Cornucopia Director of Domestic Policy Marie Burcham, JD While industrial organic operations forsake the synthetic fertilizers and toxic chemicals of conventional agriculture, authentic organic farms provide numerous ecosystem services for the benefit of all. As the landscape of organic evolves, Cornucopia continues to monitor the industry and its regulation....
Cornucopia continues to investigate organic grain imports and monitor USDA efforts to stop the flow of fraudulent organic grain into the U.S. John Bobbe and Cornucopia’s Anne Ross The article below features the impactful work of John Bobbe, the former executive director of OFARM, the largest organic grain cooperative...
Welcome to the live chat about Cornucopia's recent report and scorecard on plant-based beverages. Posted by The Cornucopia Institute on Monday, July 8, 2019 To unmute, click on the sound icon in the lower right corner of the video. Cornucopia’s domestic policy director Marie Burcham recently offered a live...
The USDA’s National Organic Program has failed consumers and true organic farmers by refusing to enforce pasture requirements for organic livestock and by allowing hydroponic produce to bear the organic label. As such, add-on labels are emerging to help consumers differentiate between industrial and authentic organic. Cornucopia supports the...
The Cornucopia Institute is neutral in terms of people’s dietary choices. Our supporters’ dietary choices range from omnivores, vegetarians who consume dairy and eggs, vegans, to 100% raw. Source: Jon Fisher, Flickr But we are not neutral in terms of the quality of the food we recommend. The Impossible...
If you consume dairy, a new study from Emory University suggests you are safest drinking organic milk. In their study of 35 conventional and 34 organic milk samples, 59% of the conventional products contained chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos is a ubiquitous insecticide linked to lower levels of gray matter and IQ...
Conventional Cattle on Organic Dairy Farms by Marie Burcham, JD Director of Domestic Policy at The Cornucopia Institute The organic dairy industry is in a state of crisis. A glut of organic milk in the...
The summer 2019 Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter, is now available online. Download the PDF here. In it you’ll find: The Crisis in Organic Dairy Cornucopia Finds Its Compass Making Sense of Muckenfuss: A letter from Cornucopia’s Board President National Organic Program Muddies the Waters A Decline in Biodiversity Certifying Small...
Wild birds can be extremely beneficial to farms, as many of them feed on pest species and support a vibrant on-farm ecosystem. Unfortunately, agriculture is the leading threat to bird species facing extinction. Source: Emilie Chen, Flickr Real organic farmers encourage on-farm biodiversity, including habitat for birds. These kinds...
After the American chestnut was essentially wiped out by a fungus and other diseases, researchers have created a genetically engineered (GE) chestnut that they claim is resistant to the fungus in question. They hope to release this GE tree into the wild to restore “native” chestnut populations to help...
In agriculture, genetic engineering has primarily been used to make crops resistant to pests and disease or able to survive the application of toxins, such as glyphosate. These traits do not occur naturally in the species in question. In practice, these genetically modified (GM) crops are poorly tested for...
The Complicated Industry May Be Incompatible with Organic Principles by Marie Burcham, JD Director of Domestic Policy at The Cornucopia Institute Consumers often note that they do not see fish with the USDA organic seal...
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.
