Take Action to Protect Organic Integrity
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Early in his tenure, the USDA’s new head of the National Organic Program (NOP), Miles McEvoy, announced that the NOP was entering the “age of enforcement.” Yet major fraud investigations have languished, and some large perpetrators have even received favorable treatment and anonymity during Mr. McEvoy’s tenure, according to the Cornucopia Institute.
In September, 2013, McEvoy unilaterally announced sweeping changes in the operation of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). This 15-member, multi-stakeholder body was established by Congress as a buffer between agribusiness lobbyists and organic stakeholders to ensure that Big Ag did not corrupt the organic label.
McEvoy has stripped much of the power from the NOSB. Along with the illegal stacking of the board with agribusiness executives instead of working farmers, this body has become a rubber stamp for corporate/industrial organics.
Deep fissures then developed in the organic community that are undermining the public/private partnership Congress envisioned upon passage of the Organic Food Production Act 25 years ago. This growing divide threatens the credibility and reputation of the organic label. Help us make the changes necessary to protect the bright promise organics offers to food, agriculture, and the health of our planet.
Our principal request to you is to please mail back your proxy. To get the proxy ballot, visit http://www.cornucopia.org/2015/09/sign-the-proxy-letter-remove-current-usda-organic-management/
Why a proxy instead of an online petition that would be easier to click on and sign? There are so many petitions flying around out there that politicians tell us that they are virtually meaningless. At the same time, USDA officials have told us that when we bring in cardboard boxes filled with these proxy letters (as we have done twice before), they take notice! Their eyes roll back because of the work involved in processing them: they have to scan each letter into their system and type out each name to reply. Thousands of these proxies, literally, carry a lot of weight.
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STOP SELLING BEE-KILLING PESTICIDES
More than 500,000 Americans have called on Bayer to stop selling bee-killing pesticides.
Farmers, beekeepers, environmentalists, students, bee-lovers and members of the North Carolina community rallied in front of the North Carolina Capitol building and delivered more than 500,000 petition signatures urging Bayer to stop selling bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides. Bayer is one of the leading manufacturers of neonicotinoids — a key driver of bee decline. Bayer was invited to the rally and petition delivery by environmental and consumer organizations on behalf of the 500,000 people that signed petitions to Bayer, but the company has not responded to the invitation.
“Bayer masquerades as a champion of bee health while doing absolutely everything in its power to protect its pesticide profits and keep its harmful products on the market,” said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “If Bayer is serious about bee health, it must listen to the more than 500,000 Americans calling on it to stop selling bee-toxic pesticides, for the sake of our environment, food system and nation’s food supply.”
The 500,000 petition signatures were gathered by Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, Organic Consumers Association, Save our Environment, Sierra Rise, SumOfUs, and Toxic Free North Carolina.
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U.S. MEDIA IGNORES BANS ON GMOS IN OTHER COUNTRIES
When two of the most modernized and economically powerful countries in the world decide to ban a type of food crop that has made its way into roughly 70 to 80 percent or more of the U.S. food supply, you’d think it would be considered newsworthy, says Nick Meyer, who writes for March Against Monsanto and the website AltHealthWorks.com.
But the United States media has missed the boat yet again on major happenings relating to GMO crops overseas.
Both Russia and France officially announced bans on Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops this past week, cementing their positions and upholding the will of the people in nations where public opinion is dead set on keeping the food and farming system natural.
“As far as genetically-modified organisms are concerned, we have made decision not to use any GMO in food productions,” Russia’s Deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich announced at worldwide conference on biotechnology in the Russian city of Kirov, according to the website RT.
“This is not a simple issue, we must do very thorough work on division on these spheres and form a legal base on this foundation,” he said, rather cryptically. Russia has announced similar plans in the past but the announcement feels even more official considering the wave of GMO bans sweeping Europe these days.
Meanwhile France also announced its plans to stay GMO Free by exercising its “opt-out” clause through the European Union.
In total, five nations in Europe have announced plans to ban the growth of Monsanto’s GMOs within their borders including Germany, Scotland, Latvia, and Greece. The crops are allowed to be grown within the European Union, but each country has its own ability to opt-out.
As noted in an article from Eco Watch, France’s main concerns stem from the environmental risks created by the crops, which are capable of contaminating non-GMO crops via wind pollination and causing other harm, especially when used with the herbicide Roundup that they are designed to withstand.
Monsanto’s MON810 genetically engineered corn, the only crop of its kind allowed in Europe, is a specific threat to natural agriculture in the country because of this concern.
A quick Google News search turns up virtually no results for the bans by Russia and France, aside from a few scattered alternative news sites.
With more Americans than ever before learning about GMOs and trying to make their own decisions on whether to include such foods in their diet, and a huge vote looming in the Senate over a possible ban on mandatory GMO labeling in America, you’d think the news giants like NBC, Fox News, CNN and others would be chomping at the bit to get this news out to their readers and viewers.
But alas, they have chosen not to cover these stories, once again giving the American people an incomplete picture about the ongoing food experiment that is being foisted upon them.
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WHAT TO FEED MUSICIANS? ORGANIC FOOD, OF COURSE
Feedbands, the startup vinyl subscription service for independent musicians, has announced the launch of a farm in Asheville, North Carolina. The purpose of the farm? Literally, to feed bands.
“This is an open invitation for bands to come stay on the Feedbands Farm and eat farm fresh food grown in the most ecologically responsible ways,” says Graham Langdon, founder of Feedbands. “We grow everything from organic seed: tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, chard, delicata and butternut squash, okra, watermelons, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, hardy kiwis, and so much more, and we’re not using any synthetic chemicals, fertilizers or pesticides. We have eggs from free range chickens and fresh milk from our milking goats. Bands of the world, come play a show, crash for a night and get fed.”
As for the animals on the farm, “They’re not for eating. Don’t even think about it.” says Langdon. “The pigs help dig up the earth for planting, the chickens and ducks lay eggs, and the goats give us milk. None of the animals on the farm are for eating.” Other projects include a solar powered outdoor stage for bands to play, rainwater catchment system and over a thousand feet of garden bed space to grow veggies.
Feedbands operates an independent-only streaming service for musicians and has released vinyl records for 26 independent artists. Artists selected for vinyl are paid in cash and retain all of the rights to their music.
The goal of the Feedbands Farm is to create a model of sustainable and ecological food production while connecting local communities with musical events.
If you or a band you know would like to stay, eat, and play at the Feedbands Farm in Asheville, North Carolina, contact Feedbands at support@feedbands.com.
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GOODBYE YOG
I can hear his deep, gravelly voice anytime just by remembering it. I can see those thick features in my mind’s eye. I can recall him behind the plate, and watching a couple of strikes fly by before reaching out to hit a ball out of the strike zone into left field for a base hit. He was a clutch hitter and notorious bad-ball hitter. Just the mention of his name brings back memories of my brother and me going to Yankee Stadium to watch the Bombers play.
“He,” of course was Lawrence Peter Berra, known to all as Yogi. He was sui generis, but I know where he picked up that seemingly dumb-obvious way of talking that was really very witty: “It’s so crowded nobody goes there anymore.” And “It’s déjà vu all over again.” He picked that up from Casey Stengel, the manager of the Yanks in those glory years of the early to mid-1950s.
Stengel murdered the language in a way so unique that it became known as “Stengelese.” Yogi learned from Casey, but his approach to mangled language was through ellipsis. It was what he left out that allowed his pronouncements to cut to the chase.
He was one of my boyhood heroes, along with Mickey Mantle and pitcher Allie Reynolds. They’re all gone now, but they live within the boy who lives within me.
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