tagged w/ Organic Farming
-
With his long black plastic gumboots, overalls and cap, Alamin Ibrahim really looks the part of a farmer leaving his shamba (field) in the Kenyan countryside. Once a car-jacker, he has become a farmer, while the smallholding he works beside a railway line previously used as a tip for the slums of Kibera, Nairobi, produces organic vegetables. Or something very close.
Inside the greenhouse patched together with plastic sheeting, rows of onions and chilli peppers run alongside lines of tender-green spinach, just beginning to sprout. Pests devoured the most recent cabbage crop. This time the onions and chilli are supposed to keep them at bay.
As for the soil, it is still a bit too acidic. "There were quite a lot of car batteries in the tip, so of course there was spillage and the soil is still full of the stuff," Ibrahim explains. Organic farming in Kibera – with neither chemical fertilisers nor pesticides – is still in its early days.
Ten years ago Ibrahim realised he either had to leave his gang, the G Unit, or accept the likelihood of a premature death. "One day I sat down and looked at a photo taken a few years earlier with my mates. They were all dead, most of them shot down by the police," he says. So he had to find some way out. "Our main activity was car-jacking on Mbagathi Way [a major thoroughfare nearby]. In Kibera itself it was mainly petty thieving and hold-ups. If you'd come this way at the time, we'd have stripped you bare."
So a bunch of gang members who did not want to end up full of lead in a ditch decided to go straight, in so far as possible, and set up an organisation to survive in the slum. It evolved into the Youth Reform Self Help Group. They started collecting rubbish, selling plastic to "brokers" who bought recyclable waste.
Then they got hold of a 2,000-litre water tank and began selling water in jerrycans. Ibrahim says: "We did our own market research and noticed there were no latrines, no way of getting a wash, so we saved up and built proper facilities."
The wash-house seems a little like exploiting misery, but there is paper in the toilets, soap in the showers and "security" throughout, laid on by YRSHG members (which means you will not have all your gear stolen while under the shower) and the whole thing only costs five cents a time.
This was soon followed by a small operation renting plastic chairs, much in demand in Kibera. In the makeshift shacks there are never enough seats when people drop in or on special occasions. Another lucrative activity is selling wooden posts, to build the framework of new homes.
The idea of organic farming came later, in the wake of the violence sparked by the presidential election in December 2007. Kibera erupted and even the rails on the nearby track were torn up to paralyse traffic.
When calm was finally restored, the YRSHG decided to clean up the slum's perimeter and then branch out into organic food, in the hope that they could sell their produce to a specialist network. In fact the main buyers are ordinary local people, but the project is still going.
More at the linkWith his long black plastic gumboots, overalls and cap, Alamin Ibrahim really looks... more
-
-
Demonstrating his ignorance of core values enshrined in common law and what Judge Cooley defined as the “right to be left alone” from overly pernicious government interference, a Circuit Court judge in Wisconsin has ruled that people who consume raw milk have no right to do so.
In response to a request from the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund for clarification in a court case on the issue, Judge Patrick J. Fielder wrote that the “court is unwilling to declare that there is a fundamental right to consume the food of one’s choice without first being presented with significantly more developed arguments on both sides of the issue.”
According to Fielder, citizens must get permission from the state before deciding what they can or cannot eat or drink....more
http://www.factoverfiction.com/article/4400Demonstrating his ignorance of core values enshrined in common law and what Judge... more
-
-
always fresh. never frozen.
-
-
Washington, D.C. (September 19, 2011) The highly anticipated report released today by the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) reveals extensive scientific support for the conclusion that organic farming practices are overwhelmingly beneficial for consumers, farmers, the economy, and the environment. Further, it highlights the urgent need for more research to address an expanding market.
“Our data will provide even more impetus for Congress to advance organic farming initiatives in the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill and beyond,” said Maureen Wilmot, OFRF Executive Director. “To date, only modest public resources have been directed toward funding and support of programs for organic farming. We would like to see that change immediately.”
