The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Honeycrisp Genome Will Help Scientists Breed Better Apples
October 26, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) ITHACA, N.Y. – A team of researchers has sequenced the Honeycrisp apple genome, a boon for scientists and breeders working with this popular and economically important cultivar.

Sequenced with state-of-the-art technologies, the genome – available open-sourced for anyone to access – provides a valuable resource for understanding the genetic basis of important traits in apples and other tree fruit species, which can be used to enhance breeding efforts, according to the paper.

The U.S. apple industry is worth $23 billion annually, and Honeycrisp is its most valuable cultivar, bringing growers roughly twice the value per pound than the second-most valuable cultivar, Fuji. Due to its favorable traits, including crispness, flavor, cold-hardiness and resistance to apple scab fungal disease, breeders have used Honeycrisp as a parent in nine new cultivars on the market, including the Cornell University-developed Snapdragon.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/969288
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Researchers Indicate Bacteria-based Whipped Cream Could Be the Future
October 31, 2022

Introduction:
(University of Copenhagen via Futurity) Food researchers have developed a fat-free prototype of the much-beloved substance using bacteria instead of milk fat—in both velvety and stiffer varieties.

The concept opens up the possibility of producing alternative whipped creams using beer brewing residues and plants, which increases sustainability.
Whipped cream is composed of 38% saturated fat, making it a not so fluffy caloric and climate issue as well. Therefore, the researchers set out to develop a low-fat, more sustainable alternative.

A delicious whipped cream needs to be versatile. For a tart, it needs to be velvety, smooth, light, and airy. And at other times, it needs to be stiff enough to hold the shape of a cake for hours. The thing most special about whipped cream is its consistency.

“The most difficult aspect of developing an alternative food is getting the texture right. Whipped cream undergoes a unique transformation that occurs in a complex system where a high saturated fat content makes it possible to whip the cream stiff,” explains Jens Risbo, an associate professor of the food science department at the University of Copenhagen.
Read more here: https://www.futurity.org/whipped-cream ... -2823112/
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Personally, I do think there is a lot of desirable potential in the field of genetically engineered (GE) and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Still, the article cited and linked below brings out a lot of good points about potential pitfalls.

Agri Biotech Sector Motivated by Monopoly Control and Sacred GMO Cash Cow
by Colin Todhunter
November 6, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) We are currently seeing rising food prices due to a combination of an engineered food crisis for geopolitical reasons, financial speculation by hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks and profiteering by global grain trade conglomerates like Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, ADM and Bunge.

In addition, agri firms like Bayer, Syngenta (ChemChina) and Corteva cynically regard current circumstances as an opportunity to promote their agenda and seek commercialisation of unregulated and improperly tested genetically engineered (GE) technologies.

These companies have long promoted the false narrative that their hybrid seeds and their GE seeds, along with their agrichemicals, are essential for feeding a growing global population. This agenda is orchestrated by vested interests and career scientists – many of whom long ago sold their objectivity for biotech money – lobby groups and disgraced politicians and journalists.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to deflect and sway opinion, these industry shills also try to depict their critics as being Luddites and ideologically driven and for depriving the poor of (GE) food and farmers of technology.

This type of bombast disintegrates when confronted with the evidence of a failing GE project
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/agri-biotech- ... cash-cow/
Last edited by caltrek on Fri Nov 11, 2022 1:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Tunas, Billfishes Recover Yet Sharks’ Extinction Risk Rises
November 10, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Although some tunas and billfishes are recovering after decades of decline from overfishing, due in large part to successful fisheries management and conservation actions, shark biodiversity continues to decline, according to a new study evaluating yearly changes in these species’ extinction risk for the last 70 years. The findings simultaneously illustrate the value of conservation and management in protecting large ocean species and underscore the immediate need for these protections to be extended to sharks. It’s estimated that intense fishing across the planet’s oceans has led to roughly half of all commercially harvested fish and invertebrate stocks becoming overfished during the 20th century, including iconic large predatory fishes like tuna, billfishes, and sharks. However, while intense fishing activity has been increasingly monitored and managed, its overarching effects on ocean biodiversity are generally poorly understood. Based on International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List categories and criteria, Maria José Juan-Jordá and colleagues created a continuous Red List Index (RLI) of yearly changes in extinction risk of oceanic tunas, billfishes, and sharks spanning the last 70 years to better understand the health of oceanic biodiversity as well as the overall impacts of fishing mortality and conservation efforts on these populations. Juan-Jordá et al. found that after more than half a century of increasing risk of extinction due to increasing fishing pressure, effective fisheries management and conservation strategies have allowed populations of tuna and billfish to recover over the past decade. However, the extinction risk for sharks, which remain largely undermanaged, continues to rise. The findings suggest that while target species are increasingly and successfully sustainably managed to ensure maximum catch, other functionally important species like sharks, which are often captured as bycatch in these fisheries, continue to decline because of insufficient management actions. “The conservation statuses of threatened target species can be improved by managing the fishing industry, which can benefit the industry economically in the long run while allowing the threatened species to recover,” write Matthew Burgess and Sarah Becker in a related Perspective. “However, the protection of high-vulnerability bycatch and nontarget species is expected to be more difficult because they will require fisheries to invest in better fishing gear and targeting practices, or reduce fishing efforts, without directly benefiting from these changes.”
Read more of the EurekAlert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/970363

