Congressional Support For Organic Weak; Organic’s “Lack of Respect for Traditional Agriculture” Troubling to One Congressman
A recent story by the Associated Press reported on the growing consumer demand for organic products also detailed the challenges to getting more supportive policies from a USDA and a Congress dominated by the interests of large agriculture. An effort to change current federal law to allow organic farmers to create an organic industry-wide marketing […]
Media Watch Week of May 20th
Two informative pieces from Bill Moyers. His interview with David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz on Toxic Information and advice on how to avoid toxic chemicals at home. Forbes Magazine story claiming organic lobbyists are anti-biotech and hypocritical Food Safety News on USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s remarks to the Organic Trade Association Policy Conference […]
Monsanto’s Man in the Senate, Missouri’s Roy Blunt
Mother Jones details the previously mysterious Senator who added a rider to unrelated legislation protecting Monsanto and the few other GMO seed companies. The rider, which was a surprise last minute addition to a bill unrelated to agriculture or GMO oversight mandates that the USDA “ignore federal court decisions that block the agency’s approvals of […]
Media Watch Week of April 7
The first of our weekly index with links to stories in the news that NBN thinks you might want to know. Whether you’re looking to impress your friends, embarrass your brand manager or actually trying to learn more before your big meeting take a look below. NOTE: some full stories may require registration or a […]
USDA’s Alfalfa Policy is For the Birds, Where Monsanto Rules the Roost
The ruling by the USDA allowing the use of Monsanto’s genetically modified Roundup Ready alfalfa reminds NBN of breakfast meeting with Thai rice farmers sponsored by the fair trade certified Transfair trade and fair trade food marketer Alter Eco. Farmers that had been growing rice for many centuries were persuaded by the government to utilize […]
USDA To Start Spot Testing Organic Products, Media Makes Hay Over It
Given the current failure of proper government oversight into a wide range of businesses –banking, finance, mortgage lending and meat processing to name just a few, the fact that USDA announcement that it would begin more rigorous spot checks on organic products was greeted by some in the media as evidence that the organic is meaningless left […]
Senate Proposes Changes on Organic Rules
Is It Like Putting the Fox in Charge of Guarding The Henhouse More and more granola minded soccer moms are buying organic nut butters, gallons of Odwalla juices and Amy’s Organic frozen dinners at big box stores. No surprise here. In San Francisco, I know lots of folks who load up their Volvos at Whole […]
Organic Trade Association Executive Director DiMatteo Steps Down
The Organic Trade Association announced that that Katherine DiMatteo will be stepping down next spring. DiMatteo, the OTA’s Executive Director for 16 years has been a leader in the creation of numerous victories for those committed to organic food, most notably the often contentious and sometimes mind-numbing bureaucratic battle for the USDA National Organic Program […]
Feds Reverse Ban on Use of USDA Organic Seal—Let Them Eat Soap
The USDA announced that it would reverse a rule prohibiting the use of the USDA Organic seal on body care, pet food and all other non-food items. Last April the Agency decided that only food items could use the USDA seal. Previous to that, under advisory rulings the agency had allowed organic claims for non-food […]