I received a phone call this morning from Bill Welsh’s son Mike letting me know that he passed away last night. Bill, from Lansing, Iowa, was a pioneer in the organic farming and livestock in the Midwest. He certified his family’s Lansing, Iowa, farm organic back in 1980. The operation was the classic organic diversified… Read more »
Search Results for: GMO
Organic Food and a Healthier Future
The Organic Center Overweight, obesity and diabetes are collectively the nation’s number one public health problem. Effective interventions are urgently needed, especially among children and adolescents, in order to improve human well being and to slow, and hopefully soon, reduce growth in health care costs. Now, a new report from the Organic Center describes six… Read more »
Why You Should Care That 70% of Antibiotics Go Into Animal Feed
The Washington Post Wonkbook by Ezra Klein I don’t feel like talking about the election today. So let’s talk about something else. On Wednesday, the FDA finalized a plan to ask drug companies to “voluntarily” limit the use of certain antibiotics in animal feed. This might not seem like a huge deal to you. But… Read more »
Six “Organic” Dairies in Texas Outproduce 453 Organic Dairies in Wisconsin
Cornucopia’s Take: Dairies across the country, both conventional and organic, are struggling to keep their doors open, thanks to the current milk glut. Industrial-scale “organic” confinement operations are flooding the market with their suspect organic milk, slashing milk prices below what it costs truly organic operations to produce it. While consumers may simply see the… Read more »
Wisconsin has Grown Into a Hotbed of Organic Farming
History, geography both played a part in making the state No. 1 in the nation for organic dairy farms. Minneapolis Star Tribune By Jenna Ross TAYLOR, Wis. — The pink had disappeared from the darkening sky, but the barn on this dairy farm radiated a warm light. Inside, the brothers worked in silence — wiping,… Read more »
Officials Back Deep Cuts in Atlantic Cod Harvest to Save Industry
New York Times By Katharine Q. Seelye and Jess Bidgood PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Fishery management officials meeting here on Wednesday voted to impose drastic new cuts to the commercial harvest of cod along the Atlantic coast, arguing that the only way to save the centuries-old cod fishing industry was to sharply limit it. In the… Read more »
Organic Farming More Popular In Ore., NW Schools
Organic Food News Today By STEVE BROWN, The Associated Press SALEM, Ore. – Organic studies haven’t traditionally been offered at land-grant universities, but these aren’t conventional ag students. Aspiring farmers arriving on campus these days may come from big cities in addition to rural areas, and some are as interested in organic and small-scale agriculture… Read more »
Don’t Let Factory Farms Undermine the Organic Label
Your voice is needed by midnight ET on November 10, 2022 (Please note the deadline extension. While this allows more time for consumer and retailer support, industry will take full advantage of this opportunity. Your comment is more important than ever! ) USDA has published the long-awaited Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards (OLPS) rule. We… Read more »
Cross-Bred Crops Get Fit Faster
Genetic engineering lags behind conventional breeding in efforts to create drought-resistant maize. Nature by Natasha Gilbert Credit: Billy Hathorn Old-fashioned breeding techniques seem to be leading genetic modification in a race to develop crops that can withstand drought and poor soils. As the climate warms and rainfall becomes more erratic, farmers worldwide will increasingly need… Read more »
Growing Organic Potatoes is More Work But Has More Worth
Merced Sun Star (CA) By Joshua Emerson Smith When Antonio Vieira Thomas proposed to sell his sweet potato business in 1977 to his nephew Manuel, it was a modest operation in downtown Livingston. Manuel Vieira, now 67, remembers driving a tractor on his uncle’s farm, which had one building and one packing line. “I was… Read more »
