According to a new report, “The Future of Farming and Rise of Biotechnology” released by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), decreasing regulations on genetically modified crops (GMOs) could be a valuable strategy in combating global hunger. NCPA Research Associate David Weisser notes that Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug’s use of biotechnology has been credited with saving 1 billion …
Food Dialogue on GMOs
What do you know about GMOs? Most people not much with the exception that many have been led to believe they are bad. In a recent Jimmy Kimmel Live, Jimmy Kimmel, he took to the streets to ask people what a GMO was and not one person knew, even thought most believed they were bad. In case you don’t know, …
Vilsack Spotlights Ag Innovation
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spotlighted agricultural innovations during an appearance at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Monday. Vilsack stressed the importance of global cooperation in biotechnology innovations. “It’s in our long term best interest as a global community that we encourage appropriate science, that we encourage biotechnology, ways to grow crops with less water, less pesticides, less chemicals,” he …
Get to Know GMOs Month
If you wear pink for Breast Cancer Awareness this month, you might pair it with green for Get to Know GMOs Month. This month GMO Answers is inviting the public to “Get to Know GMOs”— to ask their toughest questions and join the conversation. “With the coming of October, we welcome a new fall season, a new harvest and a …
USDA Deregulates ENLIST Crops
USDA has issued a decision to deregulate Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist™ 2,4-D and glyphosate-resistant corn and soybean traits in the United States. “Gaining approval for this important technology has been a long, hard fought battle,” said National Corn Growers Association Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team Chair Jim Zimmerman of Wisconsin. “It is important that farmers continue to gain access to …
Biologics R & D at Bayer Crop Science
Biologics are based on materials found in nature. At the Bayer Crop Science booth during the Farm Progress Show I spoke with Head of Biologic Research for Bayer CropScience, Dr. Jonathan Margolis, who is based out of their new facilities in Sacramento, CA. There he works with live microbes like bacteria, fungi and plant extracts. “The difference between those and …
Hillary Clinton Talks Ag Biotechnology
Hillary Clinton seems to be everywhere these days and this week she spent over an hour at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention in San Diego chatting with BIO president and CEO Jim Greenwood, a former congressman from Pennsylvania. The wide ranging discussion touched on a variety of topics, including agricultural biotechnology. Greenwood asked Mrs. Clinton where she stood on …
ASTA Committee on Innovations and Policy
The American Seed Trade Association has had a Biotechnology Committee for two decades, but as it is now the Innovations and Policy Committee. Pictured here from the ASTA annual meeting are immediate past committee chair Keith Newhouse with Winfield Solutions and current chair Mark Krieger of Dow AgroSciences who presided at the first meeting of the committee under the new …
Purdue President Proud to be Pro-GMO
Former Indiana governor and current president of Purdue University Mitch Daniels had some strong words for opponents of biotechnology when he addressed the American Seed Trade Association annual meeting in Indianapolis recently. “It’s bogus for people to try and alarm consumers about fictional difficulties with biotechnology,” said Daniels in an interview with Brownfield Ag News following his address. “The fight …
ASTA First Vice Chair from Oregon
We’ve talked with American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) first vice chair Risa DeMasi a couple of times before – a year ago when she was elected as the first woman officer of ASTA and again in December at the Seed Expo when we learned more about her company Grassland Oregon, which is very involved in the development of new cover …