The Attorney General (AG) of the State of Massachusetts has succeeded, for what is believed to be the first time, in getting a pesticide giant to change they way they communicate with the public about pesticide risks to the environment. As this press release describes how the state accused Bayer of misleading consumers about the […]
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Despite the mountains of evidence showing that we are loosing the race to preserve the efficacy of medically important antibiotics, sales of these vital drugs to livestock farmers have risen 26% since 2009, according to the latest FDA report on the subject, “Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food Producing Animals”. I first studied […]
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A tipping point for the ages occurred in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump. Such dramatic changes almost always reflect deep and strong undercurrents that have built up over time. Several are unfolding now in the food and agricultural arena. I spent the first week of 2017 in the U.K., meeting with colleagues at […]
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In an edgy January 5, 2017 piece, Sean Pratt and the Western Producer Magazine have upped the rhetorical ante circulating over the October 17, 2016 letter from five major farm groups and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) to Dannon-USA CEO, Mariano Lozano. The letter criticizes Dannon-USA for its pledge to source non-GMO ingredients and […]
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By Brian Baker Rotenone is a non-synthetic botanical insecticide and piscicide (chemical poisonous to fish) derived from the roots of Derris spp., Lonchocarpus spp. and Tephrosia spp. It has been used historically in organic production, usually with restrictions that limit its impact on human health and the environment. Prior to the isolation and commercialization of organically acceptable formulations […]
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The State of Arkansas is not known as a hot bed of aggressive action to limit pesticide use and risks. But last season illegal spraying of dicamba on Monsanto’s new genetically engineered Xtend soybeans in this and neighboring states led to lawsuits, EPA warrants being served and even the fatal shooting of an Arkansas farmer. This […]
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Talk about swimming upstream, but overall feeling so glad that open-source seed initiatives are springing up around the world. This in-depth story explains why the trend toward patenting seeds and traits locks farmers and amateur breeders out of the process of incrementally improving crop genetics. Big mistake, unless you trust the biotech-seed companies to deploy […]
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Public Perceptions: Social Media Conversations with Dr. Benbrook and Friends, #1 Source: Facebook, September 29, 2016 This conversation was sparked by an thoughtful question about the polarized debate on GMOs from Chris Holman and rolled on from there. For context, this dialogue occurred amidst news about Monsanto’s first CRISPR license, as well as the recent merger […]
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I follow statistics on global food trade closely, but was still shocked by some of the findings in the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) assessment of whether, and to what degree, U.S. agriculture “feeds the world” as is so often claimed. A few key findings from this report: 86% of all US exports in 2015 went […]
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Monsanto has successfully negotiated the first commercial license to use the Crispr technology developed by the Harvard-MIT Broad Institute. This breakthrough in genetics allows scientists to precisely alter genes such that the plant is not technically considered a GMO. As this article in Business Insider explains, “Crispr allows scientists to simply swap out a letter […]
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