The Organic Farming for Health and Prosperity report is being presented today at the National Press Club at 9 a.m. The report’s executive summary is available at http://ofrf.org/publications/OrganicFarmingforHealthandProsperity.pdf.
Wilmot, and other top industry authorities on organic farming, point to the Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Industry Survey, which shows significant annual industry growth every year since 1997. Today’s organic food and textile market accounts for $29 billion in sales.
In addition, by 2015, a conservative estimate projects the need for 42,000 organic farmers to meet increasing market demand. Today, the industry is serviced by a mere 14,500 certified organic farmers who struggle with extraordinary production, information, and economic barriers.
With help from lawmakers, Wilmot said she hopes to build momentum for policymaking and programs that will fund further research, ensure fair and appropriate risk management tools, provide coverage for product contamination, and create a robust organic transition assistance program for future organic farmers.
More at the linkWashington, D.C. (September 19, 2011) The highly anticipated report released today by... more
-
-
They’re Growing Nationally, but Federal Policies Favoring Industrial Agriculture Hold Them Back
Over the last several decades, thousands of farmers markets have been popping up in cities and towns across the country, benefiting local farmers, consumers and economies, but they could be doing a lot better, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). What’s holding farmers markets back? Federal policies that favor industrial agriculture at their expense.
“On the whole, farmers markets have seen exceptional growth, providing local communities with fresh food direct from the farm,” said Jeffrey O’Hara, the author of the report and an economist with UCS’s Food and Environment Program. “But our federal food policies are working against them. If the U.S. government diverted just a small amount of the massive subsidies it lavishes on industrial agriculture to support these markets and small local farmers, it would not only improve American diets, it would generate tens of thousands of new jobs.”
UCS released the report just a few days before the 12th annual U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Farmers Market Week, which starts on Sunday, August 7. According to the report, “Market Forces: Creating Jobs through Public Investment in Local and Regional Food Systems,” the number of farmers markets nationwide more than doubled between 2000 and 2010 jumping from 2,863 to 6,132, and now more than 100,000 farms sell food directly to local consumers.
All that growth happened with relatively little help. Last year, for example, the USDA spent $13.725 billion in commodity, crop insurance, and supplemental disaster assistance payments mostly to support large industrial farms, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The amount the agency spent that year to support local and regional food system farmers? Less than $100 million, according to USDA data.
In 2007, the most recent USDA figure, direct agricultural product sales amounted to a $1.2 billion-a-year business, and most of that money recirculates locally. “The fact that farmers are selling directly to the people who live nearby means that sales revenue stays local,” O’Hara said. “That helps stabilize local economies.”
Keeping revenues local also can mean more job opportunities. Last summer, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked Congress to set a goal in the 2012 Farm Bill of helping at least 100,000 Americans to become farmers by, among other things, providing entrepreneurial training and support for farmers markets. O’Hara’s report takes up Vilsack’s challenge and argues that supporting local and regional food system expansion is central to meeting that goal.
In the report, O’Hara identified a number of initiatives the federal government could take to encourage new farmers and the growth of farmers markets in the upcoming Farm Bill. For example, the report called on Congress to:
•support the development of local food markets, including farmers markets and farm-to-school programs, which can stabilize community-supported markets and create permanent jobs. For example, the report found that the Farmers Market Promotion Program could create as many as 13,500 jobs nationally over a five-year period, if reauthorized, by providing modest funding for 100 to 500 farmers markets per year.
•level the playing field for farmers in rural regions by investing in infrastructure, such as meat-processing or dairy-bottling facilities, which would help meat, dairy and other farmers produce and market their products to consumers more efficiently. These investments could foster competition in food markets, increase product choice for consumers, and generate jobs in the community.
•allow low-income residents to redeem food nutrition subsidies at local food markets to help them afford fresh fruits and vegetables. Currently, not all markets are able to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
“Farmers at local markets are a new variety of innovative entrepreneurs, and we need to nurture them,” said O’Hara. “Supporting these farmers should be a Farm Bill priority.”
More at the link.They’re Growing Nationally, but Federal Policies Favoring Industrial Agriculture... more
-
-
A little girl's science experiment turns into a lesson about organic vs supermarket veg, it's also adorable.
