Just what IS organic?

Jim Riddle is the Organic Outreach Coordinator for University of Minnesota – Southwest Research and Outreach Center. He answers the question: “What does it mean when produce and meat products are labeled organic?”

Top food and nutrition experts call on Congress to invest in healthy food

The Environmental Working Group and authors Anna Lappé and Dan Imhoff initiated the following letter of frustration with the lack of meaningful reforms and public input into the legislative process by the Senate Agriculture Committee as it drafted its 2012 Farm Bill. Read what Mario Batali, Michael Pollan and more than 70 of the nation’s food and health leaders said in urging Congress to cut crop insurance subsidies and redirect that money into vital investments in nutrition, healthy food and conservation programs.

It’s GMO War: The Monopoly vs. the People

Last Thursday evening I attended a GMO panel discussion at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College called GMO’s and Eco-labels: Getting More of the Story. Four distinguished panelists shared their knowledge from the front lines in battle against both Monsanto and the FDA about consumer right to know.

Atina Diffley and Tracie McMillan – Women, Food, and Farming

Two books written by two women, one a poet and one a journalist. More than two decades separate them in age, yet both write about food – growing it, preparing it, and eating it. No, these are not the “usual women’s books.” These are not diet books nor cook books, but books about their very personal experiences with food.

Oganic Whole Grains Grown in Northeastern Montana

Those who farm in northeastern Montana – the northern Great Plains – face very cold winters, very hot summers, and very little rain (11-14 inches annually). Some farmers are finding that organic growing methods are providing a better market, reasonable prices, and more net profit than conventional methods.

Future of Organic Food and Agriculture at Risk

The Cornucopia Institute, one of the nation’s leading organic industry watchdogs, is urging members of the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), in formal testimony, to vote to preserve the integrity of organic food and farming at its upcoming meeting in Savannah, Georgia.

Sleight of hand: When NATURAL isn’t

Aside from meat products, there are no restrictions for other foods labeled natural. And, according to a new report by the Cornucopia Institute, the term is nothing more than meaningless marketing hype promoted by corporate interests seeking to cash in on the consumer desire for food produced in a genuinely sustainable manner.