Cornucopia policy staff members attended the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) pre-meeting webinars on April 17 and 18, where the NOSB heard comments from the public. Our notes from this meeting are below. Wednesday, April 17 Fourteen NOSB members present: Source: Alan Clark, Flickr Harriet Behar (January 2016 –...
The Cornucopia Institute is seeking candidates for its Development and Communications Director position. Applicants for this position should possess fundraising and member stewardship expertise and an ability to oversee the organization’s communications efforts. A heartfelt passion for protecting the environment, the good food movement, human health, humane livestock husbandry,...
Cornucopia staff and board members are grateful for the outpouring of kind and encouraging words from our supporters during this time of transition. We and our members remain dedicated to the important work before us as watchdogs of the organic industry. Our energized staff members have co-authored a list...
With No Soil to Certify, They Can Contaminate the Earth and Sell Faux-ganic Produce to Unsuspecting Consumers “Organic” hydroponic production is a form of factory farming: the ground is leveled, compacted, and often covered with plastic, while plant roots bathe in synthetic nutrients or are supported by sterile substrates...
How Cornucopia’s DIY Certification Guide helps you determine which farms provide the best food in the absence of organic labeling Spring marks the return of fresh eggs, colorful produce, and more diverse offerings at farmers markets and CSAs. Signs and advertisements make many claims about production methods, but it...
Cornucopia’s Take: Last year, Cornucopia publicized the identity of multi-billion dollar agribusinesses and their affiliates, located in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which have been connected to grain imports of questionable organic status. The article from Organic-Market, below, credits Cornucopia with uncovering organic grain fraud and chronicles the...
Cornucopia’s Take: The Real Organic Project has brought to light a shocking practice in large-scale, “organic,” hydroponic production. Many of these facilities are being built on land that has been compacted and doused with herbicides, including glyphosate. While the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) uncomfortably insists that this practice...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Cornucopia Institute’s Board of Directors would like to thank Mark Kastel for nearly 15 years leading the organization. His foresight, dedication, and guidance have been instrumental in building Cornucopia into the preeminent organic watchdog and champion for family scale organic farming. As one of The...
Cornucopia’s Take: Cornucopia has heard from organic farmers and businesses who have asked their certifiers for a moratorium on hydroponics and to identify fraudulent dairies and egg operations. Cornucopia’s infographic, A Perfect Picture of Corruption, shows an example of the some of these conflicts of interest. The organic food...
USDA Has “Willfully Failed” on Congressional Mandate to Prevent Fraud When farmers lobbied Congress to pass the Organic Foods Production Act in 1990, their intention was to create a level playing field in the market and to affirm the credibility of organic labeling in the eyes of consumers. Unfortunately,...
Cornucopia’s Take: Creativity and diversification may help some organic dairy farmers keep their doors open. The farm in the story below has been able to take advantage of its proximity to major cities. While urban sprawl has meant the death of many farm operations, it seems to be saving...
Cornucopia’s Take: The article by OFARM’s John Bobbe below was originally published in The Milkweed. Bobbe is a strong ally in stopping the flow of fraudulent organic imports into the U.S. He has recently retired from OFARM, but he assures us he will continue to work on these important...
The Cornucopia Institute, through research and investigations on agriculture and food issues, provides needed information to family farmers, consumers and other stakeholders in the good food movement and to the media.
