A fundraising appeal from the Environmental Working Group asking readers to donate before its 2010 year-end deadline, offering a free Dirty Dozen pesticide shopping notepad with any gift of $10 or more.
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Agriculture
Farming, crops and livestock.
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Agriculture
Organic Food
Organic farmers work without most conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, bioengineering or irradiation, and organic meat, eggs and dairy come from animals given no antibiotics or growth hormones. A government-approved certifier must inspect farms and handlers.
Agriculture
AgriLife Extension economist says U.S. pecan industry at crossroads (PR)
Texas AgriLife economist Jose Pena says the US pecan industry must meet rising Chinese export demand while keeping domestic shelves stocked. USDA puts this year's crop at 271.3 million pounds; with carry-in, supply reaches about 363.3 million, still down 26.5 million from last year.
Agriculture
New Fish Feeds Made from Fish Byproducts
USDA-funded scientists in Hawaii and Alaska are turning discarded fish heads, tails, bones, skin and organs into feed for Pacific threadfin and white shrimp. An earlier study found feed made from Alaskan pollock and cod scraps matched Norwegian fishmeal in nutritional quality.
Agriculture
Are Organic Eggs Safer?
After officials traced the salmonella behind the recall of half a billion eggs to barns and feed at two Iowa farms, Dr. Mercola argues that flock size and housing matter more than labels: eggs from flocks of 30,000 or more and from caged hens carry far more salmonella than small free-range ones.
Agriculture
Study Links Fluoride to Pre-term Birth and Anemia in Pregnancy (PR)
In a study in Current Science, anemic pregnant women in India who avoided fluoride in water and food and followed a nutrition plan had less anemia and fewer pre-term and low-birth-weight babies than a control group. Two stillbirths occurred in the control group and none in the other.
Agriculture
In the Battle of the Strawberries, Did Organic Win
John Reganold's Washington State University team compared 13 organic and 13 conventional California strawberry fields, testing 31 soil properties, soil DNA, and the taste, nutrition and quality of three varieties. The conventional farms used the fumigant methyl bromide.
Agriculture
Organic Pesticides Not Always Best Choice
A PLoS ONE study of soybean crops found an organic mineral oil pesticide killed ladybugs and flower bugs that keep aphids in check, which led researchers to rate it worse environmentally than synthetic versions. Mercola disputes that conclusion and calls for integrated pest management.
Agriculture
Get to know which food is low in pesticides
A ranking from Foodnews.org, a service of the Environmental Working Group, listing the 15 fruits and vegetables with the lowest pesticide levels, led by onions and avocado, and the 15 with the highest, ending with celery.
Agriculture
America Has Lost More Than Twenty-three Million Acres of Agricultural Land (PR)
American Farmland Trust says the USDA's 2007 National Resources Inventory recorded 4,080,300 acres of working agricultural land converted to development between 2002 and 2007, and 23,163,500 acres since 1982. Prime farmland fell by 13,773,400 acres over the same period.
Agriculture
ARS Strawberries Make Commercial and Home Growing Easy
The ARS strawberry breeding program in Beltsville, Md., the longest continuously running in the country, turns 100. Its releases include Earliglow (1975), sweet and disease resistant, Tribute (1981), which fruits through spring, summer and fall, and Northeaster (1994).
Agriculture
Pesticides Linked to Prostate Cancer
Xiaohui Xu of the University of Florida analysed 1999-2004 NHANES data and found serum levels of beta-HCH, trans-nonachlor and dieldrin were significantly associated with prevalent prostate cancer after adjustment. No association turned up for breast cancer.
Agriculture
Toxic Sewage Sludge in Your Food
Mercola describes treated sewage sludge being distributed as cheap fertilizer and free municipal compost, and argues it carries household, hospital, industrial and stormwater pollutants onto farms, lawns and gardens. He also quotes Syngenta's Michael Mack calling organic food worse for the planet.
Agriculture
Giant Organic Livestock Operation Decertified by USDA
A USDA administrative law judge suspended Promiseland Livestock, one of the largest organic cattle producers in the United States, and its owner and key employees from organic commerce for four years. Complaints alleged it withheld organic grain and laundered conventional cattle as organic.
Agriculture
Thirty Farms in Violation of FDA Antibiotic Mandate
The FDA sent warning letters to 30 dairy farms this year over antibiotic misuse. One Minnesota cow carried 129 times the allowable penicillin limit, and another farm misused ten drugs. Regulators cite residues in milk and meat, allergic reactions and bacterial resistance as concerns.
Agriculture
Food Manufacturers and Organic Industry Lobbyists Circle the Wagons (PR)
The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Organic Trade Association intervened as friends of the court in a class action accusing Aurora Dairy of consumer fraud. USDA investigators found in 2007 that Aurora willfully violated organic standards, but it was allowed to keep operating on probation.
Agriculture
Scientists Find Ozone Levels Already Affecting Soybean Yields
ARS and University of Illinois scientists running the open-air SoyFACE experiment found current ozone levels already cut soybean yields by up to 15%, with about 20% lost as ozone rises. Elevated CO2 raised yields roughly 12% and partly offset the ozone damage.
Agriculture
ARS Releases First Hard Winter Wheat Varieties for Eastern U.S. Production
ARS plant pathologist David Marshall bred NuEast and Appalachian White in Raleigh, N.C., for a region where humidity usually makes hard wheat too disease-prone. Over four years of field tests NuEast outyielded the check varieties, and its resistance to leaf rust is good.
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