plants

Emphasizing that "USDA seeks to allow innovation when there is no risk present," Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue reiterated that USDA does not regulate nor plan to regulate plants developed through new breeding techniques such as gene editing. The exception would be plants that pose a pest or noxious weed threat or are developed using plant pests.

“A group of 40 investors managing $1.25 trillion in assets have launched a campaign to encourage 16 global food companies” to change to plant-based proteins in light of the “material” risks of industrial meat farming, says Reuters. Among the companies targeted were Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco, Walmart, Costco Wholesale Corporation and Whole Foods.

A wild mustard plant that grows in the Rocky Mountains "alters its physical appearance and flowering time in response to different environmental conditions, suggesting some species can quickly shape-shift to cope with climate change without having to migrate or evolve," says Dartmouth College.

A scientist from Virginia Tech has discovered a way that plants communicate with each other at the molecular level. The research could provide a way to fight parasitic weeds that attack food crops, says the university.