Organic

Farmers Turn To GMO-Free Crops To Boost Income

April 20, 2015 Christopher Doering, www.desmoinesregister.com Educate! Food and Agriculture, GMOs, Organic

When Justin Dammann enters his southwestern Iowa cornfield this month, the 35-year-old farmer will sow something these 2,400 acres have not seen in more than a decade — plants grown without genetically modified seeds. The corn, which will head to a processor 20 miles down the road this fall, will likely make its way into tortilla shells, corn chips and other consumable products made by companies taking advantage of growing consumer demand for food without biotech ingredients. For Dammann and other Midwest farmers, the burgeoning interest in non-GMO foods has increased how much they get paid to grow crops in fields once populated exclusively with genetically modified corns and soybeans. The revenue hike is a welcome benefit at a time when lower commodity prices are pushing farm income down to what's expected to be the lowest level in six years.

Organic Consumer Pressure Works—Stonyfield Quits IDFA

December 14, 2014 Ronnie Cummins, www.organicconsumers.org Organize! Consumer power, GMO, Organic

In the latest example of how consumers can pressure food companies to do the right thing, on Friday (December 5, 2014), Stonyfield Farm, a New Hampshire-based producer of organic milk and yogurt, became the second organic dairy company in five months to resign from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). IDFA is a trade group that is suing Vermont to overturn the state’s GMO labeling law, passed earlier this year. The resignation came after OCA and other groups sent an open letter to leading organic dairy companies, demanding they withdraw their membership in the IDFA. An article in Vermont Digger, stated that Stonyfield and California-based Clover-Stornetta Farms, which pulled out of the IDFA in July, claimed they were “under fire” from consumers.

Organic Crops Can Compete With Big Ag

December 11, 2014 Sarah Yang, www.newscenter.berkeley.edu Create! Environment, Food and Agriculture, Organic

A systematic overview of more than 100 studies comparing organic and conventional farming finds that the crop yields of organic agriculture are higher than previously thought. The study, conducted by UC Berkeley researchers, also found that certain practices could further shrink the productivity gap between organic crops and conventional farming. “In terms of comparing productivity among the two techniques, this paper sets the record straight on the comparison between organic and conventional agriculture,” said the study’s senior author, Claire Kremen, professor of environmental science, policy and management and co-director of the Berkeley Food Institute.

Groups Rally Against Legislation To Keep GMOs Off Labels

December 11, 2014 Organic Consumers Association, www.organicconsumers.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, GMOs, Law, Monsanto, Organic

Consumers, farmers, states’ rights and consumer rights activists traveled to Washington D.C. today to attend a scheduled hearing and protest on a bill that would preempt states’ rights to pass laws requiring the mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).” H.R. 4432, dubbed by pro-labeling groups as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act, was introduced in April by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). It was written with help from the biotech and processed food industries to protect corporate profits. Sixty-four countries require corporations to disclose whether or not their products contain GMOs. More than 90 percent of Americans surveyed say they want this right, also.

Dramatic Correlation Shown Between GMOs And 22 Diseases

November 17, 2014 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Food and Agriculture, glyphosate, GMOs, Organic

The research highlighted below, "Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America," was published in The Journal of Organic Systems September and links GMO's to 22 diseases with very high correlation. We have reprinted many of the graphs from the study that show an incredible correlation between the rise of GMO crops that use the herbicide glyphosate and a wide range of disease. Glyphosate was introduced to the marketplace in 1974 but data on its use is only available since 1990. The study points out that research has shown that "glyphosate disrupts the ability of animals, including humans, to detoxify xenobiotics. This means that exposures to the numerous chemicals in food and the environment, such as endocrine disrupting chemicals and carcinogens, could be causing levels of damage that would not occur if the body were able to detoxify them." Correlation is not proof of causation. But the authors points out "we have data for 22 diseases, all with a high degree of correlation and very high significance. It seems highly unlikely that all of these can be random coincidence."

How One Hospital Is Using Organic Produce To Help Heal Patients

September 5, 2014 Coach Mark Smallwood, www.ecowatch.com Create! Food and Agriculture, health, Medicine, Organic

In 431 B.C. Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” More than 2500 years later, we are inundated with advertisements boasting the latest, greatest cure-all super drug. From a young age, we learn that it doesn’t matter how or what we eat, there is a quick fix around the corner for whatever ails us—whether we’re obese, have high blood pressure or bad cholesterol—just to name a few of the issues plaguing our society. It now seems almost revolutionary to think that we can change our health by changing the food we eat. But, one hospital in Pennsylvania thought just that. In 2014, Rodale Institute, in partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network, launched a true farm to hospital food program. The Anderson Campus at St. Luke’s has more than 300 acres of farmland, much of which had historically been farmed conventionally with crops like corn and soy. The hospital administration recognized the impact that providing fresh, local organic produce could have on patient health and approached Rodale Institute to transition the land to organic and farm vegetables to be used in patient meals as well as in the cafeteria.

