Woolworths Supermarkets are a common site Down Under, where locals call them Woolies. They are the biggest grocery realtor in Australia, with over $42 billion in annual revenue. Citing rising demand for organic produce as the reason, the company is launching a $30 million fund that will help farmers “improve the quality, range and volume […]
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A consortium of consumer, animal, and food policy groups has released the latest edition of their Chain Reaction report analyzing antibiotic use on the livestock farms producing meat for the country’s largest restaurant chains. This year’s edition report focuses on the iconic American hamburger, surveying antibiotic policies at popular national burger chains and grading each on […]
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With neonicotinoid insecticides under fire for contributing to pollinator decline, Dow AgroSciences is pushing its sulfoxaflor insecticide as an alternative. As Environmental Health News reports, Dow applied to the EPA for an expansion of the registration of sulfoxaflor to allow use on “rice, avocados, residential ornamentals and at tree farms and greenhouses.” But, is this new […]
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The US and Canada closed the deal on an updated NAFTA trade agreement last week. One of the key concessions by Canada is opening their dairy sector to more imports of U.S. milk and dairy products, including some from cows given the genetically-engineered hormone rBST. Canadian dairy farmers and some consumers are less than thrilled. […]
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The dicamba drift crisis continues to deepen, with worrisome coverage of the largely hidden (so far) toll of this herbicide on trees and vines, and wild landscapes. NPR’s Dan Charles has taken an in-depth look at dicamba’s impact on some “Prized Trees” throughout the Midwest and Midsouth, including 200 year old cypress in Tennessee (see the image to the […]
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Two mayors from Maine wrote a blog piece this week in The Hill as part of a nation-wide effort to block a proposed provision in the new Farm Bill. The House and Senate passed different versions of the bill, and members of both houses (and parties) are working together in a conference committee to develop a […]
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The apple harvest season is swinging into full gear, and in the NW corner of the country organic apples are growing on more trees than ever before. The Packer, the leading produce-industry newspaper, reports that the volume of Washington State’s organic apple crop will grow by another 30% this year. Apple orchards now are found throughout […]
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As the massive hurricane Florence bears down on the East coast, our thoughts are with anyone (including all the critters) in its path. The immediate concern in the face of such an historic natural disaster is protecting human life from violent winds, storm surge, and widespread flooding. But in the Carolinas, another risk looms. There […]
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Does the excerpt below from the September 10th issue of Politico’s Morning Agriculture e-newsletter sound familiar? It echoes sentiments on Hygeia in an “Endnote” to our August 20, 2018 post on the Lee Johnson verdict and award, which states — Endnote: The first half of August 2018 will go down in the history of pesticide use and regulation […]
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The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) considers wheat to be “the most important food grain source for humans” (Source, FAO) and globally wheat fields cover more land area than any other commercial crop. Thus, the new science out of the Earlham Institute in the U.K. has important implications. ScienceDaily reports on the paper published […]
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