U.N: Small-Scale Farming Could Double the World’s Food Production
SlashFood by Clare Leschin-Hoar The United Nations released a whopper of a report today. In the midst of soaring global food and oil prices, the agency let loose a public stunner: World hunger and climate change cannot be solved with industrial farming. So much for seed-giant Pioneer Hi-Bred’s “We Feed The World” slogan. Yowch. The […]
Proposed Budget Cuts Make Organic Farmers Wary
Santa Cruz Sentinel By JENNIFER PITTMAN WATSONVILLE — For Jennifer Robinson, the new owner of a seven-acre pinot noir vineyard in Watsonville, federal budget proposals to make steep cuts to conservation efforts and organic agriculture would have a direct impact on her dreams to transition eventually to an organic farm. “I have lots of reactions […]
Cancer Rise and Sperm Quality Fall ‘Due To Chemicals’
BBC News Sperm quality significantly deteriorated and testicular cancers increased over recent years, a Finnish study says. The study in the International Journal of Andrology looked at men born between 1979 and 1987. The University of Turku research suggests environmental reasons, particularly exposure to industrial chemicals, may be behind both trends.
Today’s Food System: All Drugged Up
Huffington Post By Laurie David [It’s worth noting that antibiotics are prohibited in the production of organic food.] The next time you’re feeling sick, think twice before going to your doctor for answers. Look down at your plate, instead. Hidden in your hamburger or smoked ham may be something you didn’t want or expect on […]
I’d Really Like to Know If I am Eating GMO
Tony T. Azevedo, WODPA President If you are interested in eating, you should know what you are putting in your mouth. The “powers that be” finally won their battle in Washington DC allowing Round Up Ready alfalfa seed to be used. What is Round Up Ready? Round Up Ready is a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) […]
USDA Approved Monsanto Alfalfa Despite Warnings of New Pathogen Discovered in Genetically Engineered Crops
Truthout by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report Just two weeks before the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) fully deregulated Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa, a senior soil scientist alerted the department about a newly discovered, microscopic pathogen found in high concentrations of Roundup Ready corn and soy that researchers […]
Vermont’s Raw Dairy Farmers Are Doing a Booming Business, and We Don’t Even Know Half the Story
The Complete Patient David Gumpert It’s kind of amazing, when you think about it, that we’re still debating–as Milky Way and Ken Conrad were, following my previous post–whether milk comes through a cow’s udder sterile or having picked up certain beneficial bacteria. Our government and public health research establishment are so committed to eliminating raw […]
Corporate Propaganda: Crossing the Line to Outright Lies
Dean Foods’ organic label, Horizon, claims that “the USDA has not banned the use of plant-based DHA.” However, according to federal law, any ingredient or additive that is not produced according to organic standards must be formally petitioned, reviewed and accepted before it can be added to organic foods. The federal organic standards provide a […]
California’s Food System. Where Is It Headed?
Roots of Change Michael Dimock Roots of Change (ROC) president, Michael Dimock, had the pleasure to interview one of the leading figures in the food movement, Michael Pollan. Pollan is the author of several well-known books such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. He has […]
Texas Landowners Stuck on Wrong Side of Border Fence
In and around Brownsville, Rio Grande farm and pastureland — even some homes — end up on the ‘Mexican’ side of the Homeland Security Department’s border barrier. LA Times By Richard Marosi Reporting from Brownsville, Texas — The Rio Grande once ran wide and deep behind the four-room house that Pamela Taylor and her husband […]
Organic Hero Passes
I received a phone call this morning from Bill Welsh’s son Mike letting me know that he passed away last night. Bill, from Lansing, Iowa, was a pioneer in the organic farming and livestock in the Midwest. He certified his family’s Lansing, Iowa, farm organic back in 1980. The operation was the classic organic diversified […]
EU to Vote on Admitting GM Food
Wall Street Journal By Caroline Henshaw LONDON—After years of political wrangling by European Union policy makers, rising food prices may be putting genetically modified, or GM, food on the menu. Officials are set to vote Tuesday on whether to allow trace amounts of unauthorized GM material in animal-feed imports, a move campaigners say could herald […]
