The promise of more food from increased yields is driving the appeal for more GM crops, but that promise is theoretical and unfulfilled, argue Dr Ricarda A Steinbrecher and Antje Lorch
Genetically modified food. It’s a big issue. Increasingly, we are handed the notion that GM food is just like any other food, only better, because of its almost magical power to solve our most immediate crises of poverty, hunger, fossil-fuel depletion and climate change.
Whether we like it or not, the Government says that we must accept the necessity of genetically modified crops to fuel, feed and heal the world. Leading academics, researchers and campaigners in the GM arena address the science and the spin of the GM 'solution', as well as looking at alternatives that are already contributing to a sustainable farming future.
Fruit and veg box schemes used to be the preserve of ‘deep-greens’. Now everyone’s in on the act, however, is green shopping becoming greenwashing, asks Matilda Lee
Growing anxiety, growing concern, growing doubts, growing uncertainty. If you are one of a growing number of people who want to be heard on the subject of GM, and to find out how you can become involved in keeping the future GM-free, here are some places to start.
Our excessive appetite for meat is taking a heavy toll on the planet, but as Simon Fairlie explains, the arguments used to depict omnivores as environmental super-villains are far too simplistic.
Is the light brown apple moth such a danger to crops both agricultural and financial that the US government will risk the health of its citizens to eradicate it? They spray, you pay, warns Claire Robinson
Globally over 60 billion animals are farmed for food every year. The 2006 Report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, predicted that global meat consumption will more than double by 2050 (from 2001).
It was bred to aid the rural poor, but one bird is also helping break industrialised farming’s stranglehold on India. Andrew Wasley meets the remarkable Giriraja
The community supports the farmer and the farmer supports the community. Why isn't everyone taking part in the latest agricultural revolution, wonders Ed Hamer
With vast areas decimated by industrial farming, the salad days are over for mass-produced olive oil. Laura Sevier looks at the effect its rise in popularity has had on the European landscape, and at some more sustainable brands.
It was bred to aid the rural poor, but one bird is also helping break industrialised farming’s stranglehold on India. Andrew Wasley meets the remarkable Giriraja
