Obama Believed to Be Behind GMO Alfalfa Push

By Leah Zerbe
Rodale News (excerpts)

“Rumors are that the White House wanted to appease Monsanto and appear friendly to business,” says Marion Nestle.

The announcement to allow farmers to plant GMO alfalfa anywhere—even right beside an organic field—came as something of a surprise to many observers. Though the approval seemed a foregone conclusion, the USDA seemed to be, for the first time, open to the idea of “coexistence” between GMO, conventional, and organic farmers. For instance, one of the proposed options involved keeping a five-mile buffer between GMO alfalfa and organic plantings. And while many scientists believe coexistence is impossible because cross-pollination threatens to contaminate organic crops with modified genes, it was still unprecedented for USDA to even consider organic farmers at the negotiating table. That gave some organic advocates hope.

NYTimes foodie Bittman gets into the food fight

Mark Bittman to Cover the Politics of Food

By Keith Goetzman
Utne Reader

Food is infused with politics these days, so foodie columnist Mark Bittman is getting out of the kitchen and into the fray. Bittman announced this week in his popular Minimalist column and blog for the New York Times’ Dining section that he’s shifting gears because of a shift in consciousness:

“My growing conviction that the meat-heavy American diet and our increasing dependence on prepared and processed foods is detrimental not only to our personal health but to that of the planet has had an impact on my life and on that of the column.

Albuquerque to host Mark Winne: Food, Freedom and Authority

Food, Freedom and Authority: A lecture and book signing with Mark Winne 2/7/11

By Duke City Fix

Who Controls the Food We Eat? A lecture and book signing with Mark Winne. The event is free & open to the public. Monday, February 7th, 2011 6:30-8:30pm, University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning.

Read and watch a brief overview by Winne here, excerpted below:

With the advent of industrialism and its widespread application to our food supply – factory farms, genetic engineering, and agricultural chemicals – the struggle between human freedom and authority has reached a critical juncture. In spite of the rapid growth of an alternative food system – local and sustainable food production, farmers’ markets, the public’s rising food consciousness – we become more dependent everyday on industrial agriculture whose representatives insist that it is the only way to feed a hungry world.

The Continuing Idiot Cycle of Cancer Contributors

The situation has just gotten much worse than the movie indicates.

The powers that be want you to believe cigarettes and alcohol are cancer contributors, which they are; but the feds don’t like to talk about how US companies are contaminating the most simple needs… like water and air.

By Salem-News.com

In December we carried a report on a new film called “The Idiot Cycle” (Movie Breaks All Rules Exposing Cancer Origins) that delivers the goods on the world’s top cancer causing culprits, which could easily have been titled “The Business of Cancer”- as it so fully divulges the dark and dirty side of companies like Bayer, BASF, Dow, Dupont, Monsanto, Syngetna, Novartis, Pfizer, and others.

Over the past several weeks, since that article was published, problems have become worse. These same companies control the FDA, and under the new “food safety” bill – S 510 (structured by agribusiness to end access to safe local food systems and by Pharma to eliminate access to safe nutritional support), they have just gotten the FDA to ban IV vitamin C as an unapproved drug.

Vertical Gardening Techniques for Maximum Returns

Clockwise from top left: Rigid livestock panels do double duty as a fence and support for tomatoes, plus they can be bent to create an arched entry; saplings or bamboo poles are easy to use for pole bean tipis; pea tendrils love to cling to twiggy brush; and so-called “tomato” cages work better to support peppers and eggplants. ILLUSTRATION: ELAYNE SEARS

By Barbara Pleasant
Mother Earth News

Whether your garden is large or small, you can make better use of every square inch by using vertical gardening techniques to grow upright crops. Pole beans typically produce twice as many beans as bush varieties, and the right trellis can double cucumber yields. Then there are crops, such as tomatoes, that need some type of support to keep them above damp ground, where diseases have a heyday. All properly supported plants are easier to pick from and monitor for pests, plus you’ll get help from bug-eating birds that use trellises as hunting perches.

Radical self reliance: Homesteading outside L.A.

By NextWorldTV

Meet the Dervaes family. These new urban homesteaders, a family of four, are not employed- living comfortably on $30,000/ year.  Growing their own food on 1/5th of an acre outside of Los Angeles, CA, they have meat, dairy and vegetables- all they need.  They even sell to local restaurants and neighbors.

Foresight’s Global Food & Farming Futures report pushes GM crops

Two scientific takes — by Devinder Sharma and by Marcia Ishii-Eiteman — on Foresight’s Global Food & Farming Futures characterize it as a taxpayer-funded advertisement for the biotech industry which ignores the science proving GM crops do not increase yield, do increase the use of pesticides causing superweeds and other problems, and destroy farmer independence.

Wyoming Food Freedom Act back, sans raw milk exclusion

By Joshua Wolfson
Casper Star Tribune

A week after its apparent death, the Wyoming Food Freedom Act is back in the Legislature. Rep. John Eklund, R- Cheyenne, has introduced a revised version of the bill, which would ease regulations on certain home-based food producers.

