Rain and flooding from Hurricane Irene devastated a number of farms in the Northeast. One farm couple, near Cuttingsville, VT, saw the Mill River change course and run through the middle of their vegetable farm, permanently changing the land. Ryan Wood-Beauchamp and Kara Fitzgerald not only lost their crops for the season, but also lost their greenhouse and infrastructure implements, their land, and above all their current livelihood.

Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News

Contact:

Judith McGeary, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, 512-484-8821
Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA, 406-252-2516
Gilles Stockton, Western Organization of Resource Councils, 406-366-4463
Mark Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute, 608-625-2042

Farmers and Ranchers Appeal to Vilsack for Adequate Time to Respond

Austin, TX:  Forty-nine advocacy groups representing the interests of family farmers, ranchers, and consumers have formally requested that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack extend the public comment period for a controversial new proposal that would require livestock producers in the U.S. to incur significant expense tracking animals that cross state lines.  The comment period on the proposed, “Traceability for Livestock Moving Interstate,” is scheduled to end on November 9, and the organizations have requested an additional 60 days.

“The period for public comment coincides with the fall harvest and comes during the worst drought ever recorded in some major livestock production regions,” said Judith McGeary, Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and vice-chair of the USDA Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health.  “Our farmers and ranchers are struggling to get their crops in and save their animals, and they need more time to assess the impacts of the proposed rule.”

The groups’ letter to Secretary Vilsack pointed out that many farmers and ranchers are not online, slowing the speed of communication.  “According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, more than 40% of farms do not have internet access,” they noted in the letter. Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News

Consumers and Independent Producers Lose if Big Ag Wins on Animal Tracking

For more information, contact:

Judith McGeary, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, 512-484-8821
Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA, 406-252-2516
Patty Lovera, Food & Water Watch, 202-683-2465
Gilles Stockton, Western Organization of Resource Councils, 406-366-4463
Mark Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute, 608-778-2038

WASHINGTON, DC:  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released a new proposed rule for mandatory animal traceability.  While USDA already has traceability requirements as part of existing animal disease control programs, the proposed rule goes much further to require animal tagging and tracing without specific disease threats.  The rule has raised significant concerns among family farm and ranch advocates, who accuse the agency of failing to provide a coherent, factual explanation of the program’s necessity.

“USDA brags about the success of past programs, but has abandoned the principles that made them successful,” argued Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA.  “Past programs were based on sound science and were developed in response to the transmission, treatment, and elimination of specific identified diseases.  USDA’s new approach is a one-size-fits-all approach that does not specifically aim at the control of livestock diseases.” Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News

Organic Industry Watchdog Says “System Working as Designed, Albeit Too Slowly”

CORNUCOPIA, WI – After two years of speculation by U.S. and Canadian organic farmers, facing below-cost competition eroding sustainable pricing, and even forcing some out of business, an announcement last week, by the Canadian government authority overseeing organics, has finally offered an explanation.

Jirah Milling and Sales, based in Quebec, Canada, has had their organic certification suspended by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The company, annually selling thousands of metric tonnes of organic feed soybeans and grains in U.S. markets, had been under scrutiny for some time. Organic soybean growers, and other crop producers, on both sides of the border had been questioning how Jirah could apparently sell organic beans significantly below what they knew to be the cost of production. Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News

One of the Largest Scandals in the Organic Industry’s History is Over

We are proud of The Cornucopia Institute’s role in bringing this scofflaw to justice.  For years, many in the industry suspected Promiseland Livestock was “laundering” conventional animals as organic (replacement heifers mostly going to giant factory dairy farms and beef cattle).

Cornucopia’s formal complaint, concerning illegal conventional cattle being transferred to the giant Aurora Dairy complex in Platteville, Colorado, eventually led to the downfall of Promiseland (USDA investigators later found Aurora had “willfully” violated 14 tenets of the organic regulations).

Just like Al Capone was not convicted of murder or racketeering, but rather of tax evasion, Promiseland was brought down by their unwillingness to share records with investigators from the USDA, as required by law, that would’ve proven the organic origin of their cattle.

It is sinful that this operation has, literally, been able to operate for years while going through this appeals process.  Organic farmers do need the right to due process, Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News