THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a reminder of the insidious imbalance of conspiracy theories: They are always easier to state than to disprove. RFK Jr. can make a claim in minutes that can take hours to dispute and explain. Give him three hours—say, the length of a Joe Rogan episode—and RFK […]
This is the second part of a news article by Daily News Hungary. The entire piece can be read here. Hungary’s opposition to new genomic techniques does farmers and consumers a disservice By Bill Wirtz The European Commission recently announced new legislation that will structurally grant authorisation for cultivating gene-edited plants in the EU. Until […]
The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, recently announced that it intends to loosen rules for gene-edited plants. Seeds derived through gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR Cas-9 have been unavailable for commercialization in Europe since their development, based on legislation dating back to 2001. In a way, Brussels is correcting […]
In this week’s episode of ConsEUmer: 🇧🇷 What is the future of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement? 🌱 Europe opens shop for the plants of the future (w/ Amrit Nanda) Follow Plants for the Future on Twitter @Plant_ETP. Note: I did say “European Technology *Forum” in the intro. Should have been *Platform. The European Commission video […]
I was a guest on Agriculture of America to talk about Dutch and EU agriculture policy and why it faces pushback.
Through recently passed legislation, the New York state legislature aims to abolish certain insecticides in defense of the “birds and bees.” The chemicals in question, called neonicotinoids, are commonly used in crop production to shield crops from undesired insects — including aphids, which spread the beet yellows virus. Lawmakers have been convinced by environmental activist […]
As the World Trade Organization is meeting in Geneva this week, Biden administration officials have taken aim at Europe’s protectionist trade policies. The US Ambassador to the WTO, Maria Pagán, laid out ‘persistent barriers’ that American goods and services face to enter the European market. High on the agenda were EU food and wine standards, […]
Is the farm bill a welfare program for slackers or the last-ever chance to create a sustainable food model for the future? Listening to Republicans and Democrats, those seem to be the only two choices. The $1 trillion-plus spending package that is the 2023 farm bill is set to become an unprecedented point of contention […]
Whether it’s Mexico’s threat of banning the import of American corn, or the five-year revamp of the American Farm Bill, agriculture is not merely about growing food. As the politics of farming affects the livelihoods of each American, it transforms agricultural policy into an electoral issue. The Biden administration recently announced the creation of a […]
As the now year-old war in Ukraine continues to unravel, so do the stories revealing the ruthlessness with which the Russian state has not only intervened in political discourse, but also in areas of global public debate. There are those untruths that further the interests of the Kremlin in a palpable geopolitical way: think “Ukraine […]
Bill Wirtz 