Farm Issues
Farm Bill: Healthy Food, not Corporate Welfare!
Unless you are a diehard policy wonk, it's tough to get excited about the Farm Bill. But consumers have a bigger stake in this mammoth piece of federal legislation than we may realize. Big Ag's lobbyists fight hard to protect corporate interests, almost always at the expense of consumers. The OCA is here to help you fight for for healthy food and against corporate welfare!
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Apples· steve urow© 2014 -
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steve urow's garden not· steve urow© 2014
Sir Albert Howard made a radical observation. When farmers returned all the agricultural wastes to their fields and grew cover crops to maintain the organic matter in the soil, the crops were healthier.
As Howard observed even more carefully, he saw that the animals that ate those crops were also healthier. And in his final burst of
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Most grass-fed beef labeled “Product of U.S.A.” is actually imported from overseas.
But you wouldn't know that, thanks to a U.S. Department of Agriculture labeling policy.
It’s time to change that policy—for the sake of both consumers and U.S. producers of grass-fed and grass-finished beef.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Stop the Labeling Fraud! Support the U.S. Beef Integrity Act!
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The olive oil industry wants more government oversight. On Monday, the American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) formally requested the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set and enforce quality standards for different kinds of olive oil. In a citizens’ petition, it argued that the current dearth of industry regulation is causing “widespread mislabeling of grades, adulteration, consumer mistrust, and unfair and unethical industry business practices.”
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When countries run short of food, they need to find solutions fast, and one answer can be urban farming. That was the remedy Cuba seized with both hands 30 years ago when it was confronted with the dilemma of an end to its vital food imports.
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The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiated the latest effort to modernize African agriculture. It launched the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in 2006 with the ambitious goal of doubling productivity and incomes for 30 million farm families by 2020. There is little evidence AGRA will come anywhere near achieving those goals.
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As we wrote last week, we’re invested in the climate movement for a number of reasons, including this one: Floods, droughts and extreme temperatures will ultimately lead to a food crisis.
Nobody knows this better than farmers.
And farmers are already struggling with the impact of climate change.
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On the Minnesota prairie near the South Dakota border, you will find Ben Dwire and his family moving their grass-fed beef cattle from one field to another. Not just for the health of the herd, but the health of the earth. “This is nature’s original template. What we’re doing is nothing brand new. This is the same system the buffalo used when they built the prairies," Dwire said.
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It is tempting to think of the present moment as a crossroads: we either get our Green New Deal, or we descend into eco-fascism. But the fallout from the last recession suggests that—if we do not articulate a shared demand—we might just as easily get a slightly reconfigured version of the status quo: a little more green around the edges, sure, but with roughly the same distribution of power and resources. Such a plan is already under way in Europe, where the European commission now calls for a “green deal” with none of the transformative content of the Green New Deal agenda.
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U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine, emphasizes the need for more financial funding of small farms and food businesses that engage in sustainable agricultural practices.: “Our food economy is growing rapidly and financial support will be a big part of that continued growth going forward. I’m so pleased to see this first-in-the-country credit union that will support the unique needs of small farms and food businesses. I hope other states take note and help to close the gap between farmers and their financial institutions,” she said in a statement.
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Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.)—co-chairs of the House Food Recovery Caucus—as well as Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.)—co-chairs of the House Hunger Caucus—have together introduced House Resolution 632, designating today, October 16, 2019, as World Food Day.
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