For a detailed presentation of the findings: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sci ... okieSet=1
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Replace animal farms with micro-organism tanks, say campaigners

Sat 12 Nov 2022 04.00 GMT

Enough protein to feed the entire world could be produced on an area of land smaller than London if we replace animal farming with factories producing micro-organisms, a campaign has said.

The Reboot Food manifesto argues that three-quarters of the world’s farmland should be rewilded instead.

Emissions from livestock farming account for at least 16.5% of the planet’s greenhouse gases, according to a study. A number of experts have been calling for a reduction in animal protein in our diets.

Henry Dimbleby, the UK government’s food tsar, has suggested people eat 30% less animal protein, and replace meat and dairy with plant-based protein. About 85% of agricultural land in England is used for pasture for grazing animals such as cows or to grow food that is then fed to livestock.

Vegan activists are protesting at the Cop27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, arguing that animal agriculture is a big contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -emissions
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Stanford Researchers Indicate Dams Could Play a Big Role in Feeding the World More Sustainably

November 14 , 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) A bogeyman to many environmentalists, dams could actually play a significant role in feeding the world more sustainably, according to new Stanford University research. The study, published the week of Nov. 14 in PNAS, quantifies for the first time how much water storage would be required to maximize crop irrigation without depleting water stocks or encroaching on nature, and how many people this approach could feed. While the researchers find that dammed reservoirs could be used to store more than 50% of the water needed for such irrigation, they emphasize that large reservoirs are only part of the solution and recommend evaluating alternatives to building new dams due to their damaging impacts on river ecosystems.

“There is an urgent need to explore alternative water storage solutions, but we have to acknowledge that many dams are already in place,” said study lead author Rafael Schmitt, a research engineer with the Stanford Natural Capital Project. “Our research illuminates their crucial role in ensuring food security in the future.”

Typical agricultural practices in many parts of the world deplete and pollute water resources, damage natural landscapes, and together generate one-fourth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Two-thirds of global cropland depends on rainfall and often makes up for its absence by using non-sustainable water resources, such as non-renewable groundwater, or impeding environmental flows.

Sustainable irrigation’s potential

The researchers analyzed the amount of freshwater in surface and groundwater bodies generated and renewed by natural hydrological cycles, as well as water demands of current crop mixes on irrigated and rainfed lands. They estimated that the full potential of storage-fed irrigation could feed about 1.15 billion people. If all 3,700 potential dam sites that have been mapped for their hydropower potential were built and partially used for irrigation, the world’s dams could supply enough water storage to irrigate crops for about 641 million people or 55% of the total.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/970830
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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FDA says lab-grown meat is safe for human consumption

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/17/fda-say ... ption.html
The Food and Drug Administration for the first time cleared a lab-grown meat product developed by a California start-up as safe for human consumption, marking a key milestone for cell-cultivated meats to eventually become available in U.S. supermarkets and restaurants.

The FDA cleared Upside Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats, to use animal cell culture technology to take living cells from chickens and grow the cells in a controlled environment to produce cultured animal cell food.

The agency said it evaluated Upside Food’s production and cultured cell material and has “no further questions” about the safety of its cultivated chicken filet. The company will be able to bring its products to market once it’s been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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The Midterm Culture War Over Plant-based Meat
by Kenny Torrella
November 18, 2022

Introduction:
(Vox) Last week, Nebraskans elected Republican businessman Jim Pillen to be the state’s next governor. It’s no surprise he won: Nebraska has picked a Republican in every gubernatorial election since 1998. But what made Pillen’s campaign so peculiar — and alarming to those who care about animal welfare and climate change — is that no other political candidate has campaigned so vehemently against veggie burgers and soy milk.

