(5 comments) SHARE        Saturday, December 1, 2012
Organic: Food Justice for the 99% (Response to Time Magazine/Dr. Oz denigration of organic consumers) As Americans become increasingly aware of the story behind conventional foods--the ecologically destructive monoculture fields, the petrochemical fertilizers, the toxic pesticides and dangerous fumigants--the agrochemical industry has launched an all-out media offensive against the booming organic industry.

SHARE        Thursday, May 9, 2013
Not Good Enough for Pet Food: Chinese Organic Food Scrutinized at Congressional Hearing Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, testified on May 8 before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats regarding concerns being raised about imports of food from China that are entering the U.S.

(5 comments) SHARE        Thursday, September 19, 2013
Organic Industry Watchdog: FDA Food Safety Rules Threaten to Crush the Good Food Movement According to a new white paper by The Cornucopia Institute, the FDA's draft rules for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are so off the mark that they might economically crush the country's safest farmers while ignoring the root threats to human health: manure contaminated with deadly infectious pathogens generated on "factory" livestock farms and high-risk produce-processing practices.

(2 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, March 19, 2013
NEW REPORT: Food Additive (Carrageenan) Suspected in GI Disease/Tumors---FDA asked to pull from Market The Cornucopia Institute's new report, Carrageenan: How a "Natural" Food Additive Is Making Us Sick," and shopping guide to carrageenan-free products, are available on Cornucopia's website. Carrageenan is a highly processed additive extracted from red seaweed, linked in the diet of laboratory animals to gastrointestinal disease, including col

(1 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, November 12, 2013
FDA Food-Safety Comments, Defending Family Farmers, Blocked: Another Fed Website SNAFU The Cornucopia Institute is 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 media.

(3 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Elephant (Poop) in the Room -The Relationship between the Current Egg Brouhaha and True Cause of Food Contamination The relatively new phenomena of nationwide pathogenic outbreaks, be they from salmonella or E. coli variants, are intimately tied to the fecal contamination of our food supply and the intermingling of millions of unhealthy animals. It's one of the best kept secrets in the modern livestock industry. Mountains of manure are piling up at our nation's mammoth industrial-scale "factory farms."

(2 comments) SHARE        Sunday, February 16, 2014
Horizon "Organic" Factory Farm Accused of Improprieties, Again Cornucopia, an organic industry watchdog, charges that the USDA allowed Dean Foods and its WhiteWave subsidiary to, allegedly, operate a giant factory farm dairy that has been illegally disadvantaging the nation's family-scale dairy producers.

SHARE        Thursday, December 6, 2012
ACTION ALERT: Fight to Keep Gimmicky Synthetic Nutrients from Polluting Organic Food The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public comment on a rule that would continue its policy of allowing the indiscriminate and illegal addition of synthetic nutrients to organic foods.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, September 16, 2013
Biotech Attack GMO Labeling in WA--Organic Brands Hide Behind Lobby Group Proposition I-522, a citizen's initiative on the ballot on November 5 in Washington state, would mandate clear labeling of genetically engineered (GE) ingredients on food packages. It has become the latest battleground pitting consumer and farmer advocates against multi-billion-dollar agribusiness corporations.

(8 comments) SHARE        Friday, December 12, 2014
Investigation: "Factory Farms" Producing Massive Quantities of Organic Milk and Eggs The Cornucopia Institute has filed formal legal complaints against 14 giant certified organic operations for apparent abuses including providing no legitimate grazing, or even access to the outdoors, as required by federal organic regulations.

(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, October 24, 2013
Unveiled: GMO Labeling Opponents Come Out of the Shadows Proposition I-522 has become the most expensive initiative campaign in Washington's history. The high-priced battleground is pitting consumer and farmer advocates against multi-billion-dollar agribusiness corporations. The Cornucopia Institute's I-522 shopper's guide shows how companies have supported I-522--or not.

SHARE        Monday, October 6, 2014
GMO INFOGRAPHIC: Organic/Natural Brands Betray Customers by Fighting Labeling Article and infographic showing the money spent for and against the latest GMO labeling initiatives in Colorado and Oregon.

(2 comments) SHARE        Saturday, February 15, 2014
Leading Organic Brand, Horizon, Blasted for Betraying Organics WhiteWave Foods has betrayed organics, introducing non-organic grocery products under their Horizon label. WhiteWave/Horizon joins a long line of corporate agribusinesses that have intentionally blurred the line between products they offer with all certified organic ingredients and others sold in similar packaging but containing materials that would never be accepted for use under the USDA organic seal.

(2 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Supreme Court Denies Family Farmers the Right to Self-Defense from Monsanto Abuse The U.S. Supreme Court denied farmers the right to argue their case in court and gain protection from potential abuse by the agrichemical and genetic engineering giant Monsanto on January 13 in the landmark federal lawsuit, Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto.

