Gene-edited cattle have a major screw up in their DNA

It was supposed to be a “barnyard revolution” using gene editing to create hornless cattle. The modified bulls were to symbolize a new age of precision breeding where adding or cutting a few DNA letters could produce (or eliminate) specific animal traits. But the experiment crashed when FDA researchers discovered bacterial DNA in the animals’ […]

Market pressure forcing Canadian farmers to stop using glyphosate on dry beans

The controversy over glyphosate herbicide has increased awareness of the farmers’ practice of drying down or desiccating crops, such as wheat, oats, and beans, with glyphosate right before harvest. Now steps are being taken to end this practice. Canadian dealers of dry beans, such as white, cranberry, navy and pinto beans, recently decided that glyphosate […]

General Mills aims to cut glyphosate use by encouraging regenerative agriculture

General Mills’ supply chain includes huge amounts of oats, wheat, sugar, and soybeans—many grown using pesticides and herbicides such as glyphosate. Rather than telling farmers to use less of the chemicals, the company is hoping to entice them to use regenerative agriculture practices, integrated pest management, and more organic acres. For example, glyphosate, Roundup’s key […]

Germany bans glyphosate weedkiller, phase-out complete by 2023

Prompted primarily by the country’s concern for declining insect populations critical to ecosystems and food crop pollination, Germany announced it would gradually phase out glyphosate, with a total ban effective by the end of 2023. The move was a slap to Bayer AG, the German company who inherited this controversial chemical when it bought Monsanto—currently […]

Hemp acres quadrupled in 2019

Following the federal legalization of hemp through the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill, acres licensed for growing hemp have quadrupled from 2018. “We are seeing hemp cultivation dramatically expand in the U.S. in 2019, with [quadrupled acres]…and the addition of 13 more states with hemp programs,” said Eric Steenstra, President of grassroots hemp advocacy […]