iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 4h

Mosquitos & ticks are a policy choice after all. Lets hope this executive order jumpstarts regulators to approve emerging biotech solutions & expand research, especially on ticks. buff.ly/POOJESr

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 8h

How maddening. For over 15 years, we've have had the ability to prevent thousands of Dengue cases in the U.S. and millions of mosquito bites. But the technology has been stuck with federal regulators. buff.ly/sAHV4mn

Timeline showing Oxitec's regulatory submissions starting in 2010, with field releases not permitted in 2026.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Domino's Pizza Tracker truly is everywhere. Though it may have met its match: not too helpful when processing can take several weeks

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Want emergency relief from high diesel prices? Lift the federal biofuel mandate. EPA estimates the mandate adds about 20¢/gallon to diesel prices. That could provide larger relief than expanding access to tax-exempt dyed diesel or limiting exports.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is bananas! Tropic’s non-browning banana is almost ripe for sale in the UK. Puns aside, if it clears the remaining food-safety review it could become the first gene-edited food in grocery stores under England’s new precision-breeding rules. buff.ly/PbcwfZV

buff.ly

Bananas that don’t go brown could hit UK supermarkets after scientific breakthrough

Company hopes gene-editing technique will reduce food waste

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Ground beef prices are up over 70% since 2020, making plant-based meat more cost-competitive. But I wouldn't bet on people giving up beef soon, if recent history can teach us anything.. buff.ly/z9fbXE6

buff.ly

Beef. It’s Still What’s For Dinner

Record Prices Haven’t Pushed America Off Beef

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Reposted by Dan Blaustein-Rejto

Danny Cullenward @ghgpolicy.org · 17/09/2026

The inimitable @mikegrunwald.bsky.social has an exceptionally well written oped on the disastrous proposal from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to give companies carbon credit for cutting down trees.

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Latest Corporate Climate Ruse (Gift Article)

Making deforestation look climate-friendly will encourage a lot more deforestation.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Are we really "Bombarding America's forests with Roundup"? Turns out it's only sprayed on a tiny amount of national forest land. And when it is, its often for good reason: to manage invasive species, reduce wildfire risk, or help forests regenerate.

buff.ly

The Glyphosate Panic Comes for America’s Forests

Glyphosate is used on a tiny fraction of federal land. Eliminating it would be an ecological mistake.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

One of the most interesting uses of genetic engineering is helping restore ecosystems. USDA just greenlit an American chestnut modified with a gene from wheat to better resist the blight that nearly wiped the species out. thebreakthrough.org/press/releas...

thebreakthrough.org

RELEASE: Breakthrough Institute Applauds USDA Approval of Genetically…

Berkeley, CA — August 28, 2026 — Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) deregulated an American Chestnut tree genetically engineered for…

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

What happened to lab-grown or cultivated meat? It's not another Theranos-like scam - I've tasted a decent amount myself. But the technology is far less developed than many boosters and investors expected, as this candid and laugh-out-loud @harpers.bsky.social cover story details. buff.ly/f9RCWb7

harpers.org

Where's The Beef?, by Erin Somers

The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Must be nice to own farmland. An estimated 45% of every dollar spent on federal farm payments (part of the "farm safety net") gets baked into higher cropland rents, boosting the value of the land many farmers already own. buff.ly/0uNp5Jw

nytimes.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/business/farmers-land-value-crop-prices-iowa.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8FA.gwj1.eFdMusAt6V79&smid=url-share

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

About 1 in 200 adults are involved in cattle ranching, feedlots or beef processing (with many also having another occupation). All the others stand to gain from reducing beef prices, whether that's through cutting import tariffs or expanding domestic production.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

MAHA supporters want farmers to use fewer pesticides. But that may require embracing technologies many in the movement distrust, like genetic engineering. Engineered insects could soon be used to suppress crop pests, largely by interfering with reproduction buff.ly/v6430Vz

breakthroughjournal.org

Bioengineering the Ultimate Honeypot

Genetic engineering could help stop screwworm, crop pests, and chemical spraying

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The first genetically engineered insects are well on their way to being mass-raised and released, mostly so they can more efficiently mate with others and crash the population. I wrote about this counterintuitive, sometimes gross, and fascinating approach www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/bioenginee...

breakthroughjournal.org

Bioengineering the Ultimate Honeypot

Genetic engineering could help stop screwworm, crop pests, and chemical spraying

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Californians pay an extra $300-500 a year for utilities' wildfire mitigation & insurance. Ultimately, utilities spend about 10x more on wildfire mitigation than the state government does. This new report digs into how to fix that problem. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/rewiring-r...

