5@5: Washington to ban bottled water operations | Missouri farmer wins $265M in Monsanto lawsuit

Bottled water targeted in Washington state

Washington state lawmakers have passed a bill that seeks to block bottled water companies from obtaining new permits for using water from the state's natural resources. Proponents of the bill argue that bottled water is both an unnecessary product that contributes to the plastic waste crisis as well as harmful to the natural resources the water is extracted from. Read more at The Wall Street Journal…

5 key takeaways from peach farmer's dicamba lawsuit

In a landmark lawsuit last week Missouri's biggest peach farmer won a $265 million judgment against Bayer and Monsanto on the grounds of pesticide drift. It was revealed earlier this year that Monsanto anticipated drift-related complaints, and Bayer lied to farmers by telling them there would be no yield impacts from the drift of the pesticide in 2017. Read more at The Counter…

How ultra-processed food took over your shopping basket

Ultra-processed foods–those that are low in essential nutrients and high in sugar, oil and salt–are more ubiquitous than ever. But why? In part this is because they have an especially long shelf life and are considered microbiologically safe. But they're also commonly used in modern diets to replace fresh meals, are therefore being implicated in the rising obesity and heart disease epidemics. Read more at The Guardian…

Eating local is not the best way to reduce your food's carbon footprint

Locavores may be disappointed to learn that transportation emissions have been found to rank lower than what food is eaten and how it's manufactured in terms of carbon impact. Researchers also determined that consuming less meat is almost always better for the environment than eating sustainable meat from low-impact producers. Read more at Vox…

This startup is mining the botanical world for hidden 'supernutrients'

Biotech startup Brightseed is using AI to uncover a variety of "supernutrients" (read: micronutrients) found naturally in small quantities in plants that it can then harvest and add to food to improve human health. This AI is accelerating research that was once both slow and pricey, and the company is also studying how to grow plants in places and using methods that cause them to "best express those nutrients." Read more at Fast Company…