The New York Times Editorial Organic food has become a very big business, with a 20 percent annual growth rate in sales in recent years. But popularity has come at a price. Ever since 2002, when the Department of Agriculture began its program of national organic certification, there has...
The New York Times By MELANIE WARNER Customers at McDonald’s restaurants in New England are about to get something a little different when they order coffee. Through a deal with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Newman’s Own, McDonald’s will soon be serving a coffee that comes from organic beans...
More than 100 groups and businesses have jointly signed a letter to USDA Secretary Mike Johanns asking him to intervene on the organic pasture issue. Those signing the letter represent a range of organic businesses and food cooperatives as well as farm, consumer, animal rights, social justice and environmental...
The Capitol Press Friday, October 21, 2005 A loophole in the national organic standards that is allowing a handful of large dairies in arid parts of the West to produce milk labeled as “organic” with only token access to pasture needs to be closed, say many organic farmers and...
Loophole remains in `organic’ definition By Andrew Martin Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau (link no longer available) Published October 19, 2005 WASHINGTON — Seven months after a federal advisory board sought to close loopholes to ensure that organic dairy cows are raised in pastures, rather than in confined pens, the...
Market has been seen as a niche for small U.S. farms By PHILIP BRASHER DES MOINES REGISTER (link no longer available) WASHINGTON BUREAU Advocates tout organic food as a salvation for small U.S. farms. But more and more, organic food isn’t American at all. The apples included. Companies are cutting...
No one is more responsible than Dr. Lester Crawford for the 10+ years of delay before the USDA would allow the word “organic” to appear on packages of meat. While heading up the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) at the USDA, during the G. H. W. Bush Administration, he...
An Open Letter From Jim Riddle (Mr. Riddle is an organic farmer, inspector and current Chair of the NOSB) Dear friends and colleagues, I am very concerned by the fractured state of the organic community. I have farmed organically since 1980 and been an organic inspector since 1986. In...
Strong and growing consumer demand for organic milk and organic dairy products is pushing dairy product producers to seek imports. The following story from New Zealand highlights the issue. US firm wants Fonterra’s organic milkpowder New Zealand Herald September 22, 2005 An American dairy farm is asking the New...
New York Times By MARIAN BURROS September 14, 2005 JOHN MACKEY, chairman of Whole Foods Market, with the buying power of his 173 stores across the country behind him, said in a telephone interview yesterday that he wants the Department of Agriculture to strengthen its standards for organic milk....
MAYBE NOT! BY Jim Slama When you pick up organic milk at your local grocery, you probably have visions of happy cows, frolicking in a beautiful pasture, chewing their cuds and basically hanging out. You may be surprised to learn that this may not necessarily be the case. In...
WASHINGTON DC: A letter addressed to USDA Secretary Mike Johanns, from The Cornucopia Institute, today asked the Secretary to personally intervene in rebuilding the once promising collaborative environment that existed between the organic community and its regulators. In its letter, the Cornucopia Institute called the current working relationship between...
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.
