Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Using Mosquitoes to Conquer Disease Through Vaccination One of the things I’ve been talking about here on Biofortified is the concept of a ‘pest’, which is a completely anthropocentric term. Different insects can be pests at one part of their life cycle and be totally cool in another. It’s one of those weird science paradoxes…
Written by Matt DiLeo “With over 80% of the corn grown in the US genetically modified, and biotechnology companies phasing out non-GMO corn seed varieties, American farmers have fewer choices for finding non-GMO seeds to grow. As a result of this narrowing of farmer choice, a new initiative was launched in 2009 by Practical Farmers…
Happy New Year! Here is a post from Raoul at the Student Farm at UC Davis. From the vegetable’s point of view the holidays weren’t that great. Continuous rain or fog was only broken up by hard frosts. Our head rot resistant broccoli varieties proved to be not as resistant as advertised, hence there is…
Read More “Pami’s Purple Haze Carrots with oranges, ginger, and walnuts” »
Imagine that you own a small business selling heirloom seeds. Your most important (and profitable) seeds are from a special open pollinated tomato variety that you painstakingly bred under over the past decade by hand crossing other heirloom varieties and selecting the best of their offspring. These tomatoes are everything a tomato lover dreamed of…
USDA may ‘deviate’ on GM policyBY JACQUI FATKA28 Dec, 2010 08:53 AM via Stock and Land THE U.S. Department of Agriculture is entering uncharted waters with its proposed conditional deregulation of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa… After USDA issued its environmental impact statement on Roundup Ready alfalfa, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called for producers of GM,…
Read More “Concerns over change of tack by USDA on GM policy” »
Written by James Schnable “[Mr. X] told the assembled groups that science itself is subjective, and that he could have three different groups bring him three different supposedly scientific opinions.” Any guesses on the identity of Mr. X? Could he be a creationist arguing for the inclusion of intelligent design alongside science in the classroom?…
Hi everyone, I hope you are keeping warm and rested this holiday season. Internet is real spotty where I am in L.A., otherwise I would be putting up a bunch of posts about the Vatican, Wikileaks, and more. But I have a moment in my favorite coffee shop in Culver City to share a little…
Written by James Schnable Hi all, hope you’re enjoying the holiday break. I’m back with news of a new plant genome publication! Today’s plant is the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). Now these aren’t the strawberries you probably see at your local grocery store, those are garden strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa). Woodland strawberries were the predominant…
Read More “Woodland Strawberry Genome Published (For Real This Time)” »
GMOs have been blamed by anti-GM activists for bee colony collapse disorder. But there are other likely explanations for bee colony losses — including viruses that affect insects, and which spread in pollen. Consider this news on the topic: Public release date: 22-Dec-2010Public Library of ScienceMovement and threat of RNA viruses widespread in pollinator community…
How Are We Going To Double Global Food Production Over The Next 40 Years? The Farm Gate, University of IllinoisDecember 22, 2010Stu EllisWith the US Census showing more than 308 million people, there is curiosity about how many people there are in the world. The current estimate of 7.5 billion is forecast to grow to nine…