Ever since Obama-appointed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) head Tom Vilsack deregulated Monsanto’s genetically-modified (GM) alfalfa, there has been a firestorm of controversy over the long-term negative consequences of this thoughtless decision.

The Healthy Corner Store Initiative is working to find room for lettuce, whole grains and skim milk in shops like this one. It’s part of an effort to fight obesity in low-income neighborhoods, where access to healthful food is often limited.

My God Sangha… what do we do? At times it really seems like we’re fighting an uphill battle, well some of us are fighting while the majority of us are oblivious to all these biochemical happenings going on all around us.

Contamination of organic and traditional crops by recently deregulated, genetically modified alfalfa is inevitable, agriculture experts said, despite Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s recent assurances the federal government would take steps to prevent such a problem.

Yesterday’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that it will once again allow unlimited, nation-wide commercial planting of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa, despite the many risks to organic and conventional farmers, is deeply disturbing, but not surprising.

Things sure would be a lot easier and better for the entire world if everyone gave up eating animal products. For all the damage it does to our bodies and the environment one can’t help but wonder what the heck is taking us so long to wake up? Are our taste buds ruling our common sense, are we that naive or do we just not care?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have adopted a pro-corporate position that laughably claims labeling GM/GE foods creates the “false” impression that “that the labeled food is in some way different from other foods.” [1] Even worse, the current U.S. draft position paper declares that mandatory labeling laws such as they have in Europe are “false, misleading or deceptive.“

The new USDA organic pasture rule strengthening the requirement for grazing and pasturing livestock may not apply to beef cattle and other ruminants in meat production. In fact, the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) is seeking comments from farmers and consumers on a proposal to allow some level of confinement in feedlots for, as an example, organic beef cattle during the last four months of their lives during the “finishing” period prior to slaughter (when industry standards would feed them mostly grain/corn).

In an effort to involve American Indian students and researchers in plant genome research at Iowa State University has been honored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). The Outreach to American Indians in Plant Germplasm and Genomics Program received the USDA-ARS Midwest Area Research Support Awards for Excellence Equal Opportunity [...]

The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has put into place a new recommendation that has the potential to create a problem for a number of pet food manufacturers. The agency recently released a recommendation that pet food should not be called organic if it contains vitamins and minerals that are not [...]