BDN Maine Business By Lori Valigra, Mainebiz SPRINGVALE, Maine — A new type of clean room, complete with employees wearing protective bunny suits, is situated amid the rolling hills and farms of Springvale, in York County. But instead of manufacturing semiconductors or other electronic devices, a startup company called Farming Fungi LLC is growing organic,… Read more »
Challenge of Monsanto’s Patent Rights Heading to Appeal in January
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. will hear the family farmers’ Appeal of Dismissal in Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto at 10am on Thursday, January 10, 2013. The landmark organic community lawsuit was originally filed in Federal District Court in March 2011. [The Cornucopia Institute is… Read more »
Op-Ed: New Mexico Next in Line to Try for GMO Labeling
Digital Journal By Anne Sewell Santa Fe – While California’s Proposition 37 ballot initiative to label GMO products seems to have failed, a State Senator in New Mexico is next to take the baton in the fight for labeling of genetically modified food products. As was seen with Proposition 37, with Monsanto and Big Pesticide’s… Read more »
Growing Organic Potatoes is More Work But Has More Worth
Merced Sun Star (CA) By Joshua Emerson Smith When Antonio Vieira Thomas proposed to sell his sweet potato business in 1977 to his nephew Manuel, it was a modest operation in downtown Livingston. Manuel Vieira, now 67, remembers driving a tractor on his uncle’s farm, which had one building and one packing line. “I was… Read more »
A Cornucopia of News: The Anti-Organic Straw Man, Pesticides and Food Allergies, More Irradiation …
The Anti-Organic Straw Man If you’ve been eating organic foods to increase your daily intake of zinc and copper, two common nutrients found in a variety of foods, we’ve got news for you. A recent study from Denmark compared organic and conventional diets and found no difference in zinc and copper absorption. Why are we… Read more »
Five Importing Nations Ban Beef from Brazil Over Mad Cow
Food Safety News Five counties – not including the United States — have now banned Brazilian beef entirely as a precaution after the country’s handling of an incident of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in 2010. Japan, China, South Africa, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have blocked beef from Brazil because of the BSE, or Mad… Read more »
13 Resolutions to Change the Food System in 2013
Huffington Post by Danielle Nierenberg As we start 2013, many people will be thinking about plans and promises to improve their diets and health. We think a broader collection of farmers, policy-makers, and eaters need new, bigger resolutions for fixing the food system — real changes with long-term impacts in fields, boardrooms, and on plates… Read more »
FDA: Genetically Engineered Fish Would Not Harm Nature
USA Today WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators say a genetically engineered salmon that grows twice as fast as normal is unlikely to harm the environment, clearing the way for the first approval of a genetically engineered animal for human consumption. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its environmental assessment of the AquaAdvantage… Read more »
The Battlefront in the Front Yard
New York Times By Steven Kurutz JASON HELVENSTON was at work on his second crop, spreading compost to fertilize the carrots, bok choy, kale and dozens of other vegetables he grows organically on his property in Orlando, Fla., when the trouble began. Mr. Helvenston spent last Super Bowl Sunday planting the garden outside his 1940s… Read more »
After Years of Livestock Industry Wrangling USDA Issues Final “Animal ID Rule”
Comments by Grassroots Farm and Consumer Groups Made an Impact Organizations representing family farmers, ranchers, and consumers from across the country express cautious optimism about the impact of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) announcement today of its final Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) rule. The rule was publicly released by the USDA on December 20. More… Read more »