What’s Holding Back The Organic Revolution?

August 25, 2014 Ronnie Cummins, www.organicconsumers.org Educate! Food and Agriculture, health, Organic

There is growing alarm among conscious consumers and activists that our 21st Century food and farming system, and the government-corporate cabal that that props it up, is spiraling out-of-control. Chemical-intensive, energy-intensive, climate-destabilizing factory-farmed and genetically engineered food and farming are destroying not only our health and our environment, but also the soil fertility, biodiversity, and climate stability that make civilization possible. U.S. sales of certified organic products hit $35 billion in 2013. Given that the organic products industry has seen four decades of steady growth, at a rate of 10-15 percent, sales will likely hit $40 billion in 2014. This amounts to approximately 5 percent of all grocery store purchases, 10 percent of retail fruits and vegetables, and over 20 percent of baby food. Organic sales are increasing 10-15 percent annually, more than five times the anemic 2 percent growth rate of conventional (i.e. chemical) foods.

Don’t Be Fooled: The PR Assault On Organic Food

August 23, 2014 Kari Hamerschlag, www.fair.org Educate! Food and Agriculture, health, Organic

The New York Post loves a good villain, but you’d think it would be hard to cast a bad light on the group of people profiled in an April 19 story: moms who feed their kids organic food. Naomi Schaefer Riley took on the challenge in “The Tyranny of the Organic Mommy Mafia,” and built a case against “the arrogance and class snobbery” of people who buy and eat food that’s been grown without artificial chemicals. “Organic food does not necessarily mean better. It’s a term that’s been co-opted and manipulated into a billion-dollar industry by some of the biggest food companies in America,” Riley wrote. The anti–organic food narrative is a recurring theme in the media of late. What’s going on with these stories? In January, Slate (1/28/14) served up “Organic Schmorganic” by Melinda Wenner Moyer—shared 45,000 times on Facebook. The story concluded that it’s not worth feeding your kids organic fruits and vegetables because there is no documented harm from conventional produce treated with chemicals, especially when the residues are below levels deemed safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Sowing Health, Sustainability And Climate Stability

August 11, 2014 Sarah Streat and Katherine Paul, www.organicconsumers.org Create! Food and Agriculture, Land, Organic, Soil, Sustainability

A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt In his opening address to the Savory Institute global conference in London on August 1, Alan Savory said that while agriculture is the foundation of civilization and of any stable economy, it is also, when poorly practiced, the most destructive industry—even more so than coal mining. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that since 1960, a third of the world’s arable land has been lost through erosion and other degradation. Much of the destruction is caused by increased demand for GMO corn, soy, cotton, canola, sugar beet and alfalfa crops, used to feed factory farm animals, to produce highly-subsidized yet inefficient biofuels and to make processed foods. The perpetual cycle of planting mono-crops, saturating the crops and fields with toxic chemicals, tilling them under and replanting them destroys the soil and degrades the land by depleting soil nutrients and causing erosion. Overgrazing pastures instead of managing livestock herds holistically, using a system of planned rotational grazing, is equally destructive.

Study: Organic Vs. Non-Organic Food

July 15, 2014 Newcastle University, www.ncl.ac.uk Create! Food and Agriculture, health, Organic

An international team of experts led by Newcastle University has shown that organic crops are up to 60% higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown ones. Analysing 343 studies into the compositional differences between organic and conventional crops, the team found that a switch to eating organic fruit, vegetable and cereals – and food made from them – would provide additional antioxidants equivalent to eating between 1-2 extra portions of fruit and vegetables a day. The study, published today in the prestigious British Journal of Nutrition, also shows significantly lower levels of toxic heavy metals in organic crops. Cadmium, which is one of only three metal contaminants along with lead and mercury for which the European Commission has set maximum permitted contamination levels in food, was found to be almost 50% lower in organic crops than conventionally-grown ones.

Do-It-Yourself Biodiversity

June 19, 2014 Terry Shistar, www.beyondpesticides.org Create! Biodiversity, DIY, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Gardening, Organic

Counteracting the threats to the biological communities that support life on Earth is a huge task, but there are also many ways in which we as individuals can make real contributions to preserving biodiversity. Conservation biologists have used the theory of island biogeography to develop strategies for preserving biodiversity. Small islands of habitat cannot support large predators, but they can provide refuges for smaller species, and many small islands can be strung together to support larger, mobile species. Almost all of us can help by creating islands of biodiversity wherever we live. Soil In land-based ecosystems, biodiversity begins with the soil. Recent science has shown that J.I. Rodale and other organic pioneers were right-- the soil is a living organism, and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides do kill the soil. The growth of all the plants we see above ground--from lettuce seedlings to redwood trees--results from a symbiosis between the plants and the fungi, bacteria, insects, and other soil-dwelling organisms. For a greater understanding of the microbial life in the soil, see Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis.

