EcoFarm Blogs

The EcoFarm Blogs seek to nurture and support sustainable and organic farmers and food system change agents. Through sharing entertaining and informative essays, we hope to promote important voices to a wider audience, create a platform for interactive dialogues on important issues and increase communication among diverse groups.

Monsanto plant shut down by activists Rotterdam

Posted on May 17, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

The action group ‘Round Up Monsanto’ successfully shut down the main Monsanto plant in the Netherlands, formerly De Ruiter Seeds.

U.S. Urged to Back GM Labeling Agreement

Posted on May 17, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

Consumers Union is asking the Obama Administration to get behind a compromise on genetically modified (GM)/genetically engineered (GE) food labeling that is widely supported in the international community.

New Studies Expose Potential Risks of GMO Trees

Posted on May 7, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

Red Flags Raised About Potential Negative Impacts of Proposed Large-Scale Release of Genetically Engineered Trees in the U.S.

California Creamery Earns First Non-GMO Verification

Posted on May 7, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

Straus Family Creamery is the nation’s first creamery to achieve Non-GMO Verification for all its products and will carry the “Non-GMO Project Verified” Seal on all of its packaging.

“The Food Safety Enhancement Act” H.R. 2749

Posted on April 27, 2010 in the Farmer Blog

Several bills purporting to improve our food system’s performance on food safety have been grinding their way through the congressional sausage-maker. “The Food Safety Enhancement Act” H.R. 2749 was passed by the House last July and its companion Senate legislation S. 510 is likely to be voted on soon.

15,000 people demonstrate in Madrid “for a GMO-Free Food and Agriculture”

Posted on April 20, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

15,000 people have gathered this morning in Madrid under the slogan “For a Food and GE Free Agriculture.” Farmers, environmentalists and consumers around the country have toured the city demanding the Government to follow the same path followed by countries like France, Germany or Austria, and ban the cultivation of GM maize in Spain.

Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality

Posted on April 20, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov and his colleagues set out to discover if Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) soy, grown on 91% of US soybean fields, leads to problems in growth or reproduction. What he discovered may uproot a multi-billion dollar industry.

An Open Letter to Oxfam America on its Stance on Biotechnology

Posted on April 20, 2010 in the Genetic Engineering Blog

In response to a recent position publicized by Oxfam America in support of agricultural biotechnology as a viable solution for addressing poverty faced by resource poor and subsistence farmers in developing countries, the Oakland Institute along with others sent an open letter to Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International and Ray Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America on April 13, 2010.