The Salt – NPR by Dan Charles Source: Martin LaBar Nearly every plant that we now depend on for food — from wheat to beans to tomatoes — comes from ancestors that once grew wild on hills and in forests. In most cases, we don’t know who, exactly, tamed those plants. We don’t know which… Read more »

Denver Post By Claire Martin Want to get fitter and smarter during a vacation, and save money on food and lodging? Try WWOOFing. Many adventurous travelers familiar with WWOOF — Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms — know it as a network pairing volunteers with organic farmers throughout the world. In exchange for labor, volunteers get… Read more »

New York Times By Patricia Leigh Brown VALLEY CENTER, Calif. — On an organic farm here in avocado country, a group of young Marines, veterans and Army reservists listened intently to an old hand from the front lines. “Think of it in military terms,” he told the young recruits, some just back from Iraq or… Read more »

The No Organic Checkoff Coalition by Kate Mendenhall ([email protected]) and Ed Maltby ([email protected]) Source: Dave Parker Organic Farmer Opposition Surpasses The Organic Trade Association’s Farmer Support for Organic Checkoff More organic farmers now oppose the proposed Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) organic checkoff than support it; the No Organic Checkoff Coalition asks USDA to close the proposed… Read more »

Rodale’s Organic Life by Eesther Crain Share this with friends and family that are still on the fence. Source: Natalie Maynor Ever since the USDA Organic label began showing up on some food labels in the early 2000s, a debate has raged over whether crops grown without chemical additives and fertilizers rack up more nutrition than… Read more »

Pesticide Action Network by Paul Towers Image courtesy of Lars Plougmann Today the US Department of Agriculture granted Dow AgroSciences approval of its controversial new herbicide-resistant, genetically engineered corn and soybean seeds known as Enlist. The seeds have been engineered to withstand applications of the toxic herbicide, 2,4-D. Using Dow AgroScience’s projections in its final report, USDA… Read more »

DailyRecord (N.J.) By Michele S. Byers Innovation in farming is nothing new in this state we’re in. But a new program to help aspiring farmers succeed and gain access to farmlands is another New Jersey innovation. The “incubator farm” program created by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ) gives beginning farmers —… Read more »

The Oregonian By Elizabeth Case As the estimate of dead bees rose to 50,000, the Oregon Department of Agriculture confirmed the insecticide Safari caused the deaths in a Wilsonville earlier this week. A landscaping company sprayed 55 linden trees in a Target parking lot to control for aphids, said Dan Hilburn, the plants division director… Read more »

Imperial Valley News By Anita Brown, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Sacramento, California – Many organic farmers have dreams of a conservation project they would love to tackle: a multi-purpose hedgerow; an efficient, water-saving irrigation system; a comprehensive plan to build organic matter; a hoop house to extend the local growing season. But the day-to-day… Read more »