Nonprofits, government initiatives hope to cultivate demographic shift Chicago Tribune By Naomi Nix Nick Batchelder and his wife moved to Chicago at the start of the economic recession, hoping their years of experience in ecology and construction would land them jobs. After months of scouring the Internet for openings and pumping their contacts for leads,… Read more »
Search Results for: GMO dangers
Big Tech Seeks to Stop Nebraska ‘Right to Repair’ Bill
Cornucopia’s Take: Tractors now house high tech software that farmers are not allowed to access, although costly software issues may ground a tractor during the growing season. Farmers and small electronics technicians are backing a bill to allow the public access to software, parts, and repair instructions. John Deere and Apple unsurprisingly maintain that they,… Read more »
Surviving on Wheat, Rice, and Corn
Cornucopia’s Take: Wheat, rice, and corn now make up 43% of the food eaten in the world. Setting aside the political-financial issue of food distribution, this report discusses the homogenization of food eaten, and attendant loss of biodiversity. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), we will need to produce… Read more »
NOP Allows Glyphosate in “Organic” Hydroponic Production
Cornucopia’s Take: The Real Organic Project has brought to light a shocking practice in large-scale, “organic,” hydroponic production. Many of these facilities are being built on land that has been compacted and doused with herbicides, including glyphosate. While the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) uncomfortably insists that this practice is legal because the prohibited substances… Read more »
America’s Mad Cow Crisis
[Don’t panic. Go organic! Organic farmers are legally prohibited from feeding animal byproducts to livestock. This is the accepted pathway for the prion disease in humans, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or “Mad Cow”. — Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst, The Cornucopia Institute] by John Stauber Americans might remember that when the first mad cow was… Read more »
Pressure Rises to Stop Antibiotics in Agriculture
San Francisco Chronicle By MARGIE MASON AND MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press Writers The mystery started the day farmer Russ Kremer got between a jealous boar and a sow in heat. The boar gored Kremer in the knee with a razor-sharp tusk. The burly pig farmer shrugged it off, figuring: “You pour the blood out of… Read more »
(ALERT OVER) Critical Pending Food Safety Legislation
SAMPLE LETTER — click here: We Must Tell Congress to also Protect High Quality Organic and Local Food Supporting Viable Federal Oversight over Corporate Agribusiness Local/Organic Farming: Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem! 1. HR 875: The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 2. HR 759: The Food and Drug Administration Globalization… Read more »
Conventional vs. Organic: An Ag Secretary Race to Watch
The Atlantic By Joe Fassler In Iowa, the race for Secretary of Agriculture has started attracting national attention. Two starkly different candidates are in a dead heat for the traditionally low-profile post, and the winner will be a bellwether of our national attitudes towards food and agricultural policy. The incumbent is Bill Northey, an establishment… Read more »
The Vegetable-Industrial Complex
The Way We Live Now The New York Times By MICHAEL POLLAN Soon after the news broke last month that nearly 200 Americans in 26 states had been sickened by eating packaged spinach contaminated with E. coli, I received a rather coldblooded e-mail message from a friend in the food business. “I have instructed my… Read more »
Scientist Speaks Out About Pesticide Companies’ Criticism of Study
Cornucopia’s Take: As has become the industry standard when any research uncovers pesticide harm to pollinators, Syngenta and Bayer have accused the authors of bias, despite providing funding for this particular study. Lead study researcher Dr. Ben Woodcock noted that both Syngenta and Bayer have put out “statistically flawed” studies in recent years. In response to… Read more »