Lawsuit Challenges Vermont’s GMO Law

June 13, 2014 Nancy Remsen, www.usatoday.com Educate! GMOs, Organic

The statement from the Grocery Manufacturers Association summarizes the grievances of the four plaintiff organizations: GMA, the Snack Food Association, the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. "Act 120 imposes burdensome new speech requirements — and restrictions — that will affect, by Vermont's count, eight out of every ten foods at the grocery store." The statement from the Grocery Manufacturers Association summarizes the grievances of the four plaintiff organizations: GMA, the Snack Food Association, the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. "Act 120 imposes burdensome new speech requirements — and restrictions — that will affect, by Vermont's count, eight out of every ten foods at the grocery store,"The statement from the Grocery Manufacturers Association summarizes the grievances of the four plaintiff organizations: GMA, the Snack Food Association, the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. "Act 120 imposes burdensome new speech requirements — and restrictions — that will affect, by Vermont's count, eight out of every ten foods at the grocery store." The Vermont Right to Know GMOs Coalition, which lobbied for the law, argued that labeling would bring transparency to the information consumers would have about their food. "The people of Vermont have said loud and clear they have a right to know what is in their food," said Falko Schilling, consumer protection advocate with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Schilling said lawmakers determined there was a lack of consensus about the safety of genetically engineered foods, "so putting labels on is a reasonable and prudent thing so people can decide for themselves."

Organic Agriculture Attracts A New Generation Of Farmers

June 10, 2014 Ricardo Lopez, www.latimes.com Create! California, Food and Agriculture, Organic

By 9 a.m., Jack Motter had been planting peas for hours. He pushed a two-wheeled contraption that deposited a seed every few inches along neat rows at Ellwood Canyon Farms, just outside Santa Barbara. As clouds gathered overhead, he picked up the pace to avoid losing days of work to the fall rain. Timing can mean the difference between profit and loss for the 4-year-old farm. Motter and his business partner, Jeff Kramer, are part of a growing crop of farmers — many of them young — choosing to produce food without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. As consumers demand more fresh and local food grown with minimal environmental effects, a new generation has taken up organic farming. The two Brawley, Calif., natives, both 30, have learned that small-scale agriculture is neither easy nor lucrative. Their days on the 15-acre farm start at dawn and end with exhaustion.

Verdict: Kellog’s Cereal Isn’t ‘Natural’

May 29, 2014 Jill Ettinger, www.organicauthority.com Resist! Cereal, Food and Agriculture, Kellog's, Lawsuit, Organic

“All Natural” and “100% Natural” will no longer be seen on some of the popular Kellogg’s cereal brands, including Kashi and Bear Naked brands, the company announced after settling a class-action lawsuit for more than $5 million. The largest breakfast cereal manufacturer in the world faced a string of lawsuits in recent years, culminating into a single case in 2011 that cited consumer fraud and deception in labeling of its cereals as “natural” when in fact many contained synthetic and genetically modified ingredients, including pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium pantothenate or hexane-processed soy oil. According to Reuters, the settlement must be approved by “a federal judge in San Diego overseeing the case before the suit is dismissed.” In a statement released by Kellogg last week, company spokesperson Kris Charles said the brand’s Kashi and Bear Naked lines “provide comprehensive information about our foods to enable people to make well-informed choices.”

Super Creative Organic Gardens Around The World

May 27, 2014 Christina Sarich, www.nationofchange.org Create! Food and Agriculture, New Economy, Organic

Not only are people around the world capable of growing nutrient-dense, nourishing food that will feed their communities, even if they live in an urban setting, but they can also do it with élan. Some of the most creative urban gardening projects around the globe can inspire us to create our own green space in the city, or add luster to a space that’s already underway which just needs a little oomph. Here are some off-the-(biotech)-chain gardens that will get our creative juices flowing so that we can carry the dream of living pesticide and GMO-free, further: Everyone who has kept abreast of national news has heard of the urban blight that has devastated Detroit. This once burgeoning center of the auto-trade in America is now a sprawling concrete wasteland – or is it? Food Field is an urban farm in the middle of central Detroit. It grows heaping amounts of organic produce using permaculture. They even raise chickens and ducks, grow food utilizing aquaculture, raise honey bees, and have their own organic fruit orchard. This all happens on a piece of land that is smaller than that of many McMansions. Even in one of this country’s most economically depressed cities, where unemployment rates are currently swollen to 14-17 percent, people are flourishing growing their own organic food.

«1 2 3 »

Daily movement news and resources