Will 2023 US ‘Farm Bill’ address escalating issues of agricultural innovation, climate change and exports?

Will 2023 US ‘Farm Bill’ address escalating issues of agricultural innovation, climate change and exports?

Emily Bass | Breakthrough Institute | 
With Congress back in full swing, agriculture advocates and policymakers are staring down a fast approaching deadline. On September 30, ...
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Viewpoint: What would the sustainability impact be if Europe approves gene-edited crops?

Emma Kovak | Breakthrough Institute | 
The European Union is currently in the process of reconsidering how to regulate gene-edited crops in agriculture. This month, the European ...
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How the America Grows Act will improve agricultural innovation and spur research on climate change crop innovation

Agricultural research is key to ensuring food security, economic stability, and sustainable development. It is the driving force behind advances ...
Letter to the US Department of Agriculture: Look to biotechnology for innovation

Letter to the US Department of Agriculture: Look to biotechnology for innovation

To provide input to the federal government as USDA submits its report in March on how to use biotechnology and ...
Soaring seed prices: What role do patents and regulation play?

Soaring seed prices: What role do patents and regulation play?

Emma Kovak | Breakthrough Institute | 
Agricultural seed prices have soared over the last 20 years. Conventional seed prices have risen 200%, while genetically modified ones ...
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Analysis: We can’t limit climate change impact in agriculture unless we embrace biological solutions and move away from outdated farming techniques

Alex Smith | Breakthrough Institute | 
In many circles, “biotechnology” is a four-letter word. Whether you’re a Jurassic Park truther, an anti-Monsanto activist, or an anti-Vaxxer, the ...
Viewpoint: ‘Underrated and underfunded’: It’s time for Congress to increase support for biotechnology tools in next farm bill

Viewpoint: ‘Underrated and underfunded’: It’s time for Congress to increase support for biotechnology tools in next farm bill

Emma Kovak | Breakthrough Institute | 
Biotechnology and breeding are important ways to improve agriculture: they make the plants we grow and animals we raise for ...
Can plant-based meat spur a just environmental transition for animals and food-factory workers alike?

Can plant-based meat spur a just environmental transition for animals and food-factory workers alike?

Jenny Splitter | Breakthrough Institute | 
There are plenty of ways in which fake meat is better than animal meat. Getting institutions like schools and hospitals ...
Analysis: Assessing sustainable food production — Certifications like ‘organic’ tell us very little. It's time to shift focus to outcomes

Analysis: Assessing sustainable food production — Certifications like ‘organic’ tell us very little. It’s time to shift focus to outcomes

In 80 years—during which our knowledge of farming’s environmental impacts has grown profoundly—the federal government’s basic approach to agricultural sustainability ...
Viewpoint: Sustainability challenges require us to rethink the role of meat in our world — How we raise livestock and process chicken and beef

Viewpoint: Sustainability challenges require us to rethink the role of meat in our world — How we raise livestock and process chicken and beef

Alex Smith | Breakthrough Institute | 
Meat is a touchy topic. At the beginning of 2021, right-wing media jumped on a rumor that President Joe Biden ...
Viewpoint: What are the barriers limiting Africa from adopting genetically engineered and hybrid-improved seeds?

Viewpoint: What are the barriers limiting Africa from adopting genetically engineered and hybrid-improved seeds?

Over the last 15 years, development organizations including USAID, the UK’s DFID, and most prominently the Gates Foundation, have invested millions ...
Viewpoint: Public investment in farming technology could cut land use by 63 thousand square miles—'about the size of Iowa’

Viewpoint: Public investment in farming technology could cut land use by 63 thousand square miles—’about the size of Iowa’

Using existing research on the relationship between R&D and productivity and SIMPLE, a global economic model of agriculture, we find ...
Viewpoint: FDA’s burdensome animal gene-editing rules hinder innovation. USDA takeover could spur progress

Viewpoint: FDA’s burdensome animal gene-editing rules hinder innovation. USDA takeover could spur progress

Emma Kovak | Breakthrough Institute | 
Over the last two months, USDA made two revolutionary moves regarding the regulation of genetically engineered (GE) animals: to take ...
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Want fewer pandemics? Intensify agriculture to combat hunger—the root cause of disease spread

Alex Smith | Breakthrough Institute | 
A number of activists and opinion writers have recently argued that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be traced ...
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Land use for meat production slashed by 140 million hectares since 2000. Intensive agriculture could keep the decline going

Pastureland is by far the single largest human land use on the planet. Globally, we use twice as much land ...
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Viewpoint: Intensive agriculture is the only way to sustainably feed the world

Ted Nordhaus | Breakthrough Institute | 
[In December], the World Resources Institute (WRI) released a comprehensive study embracing agricultural intensification as the only way to simultaneously close what ...
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‘Ecomodern Eating’: Why agricultural productivity and innovation are key to sustainable food and farming

Sunday, April 22nd, marked nearly 50 years since millions of people gathered for the first Earth Day. Their celebration raised awareness ...
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100% organic farming would require ‘Australia-sized amount of extra land’ due to lower yields, no synthetic fertilizer

Organic farming, which prohibits the use of synthetic fertilizers, is often touted as the solution to many of agriculture’s environmental ...
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Would switching to organic farming cut greenhouse gas emissions?

A new study, led by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, gives the impression that a large-scale shift to organic farming ...
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Viewpoint: Meatless meat could be next environment-saving breakthrough

Dan Blaustein-Rejto | Breakthrough Institute | 
[Editor's note: Dan Blaustein-Rejto is a food and agriculture analyst at the Breakthrough Institute. He holds a Master’s in public policy from ...
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Biodiversity on the farm: It’s more complicated than you might think

[Editor's note: William Price is a statistician in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Idaho ...
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How we can preserve biodiversity while maintaining agricultural yields, meet nutritional demands

[Editor's note: Claire Kremen is a professor of conservation biology at University of California, Berkeley, where she also co-directs the Center for Diversified ...
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Quest for higher yields is enemy of biodiversity on farms — both conventional and organic

What kind of agriculture most benefits biodiversity? In recent years, few questions have animated conservationists and land-use scientists more than ...
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Making meat sustainable: ‘Intensive’ livestock farms more ecological than the ‘natural’ alternative

Marian Swain | Breakthrough Institute | 
As global demand for meat grows, the environmental “hoofprint” of livestock production could grow, too. Demand-side strategies are unlikely to ...
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Breakthrough Institute: Outdated romantic notions of farming crippling innovation

Ted Nordhaus | Breakthrough Institute | 
Since the dawn of agriculture, humans have been converting forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems to farmland. The long-term conversion of ...

A world without GMO crops poses greater risks

Emily Calandrelli | Breakthrough Institute | 
Despite the endorsements from scientific organizations and the hundreds of studies showing no adverse environmental or human health effects from ...
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