crops

After a six-year legal battle GMO crop contamination, organic farmer Steve Marsh has lost his bid for a higher court to hear his case and the appeal which would have allowed him the chance to argue his side one final time.
Michael Baxter, Steve Marsh’s neighbor in Australia, grew genetically modified canola on his farm, but it wasn’t long before his crops contaminated Steve Marsh’s organic farm. Baxter says that the two men could have just had a conversation over the fence, but now it seems this legal battle is coming to a close, in Baxter’s favor.

Russia’s food safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor just announced a complete ban starting February 15 on all US corn and soy imports. This is a huge blow to organic and GM farmers alike, though the ban will be instated due to genetically modified crop and microbial contamination.

The world is in a state of panic over the Zika virus, an infection spreading like wildfire and is believed to cause microcephaly in babies. But Latin American doctors believe something else is causing microcephaly in Brazil: Pyriproxyfen, a pesticide used in that country since 2014 to halt the development of mosquito larvae in drinking water tanks.

John Purcell, Hawaii Business and Technology Lead for Monsanto, the largest genetically engineered seed-producing company in the country, explains in a video why he chose to work for Monsanto.
When speaking of why he went to work for Monsanto, Purcell also said:

“This is a company that has a vision for change in what agriculture is about…this is really something that matters.”

VICE’s entire third season of its HBO show is now available online for free! The May 2015 episode focuses entirely on genetically modified crops.
In the video, host Isobel Yeung traces GM ‘super-crops’ from the headquarters of American agribusiness titan Monsanto to the soy fields of Paraguay. She also visits the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is financed by Bill Gates and the biotech industry. Seeds are stored there in case of widespread crop disasters.

Senator from Vermont and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been standing up for sustainable farming and non-GMO food. This piece isn’t meant to prop Sanders up on a pedestal but rather is meant to be a reminder to consider how your favorite presidential candidate will vote on GMOs once elected.

In a move that will likely upset Biotech’s long-term plans for Africa, the African country Burkina Faso has abandoned genetically modified Bt Cotton crops in order to phase out inferior quality GM crops for non-GM crops.

Another city in the United States is taking necessary measures to protect our pollinating insects – which are essential for the growth of many crops, and a healthy food supply overall. St. Paul, Minnesota recently approved a resolution which is meant to encourage the township and citizens to limit the use of harmful pesticides and add more native plants in landscaping.

A federal appellate court has now given Dow Chemical Company the green light to revive World War Two-era, weed-killing chemicals that will be sprayed on our crops to an even greater degree than the ones currently in use.

After finding that growers who sprayed their grain crops with glyphosate ended up with an inferior product, Grain Millers, Inc. announced that it will avoid buying western Canadian oats that have been treated with the herbicide.