by Jim Munsch The Cornucopia Institute By now many farmers producing organic milk or meat from ruminants have seen the news about the federal court ruling that the USDA violated the law by failing to conduct a full Environmental Impact Study before approving Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa trademarked Roundup...
Santa Cruz Sentinel By Genevieve Bookwalter NORTH COAST — In a case that could reverberate through the county, a judge has ordered a farming service company to temporarily stop spraying pesticides that an organic farmer says are moving with the fog onto his field and destroying his crop. Organic...
After contamination scares, Congress examines ways to improve regulation, protection Baltimore Sun By Jonathan D. Rockoff WASHINGTON — After months of revelations about deadly contamination of produce, peanut butter and pet food, and with consumer confidence in what they’re eating falling to an 18-year low, Washington is suddenly turning...
CORNUCOPIA, WI: Consumer fraud investigators in the state of Wisconsin released their findings this week after a three-month long investigation into allegations that Wal-Mart stores throughout the state of Wisconsin had misled consumers by misidentifying conventional food items as organic. In a letter to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., based in...
Los Angeles Times By Nicole Winfield Associated Press Writer ROME — Organic food has long been considered a niche market, a luxury for wealthy consumers. But researchers told a U.N. conference Saturday that a large-scale shift to organic agriculture could help fight world hunger while improving the environment. Crop...
Judge Orders Complete Environmental Review of Monsanto’s Gene-Altered Alfalfa San Francisco, CA — A Federal judge ruled on May 3 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 2005 approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) “Roundup Ready” alfalfa was illegal. Judge Charles Breyer called on USDA to ban any further...
How food processing got into the hands of a few giant companies Grist By Tom Philpott Two years ago, dairy giant Dean Foods shuttered a milk-processing facility in Wilkesboro, a town at the eastern edge of North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains. Dean processes 35 percent of the fluid milk in...
CQ WEEKLY – VANTAGE POINT By Shawn Zeller, CQ Staff What should it cost to sterilize an almond? That’s the question that now has many almond growers up in arms at the Department of Agriculture. This month, the Cornucopia Institute, which does advocacy work for small farmers, protested that...
The New York Times By Michael Pollan A few years ago, an obesity researcher at the University of Washington named Adam Drewnowski ventured into the supermarket to solve a mystery. He wanted to figure out why it is that the most reliable predictor of obesity in America today is...
Outbreaks Were Not Preventable, Officials Say Washington Post Elizabeth Williamson The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the...
The New York Times By Andrew Martin Dairy farmers are rushing to convert to organic milk production, and it is largely because of a blueberry farmer who lives in Maine with a solar-powered computer and an outhouse outfitted with a stained-glass window. Arthur Harvey, the blueberry farmer, persuaded a...
USDA Advisory Panel Sends Clear Message WASHINGTON, DC — The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an expert advisory panel to the USDA’s National Organic Program, has made it clear that organic agriculture should not allow the use of cloned animals or their offspring in the production of organic food....
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.
