A Chance on Organic

AgWeb By: Top Producer Editors In an about-face, Tracy Doonan took his conventional Illinois grain farm off of chemicals and fertilizers and now grows organic wheat for a local distillery. Nearly a decade ago, Tracy Doonan of Reynolds, Ill., was faced with a tough decision. Without a successor to take over the family farm, Doonan […]

USDA Partially Deregulating Biotech Sugar Beets

Reuters By Carey Gillam and Chuck Abbott KANSAS CITY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. agricultural regulators on Friday said despite a court ban, they would allow commercial planting of genetically modified sugar beets under closely controlled conditions while they complete a full environmental impact statement. The move marks the second-such boost by the United States for contested […]

USDA Asked to Decide: Does Organic Mean Outdoor?

Bloomberg.com CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — When the doors to the hen house open, the 14,000 chickens on Edwin Blosser’s organic egg farm make a mad dash for the pasture outside, where they can scratch and peck in the dirt. “It’s just like an ocean of birds going out the doors — zoom!” Blosser said. Greg […]

85 Groups to USDA: Make a Rule to Prohibit Meatpackers from Leveraging Captive Supply Livestock to Lower the Price-Discovery Market

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America – “Fighting for the U.S. Cattle Producer” Contact: R-CALF USA Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson-Chambers Washington, D.C. – Today, R-CALF USA, along with 84 other organizations, sent formal correspondence to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to request that the agency take additional steps beyond the GIPSA (Grain Inspection, Packers Stockyards Administration) rule […]

OCA and Their Indictment of Stonyfield, Whole Foods and Organic Valley: Did “Organic Elites” Sell out to Monsanto and the USDA?

The following is what we have said in response to many e-mail inquiries and questions we have received from Cornucopia members, food cooperatives and others in the organic community: Hello, The three companies in question decided to split with most of the organizations in the organic community, like Cornucopia, that recommended not approving genetically engineered […]

Stop Genetically Engineered Alfalfa!

[This Action Alert is Over] Despite the risks, the USDA has now made it clear that they are not interested in regulating Monsanto’s GE Alfalfa. They approved it January 27th for planting this spring by farmers with no restrictions. Tell President Obama that you don’t want organic and conventional agriculture contaminated by GE Alfalfa, and […]

BREAKING NEWS: USDA to Fully Deregulate Monsanto’s Genetically Engineer Alfalfa — Gene Contamination of Feed, Milk, Meat and Other Products to Follow…

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this afternoon that the agency will fully deregulate Monsanto’s controversial genetically engineered alfalfa. The choice was favored by the biotech industry and one of three options identified in the USDA’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) released last month. USDA could have maintained regulatory status over the perennial crop that is […]

GOP Farm Cuts Target Organic, Avoids Big Ag Subsidies

The Des Moines Register by Philip Brasher The grain and cotton growers that dominate U.S. farm subsidies came out unscathed in the first proposal from some of the most conservative House Republicans to cut spending. Instead, the Republican Study Committee targeted spending for organic farmers, sugar growers and an export promotion program that is popular […]

Deadly Superbugs Are Spread Miles From Farms By House Flies

MailOnline By David Derbyshire Potentially deadly superbugs can be spread by flies from farms to people living miles away, scientists warned last night. Researchers have found disturbing evidence that houseflies and cockroaches carry antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria normally found in the guts of livestock. In tests, the same strains living in the intestines of pigs […]

5 Years After Katrina, Teacher Tills Soil of Lower 9th Ward

The New York Times By CHARLES WILSON NEW ORLEANS — For an embattled former New York public school teacher and six young African-American men, a wrecked grocery store here has become a place of second chances. Five years after the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward remains largely a […]

Movement Brings N.H. Investors to Small-Scale Food Enterprises

New Hampshire Business Review (link no longer available) By Kathleen Callahan A new investment model that steers loans to small-scale, local food enterprises is gaining traction in New Hampshire, encouraging Granite State investors to essentially put their money where their mouths are. The movement is called Slow Money, and it’s an outgrowth of the Slow Food […]

The Monsanto Rag

From one of the centers of organics in the United States, the Kickapoo River Valley of Southwest Wisconsin, comes a catchy little musical indictment of Monsanto. After listening please visit the Action Alerts section and then send president Obama a message saying we don’t want Monsanto’s genetics to contaminate organic all the organic alfalfa in […]