Drovers Cattle Network by Natural Resources Defense Council Gov. Jerry Brown Source: Phil Konstantin By the end of the weekend, California Governor Jerry Brown will announce his decision on legislation by Sen. Jerry Hill that sets the strictest limits in the U.S. on the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in meat production. The bill will… Read more »
Search Results for: regenerative agriculture
Industry Fighting Expanded Antibiotics Reporting
Agri-Pulse by Philip Brasher Source: Andres Rueda WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2015 – The Food and Drug Administration’s plan to require reporting on animal antibiotic sales species by species is running into strong industry opposition. Drugmakers now only report total sales for individual drugs. Breaking the sales data down by cattle, hogs, chickens and turkeys would… Read more »
Watchdog Group Formally Challenges Allegedly Illegal Agribusiness Appointments to USDA Organic Governing Board
The Cornucopia Institute has formally asked the USDA to review the appointment of an individual to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) who, the group contends, does not meet the legal qualifications for the position. The 15-member board of organic stakeholders was established by Congress to provide advice to the USDA on organic food and… Read more »
Organic Farmers Call Foul On Whole Foods’ Produce Rating System
NPR – The Salt by Dan Charles Source: Kramchang Nobody really likes to be graded. Especially when you don’t get an A. Some organic farmers are protesting a new grading system for produce and flowers that’s coming into force at Whole Foods. They say it devalues the organic label and could become an “existential threat.”… Read more »
Popular Pesticide Hurts Wild Bees in Major Field Study
Phys.org by Seth Borenstein Source: Dottie T A common type of pesticide is dramatically harming wild bees, according to a new in-the-field study that outside experts say may help shift the way the U.S. government looks at a controversial class of chemicals. But in the study published by the journal Nature on Wednesday, honeybees—which get… Read more »
Stop Making Us Guinea Pigs
The New York Times by Mark Bittman Source: Montecruz Foto The issues surrounding G.M.O.s — genetically modified organisms — have never been simple. They became more complicated last week when the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widely used herbicide Roundup, probably causes cancer in humans. Two… Read more »
Biofuels Are Not a Green Alternative to Fossil Fuels
The Guardian by Andrew Steer and Craig Hanson Source: Peter Blanchard Biofuels and bioenergy take up finite land resources at the cost of food production and carbon storage and doesn’t guarantee carbon emissions cuts Powering cars with corn and burning wood to make electricity might seem like a way to lessen dependence on fossil fuels… Read more »
3 Ways the Media Protects GMOs
How “fair and balanced” journalism drops the ball on GMO coverage. Rodale News by Julia Westbrook Source: Johannes Jansson As the political, economic, and environmental debates over GMOs continue, it’s easy to forget that there’s another key player: the media. From the Today show toThe New York Times, including Rodale News, media outlets play a critical role in bringing… Read more »
The Open Source Seed Initiative: Challenging the Corporate Control of Our Food System
by Linley Dixon, PhD Seed diversity is undeniably essential to life. Scientists have only scratched the surface in identifying the millions of genetic traits stored in seed banks including variations in appearance, and nutrition, as well as resistance to disease, drought, and salinity. Intellectual property rights allow research plant breeders to patent new plant varieties… Read more »
Mexico and Monsanto: Taking Precaution in the Face of Genetic Contamination
FoodTank by Timothy A. Wise Credit: Keith Weller, USDA To listen to the current debates over the controversial requests by Monsanto and other biotech giants to grow genetically modified (GM) maize in Mexico, you’d think the danger to the country’s rich biodiversity in maize was hypothetical. It is anything but. Studies have found the presence of… Read more »
