Cornucopia policy staff members attended the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) pre-meeting webinars on April 17 and 18, where the NOSB heard comments from the public. Our notes from this meeting are below. Wednesday, April 17 Fourteen NOSB members present: Source: Alan Clark, Flickr Harriet Behar (January 2016 – January 2020) – NOSB Chair Steve… Read more »
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Follow the Fall 2020 National Organic Standards Board Meeting Online
Join The Cornucopia Institute as we keep you informed via web updates and live tweets from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting online. We will be sharing the play by play of the meeting on October 28, 29, and 30 below and with our Twitter followers at #NOSB or by simply following our stream…. Read more »
Inexpensive Technology Can Spot Fake Organic Milk – Will the USDA Look?
Cornucopia’s Take: Spectroscopy offers hope for truly organic dairy farmers. It provides a fast and inexpensive way to show, scientifically, whether milk comes from cows pastured on grass. Cornucopia has, in the past, filed numerous complaints against “organic” livestock operations who are in our judgement flouting the organic pasture rules. This is based on flyover images… Read more »
‘Evangelist’ for Organics Going Against the Grain in Iowa
The New York Times By ALLISON WINTER of Greenwire SIOUX CITY, Iowa — In the midst of sprawling corn and soybean fields, industrial animal-processing plants and ethanol refineries, Woodbury County is charting an unusual course. It’s trying to go whole-hog into organic agriculture. “This is a totally new direction for us,” said Debi Durham, president… Read more »
Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food
Time Magazine By Bryan Walsh Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won’t bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste… Read more »
Health Advantages of Organic Beef
We’ve all been there. Faced with the range of beef choices available on the retail shelf, the simple act of deciding what’s for dinner turns into a rumination on the short- and long-term impact of our food choices. Add the steady chorus of marketing messaging embedded in your brain courtesy of Big Meat, and the… Read more »
Frack Water Considered for Irrigation and Drinking in New Mexico
Cornucopia’s Take: Fracking wastewater is notoriously polluted with radiation and numerous chemicals, many of which remain under the cloak of industry secrecy. In New Mexico, where water is scarce while oil and gas provide a significant part of the state’s funding, state officials are considering recycling frack water for use on crops and even in… Read more »
Will Wisconsin’s New Governor Address the Dairy Crisis?
Cornucopia’s Take: As a national farm policy group, we don’t universally track state and local political issues. But in the prime organic agricultural production states, like California and Wisconsin, we do pay attention. As an example, the green-light for “organic” factory dairies in Texas has just six operations in the Longhorn State producing 1.4 times… Read more »
Organic Industry Watchdog Response to USDA on Import Fraud
[Read the USDA’s Office of Inspector General review of the NOP’s oversight of imports.] The USDA’s National Organic Program, under increasing criticism regarding wholesale fraud in organics under their watch, today conducted a “virtual town hall” to present proposed rulemaking to address the improprieties. Port of Oakland Image source: Travis Leech For most of the… Read more »
The Farm Bill is Headed to Conference, Where Members of Congress Will Work to Combine the House and Senate Versions of the Bills
[This alert is over. President Trump signed the Farm Bill on December 20, 2018.] With Two Very Different Bills Hitting the Editing Desk, Congress Needs Your Continuing Input Update August 7, 2018 The House and Senate conference committee members have been appointed, and are now in recess. This is a very good time to intensify… Read more »
