Cornucopia’s Take: The new varieties of rice pushed in India for decades now are tasteless, provide less nutrition, require high inputs of pesticides and fertilizer, and do not grow well in India’s changing climate. Conservationists and farmers are wisely saving and growing heirloom varieties for practical reasons. Why India’s...
We couldn’t say it better than the headline from the Denver Post when they ran the story (below) that first appeared in The Washington Post. Cornucopia has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and will report to the organic community on our findings. Aurora Dairy...
Please feel free to quote anything in this statement to balance a story you might be already working on. You are also welcome to run this in its entirety as an op-ed. Photo of Mr. Kastel available upon request. Organic Get Out Of Jail Free Card — USDA exonerates...
New Look, Same Data You Can Rely On Have you ever stood in front of an egg or milk case and wondered which to buy? If you’re lucky, you might have several organic options to choose from, but often the only way to differentiate between them is the packaging...
Cornucopia’s Take: After years of flatlining, the number of domestic organic farms has finally started to rise. And while organic food accounts for about 5% of all food sales in the U.S., organic farms still only account for about 1% of total farm acreage. Yet many organic family farmers...
Cornucopia’s Take: Crop insurance rules for farmers often demand cover crops be terminated on an artificial schedule which may be contrary to real life best growing practices on a given farm. Restrictions like this discourage cover cropping, a practice which improves soil health and crop yields and decreases erosion....
Cornucopia’s Take: After receiving almost 1,000 complaints of misuse of the controversial and highly volatile pesticide dicamba, the Arkansas Plant Board has unanimously extended their dicamba ban through the 2018 growing season. While the pesticide manufacturer, Monsanto, considers legal action, even the EPA is considering limits on the chemical...
Cornucopia’s Take: In the aftermath of Maria, there is no food left growing in Puerto Rico. Farmers survey their destroyed fields. Cornucopia extends gratitude to those able to donate to relief efforts there. Puerto Rico’s Agriculture and Farmers Decimated by Maria The New York Times by Frances Robles and...
Cornucopia’s Take: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition notes in the article below, “reforms to conservation, research and the farm safety net present an enormous opportunity to improve the health of our soils.” Cornucopia agrees that changes to the 2018 Farm Bill could go a long way toward healing agricultural...
Cornucopia’s Take: Industrial farms, in this case the hog lobby, have managed to deregulate their industry since the 1990s. Enormous hog CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) spray noxious waste held in “lagoons” on neighboring fields, making local people sick. Research shows that African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are...
Cornucopia’s Take: Farmers with extra food after the harvest often donate to charitable organizations like Second Harvest and local food pantries, making the farms eligible for the Enhanced Federal Tax Deduction. The Natural Resources Defense Council has created a PDF containing helpful information for donating farmers, and we have...
Cornucopia’s Take: As garden harvests come in, few of us are thinking about weeding. But a few minutes spent pulling those invasive plants with ripening seeds can save hours next spring. 8 Gardening Mistakes You Make Every Fall Rodale’s Organic Life by Rebecca Straus These autumn errors set you...
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.