Throughout his campaign, Pillen vowed to “stand up to radicals who want to use red tape and fake meat to put Nebraska out of business,” and promised to work to pass laws that ban plant-based food producers from using words like “meat” and “milk” on their packaging.

While Pillen has a financial interest in such a ban — he runs Pillen Family Farms, the nation’s 16th largest pork company — “fake meat,” or more accurately, plant-based meat, currently poses little actual threat to Nebraska’s farmers, as it accounts for just 1.4 percent of US meat retail sales. Plant-based milks like oat milk or almond milk have captured a much bigger share of the dairy aisle — around 16 percent — but the dairy industry says it’s a minor factor in the decline of milk sales.

Pillen also has a financial interest in maintaining Nebraska’s hands-off regulatory landscape: His giant hog operations have been trailed by air and water pollution complaints since the 1990s. Pillen’s campaign did not respond to an interview request for this story.

The real aim, it seems, of his vitriol toward bean burgers — a tactic increasingly deployed by Republican politicians — is to ensnare plant-based meat into the culture war and further cleave an already divided electorate.
Read more here: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/202 ... -nitrates
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Food Marketing and Research on Kids Lacks Government Oversight
November 18, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Federal regulations ban tobacco companies from advertising to kids and prohibit profanity on television before 10 p.m. But what is protecting children from predatory advertising of junk food, especially with sneaky online marketing tactics like the use of influencers?

Very little, thanks to outdated and weakened government oversight, according to a new legal analysis published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics by researchers at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

“The U.S. overwhelmingly relies on industry self-regulation, which has not kept pace with modern marketing practices,” says study author Jennifer Pomeranz, assistant professor of public health policy and management at NYU School of Global Public Health.

Self-regulation falls short in today’s marketing landscape

Commercial speech, including advertising, is largely protected by the First Amendment. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which protects consumers from deceptive and unfair business practices, has limited authority over advertising directed at kids. While the FTC gathers and reports data on food advertising to youth and brings cases against food companies for specific unfair and deceptive practices, Congress stripped the agency of its authority to regulate marketing directed at children considered unfair in 1980, after the FTC tried to limit sugary food and drinks in commercials during children’s television. The FTC has not attempted to use its authority over deceptive acts and practices, in part out of concern over similar backlash.

Instead, the U.S. largely relies on food and beverage companies to self-regulate. The industry-created Children’s Food and Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) includes voluntary—and sometimes lax—nutritional standards for marketing to kids. However, the researchers say gaps in CFBAI allows for questionable marketing that makes the nutrition standards irrelevant: the initiative only applies to children under 12 and media directed at young kids, it does not apply to packaging or stores, and allows companies to market their brands by showing somewhat healthier products that introduce kids to unhealthy brand lines.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/971840
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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The article linked below is a rather technical discussion of the titled subject matter. Technical in that it closely examines bureaucratic considerations of federal versus state responsibilities. It is a difficult issue. On the one hand, one can argue that “excessive” regulation will increase the cost of food. Yet, protecting drinking water supplies and watery habitats from pollution is a very important consideration. Personally, I have cut my consumption of beef and hog products down to almost zero. In part that is also due to animal cruelty considerations. Still, I don’t expect such eating patterns to be widely adopted. Unless, of course, cultured food products and other such substitutes become widely available and popular

Large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are Known Polluters. Here’s Why EPA Permits Only Cover One-third
by Madison McVan
November 17, 2022

Introduction:
(Investigate Midwest) The Environmental Protection Agency is charged with protecting important waterways from pollution, but manure from concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, continues to harm waterways — and only one-third of the largest facilities have a federal permit.

EPA permits require CAFO operators to tell the agency how much waste the animals will produce and how the manure will be disposed of.

States are largely responsible for issuing these permits, but that has resulted in patchy oversight, despite CAFOs being known environmental dangers.
In some states with hundreds of large CAFOs, including Indiana, Idaho and Arkansas, zero facilities have a federal permit.

Large CAFOs are defined by the EPA as housing the equivalent of 700 dairy cattle, 2,500 swine or up to 125,000 chickens.
Read more here: https://investigatemidwest.org/2022/11 ... ne-third/
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