Brattleboro Reformer – Brattleboro, VT By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN WESTMINSTER — About 40 years ago a group of farmers got together, high in a field in Westminster West, to pool their resources and buy some compost. The compost was made in Pennsylvania, by an Amish company that produced a chemical-free product known as “organic.” While the… Read more »
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Organic-Milk Fight Takes Aim at Grazing Time
Seattle Times By Melissa Allison, business reporter Anyone reading the label of an organic milk, butter or cheese container might get the impression the cows behind those products spend much of their time in verdant pastures. The labels often portray cows grazing on grassland, and studies show that consumers of organic milk products believe the… Read more »
Co-ops, Big Firms Vie For Organic Milk Supplies
Wall Street Journal By SARAH NASSAUER Last month, Peter Miller stood in a small agricultural extension office, pleading his case for more organic dairy farming to a few dozen farmers from New York’s Orange County. “We could use a lot more milk right now and we are looking for farmers in northeastern New York,” said… Read more »
Lawsuit Calls Genetically Engineered Alfalfa a Risk
Groups Challenge USDA Approval of First Perennial Gene Altered Crop CONTACT: Will Rostov, Center for Food Safety, Charles Margulis, Center for Food Safety, Kevin Dowling, Western Organization of Resource Councils, Jim Munsch, The Cornucopia Institute San Francisco, Calif. – Shortly after a government report cited problems with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) oversight of… Read more »
Don’t Ask How to Feed the 9 Billion
The New York Times by Mark Bittman At dinner with a friend the other night, I mentioned that I was giving a talk this week debunking the idea that we need to grow more food on a large scale so we can “feed the nine billion” — the anticipated global population by 2050. She looked at me,… Read more »
Another Score For Organically Grown Veggies
The Washington Post by Barbara Damrosch Amy’s Organic Garden Image Credit: USDA Watching the studies come out about the merits or demerits of organics is a little like watching World Cup soccer. A large study done at Stanford in 2012 claimed organic food to be no more nutritious than chemically grown. Score one for that side. But a… Read more »
The Realities of Starting a Farm
Cornucopia’s Take: Although the couple in this film are atypical of new farmers—they had enough resources to acquire land and a solid consultant—the documentary they created about their struggles to start an organic, biodynamic farm is an honest look at what it takes (and gives) to partner with land and animals. An L.A. couple left… Read more »
The Beauty of Compost
Rodale News by Matthew Benson Source: Joy Ito Healthy dirt forms the building blocks of a beautiful garden. The garden soil you begin with will most likely need to be amended before you plant out your precious seedlings. Even if your future garden site supports a lawn, it may not have the nutritional strength necessary… Read more »
Monarch Butterflies Dying — and Roundup Is a Suspect
The Des Moines Register by Mike Klein Credit: Susannah Rogers, USDA Forest Service The monarch butterfly weighs a fourth of a gram, yet migrates thousands of miles every September through Iowa to overwintering grounds in Mexico. The iconic orange-and-black butterfly marks changing seasons. Chasing it is a rite of Iowa early childhood and watching its… Read more »
Wendell Berry: A Strong Voice For Local Farming and the Land
Wendell Berry stands before his solar panels on his Kentucky farm Image credit: Guy Mendes Yale Environment 360 by Roger Cohn For six decades, writer Wendell Berry has spoken out in defense of local agriculture, rural communities, and the importance of caring for the land. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talks about… Read more »
