Bills in the state Legislature are opposed by Minnesota’s major food manufacturers. Star Tribune By Mike Hughlett Minnesota could become the next battleground in the fight over mandatory labels for genetically modified food. Bills were introduced Thursday in the Minnesota Legislature that would require food manufacturers to label their products to indicate whether they contain… Read more »
How to Make the Midwest an Organic Hub
Lake Effect WUWM Radio Wisconsin is second only to California for the number of organic farms in operation. And over the last few days, LaCrosse has been overflowing with advocates for organic farming. The occasion was the 24th annual Organic Farming Conference. The more than 3,400 attendees included farmers themselves and nationally renowned experts such as… Read more »
Organic Farmer Fears Trend Toward Industrial Model
LaCrosse Tribune (WI) By Mike Tighe Longtime organic farmer Carmen Fernholz frets that the movement could be pulling away from its roots. “My fear is that organic food systems are moving too much to industrial models that conventional agriculture gives us, with larger and larger farming operations,” the Madison, Minn., farmer said. It’s one of… Read more »
The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
New York Times Magazine By Michael Moss On the evening of April 8, 1999, a long line of Town Cars and taxis pulled up to the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury and discharged 11 men who controlled America’s largest food companies. Nestlé was in attendance, as were Kraft and Nabisco, General Mills and Procter & Gamble,… Read more »
Dairy Industry Wants to Put Aspartame in Milk
Courthouse News Service By Nick McCann WASHINGTON (CN) – Dairy industry groups have asked the Food and Drug Administration to be able to put artificial sweeteners in milk, and not change the label, claiming that it is so consumers can “more easily identify its overall nutritional value”. Read Courthouse News’ Environmental Law Review. The Food… Read more »
New Hampshire Considering a Farm-to-Plate Bill
The initiative’s sponsors are looking at Vermont’s local food program as a model Mother Network Network By Melissa Breyer As globalization continues to have an impact on the nation’s food systems, some states are attempting to rein it in and boost local food production and consumption instead. Vermont became the first state to create a… Read more »
Smarter Use of Nutrients Will Help Clean-up the Planet, Say Scientists
UNEP Governing Council A new report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlights how humans have massively altered the natural flows of nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients. While this has had huge benefits for world food and energy production, it has caused a web of water and air pollution that is damaging human… Read more »
GMO Labeling Bill Introduced in U.S. Congress
Food Safety News By Dan Flynn Today Colorado’s Jared Polis will announce, outside a reborn organic retail store in Boulder, that he is introducing a federal bill in Congress to mandate the labeling of food containing genetically modified organisms in all 50 states. And next Tuesday, the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee will… Read more »
At NOFA Conference, Challenges of Climate Change Addressed
Climate change is the greatest threat to Vermont agriculture, Gov. Peter Shumlin told participants at the annual Vermont National Organic Farmers Association conference at the University of Vermont on Saturday. VTDigger By Audrey Clark Gov. Peter Shumlin fingered climate change as the greatest threat to Vermont agriculture at the Vermont Northeast Organic Farmers Association conference… Read more »
The Ag Gag Laws: Hiding Factory Farm Abuses From Public Scrutiny
A former HSUS investigator details the dangers of HR 589, makes it illegal for investigative reporters to take jobs at factory farms in Iowa. The Atlantic By Cody Carlson Earlier this month, politicians in Iowa bowed to corporate pressure when they passed a law designed to stifle public debate and keep consumers in the dark…. Read more »
