Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
At 10am central time, a discussion about biodiversity and agriculture will begin as part of the Biodiversity World Tour. The event is sponsored by CropLife International, a consortium of companies and industry groups. The discussion will be broadcast live and you can join the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #BWT2010. It’s bound to be…
Written by Matt DiLeo It’s been estimated that genetic resistance to every pesticide that will ever be invented already exists in some microbe in some field, somewhere in the world (simply because there are so many individuals of each species). If you invent an incredible new spray that kills, say, Phytophthora infestans, you’d know that…
My name is Joe and I’m going to be an occasional guest blogger here at Biofortified. The area I write about is going to be a bit different than most of the other writers on this website. Instead of writing about genetically modified plants, I’m going to spend a large portion of my time writing…
As employers desperately try to keep health care costs down, some are turning to unexpected measures, according to Health Care Savings Could Start in the Cafeteria in Sunday’s New York Times. Employers, including some big ones like IBM, have programs that reward their employees for joining a gym or following a preventive health care regimen….
Read More “High Health Care Costs Lead to Healthier Eating?” »
Ever gotten apples from the farmer’s market or grocery store only to have them go bad in the back of your fridge? I know I have. Just a few weeks ago, I got about 20 apples from the CSA. Unfortunately, I can only eat so many per day and they started to go bad before…
In discussions about GE crops, one of the contentious topics that often comes up is the use of what has been effectively dubbed “Terminator” technology. These are crops that are engineered to produce sterile seeds that cannot be regrown. The use of this technology to force farmers to repurchase their seeds every year is often…
Luigi at the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog links to a pretty good, balanced article about GE crops in both Peru and Honduras. Travis Lupik interviewed a bunch of people, including farmers, to write Doctored crops stir Latin American debate, published at Straight. Take a read. There were a couple slight problems, such as how the article…
Editor’s Note: The following post was part of an April Fools Joke. Go here for more details. By William Harvey: As I always say, “All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.” As a statement of fact, it is plainly obvious, but what is less obvious is that it also makes…
Are you a backyard breeder? Do you want to be? Well with this video, now you can! Well, I think if you are a plant breeding student, a breeder looking to train a new workforce, or someone who’s really just curious about how you can possibly make seeds to grow ‘seedless’ watermelons, you’ll like this…