Here are some of the latest issues The Organic Center has covered: '' Pesticide Exposure Contributes To Food Allergies http://organic-center.org/hot-science/pesticide-exposure-contributes-to-food-allergies/ A study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has found a link between pesticide exposure and food allergies. Food allergies are on the rise and currently affect one in 13 children in the U.S. To examine potential causes of this phenomenon researchers at Montefiore Medical Center looked at whether contact with pesticides [...] Organic grape juice has higher antioxidant effects http://organic-center.org/hot-science/organic-grape-juice-has-higher-antioxidant-effects/ In a recent study looking at the antioxidant effects of grape juice on oxidative stress in the brain, researchers from several universities in Brazil examined the antioxidant effect differences of organic versus conventional grape juice on rats consuming a high-fat diet. Researchers used three groups of rats for their study: a control group fed water, [...] Probiotics prevent diarrhea associated with Clostridium difficile http://organic-center.org/hot-science/probiotics-prevent-diarrhea-associated-with-clostridium-difficile/ A new study published in The Cochrane Collaboration shows that probiotic use, such as the consumption of yogurt, can decrease the risk of diarrhea from Clostridium difficile bacteria after antibiotic ingestion. The study was led by Joshua Goldenberg, from Bastyr University, who found that taking probiotics reduced the chance of having some of the effects [...] Organic carrots have similar yields, and potential for higher nutrients http://organic-center.org/hot-science/organic-carrots-have-similar-yields-and-potential-for-higher-nutrients/ A study by Dr. Bender and Dr. Ingver at the Jõgeva Plant Breeding Institute looked at how agricultural management affects yield and nutrient content of carrots. They compared marketable yield, vitamin C content, and total sugar content of organic and conventional carrots over three growing seasons in Estonia. Findings showed there were no significant differences [...]
Monthly Archives: October 2013
CSA vegetables marketing local and fresh Webinar
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November 7, 2013
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Cover crops in Western Neb meeting and training day
Here is a great way to save soil from blowing and enhance the fertility profile
MIke
Using Cover Crops in Western Nebraska
When: December 7th beginning at 8:30am.
Where: Ogallala Extended Campus Mid-Plains Community College
Plan to join us for the annual Western Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Conference. This year it will be held at the Ogallala Extended Campus Community College.
The Western Conference will feature several dynamic sessions and talks geared around sustainable and organic agriculture.
Our keynote this year is Dale Strickler who works for Star Seed out of Kansas. Strickler, an agronomist, will share his 25 years of experience working with farmers and ranchers in the Great Plains from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border on forage systems and cover cropping. Dale started cover cropping on rented ground in 1988. He bought his first farm in 2000 and converted it from a furrow irrigated corn farm to a subsurface drip irrigated, management intensive grazing opera-tion. Cover cropping has become an integral part of his operation, and that of many of the farmers he works with. Dale often hears farmers say their biggest cover crop regret is that they did not start sooner! He will discuss how integrating cover crops into a cropping system can improve soil health and decrease input costs. Looking to the short grass prairie for inspiration, Dale says “We can design agriculture systems that improve upon our current farming practices”
Other sessions will include; “The Nuts & Bolts of Using Cover Crops,”Growing Vegetables Through Profit for a CSA,”Impact of Bees and the Environment,” and more! Complete details and descriptions on the sessions can be found in the attached brochure.
We’ll also have a tradeshow featuring businesses and organizations across Greater Nebraska! We still have a few booths open if you are interested please find information about the booths in the attachment.
Foods! Our conference this year will feature some awesome locally grown in Ogallala foods! Open Range out of Ogallala will be doing the catering. Be sure to check them out before you come to the conference!
Young & Beginning Farmer Scholarships are available! Please contact me at healthyfarms@gmail.com if interested.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in Ogallala!
William
Update GMO on Monsanto fight over GMO labels in Washington State
ESSAY OF THE WEEK
Quietly into the Night? Not Monsanto.
The average American eats more than 150 pounds of genetically engineered food every year. This despite the fact that scientists – the independent ones – agree that GE foods are ruining our health and our environment.
Fortunately, after 20 years of fighting for labels on foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), we’ve reached a turning point. We, as consumers and farmers, are demanding a say in what we eat and what we plant.
