Hello Cornucopia members and organic stakeholders, Have you ever purchased “natural” Kashi breakfast cereal or Bear Naked granola? Did you know they were manufactured by Kellogg’s? Have you ever purchased Back to Nature granola (Kraft) or something “natural” from Quaker Oats (PepsiCo)? You won’t find the names of any of these major corporate agribusinesses on… Read more »
Farmers, Advocates Launch Raw Milk Institute
Food Safety News by Cookson Beecher The much-anticipated Raw Milk Institute has gone live. The brainchild of Mark McAfee, co-owner of Organic Pastures near Fresno, CA, the institute introduced its website — www.rawmilkinstitute.org — on Tuesday. Simply put, the goal of the institute is to use science-based food-safety principles to shore up a strong foundation… Read more »
NOFA Celebrates Four Decades of Organic Farming and Advocacy
Brattleboro Reformer – Brattleboro, VT By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN WESTMINSTER — About 40 years ago a group of farmers got together, high in a field in Westminster West, to pool their resources and buy some compost. The compost was made in Pennsylvania, by an Amish company that produced a chemical-free product known as “organic.” While the… Read more »
‘Brain Health’ My Foot, Milk Class Action Lawsuit Claims
Courthouse News Service SAN DIEGO (CN) – A $5 million class action disputes the link Dean Foods has tried to fasten between Horizon organic DHA-fortified milk and purported improvement to “brain health” in adults and children. The consumer complaint says that Dean and its subsidiary, Whitewave Foods, sell a line of four Horizon organic milk… Read more »
Rule Change Could Prompt Increase In Organic Hops
CBS News (link no longer available) (AP) TOPPENISH, Wash. — Call it a hops revolution. Northwest farmers have begun planting new varieties of the key flavor ingredient in beer and working with researchers to develop ways to grow the crop without pesticides. The movement stems from a federal decision last year requiring brewers who label their… Read more »
Market Watch: In Ojai, Hot Chiles and a Warm Story
The chair of Cornucopia’s board Steve Sprinkel is profiled in this story, along with his wife Olivia Chase. Los Angeles Times By David Karp Reporting from Ojai— Most native-born French recoil from chiles as if from snakes, but in the Basque country of the Pyrenees foothills, five miles from the Spanish border, the citizens of… Read more »
Monsanto Spent $1.7 Million Lobbying Gov’t in 2Q
CNBC WASHINGTON – Monsanto Co. spent $1.71 million in the second quarter to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure report. That’s much less than the $2.18 million Monsanto spent a year earlier but slightly more than the $1.44 million it spent during previous quarter. The world’s largest seed company lobbied Congress and the… Read more »
Study Debunks Myths on Organic Farms
The results are in from a 30-year side-by-side trial of conventional and organic farming methods at Pennsylvania’s Rodale Institute. Contrary to conventional wisdom, organic farming outperformed conventional farming in every measure. The 30 year trial: http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/fst30years
Resisting the Corporate Theft of Seeds
The Nation Vandana Shiva We are in a food emergency. Speculation and diversion of food to biofuel has contributed to an uncontrolled price rise, adding more to the billion already denied their right to food. Industrial agriculture is pushing species to extinction through the use of toxic chemicals that kill our bees and butterflies, our… Read more »
Report: Taxpayer Subsidies for Junk Food Wasting Billions
CALPIRG San Francisco, CA – federal subsidies for commodity crops are also subsidizing junk food additives like high fructose corn syrup, enough to pay for 19 Twinkies per taxpayer every year, according to Apples to Twinkies, a new report by CALPIRG. Meanwhile, limited subsidies for fresh fruits and vegetables would buy less than a quarter… Read more »
