(This article was originally posted on Forbes on 3/23/23) Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet providing vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, dietary fiber and other benefits. They can also be quite delicious. Nutrition experts agree that many Americans should eat more of these foods, but that can be challenging for those with a busy lifestyle. But another reason is consumers hesitate to buy produce items that they’ve been told are risky because of pesticide residues. The main way they get that idea is through something called the “Dirty Dozen List” which is published ea ..read more

(This article was first published on Forbes on 10/29/2022) (Image above: The logo for Vanguard Renewable's business arrangement with dairy farms to generate energy from what could have been waste) It has been pointed out that “waste is only really waste if you waste it.” That is of particular concern when what is being wasted is potential renewable energy. Our food system generates two major waste streams that have traditionally ended up on the negative side of their potential – the manure that comes from farm animals, and the inedible food waste that happens at the food manufacturing or reta ..read more

(This article was originally published on Forbeson August 24, 2022) (Cornfield Image - Petr Kratochvil) Critics of modern agriculture often cite its dependence on “synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.” They point to the carbon footprint of the natural gas used to make it and the fact that nitrogen from farms can end up as a water or air pollutant. Also there is the issue that under certain circumstances a fraction of farm applied nitrogen can be emitted from the soil as the very potent greenhouse gas - nitrous oxide. While these issues are real, the solution is not to somehow avoid using this fert ..read more

 (This post was originally published on Forbes on 8/17/22) Humanity depends on the agriculture sector to produce our food, feed, and fiber, and that demand continues to grow. Increasingly we look to crops as more climate-friendly sources for fuels, plastics and other “bio-materials.” The challenge is to fulfill this diverse and expanding demand without driving land-use-change (LUC)- the conversion of previously uncultivated lands to farms. LUC leads to the loss of biodiversity and a massive release carbon dioxide from those soils. Through the refinement of farming practices and the use of ..read more

 (This article was originally published on Forbes on 7/18/22) No-till Soybeans Following Corn (NRCS image) 1870 was the first US Census in which farmers were in the minority(47.7%).Today, only 1.3% of Americansare still farming and increasingly do so on operations of over 2,000 acres. Even so, family farms still make up 98% of our agricultural sector. Farm ownership still reflects the legacy of the Homestead Act of 1862 as a great deal of current farmland still belongs to descendents of the 19th century homesteaders. According to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture in 201 ..read more

(This article was originally published on Forbes on January 26, 2022)  For more than two years, human society has been dealing with ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic and that already feels like a long journey. It has killed millions, caused significant human stress, and precipitated economic disruption. Unfortunately the timeline for its resolution is unclear. For the past seventeen years, the Florida citrus industry has been grappling with a pandemic of its own – in this case an exotic bacterial disease that plagues the trees grown to produce the popular and health promoting fruit ..read more

Contaminated maize in Africa - Image from International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (This article originally appeared on Forbes on 3/21/17) There has been a breakthrough on a way to reduce the risk of a major form of cancer in the developing world. It involves corn genetically modified to "just say no" to the production of a carcinogenic toxin in its grain. Have you heard of Aflatoxin? It is a major risk factor for cancer in the developing world.  Aflatoxin is a natural chemical produced by a fungus. It is a highly toxic and is a very potent carcinoge ..read more

Do you remember how comedian Rodney Dangerfield always used to say: “I can’t get no respect!” Lately that is how it seems for environmental regulatory agencies like the EPA.  I feel as though we need to defend the very idea of sound regulation against three intensifying challenges: ·      threats of defunding or arbitrary rollbacks coming from some on the populist-right ·      a denial of the progress that has been made by some on the eco-left, and ·      a severe under-appreciation of our legacy of environmental ..read more

Label required by Jan. 1, 2022, on food products containing bioengineered products and byproducts. Credit: USDA. (this post originally appeared on Genetic Literacy Project - January 4, 2022 The “bioengineered” label for foods sold in the United States is now in effect. Any food or food ingredient that has been genetically modified must include a label that says “bioengineered,” or come with a phone number or QR code guiding consumers to more information online. On the positive side, the national labeling law avoids the nightmare of state-by-state requirements. The major negative is that the ..read more

  Black Soldier Fly Larvae (AP Photo/Aleks Furtula) This article was originally posted on Forbes, January 11, 2022 as “Could Insects Play A Bigger Role In Our Food Supply?” We are often told that something we can do to fight climate change, is to eat less meat or dairy. While there are certainly greenhouse gas issues with animal production, it is not that simple. But animals play a unique and indispensable role in our food supply– they can thrive on sources of nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable to humans. A familiar example would be the ruminants that can live on the cellulos ..read more