St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Tim Logan

CHICAGO • In one of the biggest corporate expansions the St. Louis region has seen in years, Monsanto said Tuesday that it would add 675 jobs and invest more than $400 million at its research facility in Chesterfield.

The plant science giant will add laboratories, greenhouses and plant growth chambers over the next three years at its Chesterfield Village Research Center, and plans to hire hundreds of scientists to help it develop new plant and seed technologies.

“This is a tremendous investment in the future of agricultural research and development in the state we proudly call home,” said Jerry Steiner, Monsanto’s executive vice president for sustainability and corporate affairs. “This gives our researchers what they need to get farmers the tools they need so that we all — 9 billion of us in a few decades — will be able to get the food we need.”

The company plans to add 400,000 square feet of lab space, greenhouses and high-tech plant growth chambers at the research center, which it originally built in 1984 and reacquired from Pfizer in 2010. Construction is scheduled to begin in August. Read Full Article »

Permaculture can help farmers produce more food using fewer resources through agroecology – a farming approach that mimics natural ecosystems

The Guardian
By Abigail Conrad

Small-scale farmers produce food for 70% of the global population. Yet, they are some of the world’s poorest and most food insecure people. Alternatives to conventional farming should be embraced to improve subsistence farmers’ yields and to ensure adequate food production for the growing global population. The stark reality, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, is that the world needs to produce more food with fewer resources.

Image courtesy of Kessner Photography

Agroecology, a farming approach that mimics natural ecosystems, is an alternative method that can produce more food using fewer resources. Small-scale farmers in Africa have used agroecology to more than double crop yields within 3 to 10 years of implementation, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food. Farmers also use agroecology to improve soil fertility, adapt to climate change, and reduce farming input costs.

In contrast, conventional farming is characterised by monocropping, green revolution technologies, and synthetic fertiliser. It is resource intensive in terms of capital, land, water, and fossil fuel use. Conventional farming threatens future food production by reducing biodiversity, and contributing to environmental degradation and climate change which lower yields. Read Full Article »

Public comments on the FDA’s proposed approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon close on Friday, April 26. If you have yet to comment on this highly controversial issue, please send in your thoughts to the FDA.

GE salmon have been altered to produce growth hormones at all times, allowing the fish to grow faster and bigger than natural salmon. The FDA has not conducted any safety testing, and merely assumes that the genetically engineered salmon is safe to eat.

The FDA has also not considered the potential ecological and economic impacts of approving genetically engineered salmon. Salmon are an integral part of the ecosystem, and the accidental escape of genetically engineered salmon could devastate populations of native salmon, as well as the fish and marine mammals that depend on salmon for their food. Scientists have predicted that escaped GE salmon would likely wipe out wild salmon populations, which will destroy the livelihood of coastal communities that depend on fishing.

Go to our GE Salmon action alert for instructions on how to comment and a sample letter. Please note that the government comment site may time out or freeze up. If you get an error message, the form will not submit; or you are re-routed to another page, please just try again. Read Full Article »

A new census found this winter’s population of North American monarch butterflies in Mexico was at the lowest level ever measured. Insect ecologist Orley Taylor talks to Yale Environment 360 about how the planting of genetically modified crops and the resulting use of herbicides has contributed to the monarchs’ decline.

The Guardian
Richard Conniff for Yale Environment 360

Image courtesy of Thomas Bresson

University of Kansas insect ecologist Orley R. “Chip” Taylor has been observing the fragile populations of monarch butterflies for decades, but he says he has never been more concerned about their future.

Monarchs are beloved for their spectacular migration across Canada and the United States to overwintering sites in central Mexico — and back again. But a new census taken at the monarchs’ wintering grounds found their population had declined 59 percent over the previous year and was at the lowest level ever measured.

In an interview with Yale Environment 360 contributor Richard Conniff, Taylor — founder and director of Monarch Watch, a conservation and outreach program — talked about the factors that have led to the sharp drop in the monarch population. Among them, Taylor said, is the increased planting of genetically modified corn in the U.S. Midwest, which has led to greater use of herbicides, which in turn kills the milkweed that is a prime food source for the butterflies.

“What we’re seeing here in the United States,” he said, “is a very precipitous decline of monarchs that’s coincident with the adoption of Roundup-ready corn and soybeans.” Read Full Article »

Abbott Laboratories Shareholders Set To Vote on Non-GMO Policy

Cornucopia, WI – Shareholders of Abbott Laboratories will vote on whether the manufacturer of Similac, a leading brand of infant formula, should adopt a policy of sourcing ingredients that have not been genetically engineered.

The vast majority of corn and soy-based ingredients in processed foods in the United States, including infant formula, come from genetically engineered crops developed by Monsanto and other biotechnology companies.  Dairy ingredients may come from dairy cows that were treated with genetically engineered bovine growth hormones.

The annual meeting, open to all owners of Abbott stock, takes place at Abbott Laboratories’ headquarters in Abbott Park, IL on April 26.

The Cornucopia Institute, a farm and food policy research group, joined As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group that filed the resolution, in calling on Abbott Laboratories shareholders to vote yes on the resolution.  Cornucopia recently launched a social media campaign, on Facebook and Twitter, and a petition drive.

“Based on the body of existing research, nobody should be eating GMO foods, especially not babies,” says Charlotte Vallaeys, Policy Director at Cornucopia.

“Until infant formula makers stop using GMO ingredients, hundreds of thousands of newborns, infants and toddlers are unwitting participants in this huge, uncontrolled experiment with the health of the next generation.  It’s time for formula makers to stop experimenting with the health of babies who consume their products,” she added. Read Full Article »