Environmental Working Group – Agriculture
Posted by Kari Hamerschlag

For too long, funding provided by the United States’ most far-reaching food and farm legislation has primarily benefited agri-business and large scale industrial-scale commodity farms that aren’t growing food. Instead, they’re growing ingredients for animal feed, fuel and highly processed food — at a high cost to our nation’s health, environment and rural communities.

Meanwhile, only meager public resources have been invested smartly to build the kind of dynamic local food economies that support agricultural diversification and help link small- and mid-sized family farms to local and regional markets.

With the 2012 Farm Bill fast upon us, Congress has an opportunity to make smart, timely changes to help fix our broken food and farm system Read Full Article »

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Jay Feldman

“First do no harm,” a concept central to medical ethics, is important in an age when indicators of agricultural pesticide (including herbicide) pollution represent a serious threat to environmental sustainability.

It’s an unnecessary threat given the productivity, profitability, and environmental and health benefits of organic agriculture.

The return on pesticide-intensive agricultural practices has proved unrealized, considering billions of dollars in secondary or externalized costs Read Full Article »

Watchdog Requests Federal Investigation, Files Ethics Charges

WASHINGTON, DC: The Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry research and watchdog organization, announced it has formally requested the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate corruption at its National Organic Program resulting in the use of illegal synthetics in organic food and then allowing powerful corporations to “game the system” for approval “after the fact.”

The controversy surrounds products developed by Martek Biosciences Corporation. Martek, part of a $12 billion Dutch-based conglomerate, recently petitioned for approval of its genetically modified soil fungus and algae as nutritional supplements in organic food.

Martek’s formulated oils are processed with synthetic petrochemical solvents in a blend containing a myriad of other synthetic chemicals. Supplements derived from these oils, commonly marketed as DHA and ARA, are being added to milk, infant formula and other organic foods by such companies as Dean Foods (Horizon), Abbott Laboratories (Similac) and Nurture, Inc. (Happy Baby). Read Full Article »

Germany has banned the cultivation of GM corn, claiming that MON 810 is dangerous for the environment. But that argument might not stand up in court and Berlin could face fines totalling millions of euros if American multinational Monsanto decides to challenge the prohibition on its seed.

SPIEGEL ONLINE International

The sowing season may be just around the corner, but this year German farmers will not be planting gentically modified crops: German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced Tuesday she was banning the cultivation of GM corn in Germany.

Under the new regulations, the cultivation of MON 810, a GM corn produced by the American biotech giant Monsanto, will be prohibited in Germany, as will the sale of its seed. Aigner told reporters Tuesday she had legitimate reasons to believe that MON 810 posed “a danger to the environment,” a position which she said the Environment Ministry also supported. In taking the step, Aigner is taking advantage of a clause in EU law which allows individual countries to impose such bans. Read Full Article »

National Public Radio
by Grace Hood

Grocery stores are finding it harder to keep organic milk in stock these days. The tight supply is a result of organic dairy farmers’ costs rising while the price they receive for their product remains the same. These economic conditions offer few incentives to dairymen considering entering the organic business.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Sales of organic milk were up 15 percent last year over 2010. Apparently people like the taste and perceived health benefits from milk that comes from cows free of artificial hormones and that are not fed grains exposed to pesticides. Still, your next carton may be more expensive – and in some areas harder to find. Read Full Article »