Des Moines Register
Blog post by Philip Brasher
Six Democratic senators and 50 House member are urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack not to approve the commercialization of Monsanto Co.’s genetically modified alfalfa. The Supreme Court this week cleared the way for Vilsack too permit the sale of the biotech seed again by lifting a judge’s nationwide ban on the crop. Read Full Article »
TriCities.com
By Mac McLean -Bristol Herald Courier
Saltville, VA. — About 250 head of cattle followed Will Clark as he drove an old white pickup truck across a 1,300-acre farm his family owns between Saltville and Hungry Mother State Park.
“I’m the fifth generation of Clark to be here,” he said before stepping out of his truck and rolling back an electrified fence so the bulk of his herd could get to a fresh patch of grass that after a month of growth towered up above his waist.
The country’s cattle-producing industry has changed a lot in the five generations that Clark and his family members have run Rich Valley Grazers, which raises cattle and hogs on land in Smyth and Washington counties.
The biggest change involves a switch from raising cattle on a pasture for their entire lives to raising cattle on a pasture for part of the animals’ lives and then taking them to a feedlot where they are fed a diet of corn and grains.
But many cattle farmers have returned to that traditional method, producing something known as grass-fed beef, as part of a push that started three years ago and is based on studies showing the meat is healthier and better for the environment. Read Full Article »
Report documents on-the-ground dangers of methyl iodide-type fumigant pesticides
SISQUOC, CA — Pesticide Action Network and local community members today released a new report documenting high levels of pesticide drift in the California community of Sisquoc. Poison Gases in the Field: Pesticides put California families in danger presents results of community air monitoring for fumigant pesticides in the central coast area of California, in Santa Barbara County.
Using a simple monitoring device called the Drift Catcher, community members measured levels of a fumigant pesticide above the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s “level of concern” – even when all application rules were followed and no equipment failure occurred.
“While we were monitoring the air, there were no violations of the County’s permit – and yet we found we were still breathing chloropicrin at high levels,” says Deby DeWeese, one of the community members who collected air samples. “Clearly the rules and regulations do not protect our families.” Read Full Article »
(The Cornucopia Institute was one of the plaintiffs in the alfalfa legal case brought by the Center for Food Safety. We are sharing the information below from the Center for Food Safety to provide a broader view of the Supreme Court decision on Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa seeds.)
Washington, DC – The Center for Food Safety today celebrated the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Monsanto v. Geerston Farms, the first genetically modified crop case ever brought before the Supreme Court. Although the High Court decision reverses parts of the lower courts’ rulings, the judgment holds that a vacatur bars the planting of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Alfalfa until and unless future deregulation occurs. Read Full Article »
Bloomburg Businessweek
By Greg Stohr
(Updates with reaction starting in eighth paragraph.)
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in favor of Monsanto Co., overturned a judge’s ban on the planting of alfalfa seeds engineered to be resistant to the company’s Roundup herbicide.
The 7-1 ruling shifts the focus of the environmental dispute to the Agriculture Department, which under today’s ruling now can allow limited planting. That would be an interim measure while the USDA finishes an environmental impact statement that ultimately might clear the way for unrestricted planting.
The justices said a federal judge in San Francisco went too far when he placed a nationwide ban on so-called Roundup-ready alfalfa seeds because of the possibility they would contaminate other alfalfa plants. Read Full Article »
