What it would take to cut the GMO giant out of one family’s life? April Dávila found that Monsanto was far more entrenched in her family’s life than she’d ever realized as she reports for YesMagazine.com,
n January of this year, while procrastinating on Facebook, I followed a link to an article reporting on evidence that there may be health effects associated with consuming Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) corn. Clicking on that link was one of those moments on which I look back and laugh. I had no idea how my life was about to change.
The article I stumbled onto concerned a study done in 2009 by a group of French scientists investigating the safety of genetically modified food. Their results, as published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, pointed toward kidney and liver damage in rats fed GM corn.
I began to research where exactly Monsanto corn appeared in my family’s diet. With a little online sleuthing, I learned that in addition to producing the genetically modified corn, Monsanto produces several other genetically modified crops such as soy, sugar beets, and cotton. Many of these crops form the foundation of our diets: 70 to 80 percent of American processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients, according to the Grocery Manufacturers of America. A large percentage of the cotton in our clothes and homes begins in Monsanto’s labs.
Probing a little deeper, I was surprised to learn that a company specializing in genetically modified plant crops also had an enormous influence on America’s meat industry. Sixty percent of genetically modified corn goes to feed America’s beef cattle. Additionally, Monsanto’s recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is used to increase milk production in many dairy cows.
Click to read the rest of the A Month Without Monsanto story.
Photo credit: mccun934 Flickr Photostream
Organically grown strawberries have more antioxidants and vitamin C than chemically grown strawberries, while tasters preferred one organic variety above all others tested, a study says. Some scientists aren’t convinced as Karen Kaplan reports for the
Los Angeles Times,
Consumers who buy organic fruits and vegetables because they think they’re tastier, more nutritious and better for the environment are getting at least some of what they’re paying for, according to a study recently published.
The finding is based on a detailed comparison of organic and conventional strawberries from 13 pairs of neighboring farms in Watsonville, Calif., where 40% of the state’s strawberry crop is produced. A team of ecologists, food chemists, soil scientists and other experts analyzed a variety of factors before concluding that the organic berries — and the dirt they were raised in — were superior.
The organic strawberries had higher concentrations of antioxidants and vitamin C and survived longer without rotting. Taste testers clearly preferred the organic version of Diamante strawberries, one of three varieties tested. DNA analysis revealed that the organically managed soil had a larger array of microbes, an indication that the ecosystem was more resilient. The results were published in the journal PLoS One.
“Almost every major indicator is favoring the organic strawberries,” said lead author John Reganold, who studies sustainable agriculture at Washington State University in Pullman.
Click to read the rest of the Researchers Say: Organic Strawberries Are Better story.
A mushroom stall in a vegetable market in Venice. Photo credit: Cephas Picture Library/Alamy/Guardian.co.uk
Mushrooms are prized in Italy. I visited a mushroom museum in the mountains of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy that had preserved every type of mushroom available in all of Italy, with a restaurant that served many of the mushrooms displayed. Mushroom hunters climb dangerous mountain cliffs looking for the prized fungi. Unfortunately, there have been at least 18 deaths in 10 days, mainly from falls down the sheer mountain cliffs, as Italy’s mushroom hunters take dangerous risks in search for prized mushrooms as John Hooper reports for
Guardian.co.uk,
At least 18 Italians have died in the past 10 days in the shadow of the Alps and Apennines – not because of rock falls or mountaineering accidents, but for the love of mushrooms.
Recent weather conditions have brought about an explosion in the number of edible fungi clinging to tree stumps and undergrowths in northern Italy. Coming after weeks of dearth, the sudden abundance has caused a correspondingly abrupt surge in the number of pickers or “fungaioli” – many of whom seem willing to take extraordinary risks in pursuit of elusive delicacies like porcini, chanterelles and Caesar’s mushrooms.
The latest to die was Angelo Bertoni from a town near Milan whose body was found this morning. He, his brother and a cousin were fungi hunting in the Valgerola area, east of Lake Como.
