Facilitates Lobbyist Control Organic Regulations, Guts Conservation Programs, Expands Subsidies for Factory Farms, and Hurts Local Food and Beginning Farmers

UPDATE: Farm Bill voted down in the U.S. House of Representatives

• The House failed to pass a farm bill as some Republicans sought a vote on a separate immigration plan.
• Thirty House Republicans voted against the legislation, while all Democrats opposed it.
• Democrats objected to a provision that would require stricter work and job training requirements for food stamp recipients.

Thank you to everyone who made the effort to contact your Congressional representatives and defend the integrity of the collaborative organic governance process that is an integral part of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. Undoubtedly, we will all have to remain on-guard when legislation comes back up in the House and Senate. There will be a farm bill but this is usually a painful process.

Read the full story at The Washington Post.

On April 18, the House Ag Committee passed the 2018 “Farm Bill,” titled the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R.2) on a partisan 26-20 vote. The full House of Representatives will be voting on the 2018 Farm Bill as early as tomorrow (May 18).

Source: John Brighenti

There are many elements in the draft farm bill that are destructive in terms of environmental stewardship and undermine good governance and enforcement of the organic laws.

For organic agriculture the Bill refused to renew funding for programs that help family-scale farmers obtain organic certification, including the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program. Further, the federal crop insurance program favors factory farms, failing to address the needs of many producers including diversified and organic farmers, beginning farmers, and smaller-scale farm operations. Read Full Article »

Posted in Action Alerts

Sign the Proxy Asking Major Retailers to Offer Genuine Organic Choices 

We need the stores we shop at to quit trying to sell us fake organic food from inhumane livestock factories, masquerading as organic, or hydroponic vegetables fertilized with conventional soybeans and grown in ground up coconut waste … or even ground up recycled plastic!

Top retailers like Whole Foods Markets, Costco, Target, Safeway, Walmart, and Kroger must be convinced to provide choices in their grocery aisles for authentic, nutrient-dense organic food grown in rich, carefully stewarded soil.

If the nutrients are not in our soil, they are not in our food …. and they are not in our families! Factory farm meat, dairy and egg production, and fruits and vegetables grown without soil rich in humus result in inferior flavor and nutrition.

Increasingly, grocery aisles are filled with faux organics brought to consumers by corporations that are selling out the true meaning of organics.  Read Full Article »

Posted in Action Alerts

Sample images of chicken and distributor information

Cornucopia’s scorecard ratings help you choose the best food for your family while rewarding the most ethical organic producers.

We are starting investigative work to develop a new scorecard to rate brands of organic chicken and turkey, and we need your help!

In order to include all possible brands on the poultry scorecard, we need to know what brands of certified organic chicken and turkey are available at retail in your local grocery store or co-op.

Here’s how you can help: the next time you are food shopping, note the organic turkey or chicken brands available in your grocery store. Take a photo of the label or write down the following information:

1. The brand name
2. The organic certifier’s name
3. The processor or distributor’s name (if different than the brand name)
4. The name and location of the store

All of this should be available on the poultry package or on store signage.

NOTE: We are only collecting information on certified organic brands. Read Full Article »

Posted in Action Alerts

Help us determine where all the major brands are sourcing their milk by submitting your milk carton’s plant code.

You may have heard the buzz surrounding The Washington Post’s scathing investigative report Why Your ‘Organic’ Milk May Not Be Organic. Due to the exposure of the Aurora Dairy scandal, we’re sure you will agree that organic dairy is at a crossroads — help us identify the trustworthy brands!

National retailers or distributors, marketing “private label” brands (also called “store brands”), change their sourcing frequently or may have different suppliers for different regions of the country.

The plant code is circled above

We need information about store brand milk. You can help us shape transparency in the marketplace with your personal investigation. Plant codes found on milk containers can give the organic community information about the source of our organic milk.

Send us your plant codes today!

1. Please visit grocery stores, big-box retailers (Walmart, Target, Costco, etc.) and write down the plant codes (organic brands only).

Codes are usually printed near the top of the paper container and somewhere on the lids of gallon containers. Sometimes they’re printed right on the label. Write down all the numbers, but we are most interested in numbers configured similarly to Aurora Dairy’s 08-29 (could appear as 08 29). For more on finding the code, click here. Read Full Article »

Posted in Action Alerts

[The Sierra Club and The Cornucopia Institute have formally requested the USDA prohibit the use of wastewater from oil and gas drilling operations in organic food production. Read the letter here.]

Sign the Petition to Ban the Use of Frack and
Sewage Wastewater for Growing Organic Food

The USDA needs to tighten federal standards to prohibit the use for crop irrigation of fracking wastewater from oil and gas drilling, and from the nation’s municipal sewage treatment systems, in organic food production.

Research shows that the copious amounts of frack wastewater, a byproduct of the hydraulic fracturing technique in gas and oil production, are contaminated with toxic chemicals and oil.  And recent reporting has indicated its use in growing organic food in California.

Effluent from sewage plants, which co-mingles waste from domestic and industrial sources, can contain pathogens and drug residues in addition to heavy metals and toxic chemicals and should similarly be prohibited for use in the growing of organic food.

Please add your name to the petition to let the USDA know that fracking and sewage wastewaters should not be used to grow organic crops. Read Full Article »

Posted in Action Alerts, Cornucopia News