Linley Dixon, Co-Director, Real Organic Project:

“It’s that delicious time of year again. Every April and May the Real Organic Project celebrates Florida’s Springtime blueberry season, thanks to the careful land stewardship of Hugh and Lisa Kent. The blueberries just taste better at King Grove Organic Farm compared to anything that you can find on store shelves. They were the first farm in America to use the Real Organic Project seal in 2019.

Hugh and Lisa work very long hours and typically harvest more blueberries per acre than the average “conventional” blueberry farm. The driver of all of this bounty is the organic growing system they have painstakingly invented over many years. Among other things, they designed and fabricated their own mowers to mulch “green manure” (the vegetation that grows in the rows between the blueberry plants) and move that mulch up onto the base of the plants. This living mulch turns into a weed barrier and becomes the primary fertility for the crop.

Together, we can rally around something beautiful. Thank you for your support of Real Organic Project farms.”

Real Organic Blueberries shipped to your door

Hugh Kent states on the Real Organic Podcast:

“We’re literally compromising our planet’s ability to sustain us. How polite are we supposed to be at this point? This is not just about me, it’s not about you. It’s about the next generation, the following one, the one after that. It’s about everything in creation. It’s about our environment, our climate, our planet, our future.

“Bad agriculture is costing us very dearly and if there’s anything you should be passionate about, this is one of the things you should care about.”

Listen to more on the Real Organic Podcast, Episode 167

Kate Ng writes for Yahoo Life:

“Tim Spector explains how people can get 30 or more different plants per week into their everyday diets.

So you could also eat red, green and yellow bell peppers, and they will count as three different plants – or red onions, white onions and shallots, for example.

‘You can also get it from nuts and seeds, all the different types out there, each one counts as a different plant. Each herb and spice also counts. So actually, once you’ve counted them all, it’s not really as hard as it seems.’

According to the ZOE website, even small pinches or herbs and spices count towards the goal of 30 or more different plants per week. However, it adds that you may want to try and incorporate herbs and spices into several meals throughout the week to get the full benefits.

Apart from fruit and vegetables, legumes including beans, pulses and peas also count as different plants that can be added to your diet. Examples like black beans, broad beans, butter beans, chickpeas, green beans, kidney beans, lentils, and more are easily available.”


Learn more: How to Eat 30 Plants a Week to Boost Gut Health

IFAD (Investing in Rural People):

“Despite being a major contributor to global emissions, farming might just hold the key to solving the climate crisis. When agriculture is regenerative, it becomes a win-win for people and planet, increasing food security while protecting the environment.

We unpack this method of sustainable farming and explore how small-scale farmers can harness it to lead the way to a food-secure future. Hear from global regenerative agriculture leaders – and learn how IFAD is leveraging their techniques to combat climate change in rural communities.

On this episode:

• Gabe Brown, regenerative farming pioneer and advocate
• André Leu, international director of Regeneration International
• Rebecca Burgess, founder and director of Fibershed
• Jeff Tkach, CEO of Rodale Institute
• Donal Brown, IFAD Associate Vice-President

IFAD is an international financial institution and specialized United Nations agency based in Rome.”

Listen to Regenerative Agriculture, from Soil to Sustainability Episode 58

A year has gone by since we lost our valiant leader, Ronnie Cummins. We are marking this anniversary with so much gratitude for where he has brought all of our organizations: Organic Consumers Association, Regeneration International, Vía Orgánica, and the entire organic regenerative movement.

Soon we will be sending a remembrance letter sharing more about his life, and with links to his memorial.

For now, you can see the outpouring of love and respect Ronnie received from people around the world by reading the comments found below his obituary.

From The Star Tribune obituary:

“Cummins, Ronnie (1946-2023), was a leading figure in the global organic regenerative food and farming movement. His enthusiastic organizing skills were infused with passion, warmth, courage and tenacity. He was tireless in his work for justice and peace. Ronnie called three places home. He developed deep roots in Finland, Minnesota, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

His work brought him around the world where he formed close relationships with activists working on organic regenerative food, farming, climate, and health freedom issues. He never gave up his passion for investigating the dangers of industrial food systems, genetic engineering and synthetic food technologies. He fought against the greed of the pharmaceutical, chemical, and pesticide industries, he was also earnest and optimistic in the search for climate solutions.

Ronnie was the co-founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association, (OCA) and its international affiliates, Regeneration International and Vía Orgánica. He had a passion for educating young people, and headed up the creation of Vía Orgánica, an agroecology farm school and research center in Central Mexico.

The last few years he dedicated endless time, energy and research to Vía Orgánica and Regeneration International’s Billion Agave Project (bit.ly/…); he firmly believed this could be game-changing as way to regenerate the land, make a major impact on carbon sequestration, the climate crisis, ease rural poverty and heartbreaking forced migration of so many small farmers around the world.”

Read Ronnie’s obituary and tributes from around the world in the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Aliya Uteuova writes for The Guardian:

“After reviewing the results of thousands of tests on fruits and vegetables, Consumer Reports has found unhealthy levels of pesticides in about 20% of US produce.

This chart, in alphabetical order, shows the risk from pesticides in conventional and organic produce, as well as whether the fruits and vegetables are domestically grown or imported. Consumer Reports ‘recommends those rated as very low, low or moderate risk. When possible, replace a food rated high or very high with a lower-risk one, or choose organic. Keep in mind that the risk comes from repeated servings over time.’

Risks are calculated for the amount a 35-pound – or four-year-old-child – can safely consume each day.”

See the chart: What’s Safe to Eat? Here is the Pesticide Risk Level for Each Fruit and Vegetable

As Vandana Shiva points out, the global Food Crisis (the third in 15 years) is not primarily driven by food scarcity nor supply chain breakdowns.