Click to read the rest of the Accidents Claim 18 Italian Mountain Mushroom Hunters story.
Photo credit: Chas Redmond Flickr Photostream
The Southwest Research and Outreach Center of the University of Minnesota has published a new pamphlet titled
What Is Organic Food And Why I Should Care. The report says organic food is pure food, free of chemical additives, more nutritious, safer but around 20% more expensive since organic farmers receive non of the federal subsidies that industrial chemical farmers receive.
Organic products are also produced and processed without the use of syntheic fertilizers, growth hormones, artificial ingredients or preservatives and genetic engeering.
Click to read the complete What Is Organic Food And Why I Should Care report.
Photo credit: Cedar Sol Hydro Farm
In Northern Michigan, two former school teachers quit teaching school when their son was born six years ago and started a farm using vertically stacked hydroponic units to grow vegetables as Kristine Morris reports for Morning Star Publishing,
Sol Hydro offers sustainable farming in limited space on a clean and attractive plot of land about 10,000 feet square in size (about a quarter of an acre.) Michael and Nichole McHugh grow the equivalent of what conventional in-the-ground agriculture would need six to 10 acres to produce, and they do it using a lot less water and no toxic or synthetic chemicals.
Photo credit: Cedar Sol Hydro Farm
They don’t need large expensive equipment, and can work their farm most of the year without hiring help. There are no weeds, so they don’t need herbicides, and they cause very little strain of any sort on the land and eco-system as most of their land can be left in its natural state.
The couple does it by using a stacked hydroponic system, the Hydro-Stacker Vertical Hydroponic Growing System, invented by Chester Bullock, of Florida. Michael McHugh studied with Bullock and learned how clean, efficient, easy and – above all – sustainable farming could be with hydroponics.
“We were both school teachers before we went into farming,” said Michael. “I taught high school language arts, and Nikki taught fourth grade. But when our son Parker, now 6, was born, we wanted to do something that would allow us to work at home – some kind of family business. We had both worked in greenhouses while in college in Kalamazoo, and thought we would enjoy a greenhouse operation.”
Click to read the rest of the More With Less — Cedar Sol Hydro Farm story. Click to to to Cedar Sol Hydro Farm.
Graphic Credit: GardenRant.com
Occasionally I guest blog on other blogs or sites. Today on GardenRant.com, the four gardening women orchestrating the Rant started a two week vacation/hiatus and will be running guest posts each day. I really appreciate they ran mine since Garden Rant is one of the premier sites about gardening. My post can be found here… It is titled “Just What is the Definition of Gardening?” It seems to have generated some discussion on what is a controversial subject to some people.
Using a soil sifter, I sift my dirt and compost for my potting mix. Photo credit Rick Gush/UrbanFarmOnline.com
Making your own compost and once it is ready, sifting it, then turning it into a rich planting medium is both economical and a nutrition boost to young plants. Rick Gush has lived in Italy since 2000 and writes about his cliff garden and other experiences in Italian urban agriculture on
UrbanFarmOnline.com,
I cleaned out the main compost bin this week and am really happy with the results. I’m doing some seeding and repotting these days, and the compost has allowed me to prepare what I think of as the potting soil of the gods. Plants and seedlings grow particularly well in this mix, and I even give my friends bags full of the stuff.
My potting soil recipe is simple: equal parts of sifted dirt and sifted compost mixed thoroughly. The only way to make this stuff better is to let it mature a bit. Two weeks after it’s mixed, the resultant soil is fully chemically active and alive with all the microorganisms that make soil fertile.
Garden supply centers often sell bags of planting mix, but those bags usually contain only organic materials like ground up tree bark. The planting mixes are sterile, which can be good for some seeding situations, but otherwise they are a poor substitute for the real thing. The reason they contain only organic materials is mostly because that material is relatively light in weight, whereas dirt is pretty heavy. If the potting mix manufacturers put dirt in their mixes, the shipping costs would jump considerably, and they’d need to charge more for their product.
Click to read the rest of the Potting Soil Of The Gods story.
Hydroponics Dictionary
