On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”
-Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

In the last years of his life King received criticism not just from the segregationists in the South but even from Democratic Party leaders in the North and black leaders in the civil rights movement. He had started talking about worker’s rights, a more equitable distribution of wealth, and how unjust the war in Southeast Asia was.

The most polite thing I can recall him being called by his enemies was “troublemaker.” Read Full Article »

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The Huffington Post Green
by Maria Rodale, CEO and Chairman of Rodale, Inc. and book author

I demand organic. It’s that simple. I know, you’re thinking, “Of course you demand organic. You wrote the Organic Manifesto and grew up on an organic farm.” True, but, even if I didn’t, I would demand organic and so should you. In lieu of giving you my big speech about how organics can feed the planet and make us safer, I will focus on one very good reason why I demand organic: GMOs. Genetically Modified Organisms, or, as the FDA says, foods that have undergone genetic modification, meaning they’ve been engineered and altered at the genetic level “using any technique, new or traditional.”

Choosing organic is the only way, right now, that I can make sure I am not feeding my family potentially dangerous biotech ingredients. And although the food manufacturers have done a tobacco-industry-worthy job of trying to convince us that GMOs are safe, the truth is that the science is starting to say otherwise. Read Full Article »

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Boston’s NPR – On Point
With Jane Clayson in for Tom Ashbrook
Aired 11:00am EST Monday, October 10, 2011

Farmer/philosopher Joel Salatin says get off your laptop, get in the dirt and live with it.

Joel Salatin is heralded as the high priest of the pasture. And for good reason. The Virginia farmer speaks the gospel of local, clean, and healthy eating. No pesticides. Uber-organic. Just a man and his earth—with as little government interference as possible. Devotees are eating it up.

Now, he’s out with a new clarion call for a nation of unhealthy eaters: Get off your laptop and get your hands dirty. Get close to the earth. Understand where your food and fuel comes from. Before it’s too late.

Listen to the full broadcast at http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/10/10/joel-salatin Read Full Article »

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Larkin Hoffman Attorneys
by Jennifer Singleton

Minnesota’s organic farmers may now have greater protection against neighboring farmers’ pesticide use. The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently held that when chemical pesticides drift from one farm to another, the resulting damage may provide a basis for claims of trespass, nuisance and negligence. The decision reverses the lower court’s determinations that Minnesota does not recognize trespass by particulate matter and that the damages necessary to sustain causes of action for negligence and nuisance cannot exist unless pesticide contamination exceeds the five percent limit established by National Organic Program (NOP) regulations. With organic farming becoming increasingly widespread and profitable, this decision may have far-reaching implications for those involved in Minnesota’s agriculture industry. Read Full Article »

Posted in Talking Points

Michael Hart, a conventional livestock family farmer, has been farming in Cornwall for nearly thirty years and has actively campaigned on behalf of family farmers for over fifteen years, travelling extensively in Europe, India, Canada and the USA.

In this short documentary he investigates the reality of farming genetically modified crops in the USA ten years after their introduction. He travels across the US interviewing farmers and other specialists about their experiences of growing GM. Read Full Article »

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