Cornucopia’s Take: Insect mass is declining by 2.5% annually. They pollinate plants, recycle waste, and provide food for many species, and humans cannot live without their various ecosystem services. More insects can be observed on organic farms than conventional or GMO farms. Deforestation, pesticide use, and other changes to...
Benefiting Communities and the Planet This article was previously published in the winter issue of The Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter.] by Kestrel Burcham, JD Farm and Food Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute Source: AdobeStock The benefits that a healthy, functioning environment provides for humanity are called ecosystem services. For...
Cornucopia’s Take: According to a new meta-analysis, people with prolonged or high-level exposure to glyphosate (the active ingredient in Bayer/Monsanto’s Roundup) are 41% more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The study’s authors focused on the most extreme cases of glyphosate exposure, reasoning that those would be the most likely...
Cornucopia’s Take: In a new study, 16 children and adults who ate only organic food for six days experienced a 60.5% reduction in the levels of common pesticides in their bodies. Although the sample was very small, the study confirms similar previous research. Criticisms of those previous studies included the...
Evaluating the Hot Market for Plant-Based Beverages by Anne Ross, JD Farm and Food Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute Source: Adobe Stock Sales of non-dairy, plant-based beverages are burgeoning. In 2010, only one-fifth of...
Cornucopia’s Take: The article below offers surreal imagery of hogs raised in high-rise farms. Hog waste from one such facility will be shunted to on-site waste treatment facilities before being sold to farmers as fertilizer and sprayed on nearby forests. Observers of intensive livestock management worry that the set-up...
Cornucopia’s Take: Cry toxins are highly active protein toxins originally isolated from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). They are genetically engineered into some GMO crops to perforate the gut membrane of insects that eat them. Poisoned pests stop eating and eventually die. Unfortunately, non-target animals, including monarch butterflies, swallowtail butterflies,...
Cornucopia’s Take: Sewage sludge contains toxic wastes, including pharmaceuticals, household and industrial chemicals, and heavy metals. Many industrial chemicals, including compounds called PFAS used to make heat-resistant, stain-proof, and nonstick products, are unregulated. Very small amounts of PFAS compounds have serious health implications, and recent testing has revealed dangerous...
Cornucopia’s Take: Edwin Hardeman, one of over 9,300 plaintiffs charging that Monsanto’s Roundup caused their cancer, has received tentatively good news. The presiding federal judge has allowed evidence pointing to Monsanto’s alleged ghostwriting of scientific research and attempts to influence regulators and scientists regarding Roundup’s safety. The order applies...
Cornucopia’s Take: As public funding for university research dwindles, industry research frequently fills the void. This means the questions researchers address are often questions Big Ag would like to see answered. Unfortunately, it also means that research performed by academics who seek to improve the health of people and...
Cornucopia’s Take: Organic farming plays an important role in sequestering carbon, building soil fertility, conserving water, providing high-nutrient food, and mitigating the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Industrial farms pump out billions of bushels of GMO corn and soy to feed sick livestock in massive CAFOs to flood...
Cornucopia’s Take: Food processors add “value” to baked goods, cereals, packaged snack foods, and other foods often in part by adding preservatives, flavorings, added vitamins and minerals, and food coloring. Some products containing additives allowed by the FDA in the U.S. have been reformulated without them for sale in...
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.