In an interview with Mercola.com, OCA’s Ronnie Cummins explains why we must marshal every last resource to win the GMO labeling battle in Washington State on Nov. 5. And once we win, how we’ll have to continue the fight against Monsanto. With every ballot we cast. With every food purchase we make.
Because Monsanto will not go quietly into the night. At least not yet.
ACTION ALERT
Big Rules Spell Bad News for Small Farms
Love your local farms, farmers markets, and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture)? They could be in trouble thanks to heavy-handed new rules proposed under the Food Safety & Modernization Act (FSMA).
Unless the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) agrees to some key changes in the FSMA, your local farmer could be forced to shell out up to $20,000 for a fancy “Hazard Analysis and Risk-based Preventive Control plan.” For a farmer on a small budget, all that extra cost and paperwork means raising prices. Higher prices could force even the most loyal consumer to reluctantly settle for inferior, industrial food, trucked in from out-of-state corporations.
And that could force your farmer out of business. While perpetuating the chemical-intensive, environmentally unfriendly corporate agribusiness model.
Under the guise of “food safety,” the FSMA would create new barriers for small and mid-scale farmers and processors who have for years been working to create local markets – restaurants, co-ops, groceries, schools – for their locally grown produce.
Who wins? The big guys, as usual. Who loses? Consumers. Farmers. Local markets. And Mother Earth.
I-522 UPDATE
Too Close to Call?
With less than two weeks to go, Monsanto and Big Food are eating away at our lead in Washington State. We’re still ahead, but make no mistake. The opposition’s $17.1 million worth of misleading TV and radio ads, mailers and flyers, is hurting us.
The single most important thing we can all do right now is get on the phone. Call voters in Washington State. Urge them to get out and vote YES on I-522. And remind them that any company willing to spend $17.1 million to keep a simple label off of its products has something to hide. And that something can’t be good.
The editorial boards of two major newspapers in Washington State – the Seattle Times and the Olympian – have come out against I-522, thanks to the powerful lobbying efforts of Monsanto and Big Food.
These next two weeks are critical. Please volunteer an hour of your time to call voters. The campaign will tell you how to do it. It’s easy. And it won’t cost you anything but a little time.
Volunteer to make phone calls to Washington voters
Donate to the OCF or the OCA to support GMO labeling in Washington and other states.
TRAITOR BOYCOTT
Outed! Big Food Spends Big Money to Keep You in the Dark
Big surprise. Big Food was hiding its big donations to the NO on I-522 campaign by funneling them through the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).
We knew it was true. Now we know who they are. The companies who make billions of dollars by selling you their products. But who don’t want you to know what they’re putting in those products.
Why were they so desperate to hide their donations that they were willing to break the law? Because you, consumers, boycotted them, and their natural and organic brands, after they publicly donated more than $26 million to defeat GMO labeling in California last year.
We’ll be updating our boycott list soon, based on this new list of donors. In the meantime…
- Kudos to Ben & Jerry’s, who kept its parent company, Unilever, from donating to the NO on I-522 campaign. For this, and for making a huge in-kind contribution to the YES on I-522 campaign, we’ll take Ben & Jerry’s off the new boycott list, when we make it official.
- Shame on Seth Goldman, CEO of Honest Tea, for telling the media that Honest Tea’s parent company, Coca-Cola, wasn’t “directly lobbying” to defeat I-522. As it turns out, Coke was the third highest food company donor, spending more than $1 million to kill I-522. If you haven’t already, please tell Mr. Goldman what you think.
- Welcome! To two new organic and natural brands, who will be added to our new boycott list. Sweet Leaf Teas, an organic brand, and Gerber organic baby foods are both owned by international food conglomerate, Nestlé, which donated $1.1 million to the NO on I-522 campaign. Why not get a jump on the boycott by posting on their Facebook pages today? Sweet Leaf Tea and Gerber organic.
And, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the top food donor to the NO on I-522 campaign. PepsiCo plunked down a cool $1.6 million in Washington State. Please let the folks at Pepsi’s subsidiary, Naked Juice, know how you feel about that.
Mike's Blog 