Organic, local farms get a boost from USDA
Posted by admin / Under Organic Horticulture
Washington - -- Obama administration officials Wednesday outlined a broad array of efforts to elevate organic and local farming to a prominence never seen before at the sprawling U.S. Department of Agriculture. The shift is raising eyebrows among conventional growers and promising federal support to a food movement that began in Northern California and was considered heretical only a few years ago. "Guys, this is your window - use it," USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan told organic farmers, processors and retailers at a conference Wednesday in Washington that was sponsored by Santa Cruz's Organic Farming Research Foundation and the Organic...
Published on Monday 6th of September 2010 10:13:01 AM
Organic coffee: Why Latin America's farmers are abandoning it [lib suicide watch ]
Posted by admin / Under Organic Horticulture
GUATEMALA CITY — Some 450,000 pounds of organic coffee sit in a warehouse here, stacked neatly in 132-pound bags. It's some of the world's best coffee, but Gerardo De Leon can't sell it. "This is very high quality and it's organic. But ... the roasters don't want to pay extra these days," says the manager of FEDECOCAGUA, Guatemala's largest growers' cooperative, which represents 20,000 farmers. De Leon is asking $2 per pound for the unroasted coffee, about 50 cents more than the going price. But he says he'll soon have to sell it as conventionally grown coffee, which sells for...
Published on Monday 6th of September 2010 10:13:01 AM
Meteorite Crammed with 'Millions' of Organic Compounds..
Posted by admin / Under Organic Horticulture
A meteorite that hit the town of Murchison, Australia, hasn't quit giving up its secrets. The Murchison meteorite is one of the most studied space rocks because many pieces were recovered after it was seen breaking up as it fell through the atmosphere in 1969. Approximately 100 kg of the carbonaceous chondrite was recovered. Carbonaceous chondrites are extremely important to scientists as they were formed from material that existed in the solar system's planet-forming disk of gas and dust. They are, quite literally, time capsules holding onto a 4 billion year old record of the birth of our solar system....
Published on Monday 6th of September 2010 10:13:01 AM
HR2749 The Food and Safety Enhancement Act coming up for VOTE in SENATE. BEWARE THE RESULTS!
Posted by admin / Under Organic Horticulture
According to Gunny G Online: “This astounding control will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry’s products.” HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation. Does it include judicial review, Congressional oversight, a defined and limited set of penalties and punishments for a...
Published on Monday 6th of September 2010 10:13:01 AM
The REAL Reason to Eat Organic Food
Posted by admin / Under Organic Horticulture
When I first started writing my upcoming book Organic Manifesto a year ago, I fully expected to have lots of information about how organic foods are healthier for you because they are more nutritious. The more research I did, the more I realized that nutrition is the least of our worries. Aside from the fact that the nutritional content of just about ALL of our food has declined over the past 50 years, we are, as a rule, overfed. And good nutrition is available from many sources in our diet. So I wasn’t surprised in the least when a report...
Published on Monday 6th of September 2010 10:13:01 AM
Fruit safety: Government report shows more than 50 pesticides on peaches.
Posted by admin / Under Organic Horticulture
Shoppers face an array of choices on fruit but little guidance on which type to pick. Expensive organic? Pricey farmers' market? Cheap ones from the grocery store? Cost is certainly important. But there are essential numbers that go beyond the price tag. Which contain the highest levels of pesticides?
Published on Monday 6th of September 2010 10:13:01 AM
Share this!