“Glyphosate is so harmful to humans. And it’s sprayed all over your oatmeal,” a social media user posted on X. The man parades in front of the oatmeal section of a grocery store and says we should all drop this classic breakfast option due to its exposure to common chemicals used in agriculture. The business […]
The European Union commissioner for the European Green Deal has left, a farmers’ party has taken control of the Dutch senate, French president Emmanuel Macron says regulatory changes shouldn’t be rushed, and the EU’s largest political group is openly opposing reform plans that had been years in the making. It is not looking good for […]
In 2016 and 2020 , farmers overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump for president. The track record of his administration justifies the choice, as Trump appointed agency directors who reversed unnecessarily strict Obama-era regulations on chemical crop protection products that are essential for fighting pests and preserving yields. Now, with President Joe Biden nearing the end of his term and having gone back to much […]
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, […]
Bill Wirtz 