This week in the news EWG launches their shopping guide to pesticides in produce. Review the clean fifteen and the dirty dozen to guide your purchasing decisions in the marketplace. Modern Farmers Helena and Matthew Sylvester have created a sustainable organic farm in a metropolitan area with the focus on making fresh food available to locals. In a two-part series, Gary Hirshberg reflects on GMO labeling, political activism and why he’s so involved in organic food production. Organic farming is a rarity in Egypt. But in Nuweiba in the Sinai region, one community farm is practicing eco-friendly methods and helping to raise environmental awareness. A new study has found that organic farming is much more efficient at recycling nitrogen than conventional farming, helping reduce global nitrogen pollution. Also in the news, hive-bound young honey bees (Apis mellifera) are being poisoned by insecticide and weed killer gathered by their foraging hive mates, according to new research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Demand for organic, certified or non-GM soybeans is expected to rise as consumers want to verify sustainability and traceability.
EWG’s 2018 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.
Meet the Modern Farmers: Helena and Matthew Sylvester
Helena and Matthew Sylvester’s organic produce outfit sits within the Sunol AgPark, created by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission 12 years ago to provide sustainable growers in the metropolitan area with affordable acreage. The end goal: keeping food local, despite the region’s continuously skyrocketing real estate prices. (Palo Alto and the Googleplex lie some 30 miles west.) The Sylvesters have certainly delivered, wresting an astonishing 80 different vegetable varieties from a single acre during their first year, 2014.
Gary Hirshberg reflects on GMO Labeling, Political Activism and Why He’s So Involved
From building a business with seven cows, his heart has driven his mission. Tirelessly defending people from toxic chemicals, protecting the environment all the while selling some darn good yogurt, propels him still tirelessly to this day.
Gary Hirshberg Reflects on Why He Works So Hard on Organic Voices
“As a business person I have a profound appreciation of the benefits of scale to make Organic choices affordable to more people. This requires doing several things at the same time.” -Gary Hirshberg
Doing Your Bit: An Egyptian eco farm
Organic farming is a rarity in Egypt. But in Nuweiba in the Sinai region, one community farm is practicing eco-friendly methods, and helping to raise environmental awareness.
Study: Organic farming reduces nitrogen pollution
A new study has found that organic farming is much more efficient at recycling nitrogen than conventional farming, helping reduce global nitrogen pollution.
A common perception of farming encompasses the process of growing food and selling it to the masses. For many American farmers, this process represents their entire enterprise. Yet, for Chanowk Yisrael, being a farmer has greater significance for his family and community. With his wife and nine children, Yisrael operates the Yisrael Family Urban Farm on a half-acre plot in his backyard in South Oak Park, a historically working-class neighborhood in Sacramento, California.
Young Hive-Bound Bees Befuddled by Common Chemicals
Hive-bound young honey bees (Apis mellifera) are being poisoned by insecticide and weed killer gathered by their foraging hive mates, according to new research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. The chemicals cause brain damage in young worker bees, affecting both their ability to taste and to learn, placing the future of the colony at risk.
Global non-GM soybean demand to rise, driven by EU
Demand for organic, certified or non-GM soybeans is expected to rise as consumers want to verify sustainability and traceability.
