Discover Top Posts Tagged with #gmo crops

Science generally makes things better than it makes them worse, except when it does make them worse. -- Michael Lipsey

#science #technology #nuclear energy #chemicals #plastic #pollution #nuclear weapons #GMO crops #AI

GMO crops may better withstand climate risks like drought, but time is running low.

Excerpt from this story from Yale Climate Connections:

Large seed corporations are touting genetic engineering not just for fighting pests but as a way of addressing climate-change-related stressors on agriculture. But researchers are skeptical that the technology can match the pace and scale of climate change.

“It’s this silver-bullet solution that is very appealing to investors and even farmers,” said Philip Howard, a professor in the College of Agriculture at Michigan State University. “But when you actually look at what’s going on, it’s a much more brittle, and less resilient system, even if these traits are able to do what the company claims.”

Although most crops currently being cultivated have not been genetically engineered in a lab, all domesticated crops have been altered from their wild ancestors. During the 10,000-year history of agriculture, farmers gradually modified their crops by saving and planting the seeds of plants that produced the juiciest fruit or the fattest kernels. The first evidence of a modified crop, an early kind of wheat that kept its seed heads rather than scattering them before harvest, was found in present-day China and dated to about 7800 BCE. Such crops fed humanity for thousands of years during a period when Earth’s climate remained relatively stable.

But the addition of heat-trapping pollutant gases to the atmosphere is causing more erratic weather and disrupting the predictable turn of the seasons. Scorching heat, droughts, and extreme storms are stressing plants and animals people depend on for food. And farmers are finding that crop varieties carefully developed over centuries are, in some cases, no longer suitable to the local climate.

In fact, reduced crop yields of crops such as wheat and corn are being observed in arid regions and near the equator, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

#GMO seeds #climate crisis #GMO crops

And this is why seed saving and being against (real, not scary caricatures made by 'activists') GMOs is so important.

I bought a bag of mini sweet peppers from work.

Today, I decided to cook them up, and as always, I save the seeds from all of the peppers I use, so I retrieved a large plate to collect the seeds on, so I could save the mini pepper seeds in a mixed bag like I always do.

Except.

When I opened up the first mini red pepper...

Nothing. No seeds whatsoever. Completely hollow.

Frowning, I moved onto the next red pepper. And the next. And the next. Every single red pepper in this bag was completely 100% seedless.

Thankfully, when I moved onto the mini orange peppers, they still had seeds.

Is dealing with seeds in small fruit like peppers slightly inconvenient? Sure.

But do you really want to trade that slight inconvince for plants that are completely controlled by name brand corporations, that you cannot save the seeds from, that you cannot propogate and breed for genetic diversity?

Seedless peppers, are, thankfully, only just now in 2020 becoming available in supermarkets. But like seedless watermelon, seedless grapes, and any other produce you can think of that now has no seeds?

That means that, like bananas, if seedless varieties that can only become cloned become the major supply for farms... There can be entire extinction events that wipe out entire cultivars, because there is no genetic diversity to protect different crops from disease, because they are all clones of the same plant!

And especially right now, when many people are food insecure, and more and more people are trying to grow their own food, more people need to become aware of these trends in the commercial food industry, and make sure you're buying produce that, like we have been for thousands of years, you can save the seeds from and grow your own food from it.

And honestly, the part that makes me angriest about these disappointing peppers? They were not even MARKED as being seedless!

#food #self sufficiency #GMO #gmo food #gmo crops #Pepper #seed saving #gardening

Kenya ready to introduce new GMO crops in market

Kenya is poised to roll out more genetically modified (GM) crops, but ongoing court cases are delaying the process, according to a senior National Biosafety Authority official. Chief executive Roy Mugiira revealed that the authority has approved the environmental release of Bt Maize, which is resistant to maize stem borer pests, and genetically modified cassava, which is resistant to the Cassava…

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#GMO crops

Genetically modified foods can be harmful to you and harmful to the atmosphere also. Here, we suggest 8 reasons to avoid genetically modified foods - GMOs

Genetically Modified Foods can be harmful to you, and harmful to the atmosphere. Here we suggesting you 8 Good Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Food (GMOs)

#Gmo #genetically modified food #gmo foods #genetically modified crops #Gmo crops

Agri View: GMO Crops Advance

Everett Griner talks about GMO crops increasing in volume in today’s Agri View. Hear Everett’s report and learn more. →

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#genetically modified #GMO crops

GMO Labeling Bill Facing Uphill Battle The GMO labeling bill passed by Congress last year faces an uncertain future. The National Bio-engineered Food Disclosure Standard passed by Congress last year preempts a patchwork of state laws mandating labeling of food products containing genetically modified organisms.

#GMO crops #GMO labeling bill