breakthroughjournal.org

Rewiring Risk

A Podcast With Lauren Teixeira and Eric Biber

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Plant breeders are developing pitless cherries, reduced-allergen peanuts, and other innovative crops. But outdated biotechnology regulations have prevented many from ever getting to market. Fortunately that's starting to change with big shifts underway in the US and even the EU. buff.ly/9k6xZ5G

breakthroughjournal.org

Global Shifts in Plant Biotech Regulation

How the US and EU Are Rewriting the Rules of Agricultural Innovation

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

California’s gas tax goes up on July 1 to 63 ¢/gallon, the highest in the country. But it’s not the only cost that's rising: the state’s program to decarbonize fuels is now adding nearly 20 ¢/gallon with more increases on the way. buff.ly/FSGKsBd

breakthroughjournal.org

California's Hidden Gas Tax Is Due for Reform

With the gradual re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices have finally started falling.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Meat is the largest share of people's grocery budget and central to their diets. Yet MAHA and the foodie left share a major blind spot: neither has a practical plan to make meat cheaper while reducing its environmental and animal welfare costs. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/you-cant-d...

breakthroughjournal.org

You Can’t Defend Industrial Food Without Defending Industrial Meat

A Review of Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel Rosenberg’s Feed the People

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Reposted by Dan Blaustein-Rejto

Tamar Haspel @tamarhaspel.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Here's a new study of organic & conventional farming. The 2 big findings: - Organic farms didn't store more carbon; organic matter was the same in both systems - Organic yields were 31% lower (primarily N availability) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Thank your farmer AND your agricultural scientist Each new screwworm case reminds me how USDA researchers developed the sterile insect technique that once eradicated the pest. Now they’ve developing genetically engineered male-only flies to improve upon the approach. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/s...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

MAHA’s call to eat more meat and “better” meat doesn't add up: more meat means more feedlots. The math does not work any other way. Existing US pastureland could support no more than 45% of current beef production.

buff.ly

MAHA’s CAFO conundrum

In its push for more meat eating, MAHA faces a challenging truth: current and future meat demand depends almost entirely on massive, concentrated animal feeding operations, CAFOs.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Climatemaxxing livestock can worsen animal welfare. And yet many efforts to make livestock healthier are actually win-win-wins, raising productivity, improving animal welfare, and reducing environmental impacts, as I note in this @epayne.bsky.social article.

buff.ly

Breeding Climate-Friendly Livestock May Come at the Expense of Farm Animal Welfare

A new report argues that focusing solely on climate emissions can result in breeding programs that increase animal suffering.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The problem with GMOs is not that there are too many, but that there are too few. Over 40 years after the first genetically modified plant, its nearly impossible to find any GMO fruits or vegetables. Federal regulations are a big reason why, I explain in @houstonchronicle.com buff.ly/YO3LhET

houstonchronicle.com

Client Challenge

Please enable JavaScript to proceed.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Right now, if farmers lost access to glyphosate, many would till the soil more and spray worse herbicides. If we ever want to move beyond glyphosate, we need policy & an EPA that better supports innovation in weed management. agfundernews.com/guest-articl...

agfundernews.com

Guest article: The future of glyphosate may rest with innovators, not lawyers

"The way beyond glyphosate is not to wish it away. It is to outperform it," says Dan Blaustein-Rejto at the Breakthrough Institute.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Great to hear that Trump dropped Casey Means for surgeon general. Her misinformation about food safety and the risks of modern farming would have sowed unnecessary fear & distrust in science. Can't say I know much about the newly nominated Saphier though.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

No pesticide company should get a free pass. But glyphosate isn’t the problem most people think it is. After decades of study, regulators around the world (as recently as the EU 3 years ago) keep coming to the same conclusion: it’s one of the safest options.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Today the Supreme Court heard the Monsanto case about Roundup & cancer. MAHA supporters rallied outside, calling to ban the herbicide. Whatever you think about the court case, restricting the herbicide — one of the least harmful options farmers have — will make people & wildlife worse off.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

MAHA’s efforts to restrict glyphosate (aka Roundup) would leave not just farmers but also the environment worse off. It‘s lower-impact than most alternatives farmers would use instead, as my op-ed today in the @washingtonpost.com explains. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

washingtonpost.com

Opinion | Driving this herbicide off the market won’t make people safer

Activists want to move beyond glyphosate. But the standard should be improvement, not purity.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

More bad news on gas prices: California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard is adding about 20¢/gallon, new data shows, its highest impact yet. The program pushes refiners toward more biofuels, but at a growing cost to drivers and w/ limited environmental benefit. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/paying-ext...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Really sophisticated discourse on cultivated meat going on right now.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

The US has neglected agricultural R&D for decades. Government funding is down about 1/3 from its early-2000s peak and only half goes toward making farms more productive, finds this new report. That means less innovation to keep food affordable and farmers resilient. www.aei.org/research-pro...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Just one more way biofuels hit your wallet. After a record-high increase in the federal biofuel mandate, the price of chicken fat (one of my cat's favorites) has shot up. It's more than 40% higher now than in January. www.agri-pulse.com/articles/245...

agri-pulse.com

Pet food makers sound price alarm over biofuel boost

A record-high U.S. mandate for biofuels is putting a new twist on an old debate: pet food versus fuel. Fuel producers have a financial incentive to make their products from animal fats, such as tallow...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Brazil just approved growing a gene-edited banana that browns less when sliced. That brings it one step closer to grocery shelves. The developer, Tropic, says it plans a U.S. launch this year, potentially making it the first gene-edited food widely available.

