Marc Brazeau
The next ‘big thing’ in genetically modified crops: Drought-tolerant and herbicide resistant wheat. Here’s what you need to know
Archaeological evidence suggests that around 9,500 BCE, people in the Fertile Crescent began cultivating wheat as one of their first ...
Sickle cell victim summits Killimanjaro after breakthrough gene therapy treatment
Jimi Olaghere was born with sickle cell anemia. He endured years of painful crises, fatigue, and breathing problems. This month, ...
Viewpoint: The EPA just banned a crop chemical. What does that say about activist claims that the agency has become a dupe of the chemical industry?
Last month, the EPA issued an emergency suspension of the herbicide Dacthal and has initiated a process to cancel all ...
Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?
Just like anything that goes into your body, it’s the dose (the amount) that matters ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — Has pesticide use decreased since the introduction of GMO crops?
What is the truth about crop pesticides and their residues in food in 2018? ...
How effective and safe are current-generation pesticides?
it is important to balance risks with the benefits that pesticides provide ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — How do organic pesticides compare to synthetic pesticides?
Many consumers choose to buy higher-priced organic produce because they believe organic foods are not grown using pesticides and therefore ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — Part 5: Soil health ― When synthetic pesticides are more sustainable than ‘natural’ organics
Most consumers believe organic farming avoids pesticides and prioritizes the health of the environment more than conventional farming. However, this ...
Part II: Seeds of Reaction — How anti-GMO ‘progressivism’ morphed into a technophobic science rejectionist movement
Part One of this essay on the evolution of anti-GMO activism ended with an introduction to the book The Rhetoric ...
Part 1: Viewpoint — Anti-GMO activists conjure up new scare messages as their influence wanes
It's been ten years of downhill sledding for advocacy groups and activists campaigning to throttle the burgeoning biotechnology revolution transforming ...
Viewpoint: Mexico’s ‘cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face’ glyphosate ban — Why prohibiting one of the safest herbicides in the world will dramatically increase the use of a demonstrably more harmful alternative
It appears that the proposed Mexican government plan to ban all genetically engineered corn and the widely used herbicide glyphosate ...
Ideological rigidity is hampering efforts to leverage the regenerative agriculture ‘revolution’. Here are two paths forward
Does regenerative agriculture require a completely new economics of farming to achieve scale? Or should the focus be on the ...
Viewpoint: Advocates for regenerative agriculture greet questions about its viability ‘not with facts or science but with defensive hype’
In Part One of this series, we looked at the historical reasons why interest in regenerative farming has eclipsed organic ...
The central challenge for regenerative agriculture advocates: Not undermining the movement by ‘overselling’ its limited and targeted advantages
The term regenerative farming first popped up in the mainstream media in a 1987 New York Times article about what ...
Regenerative agriculture: The movement dedicated to unseating intensive, ‘industrial farming’ by claiming it has comprehensive sustainability advantages
For the last century, each generation has produced an alternative approach to farming that is aimed at a central challenge ...
The Green Revolution was built on manipulating genes to breed higher-yielding, disease resistant crops. Here’s an ode to one of its pioneers, Sanjaya Rajaram
Few people are aware of the heroes behind the surge in yields of wheat and other crops that began in ...
Pesticides and Food: It’s not a black or white issue — Part 3: How dangerous is glyphosate?
Although pesticide toxicity and biodegradability has decreased overall during the last few decades, many consumers are still worried about pesticides ...
Monsanto wrongly sued farmers for patent infringement? Federal courts put down David v Goliath myth for good
Does greedy Monsanto sue small-time farmers for patent infringement because their fields are accidentally contaminated with the company's GM seeds? ...
David v Goliath? What reporters and activists got wrong about 3 high-profile Monsanto patent suits
Anti-GMO folk hero and canola farmer Percy Schmeiser was the best-known avatar of the idea that Monsanto, now part of ...
Viewpoint: Anti-Monsanto biopic ‘Percy’ tells misleading tale about GMOs and seed patents
As any experienced moviegoer knows, "This film is based on a true story" is more of a disclaimer than a ...
‘Rethinking Monsanto’: Ex-GMO skeptic explains what he got wrong about Big Ag and the pitfalls of plant breeding
Beginning in 2010, I embarked on a slow-motion conversion from GMO skeptic to advocate as I began developing a more ...
What I got wrong: GMO skeptic turned crop biotech advocate explains his ‘slow-motion conversion’
A recent open-heart surgery put my mind, as it might, on themes relating to mortality. Which got me thinking about ...
How the pigweed Palmer amaranth became a ‘super weed’—and what it tells us about preventing herbicide resistance
Bound up with the bad news of super weeds is good news for farmers -- a window of opportunity ...
Viewpoint: ‘Dicamba Debacle’ stirs questions about the future shape of ‘industrial, intensive agriculture’
The dicamba debacle gives a chance to answer key questions about industrial agriculture with rare specificity ...
Viewpoint: Dicamba debacle trial forces a reevaluation: Was Monsanto a ‘bonafide bad actor’?
The toll on farmers is infuriating enough. But there could be widespread damage to the environment as well ...
‘Monsanto on the attack’: How an aggressive defense contributed to the ‘dicamba debacle’
It's pretty clear that the ag industry has a problem. But what is the nature of it? ...
Farmer vs farmer: After tens of thousands of acres of crop damage, what are we to make of the ‘dicamba debacle’?
For dicamba, even more than most ag issues in recent history, the devil is in the details ...
GMOs are ‘substantially equivalent’ to conventional foods. Should they face reduced regulations?
There really is no tension between patenting plants that are also found by the FDA to be substantially equivalent ...
