On August 7, violence and threats in the remote northern Argentinian town of La Leonesa stopped community activists hearing a talk by a renowned scientist about his findings of the health impact of chemicals sprayed on rice and soya crops.

Amnesty International

On Saturday 7 August, community activists from La Leonesa, a small town located within an area of large scale rice production in the Argentinian Chaco Department, went to attend a talk that was to be given by Professor Andres Carrasco, a scientist and doctor from the Buenos Aires University Medical School.

A delegation of two provincial deputies, a former public official and members of the neighbouring community of Resistencia also came to La Leonesa to hear the talk. Professor Andres Carrasco’s research, concluded in 2009, highlighted the negative effects of glyphosate, a commonly-used agro-chemical, on embryos.

On arrival in La Leonesa at around 4pm, the delegation headed for the school where the talk was due to take place. However, the talk was suspended because the delegation was attacked by a group of around 100 people who threatened them and beat them. Read Full Article »

They have more antioxidants and vitamin C than their conventional counterparts, a study says. But they come up short by other measures — potassium and phosphorus, for example.

Los Angeles Times
By Karen Kaplan

Consumers who buy organic fruits and vegetables because they think they’re tastier, more nutritious and better for the environment are getting at least some of what they’re paying for, according to a study published online Wednesday.

The finding is based on a detailed comparison of organic and conventional strawberries from 13 pairs of neighboring farms in Watsonville, Calif., where 40% of the state’s strawberry crop is produced. A team of ecologists, food chemists, soil scientists and other experts analyzed a variety of factors before concluding that the organic berries — and the dirt they were raised in — were superior.

The organic strawberries had higher concentrations of antioxidants and vitamin C and survived longer without rotting. Read Full Article »

Three farmers say biotech wheat will destroy Japanese market

Capital Press
By Dan Wheat

WATERVILLE, Wash. — Feeling their 1,012 petition signatures to stop genetically modified wheat have been ignored, three Waterville wheat growers may start a new petition drive this winter seeking labeling of any foods containing such products sold in the U.S.

“At a minimum, we’d like to see labeling, but we really want Monsanto to stop developing GMO wheat,” said Tom Stahl, one of the three growers. Labeling would bring about the demise of biotech products because people increasingly don’t want them, he said.

The farmers are concerned that if biotech wheat gets started in north central Washington it could torpedo sales to Japan, the largest consumer of the region’s wheat. They’re also concerned about potential health risks of biotech products.

Japan is opposed to genetically modified wheat but has accepted some modified canola, Tom Mick, CEO of the Washington Grain Alliance in Spokane, has said. Read Full Article »

By Mark Kastel and Will Fantle

What isn’t being discussed in Congress, during the ongoing debate on the broken federal food safety system, is the root cause of the most serious pathogenic outbreaks in our food—the elephant (poop) in the room.

The relatively new phenomena of nationwide pathogenic outbreaks, be they from salmonella or E. coli variants, are intimately tied to the fecal contamination of our food supply and the intermingling of millions of unhealthy animals. It’s one of the best kept secrets in the modern livestock industry. Read Full Article »

Will Harris attempts to establish an African ecosystem at his Bluffton organic farm.

The Albany Herald
By Terry Lewis, staff writer

BLUFFTON, Ga. — Will Harris III is a fourth generation “cow man” … So what would his daddy think of what he’s doing on his 1,000-acre farm tucked into this bucolic corner of Early County?

“Oh, he’d have never let me do it,” Harris said, laughing.

What Harris is doing at White Oaks Pasture is spinning 134 years of family tradition on its ear by turning his back on the “Industrial Agricultural Establishment’s” traditional methods of cattle farming.

In 1995 Harris decided to base his farm on the “Serengeti Ecosystem Rotation Model” in which large ruminants are followed by small ruminants then birds to provide a circle of life in the ecologically rich grasslands of Africa. Read Full Article »