NEWS RELEASE from the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA)

They require at least a 40¢ a gallon increase in their milk price to stay in business

A remarkable turn-around in demand for organic dairy products in 2011 has resulted in shortages on supermarket shelves, but organic dairy family farmers find themselves not being able to increase production because they can’t pay their bills. Sales of organic milk and packaged dairy product are at an all-time high and there is more organic milk being produced by family farms than ever before, but organic dairy farmers are leaving the industry because they are not being paid enough to cover the increased cost of feed, fuel and family expenses. Farmers require a fair share of the retail dollar. Currently, retailers and farmers receive the same amount for each ½ gallon of organic milk sold.

“For the last year we have been telling the processors that we are losing money,” says Liz Bawden, NODPA President and New York organic dairy farmer, “Now the milk buyers need more milk and we can’t afford to buy the feed to increase production. Some dairy farmers are going out of business. We require at least a 40¢ a gallon increase to be able to pay our bills and stay in business.” Read Full Article »

Non-GMO Report
By Ken Roseboro

Hans Herren, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized scientist specializing in sustainable agriculture. He is president of the Millennium Institute, a non-profit development research and service organization dedicated to sustainable development. Dr. Herren co-chaired the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science & Technology (IAASTD), an initiative sponsored by the World Bank and United Nations in partnership with the World Health Organization that assessed global agriculture and recommended agroecological solutions to world hunger. Read Full Article »

Agent Orange Herbicide Ingredient Would be Widely Used

USDA seeks comments for Monsanto and Dow genetically engineered crops

Cornucopia, WI – Over the holidays, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its approval of a novel strain of genetically engineered corn, developed by Monsanto, purportedly being “drought tolerant.”

Despite receiving nearly 45,000 public comments in opposition to this particular genetically engineered (GE) corn variety (and only 23 comments in favor), the Obama administration gave Monsanto the green light to release its newest  GE corn variety freely into the environment and American food supply, without any governmental oversight or safety tracking.

“President Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack just sent a clear message to the American public that they do not care about our concerns with genetically engineered food and their questionable safety, adverse environmental impacts, and detrimental effects on farmers, especially organic farmers,” says Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst with The Cornucopia Institute.

“This is just the latest in a string of approvals of genetically engineered crops, Read Full Article »

The New York Times
By Elisabeth Rosenthal (David Agren contributed reporting)

TODOS SANTOS, Mexico — Clamshell containers on supermarket shelves in the United States may depict verdant fields, tangles of vines and ruby red tomatoes. But at this time of year, the tomatoes, peppers and basil certified as organic by the Agriculture Department often hail from the Mexican desert, and are nurtured with intensive irrigation.

Growers here on the Baja Peninsula, the epicenter of Mexico’s thriving new organic export sector, describe their toil amid the cactuses as “planting the beach.”

Del Cabo Cooperative, a supplier here for Trader Joe’s and Fairway, is sending more than seven and a half tons of tomatoes and basil every day to the United States by truck and plane to sate the American demand for organic produce year-round.

But even as more Americans buy foods with the organic label, the products are increasingly removed from the traditional organic ideal: produce that is not only free of chemicals and pesticides but also grown locally on small farms in a way that protects the environment. Read Full Article »

Worth digesting: Educator teaches that food closest to nature is best

Texas Co-o Power Magazine
By Kevin Hargis

When is a blueberry not a blueberry? In some processed foods, the answer is: when it’s a glob of artificially flavored, sugar-laden food starch and oil.

A recent report by the nonprofit Consumer Wellness Center found that some food companies routinely depicted cereals, muffins and other products as containing blueberries when in reality, there were none present or there were just small amounts far down the ingredients label.

The practice is legal because the labels of ingredients show there is little to no actual fruit in the product. But how many of you read the labels on foods you buy? Read Full Article »