Tallying up global food inventories, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, and the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES), all admit there is currently “no risk of global food supply shortages.” In reality there’s plenty of food for everyone, including the 840 million poverty-stricken people who will be going to bed hungry tonight. The wicked root of the crisis, as Vandana states, are those “sowing hunger and reaping profits.”

The diabolical architects of the food crisis are the international bankers, food and grain hoarders, and financial speculators, aided and abetted by the Poison Cartel—i.e. the global economic elite making “killer” profits from toxic food and (manipulated) rising food prices, destroying public health (much to the benefit of their Big Pharma allies) and exacerbating U.S. and global poverty. They are systematically undermining the livelihoods of small farmers and ranchers, especially those utilizing traditional/organic/agroecological farming and animal husbandry practices.

What we need is a regenerative food and farming revolution rooted in agroecology, food sovereignty, and Fair Trade/commerce, a participatory resistance and reset carried out by the global grassroots, North and South, farmers and consumers, urban and rural.




Please consider making a donation to help us continue this vital work.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

And please, if you can, help us grow this vital movement with a donation to one of our sister organizations:

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Click here for more ways to support our work

Alexis Baden-Mayer, Political Director for OCA:

On April 15, 2024, healthbot tweeted, “USDA Organic Now Allows Glyphosate in Organic Hydroponic Food Production.” What healthbot didn’t mention is that the article they were linking to was from 2019 and, thanks to the good work of the Real Organic Project, this issue was resolved that year.

In 2019, the Real Organic Project blew the whistle on Monsanto (now Bayer)’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide being used to kill weeds around container-grown hydroponic berries just weeks before receiving organic certification.

The Real Organic Project had compelling evidence that this spraying was, in fact, happening. A letter from the accredited certifier Americert stated clearly that prohibited pesticides such as glyphosate had been used just prior to gaining certification in hydroponic operations and the USDA’s National Organic Program knew about it.

In response to the public outrage over this, the National Organic Program issued a memo to certifiers imposing new standards on transition time for hydroponic producers, requiring hydroponic producers to follow the same three year transition time required of real organic farmers.

The Real Organic Project considered this a pyrrhic victory. Chapman wrote:

“They have earlier said that none of this is happening. Now they are saying that yes, it has happened, and yes, it was against the law, but we are letting them keep their certification. We are giving them a mulligan. Because???

“I ask that the USDA reverse this position. Make these producers go through the 3-year transition period like all other organic growers. Failing that, I ask that they tell us which farms have sprayed prohibited chemicals. Don’t we, as customers, have the right to know? And which certifiers approved them in the first place?”

TAKE ACTION! Tell the USDA National Organic Program: Organic = Soil! Get Soilless Container-Grown Hydroponic Systems Out of Organic!

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola:

“The human gut is finally receiving the respect it deserves — and so are its trillions of inhabitants. You are, at your core, a microbial being, and while microorganisms are found everywhere from your skin to your mouth and even your blood, it’s your large intestine where your body’s largest bacterial ecosystem resides.

If you treat it and the rest of your microbiome well, good health — both mental and physical — is likely to result. By nourishing this complex microbial community, you can even influence your gut-brain axis, which regulates digestion, mood, immune function and much more.

Your gut is home to bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and eukarya. The latter two resemble bacteria but are distinct groups of microorganisms. Bacteria, meanwhile, make up the vast majority of microbes in your microbiome. Three main phyla or groups of gut microbes make up the human microbiome and serve diverse structural, protective and metabolic functions:

• Bacteroidetes — Porphyromonas, Prevotella and Bacteroides
• Firmicutes — Ruminococcus, Clostridium, Lactobacillus and Eubacteria
• Actinobacteria — Bifidobacteria (the most prevalent type)

Broken down, the average person may host the following quantities of bacteria in different body regions. Remember that this is just an average — your age, health status, diet and environment all influence the numbers and diversity of microorganisms in your gut.”

Learn more: What Lives in Your Gut?

Ten years of this profit-driven, health-destroying assault on the truth is enough!

That’s why we’ve joined the Alliance for Natural Health’s Free Speech for Health campaign to address social media censorship on natural health.

Millions are beating type 2 diabetes with keto diets and intermittent fasting—no pills needed, just smarter eating! But finding real expert advice has gotten tougher due to corporate interference in science and Big Tech censorship.

General Mills was caught funding a literature review where the authors attempted to downplay the overwhelming scientific proof that low-carb diets are beneficial people with impaired glucose metabolism by awkwardly insisting that “the evidence … is relatively weak” and “[a]dditional and rigorous research … is needed.”

Learn more & Take Action

Watch Organic Rising: Organic Rising Is the First Feature-Length Film to Demystify Organic Agriculture for the Consumer

Nestlé Adds Sugar To Infant Milk Sold in Poorer Countries, Report Finds

New Rules Protect Millions of Acres of Alaska’s Western Arctic from Future Oil Drilling

Can Dry Brushing Help Your Lymphatic System?

Culprits and Solutions: New Poster on Food and the Climate Crisis

Bird Flu Outbreaks & the WHO/IHR Pandemic Treaty Push

Planting Native Prairies Makes for Grazing Pastures that Support Both Cows and Pollinators

How Your Microbiome Influences Your Dietary Recommendations

Amish Farmer From Pennsylvania Can Continue Out-of-State Sales, Judge Rules

‘A Roof Over Our People’s Heads’: The Indigenous US Tribe Building Hempcrete Homes

Flat Faces and Difficulty Breathing: How Pet Trends Have Harmed Animal Health – And What We Can We Do About It

Kennesaw State’s Mental Health Initiatives Aim to Combat National Trends