Source: BuzzfeedA little girl's science experiment turns into a lesson about organic vs... more
-
-
-
At the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting this year, Bob Stallman, the group’s president, lashed out at “self-appointed food elitists” who are “hell-bent on misleading consumers.” His target was the growing movement that calls for sustainable farming practices and questions the basic tenets of large-scale industrial agriculture in America.
The “elitist” epithet is a familiar line of attack. In the decade since my book “Fast Food Nation” was published, I’ve been called not only an elitist, but also a socialist, a communist and un-American. In 2009, the documentary “Food, Inc.,” directed by Robby Kenner, was described as “elitist foodie propaganda” by a prominent corporate lobbyist. Nutritionist Marion Nestle has been called a “food fascist,” while an attempt was recently made to cancel a university appearance by Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” who was accused of being an “anti-agricultural” elitist by a wealthy donor.
This name-calling is a form of misdirection, an attempt to evade a serious debate about U.S. agricultural policies. And it gets the elitism charge precisely backward. America’s current system of food production — overly centralized and industrialized, overly controlled by a handful of companies, overly reliant on monocultures, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, chemical additives, genetically modified organisms, factory farms, government subsidies and fossil fuels — is profoundly undemocratic. It is one more sign of how the few now rule the many. And it’s inflicting tremendous harm on American farmers, workers and consumers.
During the past 40 years, our food system has changed more than in the previous 40,000 years. Genetically modified corn and soybeans, cloned animals, McNuggets — none of these technological marvels existed in 1970. The concentrated economic power now prevalent in U.S. agriculture didn’t exist, either. For example, in 1970 the four largest meatpacking companies slaughtered about 21 percent of America’s cattle; today the four largest companies slaughter about 85 percent. The beef industry is more concentrated now than it was in 1906, when Upton Sinclair published “The Jungle” and criticized the unchecked power of the “Beef Trust.” The markets for pork, poultry, grain, farm chemicals and seeds have also become highly concentrated.
America’s ranchers and farmers are suffering from this lack of competition for their goods. In 1970, farmers received about 32 cents for every consumer dollar spent on food; today they get about 16 cents. The average farm household now earns about 87 percent of its income from non-farm sources.
While small farmers and their families have been forced to take second jobs just to stay on their land, wealthy farmers have received substantial help from the federal government. Between 1995 and 2009, about $250 billion in federal subsidies was given directly to American farmers — and about three-quarters of that money was given to the wealthiest 10 percent. Those are the farmers whom the Farm Bureau represents, the ones attacking “big government” and calling the sustainability movement elitist.
cont.At the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting this year, Bob Stallman,... more
-
-
Organic farming not only heals the Earth, it is healing the souls of those who need it most.
Excerpt:
The helicopters heard overhead are from Camp Pendleton, just over the hill from this 3-acre farm. Today, Archipley is training vets and active duty personnel returning to civilian life for careers in organic farming. It's not an easy job, he says, but veterans are up to the task.
Mr. ARCHIPLEY: We're a type of population that needs more than just a dollar. We need a purpose, and this is one way to give us purpose.
HILLARD: The six-week course called Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training has been approved by Camp Pendleton's Transition Assistance Program. One of the new students, veteran Ron Vaughn(ph) is taking great care to harvest a live bouquet of basil in one of the farm's greenhouses.
Mr. RON VAUGHN: You can plant this right in the water, and it will still keep growing.
HILLARD: The Marine sergeant did two tours in Iraq and was wounded in Fallujah. And the farm, Vaughn says, has given him a new sense of purpose.
Mr. VAUGHN: I went in the Marine Corps so I could serve my country, you know? Now that I've gotten out, guess what? I still want to serve, and you go small-scale organic farming, that is me being able to serve the community.
HILLARD: Vaughn was able to attend this program with a scholarship from the Farmer-Veteran Coalition. Michael O'Gorman is a longtime farmer and the organization's executive director.
Mr. MICHAEL O'GORMAN (Executive Director, Farmer-Veteran Coalition): And the more we work with the veterans and the more we work in this process, the more we understand that there's healing in being needed.
