Dean Foods’ organic label, Horizon, claims that “the USDA has not banned the use of plant-based DHA.”  However, according to federal law, any ingredient or additive that is not produced according to organic standards must be formally petitioned, reviewed and accepted before it can be added to organic foods.

The federal organic standards provide a list of non-organic ingredients and additives that have been approved for use in organic foods, and the algal DHA oil used in Horizon’s milk does not appear on this list. Read Full Article »

Posted in Opinion/Editorial

Roots of Change
Michael Dimock

Roots of Change (ROC) president, Michael Dimock, had the pleasure to interview one of the leading figures in the food movement, Michael Pollan. Pollan is the author of several well-known books such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. He has changed the way Americans view their food and has promoted local food systems throughout the country. During this interview he discussed his thoughts on the future of California’s food system and ROC’s policy proposal, the California Healthy Food & Agriculture Platform. Listen to the interview here.

Posted in Media/News

In and around Brownsville, Rio Grande farm and pastureland — even some homes — end up on the ‘Mexican’ side of the Homeland Security Department’s border barrier.

LA Times
By Richard Marosi

Reporting from Brownsville, Texas — The Rio Grande once ran wide and deep behind the four-room house that Pamela Taylor and her husband hammered together more than half a century ago. Migrant workers had to take a ferry upriver to get across from Mexico, and a flood once inundated the family’s citrus groves.

Over time, the waters receded, the river narrowed and Mexico got closer. Thieves led by a one-legged man stole Taylor’s horses from the barn and beans off the stove. Drug smugglers hid marijuana in her bushes. Migrant workers would camp in her front yard and bring her fresh tortillas in the morning.

The once-swift river now could be crossed with little more than a leaky inner tube. Still, there was some comfort in knowing that, on the map anyway, the Rio Grande marked the international boundary. Nowadays, Taylor isn’t so sure. Read Full Article »

Posted in Media/News

I received a phone call this morning from Bill Welsh’s son Mike letting me know that he passed away last night.

Bill, from Lansing, Iowa, was a pioneer in the organic farming and livestock in the Midwest. He certified his family’s Lansing, Iowa, farm organic back in 1980. The operation was the classic organic diversified stock farm, consisting of beef, pork, poultry, and crops. His grandson, 24 year-old Clinton Welsh, is now the third generation of Welshes to work their family farm organically. Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News

Nation’s Largest Corporate Dairy Violates USDA Ruling, Acts as if it’s above the Law

CORNUCOPIA, Wis.   A prominent organic industry watchdog filed a formal legal complaint today alleging that a newly introduced product, by the giant dairy conglomerate Dean Foods, includes a synthetic nutritional oil that is prohibited in organics.  The product, Horizon Fat-Free Milk Plus DHA Omega-3, bears the USDA organic seal despite a ruling in 2010 by the USDA that the proprietary DHA oil, an ingredient derived from algae, is not legal in organic production.

“This is a willful and flagrant violation of the law governing organic foods,” states Mark A. Kastel, Codirector of the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group.

Federal law strictly prohibits synthetic additives in organic foods unless the additive appears on the USDA’s National Organic Program’s list of allowed substances.  Ingredients are included on this list only after careful review and approval by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an expert advisory panel, and the Secretary of Agriculture. Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News