A new study has found that widespread adoption of genetically modified crops has increased the use of weed-killing herbicides as weeds become more resistant, while decreasing the use of insecticides. University of Virginia economist Federico Ciliberto led the largest study of genetically modified crops and pesticide use to date, alongside Edward D. Perry of Kansas State University, David A. Hennessy …
Winona LaDuke – Slow, Clean, Good Food
In an impressive fossil fuels travel day, I left the Standing Rock reservation and flew to Italy for the International Slow Food gathering known as Terra Madre. A world congress of harvesters, farmers, chefs and political leaders, this is basically the World Food Olympics. This is my fifth trip to Italy for Slow Food. I first went with Margaret Smith, …
Katherine Paul – Billions against Bayer: Here we come!
Bayer and Monsanto finally agreed to say “I do” yesterday (September 14), striking a $66-billion deal that Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant tried to sell as a move to improve “the lives of growers and people around the world.” Wall Street Journal reporter Jacob Bunge painted the news in a different light. Bunge implied that behind the Bayer-Monsanto buyout, a similar …
Six companies are about to merge into the biggest farm-business oligopoly in history
Big farms are about to get a lot bigger. With six agricultural giants on the verge of merging into three separate companies, consumers and farmers are feeling uneasy about the global implications and how it might impact the food system. Top executives from Bayer, Monsanto, DuPont, Dow Chemical, and Syngenta today (Sept. 20) testified before the US Senate Judiciary Committee …
Organic Under Attack: Report Exposes Big Food’s Tobacco-Style PR Blitz – Lauren McCauley
Remember that recent blog post you read about the popularity of genetically modified foods? Or the economics expert on the news who questioned if paying the price of organic food was ‘worth it’? According to a new report, these views were very likely the product of a public relations blitz by Big Food and Big Ag firms, that are actively …