HILLARD: O'Gorman says his organization works with farmers across the country.
Mr. O'GORMAN: Our goal is to mobilize this entire community, then welcome with open arms the returning veterans and look to them for a source of new, young talent going into our industry.
HILLARD: One of those new farmers may be Cory Pollard. Growing up in San Diego, he enlisted in the Marine shortly after high school. He served three tours in Iraq as a rifleman. Today, he's cradling a seedling in his hands.
Mr. CORY POLLARD: Before I got here, I didn't know what chard was, didn't know what kale was, but, you know, nonetheless, I've been here and I never thought I would see myself farming.
HILLARD: Working alongside Pollard in the greenhouse is 26-year-old Carlos Rivera. Both men went to Camp Pendleton and ended up serving in Iraq together. After leaving the Marines, Rivera says he got a job in the city, but it stressed him out.
Mr. CARLOS RIVERA: This is different. You're working outdoors and working with other vets. And I have my own little garden out there in my patio where I live. And I love going out here.
HILLARD: He says it's his dream to one day have his own small farm, something like what he has found here.
Mr. RIVERA: The sounds of trees and the birds singing and leaves falling down.
HILLARD: Rivera has been working on the farm for a year. He says he's not only found the job he loves, but a certain peace of mind. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.Organic farming not only heals the Earth, it is healing the souls of those who need it... more
-
-
If you eat organic foods, there's a good chance it started here, at High Mowing Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont. OneDegreeTV visits Tom Stearns to discuss the process of cultivating, selecting and breeding better organic seeds, and how he and others in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom are helping to change the way we eat.If you eat organic foods, there's a good chance it started here, at High Mowing... more
-
-
Is organic food really more expensive than non-organic? Not if you factor in associated costs of the industrial food complex (health care costs related to poor diet, cost of fossil fuels for massive distribution networks...). OneDegreeTV visits Tom Stearns to discuss the "real cost of better foods."
If you're eating organic food in the U.S., there's a good chance it started here, at High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont.Is organic food really more expensive than non-organic? Not if you factor in... more
-
-
"Even as traditional environmentalism struggles, another movement is rising in its place, aligning consumers, producers, the media and even politicians. It's the food movement, and if it continues to grow it may be able to create just the sort of political and social transformation that environmentalists have failed to achieve in recent years.
That would mean not only changing the way Americans eat and the way they farm — away from industrialized, cheap calories and toward more organic, small-scale production, with plenty of fruits and vegetables — but also altering the way we work and relate to one another. To its most ardent adherents, the food movement isn't just about reform
— it's about revolution."
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2049255,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular"Even as traditional environmentalism struggles, another movement is rising in... more
-
-
A major battle over Roundup Ready (RR) genetically modified alfalfa has emerged because it represents a huge contamination threat to organic and conventional agriculture, and opponents don't believe USDA's proposed plan to allow it to be grown with restrictions will work.
"More problematic"
Alfalfa is grown on 22 million acres in the US, making it the fourth major crop after corn, soybeans, and cotton.
Organic farmers use alfalfa extensively. "Alfalfa is a feed staple for all organic livestock, and the most common legume in organic crop rotations in northern states," says Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator at the University of Minnesota.
GM alfalfa is a huge threat because it is pollinated by bees and other insects that travel great distances and grows wild near roads, ditches, and yards. "You don't have that with corn, soybeans, or cotton," says Bill Freese, senior policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety. "Those things make it more problematic."
According to a paper by Geertson Seed Farms, one of the biggest potential problems is that GM alfalfa will cross pollinate with wild alfalfa, which will become the dominant weed variety because it has the Roundup Ready herbicide tolerant trait. Weedy GM alfalfa will in turn become a source of pollen and seed that will contaminate conventional and organic alfalfa fields.
"GM alfalfa will be everywhere," says Dag Falck, organic program manager at Nature's Path Foods.
