Archive for Public Policy
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Why You Can Now Kiss Organic Beef, Dairy and Many Vegetables Goodbye
AlterNet / By Ari LeVaux alternet Jan 31, 2011 The USDA ruled that farmers are now free to plant GE alfalfa, and USDA won't even keep track of who plants it where. The implications are huge. Monsanto has been trying for years to gain approval for its genetically modified Roundup-Read...
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USDA Fires Organic Farming Specialist for Expressing Opinion
Mowing Oats & Sweet Clover (© Image courtesy of Roxbury Farm, CSA) The free exchange of ideas being essential for a healthy democracy, it was particularly disturbing to learn that Mark D. Keating was terminated as an Agricultural Marketing Specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture...
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Millions of American Families Struggle with Hunger
A Healthy Walk with Dad (photo by Phaedra Wilkinson, courtesy of morgueFile.com) The U.S. is the world’s wealthiest nation with obesity rates that are the highest in the world, yet millions of American families are struggling to get enough to eat. Besides getting help from government, people ...
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Love the Judge Who Saved us From Genetically Modified Sugar Beets
Sometimes, things just come right. One brave judge has put his foot down and said NO to modified sugar beets. The growers are screaming that the price of sugar will go through the roof. There won't be enough Roundup to go around to poison the ground. Oh my. What a shame. Sugar will be ...
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Senate Passes Bill That Addresses Food Safety. Sort of.
Months after her 2-year-old son died from eating a fast-food hamburger tainted with E. coli in January 1993, Diana Nole of Gig Harbor, Wash., went to Capitol Hill and asked Congress to overhaul the nation's food-safety laws. Now Congress could be on the verge of passing a sweeping measure that N...
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Gardening Angels Prove We Can Get Good Food Without Relying on Corporate Agriculture
Good Food Is Emerging as a Real Alternative to the Dominance of Corporate Agriculture This good food evolution has usually been started by grassroots individuals who grew up in rural communities and now live in cities. September 13, 2010 | from: Alternet, Grace Lee Boggs "Every year 76 milli...
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USDA Announces $8.3 Million in Grants for Rural Co-ops
Farm in Autumn (photo by Gracey Stinson, courtesy of morgueFile.com) Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager has announced support to help rural cooperatives expand economic activity in their communities. The Under Secretary made the announcement yesterday during a s...
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Read Peer Reviewed Journal Report in Nutrition regarding Food Pyramid controversy
In the face of contradictory evidence: Report of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee Adele H. Hite, M.A.T.a, Richard David Feinman, Ph.D.b Gabriel E. Guzman, Ph.D.c, ...
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Family Farmers Face Unfair Competition from ‘Organic’ Factory Farms
,br /> Brown Eggs (photo by Derek Lilly, courtesy of morgueFile.com) Factory farms, some confining hundreds of thousands of chickens in industrial facilities, sell their eggs to consumers as "organic." Last week’s hearings before a Congressional Committee investigating the recent nationwide ou...
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Another Victory for Raw Milk from Family Farms
Thistle Hill's John & Janine Putnam (Images courtesy of Thistle Hill Farm) Ever discovered an artisanal cheese at your local farmers market that you couldn’t stop raving about to fellow foodies? Well, there is an excellent chance that splendid cheese was made from raw milk, giving it the ...