Photo of a regular banana browning next to a non-browning one. Source: https://tropic.bio/best-inventions-2025/

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

California’s eye-popping gas prices are only made worse by the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The program adds about 17c/gallon. Worse, much of that money is going to biofuels that would have been produced anyway under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/paying-ext...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Its not all freeze-dried ice cream and aluminum tubes of food anymore. But space travel still showcases and drives some major food innovation. NASA even funded some of the first research on cultivated meat

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Reposted by Dan Blaustein-Rejto

Robert Hirschfeld @rfhirschfeld.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Biofuels madness We're gonna import vegetable oil made from the ashes of rainforest to meet new biofuels mandate. EPA'S OWN ANALYSIS says this policy costs $20 billion/yr MORE than it saves, may increase emissions, will drive conversion of natural lands, degrade water quality, & raise food prices.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

EPA just announced its highest-ever renewable fuel mandate. Renewable fuels already use more than 1/3 of U.S. corn and soybean oil. Pushing that even higher will put more pressure on food & fuel prices at a time when many families are already stretched thin. thebreakthrough.org/press/releas...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Glyphosate isn't the terrible herbicide it's made out to be. I dug deep into its impact. Restricting glyphosate more would likely hurt wildlife and the environment in 3 big ways: increased toxicity, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas emissions. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/glyphosate...

breakthroughjournal.org

Glyphosate’s Environmental Benefits

How the controversial herbicide saves wildlife and where it still falls short

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Have you ever heard that biotechnologyis going to revolutionize agriculture — but wonder where all the supposed products are? There's only 7 kinds of genetically modified produce available. Part of the problem is an inefficient regulatory system. thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-...

thebreakthrough.org

USDA Regulations Stifle Innovation

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

The issue with Casey Means is not just her equivocating on vaccines. It’s that she brings the anti-vax playbook to food: distrust regulators, fear synthetics and cherry-pick evidence. That’s a recipe for worse policy, higher food costs, and more public confusion. www.agri-pulse.com/articles/244...

agri-pulse.com

Opinion: Casey Means’ food agenda is an empty promise

Emily Bass, director of federal policy for food and agriculture at the Breakthrough Institute, says Casey Means, President Donald Trump's pick for surgeon general, has a vision for food and ag policy ...

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Reposted by Dan Blaustein-Rejto

Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Important new @worldresources.bsky.social research shows that agricultural expansion isn’t only leading to forest loss - it’s leading to loss of grasslands, savannas, & wetlands too. From 2005-20, the 🌎 lost 95 Mha of non-forest natural ecosystems to annual crops, and another 95 Mha to pasture. 1/

wri.org

Agriculture Is Taking Over Grasslands, Wetlands and Other Overlooked Ecosystems

A new study reveals that agriculture is rapidly replacing ecosystems like grasslands, wetlands and savannas, which are often ignored in sustainability policies.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

The Surgeon General nominee may be concerned, but you shouldn't be. Glyphosate isn't faultless, but its one of the most studied pesticides and deemed not to pose a health concern by regulators in the US, Europe, Canada and other countries.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

USDA approved most biotechnology crops 2x faster last year than before, even though a court ruling in favor of anti-GMO groups had forced the agency to change its regulations, shows this new analysis from @TheBTI. thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

The Supreme Court is considering whether to take up a case on glyphosate. They should. Otherwise, the growing state patchwork of pesticide labeling laws could force glyphosate or other pesticides off the market, costing farmers over $1 billion. thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-...

thebreakthrough.org

The Clock Is Ticking for Glyphosate

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

No. Grass-fed beef actually has a larger carbon footprint than conventional beef. Not only do grass-fed cattle emit more methane, but they also use more land, which has a big climate cost. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

A Poland- or Germany-sized area of land is used to produce biofuels already. Despite the push for electric vehicles, biofuel use is only growing larger. That's a big problem since biofuels are often worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

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Dan Blaustein-Rejto @danbr.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Today, we tell the infuriating story of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a program that was supposed to decarbonize transportation but ended up forcing CA drivers to pay 18 billion dollars for biofuels that are worse for the climate than fossil fuels. My coauthor Lauren's excellent X thread:

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