors.
Categories include:
- Chemicals and pesticides
- Organics
- Conventional crops
- New breeding technologies
- Animal biotechnology
- Food systems
- Sustainability
- Regulations
- Politics
- Ideology
Landmark approval of GMO Bt insect-resistant cowpea leads Nigeria toward sustainable farming
Cowpea is an incredibly important source of protein for millions of people across Africa. In December 2019, Nigeria approved the ...
Viewpoint: News or propaganda? UK newspaper the Guardian paid over $800k to publish anti-farming ‘investigation’
Publishing propaganda as news is dishonest and lets readers down. Dr. Henry Miller, the founding director of the FDA's Office ...
GMO and gene-edited biofortified crops weaken case for organic agriculture
A new lineup of GMO and gene-edited crops with nutrient content organic growers simply can't replicate ...
Podcast: Fungi destroy $60 billion worth of food each year. Are natural biopesticides the answer?
Food waste plagues both farmers and consumers. Americans throw out much of what we buy at the grocery store—roughly 133 ...
Podcast: Cancer-causing baby powder? USDA cuts GMO rules; plant-based meat less healthy than you think
In an effort to keep up with rapidly evolving technology, the USDA has revamped its biotech crop rules, sparking a ...
Drug factories: GMOs and gene editing are poised to transform medicine. Here’s how.
On the hunt for plant-produced vaccines ...
Viewpoint: The Impossible Burger has sparked an ideological rift between anti-GMO critics
Redrawn battle lines expose a growing ideological rift in a once-cohesive anti-GMO movement and appear to signal a shift in ...
Podcast: Ban ‘factory farming’? GMO mosquitoes coming this summer; anti-biotech groups aren’t ‘grassroots’
As clinical trials begin of several candidate coronavirus vaccines, a former FDA scientist says the agency could speed up its ...
How the halo effect around plant-based meat leads us to exaggerate its nutritional benefits
Healthy food, unhealthy ingredients? ...
Viewpoint: Why GMOs? Biotechnology yields a drought-tolerant rice that conventional breeding couldn’t produce
“Photosynthesis: a feat of chemical engineering underpinning creation’s entire cathedral.” ― Richard Powers, The Overstory ...
Viewpoint: Expanding organic agriculture could make another pandemic more likely
Modern technology and agricultural intensification are the proven path to a safer future ...
Viewpoint: Norman Borlaug knew technology could fight hunger. In the biotech age, we ignore his wisdom at our peril
Borlaug’s brilliant insights were double-cropping and dwarfing, his incredible focus and hard work are a matter of record, and then ...
Podcast: COVID-19 a global communist plot? Glyphosate didn’t cause the pandemic. Time to embrace agricultural biotechnology.
While public health officials and policymakers struggle to contain the novel SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, anti-vaccine activists claim the pandemic was orchestrated ...
Coffee of the future? Lab-made ‘molecular’ version might feed the world’s caffeine habit while sparing the environment
The coronavirus pandemic has led to many shifts in how we eat, but our collective coffee habit remains strong. As ...
Rescuing Africa’s staple orphan crops—sorghum, millet, cowpea, cassava and sweat potato—with biotechnology could help feed millions of people
The year is 2100 and Africa is home to the world’s largest population of young people, with its current leader ...
Can the gene editing technology known as CRISPR help reduce biodiversity loss worldwide?
CRISPR “could be such an amazing tool if we are respectful [and] responsible and use it properly.” ...
Book review: Sheldon Krimsky’s ‘GMOs Decoded’ cherry-picks data to spur fear of biotech crops
Judith Heimann reviews “GMOs Decoded: A Skeptic’s View of Genetically Modified Foods,” by Sheldon Krimsky ...
Podcast: GMOs = witchcraft? ‘Big Ag’ didn’t cause coronavirus; Remdesivir for COVID-19
We finally have a drug to treat COVID-19 in remdesivir, but how well does it work? Anti-GMO activists have blamed ...
Anti-GMO Advocacy Funding Tracker: Vast network of donors and NGOs seed doubt about crop biotechnology
Who is David and who is Goliath when it comes to the GMO debate? Anti-biotech activists have long maintained that ...
Viewpoint: COVID-19 food shortages—Why the pandemic is a warning to embrace agricultural technology
The question worth asking is this: will we learn from this trying experience and embrace agricultural technology to build a ...
Viewpoint: Activist-inspired GMO cotton bans push Mexican farmers toward bankruptcy
Mexico has a long record of safely cultivating genetically modified (GM) cotton. For more than 20 years, cotton has been ...
Podcast: Norman Borlaug a hero? Spread coronavirus for herd immunity? CRISPR v. agroecology
Norman Borlaug's Green Revolution saved an estimated billion people from starvation, but critics contend his work brought severe environmental and ...
Where are GMO crops grown? GLP infographics document the global growth of agricultural biotechnology innovation
One of the more popular claims by critics of GMOs is that only a few countries grow genetically engineered crops, ...
Viewpoint: Blame the coronavirus on ‘industrial agriculture’? We need more, not less of it to stave off the next viral pandemic
An internet meme is circulating worldwide in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Every disaster starts with a scientist being ...
‘Climate proofing’ the world’s food supply with edible microorganisms
We need a global food production system that is tolerant to unpredictable climate fluctuations ...
Viewpoint: ‘Big Ag’ caused the coronavirus pandemic? Predatory science journal amplifies baseless COVID-19 conspiracy
With the global pandemic caused by Covid-19, agricultural supply chains around the world have been taxed to ensure consistent and ...
Podcast: Coronavirus conspiracies deadlier than the disease? Next pandemic worse? Spit test spots more COVID-19
A dearth of coronavirus tests has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and elsewhere, but a newly FDA-approved test ...
Can GMO tobacco plants produce vaccines for the coronavirus, flu and ebola?
The battle against COVID-19 will never be won before the majority of the population gains immunity to the new coronavirus ...
