The Independent By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor Women who eat GM foods while pregnant risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests. The study – carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences – found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soya died in… Read more »
When it Pays to Buy Organic
Consumer Reports February 2006 Which apple? The decision doesn’t end once you’ve figured out whether to buy, say, the McIntosh or the Red Delicious. In many food stores across the country, you’re also faced with the more vexing question of buying organic or conventional, and not just at the apple bin. All kinds of organic… Read more »
Milk Money: Does Going Organic Pay Off?
By Candace Page Burlington Free Press Staff Writer (link no longer available) WEST SWANTON — Earl Fournier’s accountant tells him the profit from his 75 milk cows tripled — from $9,000 to about $30,000 — in 2004-2005, the first year he switched his Holsteins to producing organic milk. “The numbers don’t make you jump out… Read more »
Vermont to Invest in Future of Organic Farming
By Candace Page Burlington Free Press Staff Writer Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr says his department wants to begin making “cold calls” on some of the state’s small dairy farms, to see if their owners are interested in switching to organic milk. Far from being discouraged by a new study raising questions about the profitability of… Read more »
Organic Food: A Booming Industry in India and China
London: Organic food production is booming in China and India — which together host more than half the world’s farming households. A new study by the UN specialised agency on rural poverty, the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD), says organics can offer an effective route out of poverty for poor farmers, provided they… Read more »
First Organic Dairy Farm Established at Land-Grant University
University of New Hampshire Launches Teaching, Research Farm DURHAM, N.H., Dec. 6 (AScribe Newswire) — The University of New Hampshire will establish an organic dairy farm for research, education, and outreach, making it the nation’s first land-grant university to have an organic dairy farm. Londonderry, N.H. industry leader Stonyfield Farm has made a $200,000 leadership… Read more »
An Organic Cash Cow
The New York Times By KIM SEVERSON Alexis Gersten, a Long Island dentist, never thought about what she poured over her cereal until her son turned 1. “Having a new milk drinker, I sort of wanted to start him off on the right foot,” she said. Ms. Gersten worried about what synthetic growth hormones, pesticides… Read more »
An Organic Drift
The New York Times Editorial Organic food has become a very big business, with a 20 percent annual growth rate in sales in recent years. But popularity has come at a price. Ever since 2002, when the Department of Agriculture began its program of national organic certification, there has been a steady lobbying effort to… Read more »
What Is Organic? Powerful Players Want a Say
The New York Times By MELANIE WARNER Customers at McDonald’s restaurants in New England are about to get something a little different when they order coffee. Through a deal with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Newman’s Own, McDonald’s will soon be serving a coffee that comes from organic beans and is certified Fair Trade because… Read more »
Controversy Surrounds Organic Regs
The Capitol Press Friday, October 21, 2005 A loophole in the national organic standards that is allowing a handful of large dairies in arid parts of the West to produce milk labeled as “organic” with only token access to pasture needs to be closed, say many organic farmers and organics advocates. This spring, The Cornucopia… Read more »
