The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter

New scorecard reports 10 major U.S. food retailers’ progress on protecting bees from toxic pesticides

Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, and Walmart take top positions on Bee-Friendly Retailer Scorecard Friends of the Earth recently released its latest Bee-Friendly Retailer Scorecard, ranking 25 of the largest US grocery retailers on pesticides and pollinator protection in their food and beverage supply chains. Ten retailers improved their scores since last year, with Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, and Walmart ranking […]

Greenhouse gas emissions lower in organic wheat production than conventional

A recent study illustrates that organic farming emits fewer greenhouse gases than conventional, carrying lower global warming potential. Published in Soil Science Society of America Journal, the research focused on winter wheat under a five-year rotation with leguminous crops including alfalfa and lentils. The organic system incorporated livestock to manage weeds and soil fertility; chemical […]

Synergistic action of pesticide “cocktails” is escalating bee mortality

A meta-analysis of 90 studies found that bees are dying in greater numbers from the overall synergistic effect between multiple anthropogenic stressors—including agrochemicals, nutritional stressors, and/or parasites. Impacts of these stressors individually were already taking a toll on bee populations; but strong evidence of synergy when bees are exposed to multiple agrochemicals at field-realistic levels […]

European non-GMO association gaining members

The new European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA) has already gained seven new members since its founding earlier this year. These seven companies and associations include: Verein Donau Soja, ProTerra Foundation, Impetus GmbH & Co. Bioscience KG, Raiffeisen Kraftfutterwerk Kehl GmbH, SaluVet GmbH, Bäuerliche Erzeugergemeinschaft Schwäbisch Hall, and Upländer Bauernmolkerei GmbH. The new members include industry […]

Field of Schemes: How GMO alfalfa messed up a perfectly good thing

By Melissa Waddell, Non-GMO Project Most of us don’t think about alfalfa very much. Outside of agricultural communities and diehard fans of Our Gang, it is safe to say alfalfa is not a hot topic. We’d like to challenge that notion. Bear with us: In the US, alfalfa is grown on roughly 23 million acres annually, most […]