The original bill, which died in committee, would have exempted all homemade foods from state licensing and inspection rules, provided they were sold directly to consumers. The new legislation is similar, but does not exempt milk and meat products from government oversight.

USDA approves GMO alfalfa; CFS to sue

By various sources

US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, just approved widespread planting of genetically modified alfalfa. The Center for Food Safety plans to sue and Food & Water Watch would like you send a letter to Obama to reverse the decision.

Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: Whole Foods Market okays GMO coexistence

By Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association

“The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must.”   -  Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation’s 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America’s organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

Food for Thought: Humor amid the food wars

Collected by Rady Ananda

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

I always take life with a grain of salt… plus a slice of lemon… and a shot of tequila.

Butter vs. Margarine ? I trust cows over scientists.

The Idiot Cycle: Poisoning the world for profit

By various sources

The Idiot Cycle is a film about cancer and how chemical companies not only profit from making the chemicals that cause cancer, but also profit from selling the drugs that treat cancer.

If you live in New England and are interested in helping us screen this film in several locations on International Seed Day (ISD), April 26, please write to us as soon as possible:  lailatahhar@hotmail.com and thegeeks@japanesepopsongs.com

Here are excerpts from a review by Tim King at Salem-News.com:

Food Speculation: Banksters making a killing, literally

Two articles discuss food speculation as Wall Street continues to starve millions. “Get ready for a rocky year. From now on, rising prices, powerful storms, severe droughts and floods, and other unexpected events are likely to play havoc with the fabric of global society, producing chaos and political unrest. Start with a simple fact: the prices of basic food staples are already approaching or exceeding their 2008 peaks, that year when deadly riots erupted in dozens of countries around the world,” writes Tom Dispatch.

‘We need to stop this culture before it kills the planet’ – A conversation with Derrick Jensen

By Mickey Z.
ThePeoplesVoice.org

As you begin reading this interview, take a look at the nearest clock. Now, dig this: Since yesterday at the same exact time, 200,000 acres of rainforest have been destroyed, over 100 plant and animal species have gone extinct, 13 million tons of toxic chemicals were released across the globe, and 29,158 children under the age of five died from preventable causes.

Worst of all, there’s nothing unique about the past 24 hours. It’s business as usual, a daily reality—and no amount of CFL bulbs, recycled toilet paper, or Sierra Club donations will change it even a tiny bit.

Ecoterrorism: USDA admits mass poisoning of millions of animals

By Mike Adams
Natural News

It’s absolutely shocking news: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has publicly admitted it is responsible for the mass poisoning of tens of millions of birds over the last several years. It’s all part of the USDA’s program called “Bye Bye Blackbird,” and we even have the USDA’s spreadsheet where they document how many millions of birds (and other animals) they’ve poisoned to death.

Sarasota FL prepares to welcome backyard chickens

By Jackie Barron
Tampa Tribune

Move over dogs and cats, city leaders have taken the first step in letting chickens roost in backyards.  Tuesday night city commissioners voted unanimously in support of a new ordinance allowing residents to have up to four hens. No roosters allowed.

“If it crows, it goes. We’re going to be firm about this,” said Jono Miller, who helped lead the initiative to allow chickens in the city.

BP Genetically Modifying the Gulf of Mexico

By Michael Edward
Blue Plague.org

Evidence that BP used synthetic microorganisms to clean up the oil in the Gulf of Mexico indicates that the genetically modified bacteria are altering the DNA of species throughout the food chain impacting all biota, including humans, writes Michael Edward.

The Monsanto Rag (Tune by Synister Dane)

By Synister Dane & the Kickapoo Disco Cosmonuts

(Parody of “I Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag”, by Country Joe McDonald, Alkatraz Corner Music Co.)

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

Well, come on all of you farmin’ folks
Ole Monsanto’s a blowin’ smoke
They got genetic freaks and corporate greed
You can spray anything but you can’t save seed
They’re changin’ Mother Nature’s rules
There’s new genes in the pool

Vermont Saying NO to Big Bro

By Michael Olson
Food Chain Radio

A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COM

Farmers and consumers in the tiny, landlocked state of Vermont have initiated a petition drive to reject the Federal government’s Food Safety Modernization Act.  This leads us to ask…

What could be wrong with government safe food?

This Saturday at 9am Pacific, Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio hosts Jessica Bernier, Spokesperson for the Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty, for a conversation about Vermont’s fight for food independence. (Food Chain Radio #712)

Wyoming defeats, Georgia introduces Food Freedom Act

Jan. 28 UPDATE: Wyoming Food Freedom Act back, sans raw milk exclusion. Also, according to the Tenth Amendment Center, Democrat Representative Walter Kumiega of Deer Isle, Maine has introduced a Food Freedom Act, similar to the one that was introduced in Wyoming.

By Rady Ananda

On Tuesday, by a vote of 5-4, agriculture committee members rejected the Wyoming Food Freedom Act which would have exempted some food products from government inspections and would have encouraged the sale and consumption of homemade foods. Sue Wallis, who introduced the measure, told the Billings Gazette its defeat was “disappointing.”

Georgia, however, will consider two bills to protect food freedom, introduced by Cobb County Rep. Bobby L. Franklin.