Senior AgriPulse reporter Philip Brasher ran a provocative story in AgriPulse May 15, 2019 entitled “Blocked by GMO Politics, African Scientist Turns to 1950s Technology” (paywall, so no link possible). It reports that Dr. Kingdom Kwapata, a plant breeder trained at Michigan State University, returned to Malawi to work on cowpea genetics. This legume, also […]
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Reuters reports that Bayer has issued an apology and will open an external legal investigation into attempts by Monsanto to influence journalists and politicians. Bayer had to take action after French prosecutors opened an investigation following media complaints that Monsanto, which was purchased by Bayer last year, had compiled a file of 200 names of […]
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The first in a series of monthly blogs by Dr. Benbrook was posted this week to the UK Soil Association’s website. They are a non-profit supporting sustainable and organic agriculture, who also serve as the primary organic certification body in the UK. Dr. Benbrook’s first guest blog is called “U.S. must shift towards agroecology.” It […]
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The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) issued a February 11, 2019 report highlighting information from its post in Berlin. The focus — US exports of mostly fresh organic fruits, vegetables, and milk. Data on processed organic food exports to Europe from the US is not as readily available, so many product categories are not covered […]
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The European sustainable development think-tank IDDRI has a 10 year plan to get the continent on a track towards sustainable agriculture, while producing ample food to provide a healthy diet to 530 million Europeans. Their fascinating new report is entitled “An agroecological Europe in 2050: multifunctional agriculture for healthy eating. Findings from the Ten Years […]
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Two new publications were released in the last week that contribute much new food for thought in the global discussion around the sustainability of the Earth’s food systems. First off, on January 16th the Lancet published a special feature called “Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems.” As Reuters reports, […]
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By Rachel Benbrook The state of kid’s nutrition is getting some renewed attention in the U.K. in response to a new report released by the UK Soil Association‘s Food for Life program. In particular, the British government’s program that provides free, fresh produce to young children in state funded schools, the School Fruit and Veg Scheme, is […]
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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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While the Farm Bill update hasn’t made it through Congress yet, it’s passage is an eventual certainty, if perhaps broken up into pieces. In an opinion piece in The Hill, economic policy Research Fellow Michael Farren with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University proposes a different and radical option – a full repeal of […]
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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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