NPR
by Dan Charles

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OK, so this story is about weeds and weedkillers, neither of which is ever the hero of a story, but stay with me for a second: It’s also about plants with superpowers.

Unless you grow cotton, corn or soybeans for a living, it’s hard to appreciate just how amazing and wonderful it seemed, 15 years ago, when Roundup-tolerant crops hit the market. I’ve seen crusty farmers turn giddy just talking about it.

All they had to do was spray the herbicide Roundup over their fields and everything died — except their remarkable new crops, with their laboratory-inserted genes that made them resistant to that weedkiller. Read Full Article »

Congratulations to Kristal Job, the winner of Joel Salatin’s new book:  Folks, This Ain’t Normal.  The book was donated by a dedicated Cornucopia member, and mutual fan of Joel’s work, to help build exposure for our work.

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Soyatech
Jay Rodman

Targeted News Service — LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Richard Pratt is standing in a field at New Mexico State University’s Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center south of Las Cruces talking about his corn research. Two things are worth mentioning here. One is that there’s not a cornstalk in sight. The other is that Pratt, who recently finished up his first year as head of the NMSU Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, has time for research.

The absence of corn is easy to explain. It’s February in southern New Mexico and the corn has all been harvested. The particular plot Pratt is standing in is greening up with hairy vetch, a winter cover crop being rotated in as part of that field’s three-year transition from traditional agriculture to certified organic status.

Finding time for the research, as busy as Pratt is with administrative responsibilities, is not easy but it is essential. He brought a large grant with him when he moved to NMSU from Ohio State University and is committed to expanding the project in his new Western environment. Read Full Article »

Celebrity Doctor, Alan Greene, Accused of Unethical Conduct

ANAHEIM, CA:  On the heels of an emerging corporate influence peddling scandal that has undermined the integrity of the federal organic rulemaking process, The Cornucopia Institute, an industry watchdog, has requested that a speech by Alan Greene, a well-known pediatrician, be canceled at the Natural Foods Expo, being held this week in Anaheim, California.

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If your local National Public Radio station does not carry the Diane Rehm show, which broadcasts live from Washington DC every weekday, please click on the link above. The show will be broadcast at 11 AM (Eastern). In addition to Miles McEvoy and Mark Kastel, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal, who covered industrial-scale organic agriculture in Mexico, will also appear. Read Full Article »