Cornucopia’s Take: Conventional pork producers pen their hogs in overcrowded barns, spray them with pesticides, provide the cheapest feed available, and store their considerable manure in giant anaerobic lagoons where it is open to the environment and frequently pollutes local watersheds. These cut corners make conventional pork a very...
Cornucopia’s Take: Cornucopia was among the 213 farm, food, rural, faith and consumer advocacy organizations to seek Congressional support for a temporary halt to agribusiness mergers as the focus of legislation introduced by Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Mark Pocan. The proposed legislation would set up a commission to determine...
Acres USA publishes one of the most authoritative magazines, and sponsors an annual conference, addressing the educational needs of ecologically sound agricultural practitioners. They present tools for both agronomic and economic success. Many of this year’s eminently qualified speakers are long-time Cornucopia members. Acres U.S.A. The goal for the...
Cornucopia’s Take: After consideration, Judge Bolanos opted not to grant Monsanto a new trial regarding DeWayne Johnson’s allegations that their product, Roundup, caused his cancer. However, she lowered the amount of punitive damages awarded to Johnson. Bayer, which now owns Monsanto, is expected to file another appeal. Monsanto trial:...
Cornucopia’s Take: The USDA has determined that no regulation is needed for food genetically engineered using new technologies like CRISPR. Even after the proposed GMO labeling law goes into effect, slated for 2019, companies using these new technologies are exempted from labeling their products as genetically modified (see Cornucopia’s...
Cornucopia’s Take: Conventional and GMO crop farming and concentrated animal feeding operations create runoff of excess pesticides and fertilizers into watersheds and, ultimately, wells in rural America. The runoff contains nitrates from manure, bacteria from sick animals, and a host of toxic chemicals and antibiotics. Learn more about the...
Cornucopia’s Take: Organophosphate pesticides are the most commonly used insecticides in conventional agriculture and were initially developed as a nerve gas. Extremely effective, even very low exposure via residues on food may lead to lowered IQ and learning disabilities in children. A new paper in PLOS Medicine reviews the...
The Cornucopia Institute Grades Senators and Representatives Ahead of 2018 Fall Election Every member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives who voted for or against stripping states of the ability to require the labeling of genetically engineered food (“The Dark Act”) has received a grade on their...
Join The Cornucopia Institute as we keep you informed via live tweet and web updates from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting in St. Paul, MN October 24-26. We will be sharing the play by play both below and with our Twitter followers, at #NOSB or by simply following our...
Cornucopia’s Take: A new French study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that people who reported eating more organic food were 25% less likely to develop cancer. It is noteworthy that those who ate mostly organic food were 73% less likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the type of cancer suffered by...
Fracking Water, Synthetic Ingredients on Agenda at This Week’s USDA Meetings On the eve of the biannual meeting of the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), in St....
Cornucopia staff members attended the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) pre-meeting webinar today, where the NOSB heard comments from the public. Cornucopia’s notes from this meeting are below. You can also view our notes from the Tuesday webinar. Ten of 15 NOSB members present at the beginning of the call:...
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.