5-mile buffer
USDA's Environment Impact Statement proposes an option whereby RR alfalfa would be grown with restrictions. The EIS lists production states according to three tiers. In 27 Tier 1 states, which include most eastern and southern states where no commercial alfalfa is grown, there would be no restrictions on RR plantings. RR alfalfa seed production would be limited in 14 Tier II and nine Tier III states where farmers must maintain isolation distances of five miles between GM and non-GMO alfalfa. Tier II states, such as Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, are primarily in the Midwest and Tier III states, such as Arizona, California, Oregon, and Wyoming, are in the West.
EIS ignores roundup weed resistance, impacts on honey
snip
Freese and others question the need for RR alfalfa. "Only 7% of alfalfa is treated with herbicides. It grows so densely that it crowds out weeds."
Approving RR alfalfa, he says, will make it a "chemical dependent crop."
The EIS also ignores the impact on honey, and the fact that bees will gather nectar from GM alfalfa plants and convert into honey. "This is another entry point for GMOs (into foods)," says Riddle.A major battle over Roundup Ready (RR) genetically modified alfalfa has emerged... more
-
-
A well written piece by Paul Krugman appeared in the NY Times yesterday that gives a truthful view on the current protests we are seeing in relation to food prices and world weather events and the effects of climate change. I have been reporting and writing about sustainable agriculture here for a couple of years now primarily in regards to the effects of climate, speculation, world policy regarding loans and food grown for export, types of sustainable agricultural practices, seed patents and the effects of monoculture GMOs on the world's economy, health, environment and food sovereignty.
It is no overstatement to state that we are in a climate/food crisis. Recent events in Australia, Russia, China, Africa and Latin America for example have not only been a part of rising prices but also in giving us a glimpse of what life will be like in a warming world. Agriculture, its cultivation, its very existence is under threat by an ongoing assault of erratic and intensifiying weather/climate events, pesticides, expansive and destructive industrial agricultural policies and practices that see more land going to growing non food items, lack of food access and the effects of GMOs and the transgenic contamination they bring which has already affected not only the traditional corn varieties of Mexico's culture and livelihood, but crops around the world which works against what we must now be doing to save our agriculture.
As we look to the future our ability to provide for our needs is being made much harder by our own actions. As we see our population approaching a projected 9 billion within the next several decades we must begin to seriously understand the role our actions play in the world we see before us, and the world we will leave successive generations. The ability to feed ourselves and plant seeds that preserve our global biodiversity is being attacked by those who would profit from both their ownership and their demise.
In this century there will be no greater challenge to our species than working to preserve the planet that provides our food, our water, and our lives. What Mr. Krugman states here is not to be taken lightly. Climate change is indeed upon us, and its reach goes far beyond the political differences that have kept this urgent crisis from being faced as it must be now. The protests in Egypt and around the world are warning signs as well as hopeful signs. If we do not deal with the root causes of this crisis including and most importantly climate change, the world of our making will not be one we will be able to inhabit. This does come down to the very seeds we plant in our soils, and in our consciences.
http://water-is-life.blogspot.com/2011/02/droughts-floods-and-food.html
___
Excerpt by Mr, Krugman:
"While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning."A well written piece by Paul Krugman appeared in the NY Times yesterday that gives a... more
-
-
-
"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.
In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.
In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."
In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."
Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?
According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.
WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.
From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.
Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural" Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs
The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM's $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called "natural" products (no doubt WFM's lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they're all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.
Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as "natural."
Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called "natural" food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.
more at
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22449.cfm"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops... more
-
-
ROGUE AGENCY CHOOSES “BUSINESS AS USUAL” OVER SOUND SCIENCE
CENTER ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE LEGAL CHALLENGE TO USDA’S FLAWED ASSESSMENT
The Center for Food Safety criticized the announcement today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that it will once again allow unlimited, nation-wide commercial planting of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa, despite the many risks to organic and conventional farmers USDA acknowledged in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). On a call today with stakeholders, Secretary Vilsack reiterated the concerns surrounding purity and access to non-GE seed, yet the Agency’s decision still places the entire burden for preventing contamination on non-GE farmers, with no protections for food producers, consumers and exporters.
