• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Azienda Agricola La Torricella

  • Home
  • Organic Farming in Europe
  • Organic Food Trends in Europe
    • Consumption and Distribution
    • Labels and Information
      • Information on Certification
      • Organic Labeling
  • Organics: Concerns
    • Ethical concerns
    • Health and the Environment
      • Environmental concerns
      • Health concerns
    • Quality Concerns
  • News

USDA

Jan 06 2013

Organic Dairy Farms Squeezed Out by Giant Factory Farms: Emergency Rally with USDA

Organic family members dairy farmers squeezed out by giant factory farms: Wisconsin rally—USDA Secretary Vilsack listens/responds to pleas of desperate farmers. Please help organics! The Cornucopia Institutes national survey of organic items in the dairy case showcases ethical loved ones farm producers and exposes factory farm producers and brands that threaten to take over organic dairying. With this Net-based rating tool, you can see which brands and dairy products found in your region are made making use of the best organic farming practices and ethics. Based on a years study into the organic dairy organization, the scorecard rates 68 diverse organic dairy brands and private-label items. Please assist shield and assistance organic loved ones farmers by contributing and becoming a member of The Cornucopia Institute: app.etapestry.com The Cornucopia Institutes national survey of organic goods in the dairy case showcases ethical family farm producers and exposes factory farm producers and brands that threaten to take more than organic dairying. With this Internet-based rating tool, you can see which brands and dairy goods discovered in your area are developed using the very best organic farming practices and ethics. Based on a years investigation into the organic dairy company, the scorecard rates 68 different organic dairy brands and private-label goods.

Written by Organic Farmer · Categorized: Organic · Tagged: USDA

Aug 02 2012

USDA Prepares To Greenlight Gnarliest GMO Soy Yet

For associated articles and much more info, please visit OCA’s Genetic Engineering page and our Millions Against Monsanto web page.

In early July, on the sleepy Friday immediately after Independence Day, the USDA quietly signaled its intention to greenlight a new genetically engineered soybean seed from Dow AgroSciences. The item is designed to generate soy plants that withstand 2,4-D, a extremely toxic herbicide (and, famously, the much less toxic component in the notorious Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent Orange).

Readers could bear in mind that in the course of an even-sleepier period-the week amongst Christmas and the New Year-the USDA produced a equivalent move on Dow’s 2,4-D-prepared corn.

If the USDA deregulates the two goods-as it has telegraphed its intention to do-Dow will appreciate a enormous profit opportunity. Every year, about half of all US farmland is planted in corn and soy. At the moment, Dow’s rival Monsanto has a tight grip on weed management in corn-and-soy country. Upwards of 90 percent of soy and 70 percent of corn is engineered to withstand an additional herbicide referred to as glyphosate by means of extremely profitable Monsanto’s Roundup Prepared seed lines. And right after so several years of lashing so considerably land with the very same herbicide, glyphosate-resistant superweeds are now vexing farmers and “alarming” weed-control professionals throughout the midwest.

&nbspAnd that’s where Dow’s two,4-D-ready corn and soy seeds come in. Dow’s novel items will be engineered to withstand glyphosate and two,four-D, so farmers can douse their fields with both herbicides the 2,4-D will kill the weeds that glyphosate no longer can. That’s the marketing pitch, anyway.

The USDA, for its element, is buying what Dow is selling. In Could, the agency released its Draft Environmental Assessment for the item, declaring that its “preferred option” was to deregulate it. And on July 13, USDA put out its “Plant Pest Risk Assessment” for it. This is a crucial document in the regulatory method for GMOs. Under the industry-friendly framework for GMO oversight cobbled with each other in the early ’90s by then-Vice President Dan Quayle, the USDA can only regulate genetically modified organisms if they literally pose a risk to other plants as defined by the Federal Plant Pest Act. This is a very high bar and as takes place with virtually all GMO applications, the USDA’s assessment of Dow’s novel soy concluded that it’s “extremely unlikely to pose a plant pest danger.”

Written by Organic Farmer · Categorized: Organic · Tagged: GMO, USDA

Primary Sidebar