Cornucopia’s Take: According to this article, since its first field tests in Oregon in 2003, Scotts’ GMO bentgrass has contaminated fields and wilderness, threatening endangered plants in a 30-mile range. Suspiciously, Scotts has told the USDA it will not commercialize the grass, while still seeking deregulation. The USDA appears prepared to give up oversight, to… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: Apples genetically modified not to brown will hit grocery coolers soon. Cornucopia recommends avoiding them, and the synthetic pesticides they harbor, by buying organic.  The GMO added anti-browning gene adds nothing nutritionally. Rather it is a marketer’s dream, allowing them to sell apples that one wouldn’t eat if you saw the browning. First… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: A “who’s who” list of industrial agriculture proponents have written a strongly worded letter, calling Dannon’s non-GMO pledge “marketing flim-flam.” It appears that consumer opinion, and voting with our forks, has gained enough power to sway Big Food, to the dismay of Big Ag. Cornucopia notes that organic is by definition non-GMO and… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: Heilongjiang province is taking precautionary measures with GMOs, in opposition to Chinese central government sentiment. Given the recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that state and local governments can regulate GM crops, perhaps U.S. states will follow suit. China’s Top Grain Producing Province Bans GM Crops Sustainable Pulse Source: Connie Ma Farmers in northeast… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: This ruling gives state and local governments the rights overall to regulate and ban GM crops – except in Hawaii.  There, the ruling interprets GM-friendly Hawaii state law as superseding Hawaiian county and municipal law. Because of Hawaii’s unique climate, the biotech industry routinely tests crops there, subjecting Hawaiians to more restricted-use insecticides and pesticides… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: In an apparent handshake with the biotech industry, the USDA has declared that crop insurance does not cover organic crops contaminated by chemical or GMO drift. Other problems also plague crop insurance programs for organic farmers, as the insurance doesn’t include pesticide contamination in inputs like compost. A good insurance program would pay… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: Cornucopia vigorously opposed the introduction of GMO alfalfa. We highlighted many of the problems with the GMO version of this perennial and important crop for farmers. Both organic and conventional farmers expressed considerable concern over Monsanto’s alfalfa creation. It’s interesting that it has thus far failed to meet the biotech giant’s expectations. Growers… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: The EPA’s approval of Monsanto’s XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology herbicide is projected to increase dicamba use from less than one million pounds to more than 25 million annually on soy and cotton fields.  Dicamba is an older generation persistent pesticide that has been linked to damage of the kidney and liver, neurotoxicity, and… Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: GMO seed, developed and marketed to increase yields and lower pesticide applications, are not out-performing conventional crops in Europe, nor are they lowering pesticide usage. We are left to wonder what would happen if journalists began to ask what is possible if research and development worked on organic production rather than chemical/GMO production…. Read more »

Cornucopia’s Take: Many of us in the good food movement are deeply concerned about the potential consequences of GMOs escaping into the environment. A research team from Rice University in Texas has developed a device to detect GMOs in water. New Device Could Detect GMOs That Have Escaped Into Environment Epoch Times by Tara MacIsaac… Read more »