“We’re disappointed with USDA’s decision and we will be back in court representing the interest of farmers, preservation of the environment, and consumer choice” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director for the Center for Food Safety. “USDA has become a rogue agency in its regulation of biotech crops and its decision to appease the few companies who seek to benefit from this technology comes despite increasing evidence that GE alfalfa will threaten the rights of farmers and consumers, as well as damage the environment.”
On Monday, the Center sent an open letter to Secretary Vilsack calling on USDA to base its decision on sound science and the interests of farmers, and to avoid rushing the process to meet the marketing timelines or sales targets of Monsanto, Forage Genetics or other entities.
CFS also addressed several key points that were not properly assessed in the FEIS, among them were:
•Liability, Implementation and Oversight — Citing over 200 past contamination episodes that have cost farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales, CFS demands that liability for financial losses incurred by farmers due to transgenic contamination be assigned to the crop developers. CFS also calls on USDA to take a more active oversight role to ensure that any stewardship plans are properly implemented and enforced.
•Roundup Ready alfalfa will substantially increase herbicide use – USDA’s assessment misrepresented conventional alfalfa as utilizing more herbicides than it does, which in turn provided a false rationale for introducing herbicide-promoting Roundup Ready alfalfa. In fact, USDA’s own data shows that just 7% of alfalfa hay acres are treated with herbicides. USDA’s projections in the FEIS show that substantial adoption of Roundup Ready alfalfa would trigger large increases in herbicide use of up to 23 million lbs. per year.
•Harms from glyphosate-resistant weeds – USDA’s sloppy and unscientific treatment of glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds ignored the significant contribution that RR alfalfa could make to their rapid evolution. USDA failed to analyze how GR weeds fostered by currently grown RR crops are increasing herbicide use; spurring more use of soil-eroding tillage; and reducing farmer income through increased weed control costs, an essential baseline analysis.
“We in the farm sector are dissatisfied but not surprised at the lack of courage from USDA to stop Roundup Ready alfalfa and defend family farmers,” said Pat Trask, conventional alfalfa grower and plaintiff in the alfalfa litigation.
The FEIS comes in response to a 2007 lawsuit brought by CFS, in which a federal court ruled that the USDA’s approval of GE alfalfa violated environmental laws by failing to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa, the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds, and increased use of glyphosate herbicide, sold by Monsanto as Roundup. The Court banned new plantings of GE alfalfa until USDA completed a more comprehensive assessment of these impacts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice affirmed the national ban on GE alfalfa planting. In June 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ban on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Alfalfa until and unless future deregulation occurs.
“Last spring more than 200,000 people submitted comments to the USDA highly critical of the substance and conclusions of its Draft EIS on GE Alfalfa,” said Kimbrell. “Clearly the USDA was not listening to the public or farmers but rather to just a handful of corporations.”ROGUE AGENCY CHOOSES “BUSINESS AS USUAL” OVER SOUND SCIENCE
CENTER... more
-
-
An organic farmer in the Great Southern says he will sue the owner of a neighbouring farm, after being stripped of his organic certification because genetically modified canola was found on his property.
Kojonup farmer Steven Marsh alleges the GM material blew in from a neighbouring property belonging to Michael Baxter.
Mr Marsh says he will lose a significant amount of income without his organic certification.
"Clearly I'm facing losses because I've lost my premiums on those crops and products I produce," he said.
"How long those seeds are going to be in that ground and viable now because they are just everywhere, we've got to ascertain."
He says he has been left with no option but to take legal action.
"Nobody enjoys pursuing their neighbour but what do we do?" he said.
Mr Marsh's lawyer says the damage bill could reach millions of dollars.
Mr Baxter has vowed to defend the allegation and says he will have the backing of multinational biotechnology company Monsanto, which certified his GM crop.
Support
Western Australia's organic farming community has rallied behind Mr Marsh.
The state president of the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Kim Hack, said previously that Mr Marsh has the support of many farmers across the state.
"We're going to back him all the way and he's being backed up by conventional farmers as well," he said.
