The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter

Pesticide use continues to drop in California

Reflecting a long-term trend, reported pesticide use dropped over 5% between 2021 and 2022 in California. Data from the Pesticide Use Report revealed 181 million pounds of active pesticide ingredients applied, a 10.4-million-pound decrease from 2021. Cumulative acres treated also decreased by 3.2% year over year. California requires pesticide use be reported for all agricultural […]

Robot weedkillers could help farmers reduce need for pesticides

The unassuming yellow (4 ft. x 2 ft.) battery-powered locomotive is a welcome sight to Clint Brauer, whose Kansas company Greenfield builds and programs the robots. The mobile chopper slices the weeds as it putters down rows of crops. For Brauer, a former tech executive who returned home following his father’s illness, the robots are problem […]

China approves first gene-edited wheat for food production

The Chinese government recently authorized the safety of genetically engineered wheat as it proceeds cautiously with the commercial production of GMO food crops. The gene-edited, disease-resistant wheat will be used to manufacture pasta, noodles, and bread. China is the biggest producer and consumer of wheat worldwide. China grows non-GMO crops for food but imports GMO […]

Respecting rights in the U.S.-Mexico GMO corn dispute

By Karen Hansen-Kuhn The trade dispute over Mexico’s restrictions on genetically engineered (GE) corn and glyphosate, a pesticide that GE corn is designed to resist, recently entered a new phase. The dispute is turning from the governments’ submissions and rebuttals to a dialogue with the panelists who will ultimately decide the case. One issue up […]

Spain’s GM corn cultivation is in sharp decline

Despite a robust debut in the mid-1990s, and two decades of strong adoption, the last ten years have seen stagnation and moderate growth of GMOs globally. Genetically modified crop acres grew by 1.9% in 2023 compared to 2022, totaling around 510 million acres. Twenty-three countries grow the common GMO varieties, bred for resistance to lepidopteran […]