(2 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Subterfuge: FDA Phase-Out of Antibiotics for Animal-Growth Purposes Ineffective, Will Disadvantage Small Farmers Decries The Cornucopia Institute: FDA draft guidance on antibiotic use in livestock is voluntary and would only rebrand antibiotic uses currently labeled as growth promotion as disease prevention.

(1 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, September 7, 2010
(Not) Crying over Spilt Soymilk --- Organic Farmers Celebrating Victory over Corporate Agribusiness It's not often that family-scale farmers can go toe-to-toe with a $12 billion agribusiness and come out victors. But organic soybean producers, and a modestly scaled but powerful ally, The Cornucopia Institute, are claiming victory over Dean Foods in the organic marketplace.

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, June 21, 2014
Robo-Calls Bother Organic Farmers During Spring Planting Without the support of farmers, the OTA continues to push for an organic check-off program, employing annoying robo-calling. Farmer organizations and farmers are working together to stop the check-off and to alert Congress to the misleading information OTA supplies.

(2 comments) SHARE        Saturday, May 10, 2014
Turmoil Shakes National Organic Standards Board Meeting in Texas The spring NOSB meeting in San Antonio was contentious, protested and not as fruitful as some may have hoped. But it did keep the door open for further discussion of the future of organics.

(1 comments) SHARE        Friday, October 11, 2013
Fed Shutdown Forces Ceasefire in Organic War: USDA Louisville Meeting Canceled As collateral damage spreads, with Congress continuing at loggerheads over a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government, the newest victims include farmers and consumers who depend on the USDA to oversee the propriety and integrity of the organic industry.

(3 comments) SHARE        Friday, February 6, 2015
Leading Wisconsin Farm Group Rejects Industry-Led "Organic Check-off" Wisconsin Farmers Union members overwhelmingly voted no on Organic Trade Association's (OTA) proposed organic check-off program, which would create a mandatory tax on farmers, food processors, distributors and retailers engaged in organic commerce, earmarked for research and promotion related to organics.

(1 comments) SHARE        Friday, February 21, 2014
NewsRelease: Agribusiness Participation at Nation's Largest Organic Conference Stirs Controversy A prominent organic industry watchdog, The Cornucopia Institute, has called on event sponsors to cancel an appearance by an employee of one of the largest corporate agribusinesses involved in organics, WhiteWave, calling them an unethical "perennial bad actor" in the organic marketplace.

(4 comments) SHARE        Thursday, October 23, 2014
Powerful Organic Trade/Lobby Group Recruiting Family Farmers The Organic Trade Association is now pandering to small farmers, seeking their membership in what is really an agribusiness lobby and using their names to garner respect. The Cornucopia Institute, organic watchdog group, discusses the OTA's newest ploy in the fight for an organic check-off.

(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, July 17, 2014
WHITE HOUSE PETITION: Ask Obama to Reverse USDA Coup Undermining NOSB, Shifting Power to Agribusiness The Cornucopia Institute is petitioning President Obama to roll back the USDA power grab which curtailed the authority of the National Organic Standards Board and crippled the sunset review process. Please sign!

(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, August 12, 2010
Federal Court Victory: Almond Farmers Can Challenge USDA Pasteurization Rule A federal appeals court ruled today, overturning a lower court decision, that a group of California almond farmers have the right to challenge a USDA regulation requiring the treatment of their raw almonds with a toxic fumigant or steam heat prior to sale to consumers.

(1 comments) SHARE        Saturday, September 20, 2014
Cornucopia: USDA Maintains Pattern of Corporate Appointments Under both the Bush and Obama administrations the USDA has violated the Organic Foods Production Act by appointing agribusiness executives, instead of those "owning or operating" a certified organic farm, to sit in seats intended to represent farmers. The Cornucopia Institute offers its analysis of recent NOSB appointees in this article.

(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, July 24, 2014
Lack of Transparency Fuels Corruption Allegations in Organic Governance The Cornucopia Institute calls on the USDA to make National Organic Standards Board applicant list available to the public. Pending their sharing the whole list, Cornucopia offers a list of known applicants based on their research.

SHARE        Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Family Farmers Amplify Legal Complaint Against Monsanto's GMOs New threats by Monsanto have led to the filing of an amended complaint by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) in its suit on behalf of family farmers, seed businesses, and organic agricultural organizations challenging Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seed.

SHARE        Friday, August 12, 2011
USDA and Corporate Agribusiness Continue to Push Animal ID Scheme The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a new proposed rule for mandatory animal traceability which goes much further to require animal tagging and tracing without specific disease threats. The rule has raised significant concerns among family farm and ranch advocates, who accuse the agency of failing to provide a coherent, factual explanation of the program's necessity.

SHARE        Wednesday, December 19, 2012
PRESS RELEASE: A Yummy Gift Idea: Foodies Pick Most Appetizing Books Despite the controversial November 6 defeat of California's Proposition 37 that would have required labeling for genetically engineered food, many food-conscious consumers across the nation continue their interest in self-education on food and farming issues. A question posted on Cornucopia's Facebook page asked visitors what books they'd recently read and would recommend on food-related topics.