Berks Cows Find Grass Really is Greener

Dairy farmer, partnering with Rodale, is transitioning his herd to an organic operation. THE MORNING CALL By Arlene Martínez James Burkholder’s dairy cows had never spent much time outside, shuffling mostly from the barn to the milking parlor in the morning, and then repeating the short trip at night. Their food was brought to them, […]

Young Organic Farmer Fighting Rebuke of Chatham Twp. Law

Green Village neighbors polarized on right of family to grow, sell local produce Daily Record by Aaron Morrison CHATHAM TWP. — Twenty-four-year-old organic farmer Mike Bucuk isn’t tending the overgrown arugula at his family’s three-acre Green Village home. Bucuk and his parents, Tom and Debbie, planted a vegetable garden with hopes to sell its bounty […]

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION EMBRACES GE CROPS ON WILDLIFE REFUGES — Plans Issued to Green-Light Genetically Engineered Agriculture on Scores of Refuges

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility February 14, 2011 – Washington, DC — The Obama administration has endorsed genetically engineered agriculture on more than 50 National Wildlife Refuges, with more GE-refuge approvals in the works, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The new plan is designed to insulate refuges from environmental court challenges in […]

Guatemala Pays High Price for Global Food System Failings

Despite being a leading agroexporter, half the country’s population of 14 million live in extreme poverty Guardian.co.uk by Felicity Lawrence Domingo Tamupsis works as a harvester on a Guatemalan sugar plantation for a firm that exports bioethanol to fill the fuel tanks of cars in the US. He works 10 to 12 hours a day, […]

Organic Farming More Popular In Ore., NW Schools

Organic Food News Today By STEVE BROWN, The Associated Press SALEM, Ore. – Organic studies haven’t traditionally been offered at land-grant universities, but these aren’t conventional ag students. Aspiring farmers arriving on campus these days may come from big cities in addition to rural areas, and some are as interested in organic and small-scale agriculture […]

Family Farmers Amplify Legal Complaint Against Monsanto’s GMOs

Biotechnology Giant Fails to Provide Binding Legal Protection; Farmers Threatened by Contamination from Genetically Modified Organisms NEW YORK: New threats by Monsanto have led to the filing of an amended complaint by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) in its suit on behalf of family farmers, seed businesses, and organic agricultural organizations challenging Monsanto’s patents on […]

Putting Dairy Cows Out to Pasture: An Environmental Plus

USDA, Agricultural Research Service Every year, a hefty dairy cow tucked away in a snug barn produces more than 20,000 pounds of milk, along with an impressive amount of manure and an array of gases. New modeling work by an Agricultural Research Service team in University Park, Pennsylvania, suggests that a dairy cow living year-round […]

Cans Bring BPA to Dinner, FDA Confirms

The vast majority of tested U.S. canned goods were tainted Science News By Janet Raloff Federal chemists have confirmed what everyone had expected: that if a bisphenol-A-based resin is used to line most food cans, there’s a high likelihood the contents of those cans will contain at least traces of BPA. A hormone-mimicking compound, BPA […]

Second Vermont Town Passes Food Sovereignty Measure

Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty (link not available) Quietly slipping under the radar last week the Town of Barre was the second municipality in the state to pass a measure supporting food sovereignty. The first was Barre City on March 4, 2011. In both towns food sovereignty was expressed as the “right to save seed, grow, […]

Cash Crops Under Glass and Up on the Roof

The New York Times Guy Calaf When Lufa Farms began selling produce to customers in Montreal in late April, it signaled what could be the beginning of a tantalizing new era in the gastronomic fortunes of that Canadian metropolis. In all but the short summer season, the availability of fresh, locally grown fruit and vegetables […]

The Changing of the Guard at Cornucopia

Economic Justice Watchdog in Agriculture Announces New Leadership CORNUCOPIA, WIS: The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group dedicated to promoting economic justice in the Good Food Movement, recently announced the appointment of several nationally prominent leaders to their Board of Directors and Policy Advisory Panel. “From the beginning, Cornucopia has endeavored to build a […]

Meat Glue Turns Scraps into Prime Cuts of Meat

International Business Times by Kelsey Murray When I go to the grocery store and buy steak, I assume that what I’m buying is a prime cut piece of meat. However, a new report shows that consumers are being misled about the quality of their meats and even lied to about what it is that they […]