As nitrates seep into aquifers in California’s Salinas Valley, local scientists are working to improve water quality AlJazeera America by Sara Rubin Source: Julie Falk MOSS LANDING, Calif. — It has just rained, welcome respite from California’s ongoing drought, and puddles have turned a fallow farm field to squelchy mud. Artichokes will be planted here… Read more »
Search Results for: GMO
In Florida Tomato Fields, a Penny Buys Progress
The New York Times by Steven Greenhouse IMMOKALEE, Fla. — Not long ago, Angelina Velasquez trudged to a parking lot at 5 each morning so a crew leader’s bus could drop her at the tomato fields by 6. She often waited there, unpaid — while the dew dried — until 10 a.m., when the workers… Read more »
Local Food Movement Growing Ranks of Younger Farmers
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 »
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 »
Warning Signs: How Pesticides Harm the Young Brain
The Nation by Susan Freinkel The pathbreaking CHAMACOS study has detected developmental problems in children born to mothers who toiled in California’s treated fields—but will anything change? This story was produced by the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent nonprofit news organization. Driving along Highway 101 through California’s Salinas Valley, it’s hard to miss the… 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 »
Biopesticides Show Promise for Modern Agriculture
Cornucopia’s Take: Medical cannabis use has brought more attention to the issue of pesticide residues. People with compromised health want to ensure they are not subjected to toxic residues on the plant, and some companies have stepped in to offer effective pesticides in the form of living microorganisms and natural chemicals. These biopesticides are often… 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 »
