The New York Times By ANDREW POLLACK To Jody Herr, it was a telltale sign that one of his tomato fields had been poisoned by 2,4-D, the powerful herbicide that was an ingredient in Agent Orange, the Vietnam War defoliant. “The leaves had curled and the plants were kind of twisting rather than growing straight,”… Read more »
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Farming the Future
We’ve been waiting 32 years for the state to map and protect Hawai‘i’s Important Agricultural Lands. The moment may be at hand. Honolulu Weekly By Ragnar Carlson Hawaii ‘78 The 1978 Constitutional Convention was the most significant moment in Hawaii politics since statehood. Among other sweeping reforms–the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the… Read more »
New USDA Rules Establish Strong Organic Standards for Pasture and Livestock
Family Farmers Call Rule a Victory for Integrity of Organic Food and Agriculture Swift and Judicious Enforcement of Abuses Now Expected by Obama Administration WASHINGTON, DC — After over 10 years of lobbying, family farmers across the country, who produce organic milk, are celebrating the release of strict new USDA regulations that establish distinct benchmarks… Read more »
Behind Mass Die-Offs, Pesticides Lurk as Culprit
In the past dozen years, three new diseases have decimated populations of amphibians, honeybees, and — most recently — bats. Increasingly, scientists suspect that low-level exposure to pesticides could be contributing to this rash of epidemics. Environment 360 by Sonia Shah Ever since Olga Owen Huckins shared the spectacle of a yard full of dead,… Read more »
Giant Organic Livestock Operation Decertified by USDA
Federal Organic Enforcement Hammer Falls Hard to Protect Farmers/Consumers WASHINGTON, DC: In an investigation and legal case that dragged on for almost four years, one of the largest organic cattle producers in the United States, Promiseland Livestock, LLC, was suspended from organic commerce, along with its owner and key employees, for four years. The penalty… Read more »
Big Food vs. Big Insurance
New York Times Op-Ed Contributor By MICHAEL POLLAN Berkeley, Calif. — To listen to President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night, or to just about anyone else in the health care debate, you would think that the biggest problem with health care in America is the system itself — perverse incentives, inefficiencies, unnecessary tests and procedures,… Read more »
Toxic Melamine Is Suspected In A Seafood From China
Industry experts and businesspeople in China say that the industrial chemical has been routinely added to fish and animal feed to artificially boost protein readings. LA Times By Don Lee and Tiffany Hsu Reporting from Los Angeles and Shanghai — Melamine in Chinese-produced milk powder has sickened hundreds of thousands of children and added to… Read more »
Harmful Pesticides Found in Everyday Food Products
Mercer Island children tested in yearlong study Seattle Post-Intelligencer By Andrew Schneider P-I Senior Correspondent Government promises to rid the nation’s food supply of brain-damaging pesticides aren’t doing the job, according to the results of a yearlong study that carefully monitored the diets of a group of local children. The peer-reviewed study found that the… Read more »
A Shorter Link Between the Farm And Dinner Plate
Some Restaurants, Grocers Prefer Food Grown Locally Washington Post By Alejandro Lazo American Flatbread in Ashburn sits a few turns off the Dulles Greenway on the cusp of burgeoning suburbia. Parked in a strip shopping center behind a McDonald’s and sharing a wall with a Glory Days Grill, this is an unlikely place to find… Read more »
Is This the End of Organic Coffee?
Thanks to a recent hush-hush USDA ruling, your clean-conscience, fair-trade, organic latte may soon be a thing of the past Salon By Samuel Fromartz Enjoy your organic coffee now, while it’s hot — because it may not be around for long. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly released a ruling that alarmed organic… Read more »
