The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter

USDA moves organic standards board meeting online

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) recently announced that the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting, which was scheduled for April 29 and 30 in Crystal City, Virginia, will instead be held online as a webinar. The NOSB said the move to a webinar format “will […]

Congressional pandemic aid package includes funds for farmers

The $2 trillion congressional relief aid bill to respond to the expanding coronavirus pandemic provides $9.5 billion in emergency funding to aid producers impacted by the ongoing crisis—including producers selling into local and regional markets. “Congress has taken an important first step to helping farmers and local and regional food systems with this relief bill,” […]

Farmers and food groups innovate to keep operations viable as coronavirus spreads

With the spread of the coronavirus and the requirement for social distancing, farmers who sell directly to customers at farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture programs (CSAs) have to come up with novel solutions to keep their businesses going. For example, Jody Osmund, owner of Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm in Ottawa, Illinois uses a foam […]

About half of U.S. adults are wary of health effects of genetically modified foods

Americans have mixed views about genetically modified foods (GMOs) and their implications for society, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. About half of U.S. adults (51%) think GMOs are worse for people’s health than foods with no genetically modified ingredients, while 41% say GM foods have a neutral effect on health. Just […]

Long-term analysis shows GM cotton no match for insects in India

Supporters of genetically modified Bt cotton in India have long touted increased yields and reduced pesticides to justify its production. But that argument does not hold up under the first long-term study of Bt cotton impacts in India by Glenn Davis Stone, a Washington University in St. Louis anthropologist, in the journal Nature Plants. Bt cotton, […]