Organics in the News

After six months free from the whir of a four-stroke engine, we'll soon hear that herald of spring, the lawnmower. With it comes thoughts of lawn-care programs, watering regimens, and glances over the fence to see if the grass really is greener.

These days, thanks to the growing demand and interest in all things organic, homeowners are rethinking their lawns. Natural and eco-sensitive lawn care is, increasingly, in. Conventional chemicals are out. But it's not just that a natural lawn is better for the environment, kids, and pets. In the long run, it's also cheaper, according to Paul Tukey, a spokesman for SafeLawns.org, a nonprofit organization that promotes natural lawn care.

Turns out, a properly maintained natural lawn is more drought resistant, meaning that owners save money by watering less, and mowing frequency also drops by about 50 percent, he added.

America's powerful agribusiness lobby has hit back at Michelle Obama's decision to make her new White House kitchen garden entirely organic, urging her to consider the use of appropriate "crop protection products".

The letter "respectfully" encourages Mrs Obama to recognise the role played by conventional agriculture in feeding America's growing population and is carefully worded not to be provocative.

But Bonnie McCarvel, the MACA executive director, was not so diplomatic in an e-mail forwarding the letter to MACA supporters and members, in which she said: "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made (us) shudder."

Paying attention to where your morning coffee comes from not only makes good consumer sense, but may also help stave off climate changes that increasingly affect poor farmers.

Organic farming that prevents erosion and conserves water gives farmers extra income and helps preserve forests that absorb harmful greenhouse gases, said Jefferson Shriver, an official in the Nicaraguan office of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency.

For Earth Day, April 22, the U.S. bishops are urging Catholics to take action to help slow climate change. By choosing organic and fair-trade items, consumers can "practice solidarity with the products they buy" and help protect the environment, Shriver told Catholic News Service.

"Most people buy (organic products) for health reasons, but the benefits are even greater" in the countries where the products are grown, because organic farming methods promote better land and water use, he said.

The gospel of high-tech genetically modified (GM) crops is not sounding quite so sweet in the land of the converted. A new pest, the evil pigweed, is hitting headlines and chomping its way across Sun Belt states, threatening to transform cotton and soybean plots into weed battlefields.

In late 2004, “superweeds” that resisted Monsanto’s iconic “Roundup” herbicide, popped up in GM crops in the county of Macon, Georgia. Monsanto, the US multinational biotech corporation, is the world’s leading producer of Roundup, as well as genetically engineered seeds. Company figures show that nine out of 10 US farmers produce Roundup Ready seeds for their soybean crops.

Or you can consider hosting an Earth Dinner, which is an initiative started to garner awareness about food sustainability and create a tradition to help people recognize Earth Day.

The three premises behind the meal, according to EarthDinner.org, are buying foods grown and distributed locally supports the local farmers, allowing them and their families to stay on the land; buying foods that were grown using sustainable agricultural practices protects the soil and environment in countless ways; and going organic ensures that you are feeding your loved ones foods that are free from pesticides, hormones and antibiotics.

The 2007 Census of Agriculture counted more than 20,000 U.S. farms engaged in organic production.

To learn more about how the growth of organic farming is changing the face of U.S. agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon conduct its first wide-scale survey of organic production.

“The Organic Production Survey comes in direct response to the growing interest in organics among consumers, farmers, businesses and others,” said Vince Matthews, Director of the Idaho Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). “This is an opportunity for organic producers to share their voices and help ensure the continued growth and sustainability of organic farming in the United States.”

The survey will look at many aspects of organic farming during the 2008 calendar year n from production and marketing practices, to income and expenses. It will focus not only on operations that are currently engaged in organic production, but also on those making the transition to organic agriculture.

On March 20, Michelle Obama and a group of elementary school students broke ground on an organic White House garden. Obama and the children used only organic fertilizers and insect repellents, and instead of chemical pesticides, ladybugs and praying mantises are being used to control harmful insect populations. The garden is tied to a healthy school lunch campaign from the secretary of agriculture, but changes for restaurants could be next—and they wouldn't necessarily be law-induced.

"I think any time somebody high profile does something like this, it just helps to normalize it," says Michael Oshman, executive director of the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). "The more it's perceived as normal, the more people will do it. The more people do it, the more prices will come down. The more people who couldn't afford to do it, now they can afford to do it. It sets off a domino effect."

Ben Pratt doesn't have anything against companies that want to produce a pharmaceutical or industrial crop in Maine. He just wants to make sure they keep it inside -- specifically inside a laboratory or research center. The Eddington state representative is sponsoring a bill that would prevent biotech companies from planting crops in the open air that could potentially cross-contaminate those grown by farmers who want to keep their products pure.

Pratt cites one experimental crop used in the production of insulin as an example. "There's no more important homeland security issue than our food supply, you know? A passport to get back into Canada doesn't make me feel more safe. Making sure that I don't have insulin in my safflower oil makes me feel a little bit more safe."

Pratt and others spoke in favor of several bills that would attempt to place restrictions on the use of genetically engineered seeds and protect farmers who choose more traditional methods to produce their crops. Pratt says he has no problems with biotech companies that want to business in Maine, "as long as it's done in a greenhouse, in a controlled environment, where it's not getting into my food stream."

"And I'm not a biologist, and you're going to hear a lot of people saying that 'the science is fine, the science is fine, trust us, trust us, trust us,'" Pratt says. "And I heard that about DDT, we heard that about a lot of stuff, and, you know, you can call me wary if you want, but I'd rather be wary now than get to the point where it's irreversible."

As Kerry Trueman pointed out earlier this week in her post about young farmers (and would-be farmers), there are a lot of them out there, but most lack the funding to realize the dream of contributing to a cleaner, greener, more sustainable food system. While some may be inclined to give up, others get creative, investigating a variety of programs designed to help young agrarians gain experience and even find land to steward. These sites include but are not limited to World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service and the Greenhorns’ Serve Your Country Food site.

Providing abundant and accessible food means putting the latest science-based tools in farmers’ hands, including advanced hybrid and biotech seeds. Monsanto’s advanced seeds not only significantly increase crop yields, they use fewer key resources — like land and fuel — to do it. That’s a win-win for people, and the earth itself.

Oh, really?

I’m not here to challenge their cheery scenario, though I could. And I’m not going to dig into the claim about using fewer resources. Nope, today I’m just tackling the assertion that “Monsanto’s advanced seeds… significantly increase crop yields.” Luckily, I have a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists to help me.

Released yesterday, the report, “Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops,” was authored by Doug Gurian-Sherman, a plant pathology and molecular biology PhD (who, it should be noted, works for a progressive nonprofit). Gurian-Sherman took two decades of peer-reviewed research on GE crops and analyzed how much the technology has actually increased yields over time. Then he compared those gains to the yield improvements that scientists have achieved using traditional crop breeding and other non-GE techniques. The two dozen GE crop studies he analyzed, which covered herbicide-tolerant corn and soybeans and Bt corn (which is engineered to be resistant to pests) showed pretty stunning results.