The Network of Concerned Farmers' Julie Newman also said previously that this case highlighted that GM farmers could face legal action if neighbouring properties are contaminated.
Ms Newman said the State Government had failed to listen to calls for a risk management strategy.
"The GM farmer should be worried because they are ultimately liable and this is an avenue where the non-GM farmer can say right we'll follow this example and we'll do the same and it could be a class action if you're not sure who causes it," she said.
The Agriculture Minister Terry Redman said earlier the government was working with Mr Marsh to try to regain his organic status.
He said while he is confident the incident is a one-off, the department would look at measures to prevent a repeat.
Mr Redman said there are no plans to reinstate a ban on the growing of GM canola.An organic farmer in the Great Southern says he will sue the owner of a neighbouring... more
-
-
Hemp History Week is about education and it's also about political action. We hope to generate 25,000 letters and emails addressed to President Obama and Attorney General Holder.
Please get involved today by taking the following quick and easy actions:
Send a Virtual Postcard to President Obama and Attorney General Holder with Vote Hemp's email system.
Write a letter or email to your representatives asking them to support hemp farming.Hemp History Week is about education and it's also about political action. We... more
-
-
http;//theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/12/a-visit-from-maines-organic-gardening-guru/68586
Yale's Timothy Dwight common room is packed. The room quiets down, and a couple hundred Ivy affiliates surrender their ears ... to a farmer.
The man, the farmer, the legend, is Eliot Coleman, educator, advocate of Four Seasons Farming (a year-round farming philosophy of his own creation), and author of several seminal books on organic farming. For nearly 40 years, Coleman has championed the organic farming cause, testing his methods on one and a half acres of the very successful Four Seasons Farm, on his property in Maine.
"Of course organic farming can feed the world," Coleman said. The audience was dumbstruck.Coleman began by explaining that it was his taste for adventure that got him into farming. In his mid-twenties, Coleman was hiking, trekking, and climbing mountains, hauling a 90-pound bag of gear, venturing into nature for three or four weeks at a time: "It was a heck of a lot harder than farming," he said. Coleman defines farming as a socially responsible adventure; the best adventure he has had so far, with the decades of dedication to the cause a hard-hitting testament to that fact.
In addition to farming and adventure, Coleman loves reading—a combination that birthed the success of his farming practice. Coleman briefed us on his story: he was a "kid from New Jersey" who started out at Williams College as a geology major, ending up with a master's in Spanish literature, with absolutely no background in agriculture. Apart from having a sense of adventure, and paying attention to the systems already present in nature (a skill that he learned while hiking and mountain-climbing), Coleman got started in agriculture by reading old gardening books from the 1800s, to learn how people grew crops before pesticides and fertilizer. "I'm a Jeffersonian farmer," Coleman said, "I read things." What he learned, apparently, is alarmingly simple: You just have to grow them correctly.
Coleman explained that he utilizes a system of crop rotations based on regular soil amendments, and he uses the presence of pests to gauge if he is growing correctly: "Pests are the best Professors of Agriculture," he said. He began to wax lyrical about nature, the force that is his second love (after his longtime wife, Barbara Damrosch, a renowned horticulturalist and author, who was seated in the front row).
"Nature is the most elegantly designed system," Coleman said, going on to propose his theory that nature's "flaws" are actually in man's understanding of nature, not in nature herself. I began to get a sense of the greater mythology that governs Coleman's practice. It seemed that if only we work with nature, instead of trying to control her, then we, too, could match the success of Coleman's approach. "This mountain doesn't have a top!" he exclaimed, reminding us that there is always more to learn.
Coleman segued to the heart of his story: He told us that he turned part of his 40 acres of rocky, woody land, with an initial soil pH of 4.3, in the harsh conditions of Maine, into a 1½ acre farm that yields $120,000 worth of produce a year. "Of course organic farming can feed the world," Coleman said. The audience was dumbstruck; it was almost as if Coleman was responding to that feeling in the room when he said, "The word 'impossible' scares people off of things that if they tried, they'd realize weren't so impossible."
cont.http;//theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/12/a-visit-from-maines-organic-gardening-guru/... more
-
