PROMOTING ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR FAMILY-SCALE FARMING
NEWS FROM THE CORNUCOPIA INSTITUTE
JUNE 9, 2018
Farm Bill Alert: Tell Congress to Support Small Farms and a Strong Organic Label!
Source: Andrew Stawarz
The first draft of the Farm Bill failed to pass the House. Now the Bill is being revised in Congress, and will return to a vote soon. Many elements that would undermine environmental stewardship and organic law are rumored to remain in the Bill. Mega-farms would continue to receive handouts, conservation programs and funding to help farmers transition to, and afford, organic certification would be cut, and the National Organic Standards Board would lose further authority. We cannot allow this bill to pass without strong protections for small organic farms! Call your House Representatives and Senatorstoday and let them know where you stand. Their votes will determine the fate of sustainable, organic agriculture for the next several years.
Michigan Democrats Stand Up for Factory Farmed “Organic” Eggs
Sen. Stabenow, MI Source: USDA, Flickr
Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan helped the Trump administration kill the proposed Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule earlier this year. Stabenow has received almost $30,000 from Herbruck’s, a massive, “organic,” confinement egg operation that uses enclosed porches rather than allowing the birds real outdoor access. You can view images of Herbruck’s Mulligan, Michigan operation from Cornucopia’s flyover investigations, along with our formal complaints to the National Organic Program. Cornucopia Codirector Mark Kastel asks in the Detroit Metro Times, “What do Democrats stand for if they don’t stand up for [small organic farmers]? They say they don’t stand for giveaways to giant corporations, but that’s what this is all about.”
OTA Surprised by USDA Abandoning Organic Checkoff Program
Laura Batcha, OTA Source: USDA, Flickr
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) began pushing its Checkoff Program in 2012, hyping it as a fund to research and promote organic products as a whole. Many farmers, familiar with checkoffs from commodities they have grown or raised in the past, viewed the program as a tax on their income, designed to line the pockets of processors and marketers. The OTA ignored the outcry from organic farmer organizations and instead reported widespread farmer agreement to Congressional representatives. Just as it appeared the checkoff would be approved, the Trump administration shut down the whole dog and pony show. OTA CEO Laura Batcha remarked, “We were very, very surprised – it was incredibly unexpected.”
Most genetically engineered (GE) crops currently on the market are engineered to withstand herbicide exposure, but Golden Rice has been the poster-child for the biotech industry, engineered to provide beta-carotene to vitamin A-deficient populations. The FDA has recently determined that the amount of the nutrient it contains is so low that it fails to qualify for a nutrient claim, and what little it does contain rapidly degrades in storage. Wild plants at the side of the field, now largely gone due to increased use of pesticides, traditionally provided beta-carotene in developing countries.
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The Cornucopia Institute
is a nonprofit organization engaged in research and educational activities supporting the ecological principles and economic wisdom underlying sustainable and organic agriculture. Through research and investigations on agricultural and food issues, The Cornucopia Institute provides needed information to family farmers, consumers, stakeholders involved in the good food movement, and the media.
