Organic News

Flame weeding: a sustainable, cost-effective approach for weed management in organic corn

Conventional corn and soy rotation farmers have relied on herbicides and GM seed varieties to kill weeds. Organic production uses soil tilling to achieve mastery over weeds—though that method hampers carbon sequestration. Is there an alternative to these practices? Sustainability has published a study introducing flame weeding as a suitable option. The report compared using […]

Minnesota farmer charged with fraudulently selling $46 million of conventional grain as organic

A Jeffers, Minnesota man has been indicted for defrauding grain purchasers by selling non-GMO grains falsely labeled as organic, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger. According to court documents, between 2014 and 2020, James Clayton Wolf, a certified organic farmer, engaged in a scheme to defraud grain purchasers by selling them non-GMO grains falsely represented […]

Did Sri Lanka’s transition to organic farming cause political crisis?

With the Sri Lankan president forced to resign and the country in economic shambles, did a sudden ban on chemical fertilizers play a role? Although right-wing herbicide proponents claim it did, David LaBorde of the International Food Policy Research Institute sees it otherwise. He noted that while Rajapaksa’s abrupt ban on chemical fertilizers did jolt […]

Organic expands “carbon farming” to much more than storing carbon, IFOAM says

The EU branch of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) wants to recognize organic’s status as a “carbon farming” practice, beyond its ability to store carbon in soil. “Practices…common in organic farming are already contributing to higher soil carbon stocks…while providing benefits for soil health, water quality, and biodiversity protection,” said Jan Plagge, IFOAM Organics […]

Syngenta CEO blasted for comments saying that organic farming is contributing to global hunger

In a move that the Syngenta boss says is “in no way linked to Syngenta’s business objectives,” CEO Erik Fyrwald recently called for an abandonment of organic farming to focus on increased yields to avert rising global food insecurity. The solution, in his view, is for rich countries to improve yields to better feed the […]