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 »
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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 »
Real Organic Milk Being Dumped, Cheap Industrial “Organic” Dominates Big Box Stores
Cornucopia’s Take: Cornucopia has been filing formal complaints about Aurora Dairy, and several other giant certified “organic” operations in the west, for over 10 years. The USDA has sometimes refused to investigate their alleged lack of grazing and confinement conditions, even when Cornucopia provided aerial images of ungrazed, sometimes hayed, pasture. When the USDA has… Read more »
North Carolina Lawmakers Seek to Protect CAFOs
Cornucopia’s Take: Big Ag seeks legislation to minimize so-called “nuisance lawsuits” brought forth by neighbors of huge factory farms who are finding their wells, air, health, and property values adversely affected by pollution from the facilities. N.C. BILL TO SHIELD CAFOS’ LIABILITY WOULD CURB LEGAL RIGHTS FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS EWG (original article contains all images)… Read more »
At White Oak Pastures, Grass-Fed Beef Is Only the Beginning
The New York Times by Kim Severson Will Harris Source: Southern Foodways Alliance BLUFFTON, Ga. — Here in the cab of a muddy pickup truck, with a stubby Ranch Hand rifle on the console and windows so fogged it’s hard to see the ruts in the pasture, you tend to believe anything the driver says…. Read more »
