RE: https://mastodon.social/@GMWatch/116048129760447606

Despite the risks of combining the substances, the US Environmental Protection Agency has twice approved it for use on food crops. The compound is annually spread on around 4.5 million acres of fields in which genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton are grown. #GMO #GMOs

Hybrid #megapests evolving in #Brazil are a threat to #crops worldwide

Two extremely damaging crop pests have interbred to create hybrids resistant to more than one #pesticide that could cause serious problems in many countries

By Michael Le Page
23 January 2026

"It was thought that H. armigera and H. zea couldn’t interbreed, but in 2018 genetic analysis revealed a few hybrids between the species. Jiggins and his colleagues have now analysed the genome of nearly 1000 moths collected in Brazil over the past decade.

"They found that a third of H. armigera now carry genes providing resistance to the Bt toxin – and they got these genes from H. zea. Bt maize was first introduced in North America in the 1990s, where some H. zea strains evolved resistance. These resistance genes seem to have spread to South America and now crossed species. As yet, the hybrid H. armigera haven’t been a major problem, says Jiggins, but that could change as resistance spreads.

"The transfer has gone both ways – nearly all H. zea in Brazil now have a gene conferring resistance to a class of insecticides called pyrethroids that was acquired from H. armigera. 'We’re just sort of blown away by how rapidly it’s happened,' says Jiggins.

" 'With global connectivity and climate change together lowering barriers to species’ range expansions, such megapests are likely to be an increasing global problem, as is the escalating rate of biological invasions more generally,' says Angela McGaughran at the University of Waikato in New Zealand."

Read more:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2512265-hybrid-megapests-evolving-in-brazil-are-a-threat-to-crops-worldwide/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/cgped

#Soybeans #PesticideResistance #SoybeanCrops #CottonBollworm #CornEarworm #HybridInsects #GMOs #InvasiveSpecies

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 || 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟒 - 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐮

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Professor Michael Antoniou, a leading molecular geneticist from King's College London, draws a stark contrast between the controlled use of genetic engineering in medicine and its risky application in agriculture. He explains that while clinical gene therapies operate under strict containment and regulation, genetically modified crops are released into the environment despite being imprecise and unpredictable.

Professor Antoniou firmly rejects the notion that #GMO crops are "substantially equivalent" to their conventional counterparts and dispels the myth that gene editing techniques like #CRISPR are clean, highlighting that they still cause hundreds of off-target mutations that go unexamined.

He also dismantles the core narratives promoting #GMOs in Africa, arguing that the claim they are needed to "feed the world" is misleading. He points to FAO and World Bank data showing the world already produces enough food for 14 billion people, asserting that hunger is a problem of poverty and access, not production. He notes that GM crops have not increased inherent yields but have instead driven up herbicide use and locked farmers into corporate-controlled systems of patented seeds and chemicals. Citing his report for the Mexican government, which used evidence of organ and immune damage to justify restrictions on GM corn, he warns that newer stacked trait crops only heighten these risks.

He concludes that the true path to climate resilience and food sovereignty lies not in these "yesterday's news" genetic fixes, but in #agroecology and farmer-managed seed systems (#FMSS), a hopeful vision already being realized by small-scale #African farmers practicing diverse, independent agriculture.

Listen to the full conversation 👇🏿

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t78goIHnCiU
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5KnbsfH7rewPoJVKFZCYzG?si=zQ1NAPbrRtO_B_wWjwfjCA
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-battle-for-african-agriculture-podcast-episode-14/id1814081549?i=1000737657746

Doing a little course planning or looking for reading list additions? Revisit the Canadian Food Studies book reviews for some inspiration!

Start with Taarini Chopra’s review of Growing Resistance: Canadian Farmers and the Politics of Genetically Modified Wheat by Emily Eaton.
https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v1i1.38

Then pair it with Annabel Soutar’s theatre play, Seeds, which brings genetically modified crops into the realm of documentary theatre.
https://porteparole.org/en/plays/seeds/

#FoodStudies
#FoodBooks
#Theater
#DocumentaryTheatre
#GMOs
#GeneticallyModifiedFoods
#Wheat
#Farming
#Farmers
#Agriculture
#FoodPolitics
#SeedSaving

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 || 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟑 - 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐭

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay speaks with Mariam Mayet, founder and executive director of the African Centre for Biodiversity @_ACBIO . Mariam traces her entry into this work to the 1999 biosafety protocol negotiations in Cartagena, Colombia, where she witnessed “the sheer might of power that the US government, Monsanto and the biotech industry together with the grain exporters wielded,” an experience that shocked her and set her on a path to resist corporate control over Africa’s food systems.

The conversation underscores how #Africa, unlike many regions, has not simply succumbed to #GMO pressure. Mariam explains that the first major contestation was USAID’s involvement in drafting biosafety laws for African governments. This pushback was rooted in protecting local seed diversity, traditional knowledge, farmers’ rights, and sovereignty. She describes how the struggle has since shifted toward research capture, with large funding, particularly from the Gates Foundation, shaping African agricultural research agendas. Mariam raises concerns about how this funding has compromised local systems and redirected focus away from small-scale farmers, noting, “The funding has corrupted our systems completely.”

Mariam emphasizes that small-scale farmers, who contribute between 80- 95 percent of seed through farmer-managed systems, are the backbone of Africa’s agriculture. The encroachment of #GMOs threatens these systems and with them Africa’s seed autonomy and food sovereignty.

Listen to the full conversation here👇🏿

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu6WdHTras8
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7Fi5gZjGNb7OTclDC6sxBX?si=C_WjH0kJRGW7qJNCqu35JQ
Apple Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-battle-for-african-agriculture-podcast-episode-13/id1814081549?i=1000736632796