(Sewage sludge is specifically, by federal law, prohibited in certified organic production. In today’s marketplace labeling fertilizer as “ORGANIC,” when it would be banned from use on organic farms, is exceedingly misleading.) PR Watch . org by John Stauber Fifteen years ago, the Center for Media and Democracy in my book Toxic Sludge Is Good… Read more »
Digesters, Grazing and Economic Stimulus
John Kinsman What is the latest taxpayer-subsidized economic stimulus scheme? Why, manure digesters on factory farms, of course! At the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled plans to promote manure digesters as a way to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent. The trick… Read more »
Irradiation as the Answer?
The American Meat Institute says zapping meat is the answer for addressing safety concerns. Dave Carter, exectuive director of the National Bison Association isn’t so sure. Natural Foods Merchandiser By Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison Association. The meat industry took a public relations shellacking in 2009. The constant barrage of stories regarding… Read more »
A Return to Real Food
We have become so disconnected from nature that we have forgotten what real food is. It is time to relearn how to live with the planet. The Mark News (link no longer available) by Alexandra Morton – Professional biologist; Founder of non-profit Salmon Coast Field Station for research. As I stand behind a young mother at… Read more »
Community Gardens: A Small Farmer on how the Government Can Help Rebuild the Infrastructure He Needs to Survive
Newsweek By Tom Philpott Five years ago, I gave up a career as a business writer in New York City to take over a small farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina with several friends. From the start, our goal was to help rebuild an ecologically sane local-food economy accessible to everyone… Read more »
Jim Goodman: Corporate Agribusiness Divides Farmers
The Capital Times Jim Goodman, farmer and Food and Society Fellows Program fellow Why is conventional agriculture so wound up? Are they afraid of organic agriculture? What’s all the fuss about? After all, a recent study by the Lieberman Research Group showed that organic food sales account for only 3.5 percent of all food product… Read more »
A Farewell Note from a Respected Ag Journalist…
As many of you are well aware the newspaper industry is in crisis. And agricultural journalism is no exception. A great number of reporters we work with around the country have left the profession over the last couple of years. Falling ad revenues, based on the meltdown of the economy and stiff competition from alternatives… Read more »
Minimize Antibiotics
Bangor Daily News By BDN Staff Although major food buyers, including national chain restaurants, have stopped buying meat from farms where antibiotics are routinely used or asked such farms to reduce their use, the routine administration of these drugs remains too widespread. Rather than leaving it up to individual companies, Congress should adopt a national… Read more »
Tom Willey, of T&D Willey Farms, Testifies at Leafy Greens Hearing
TESTIMONY OF TOM WILLEY, OWNER, T & D WILLEY FARMS, Madera, California at the hearing on the proposed National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, Monterey, California. My wife and I own and operate a 75-acre, certified organic truck farm just outside of Madera in the central San Joaquin Valley. We grow over fifty vegetable crops, including… Read more »
New Big Ag Push to Fight World Hunger Misses What Organic Ag Is Already Doing
Huffington Post Tim LaSalle CEO of the Rodale Institute. The compelling humanitarian goals expressed today at the corporately sponsored Global Harvest Initiative symposium were laudable, as were some of the hunger-relief projects cited. Missing, however, was an honest assessment of the limits of dead-end chemical agriculture to play a leading role in actually feeding people…. Read more »
