Blog
A local Minnesota dairy farm is locked in a costly legal battle with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) over its right to sell raw milk and other dairy products directly to consumers.
Since 2013, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has been threatening to shut down Lake View Natural Dairy farm, unless Berglund agrees to let the state inspect his farm. But Berglund says that under the state constitution, the farm can sell its products directly to consumers who come to the farm, without the threat of state inspection and regulation. Read More
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advisory panel is meeting this week (December 13-16) to determine the fate of glyphosate, the main active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.
Will the panel heed the warnings of independent scientists?
Or will it give more credence to the testimony (propaganda) delivered by Monsanto, the company that annually sells nearly $5 billion worth of its flagship herbicide, Roundup, grossing nearly $2 billion in profits.
So far, all signs point to EPA caving to Monsanto, as the panel reviews the science that links the main Read More
If ever conditions were ripe for revolution, that time is now—especially for anyone who cares about their health, and the health of planet earth.
President-Elect Donald Trump’s short lists for his environment and agriculture cabinet appointments are dominated by entrenched D.C. insiders, career politicians and industry lobbyists. Not one of these proposed "leaders" supports policies that would lead to healthier food, a cleaner environment or a cooler planet.
So much for “draining the swamp.” And so much for an easy road to forward Read More
New GMO technologies such as cloning, nanotechnology, synthetic biology—technologies sometimes referred to as GMO 2.0 won’t be allowed in organics, thanks to a recent decision by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).
The NOSB, which held its fall (November 16 – 18) meeting in St. Louis, Mo., home to Monsanto headquarters, also voted to get the controversial food additive carrageenan out of organics.
In the tumultuous week following the 2016 elections, Monsanto and its minions moved fast to tighten their control over our food and farming system. Emboldened by the prospect of another pro-industrial-agriculture administration, they’re plowing ahead. With total disregard for public health. And blanket dismissal of the warnings pouring in from independent scientists.
Politico, which obtained a list of Trump’s talking points on agriculture, said it includes a “sweeping promise” to "defend American agriculture against its critics, particularly those who have never grown or produced Read More
The best thing about the 2016 election, a contest between two of the most unpopular candidates in history, is that it’s over.
Now, we get back to work. Back to our radical roots (it’s never been lost on me that the word radical originates from the Latin word for root).
With this divisive and toxic election behind us, we can now get back to the grassroots work of regenerating our food and farming system, our health—even our democracy. Assuming, that is, we can set aside our differences long enough to focus on the root of our problems—corporate control over every aspect of our Read More
On October 29 (2016), the New York Times ran a piece on how the biotech industry has failed to deliver on its promises for GMO crops. The article followed less than a month after the biotech industry asked congressional leaders for $3 million in taxpayer-provided funding to “educate” the public about biotechnology and agricultural production.
Congress should turn down this request for two reasons. First, the biotech and food industries should spend their own money to market their products.
Second, Congress shouldn’t use taxpayer money to promote what scientists and Read More
OCA and our allies at Beyond Pesticides sued the maker of Sue Bee and Aunt Sue’s honey brands for labeling their products “Pure” and “100% Pure” when in fact those products test positive for glyphosate, the active (and ubiquitous) ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.
We know what you’re thinking. Honey comes from bees, and beekeepers don’t spray their hives with Roundup—so how did glyphosate end up in honey?
As organic farmers have been alleging for years, glyphosate doesn’t just land where it’s sprayed, end of story. It drifts—into places where it’s not wanted. Read More
Sunday, October 16, is World Food Day. It’s also the day that the International Monsanto Tribunal will conclude, in The Hague, Netherlands—and mark the beginning of justice for Earth and its inhabitants.
Monsanto and its friends in the pesticide industry will try to characterize this historic citizens’ initiative as a “kangaroo court.”
But those of us who are already here, preparing for the opening of the People’s Assembly (October 14), and the formal Tribunal (October 15-16), can attest to the fact that there are no kangaroos in sight. There are only distinguished Read More
On Sunday, September 25, OCA activists joined Greenpeace teams in the U.S. and Mexico to participate in Bimbo’s Global Energy Race. We dressed as bees and crossed the finish lines in Long Beach, Calif., Mexico City and Philadelphia with banners that read: “Bimbo, Cut the Pesticides!”
If we had been protesting a Monsanto or Bayer event, people immediately would have understood the bee costumes. Most people who have paid attention to the news about disappearing bees know that pesticides manufactured by these agro-chemical companies are contributing to bee deaths.
But we were Read More
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