The strength to feed the world
Growing more food faster requires sacrificing our future and produces only an illusion of abundance.
By Amanda Kimble-Evans
Rodale Institute
Organic farmers and gardeners already witness every year the bountiful harvests possible when growing food in concert with nature. And anyone who supports their local organic growers at farmers’ markets can see […]
Coleman’s Four Season Farm: Start with biodiversity and well-nourished soil, add some appropriate technology, then harvest lots of healthy food.
Photo: Barbara Damrosch
by ELIOT COLEMAN
Grist
Organic farming is often falsely represented as being unscientific. However, despite the popular assumption that it sprang full born from the delusions of 60s hippies, it has a more extensive, […]
Health Impact News Editor Comments: It seems each day we read news stories about American Biotech companies advancing their products in poorer countries in the name of “feeding the poor” and solving “world hunger.” What these genetically modified seeds end up doing often, however, is replacing traditional agricultural principles and eliminating small-scale sustainable producers. […]
By Ken Roseboro
The Organic & Non-GMO Report
Jason Wells, a farmer in Milton, Iowa, who grows both non-GMO and organic corn, says that the non-GMO corn variety he grows produces higher yields than genetically modified varieties.
Other farmers prefer non-GMO
Wells has grown a Pioneer Hi-Bred non-GMO corn variety called 34YO2. In 2009, Wells says the corn […]
by Angela Hart
Rohnert Park Patch
Rohnert Park mom Beverly Hammond delivers fresh, organic produce to her neighbor Deborah Creech, 53, once a week — well, sometimes more, depending on what’s growing.
Hammond is the garden coordinator for the community garden tucked back behind Cross and Crown Lutheran Church in Rohnert Park, a job she does for […]
Health Impact News Editor Comments:
Kudos to Frank Stonaker of Colorado State University for understanding how unsustainable our current agricultural system is with less than 1% of our population providing our food. Mr. Stonaker recognizes the importance of small-scale farming and local sustainable agriculture, and he is actually DOING SOMETHING about it with this great […]
by Tom Philpott
Grist
Organic agriculture is a fine luxury for the rich, but it could never feed the world as global population moves to 9 billion.
That’s what a lot of powerful people — including the editors of The Economist — insist, but the truth could well be the opposite: it might be chemical-intensive agriculture that’s the frivolous luxury, […]
Presented by Jim Riddle, University of Minnesota, this webinar recording discusses issues surrounding GMO contamination and how to control the risk associated with it.
BY KARA YORIO
NorthJersey.com
Everyone can agree that buying chemical-free food is the best route. But when it comes to navigating a grocery store, the search for healthiest foods — even when selecting fruits and vegetables — can get confusing and costly for consumers.
With produce, the easiest thing to do is learn what’s “dirty” and what’s […]
by Stefan Gailans
DesMoinesRegister.com
I read Calestous Juma’s essay, “Technological Intolerance Threatens Global Food Security” (Feb. 20), with great interest. While discussing the “coexistence” of conventional agriculture that uses biotechnology with organic agriculture that eschews this technology, Juma states “the unintentional cross-pollination by GM plants, or the drift of a neighbor’s pesticide onto their fields, […]
by Tom Philpott
Grist
Dean Foods is by far the largest U.S. dairy processor. According to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Dean processes 40 percent of fluid milk consumed in the U.S., which it distrubutes in a dizzying array of brands. Its dominance extends to organic milk, too — Dean’s Horizon brand is the largest […]
Watch this popular video which has over 4 million views on YouTube. A parody on organic food vs. biotech food using the Star Wars story.
by Barbara H. Peterson
Farm Wars
Organic is organic, or is it? It would seem that it is all a matter of perspective when one takes a stroll through the mountains of documents on the FDA and USDA websites.
The word “organic” is fast becoming a high-dollar money-maker for corporations smart enough to jump on the bandwagon […]
by DAVID MERCER
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When the doors to the hen house open, the 14,000 chickens on Edwin Blosser’s organic egg farm make a mad dash for the pasture outside, where they can scratch and peck in the dirt.
“It’s just like an ocean of birds going out the doors – zoom!” Blosser said.
Greg Herbruck […]
by John Cavanagh, Robin Broad
yes! Magazine
posted Jan 31, 2011
In an increasingly vulnerable world, we’re searching for rooted communities—and what we can learn from them. Read more at our blog, Finding Rootedness.
Authors Robin and John with Gil and Teresa (at center) and Don Bosco staff.
Photo courtesy of Robin […]
By NextWorldTV
Meet the Dervaes family. These new urban homesteaders, a family of four, are not employed- living comfortably on $30,000/ year. Growing their own food on 1/5th of an acre outside of Los Angeles, CA, they have meat, dairy and vegetables- all they need. They even sell to local restaurants and neighbors.
Yes, a lot of […]
Rigoberto Bucio, 25, selling his own organic produce at the North Oakland, Calif. farmer markets.Photos: Bart Nagel
by Heather Smith
The strawberries, purchased in November, in a rainy parking lot behind a community clinic, feel like they’ve traveled in time from summer to here. Out of season, strawberries usually taste like rainwater. These have a taste that […]
by DAN CHARLES
The Cold War phrase “peaceful coexistence” has been revived in a new context: as a potential solution in the clash between organic agriculture and genetic engineering.
This agricultural battle is global in scope, but one place where the tension is most tangible — and where its consequences are most concrete — is the […]
by Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
BEIJING — It’s quite a shopping list — wine, mushrooms, bean curd, rice noodles, dairy drinks and cooking oil — but buyer beware. In recent months, fake or toxic batches of all these items have worried Chinese consumers nationwide and are a reminder that food safety is a major issue in […]
by Sara Novak
Marion Nestle said in the Atlantic this week that it seems the USDA will again approve a genetically modified crop but this time they seem to realize the threat that GMOS will have in the future if mixed with pure organic crops. This is especially true of alfalfa, the latest crop up for approval, […]
