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Sunset farmers in field

Farm Bill Updates

About every five years, the U.S. Congress passes the biggest set of food and farming policies that define the majority of federal farm, food, nutrition, and rural economic programs. At a cost of about $440 billion over five years, these programs influence: What is grown; who grows it; how it is grown or produced; what is done with those products and where they are sold; who can access and afford those goods; and how we invest in rural communities.

Watch and listen as two experienced farmers share stories and practical approaches for small-scale, diversified farms that use the principles of agroecology.  This discussion may provide you with ideas that small farms where you live can adapt and thrive.

After many long days of negotiations, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) made a historic move for safer food and farming by passing a resolution on highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) that calls for action to globally phase out the use of the world’s most toxic pesticides by 2035. Tied with this resolution was the passing of a mandate for UNEP to implement this commitment by forming the Global Alliance on HHPs.

Monsanto Bayer shaking hands

Bayersanto? Monbayer? Yikes.

There have been ups and downs in the romance between Bayer and Monsanto, but this week they publicly announced their engagement. Monsanto has accepted a $66 billion offer from Bayer, heralding another mega merger between pesticide and biotech corporations. This has already been a big

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Happy-farmer-gathers-apples

Iowa farmers win progress on drift

A farmer-led coalition in Iowa is celebrating a recent announcement from state officials signaling significant improvements in how agencies respond to crop damage from pesticide drift.  Late last month, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) revealed their commitment to speed up drift

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young-woman-drinking-water

Get this carcinogen out of California water

This summer, the State Water Resources Control Board announced their plans to get a cancer-causing chemical out of California’s water. This is very big news. According to state monitoring data, more than one million Californians may have unknowingly been exposed to the carcinogenic “garbage pesticide”

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lead image seeds glove 1

Over 700,000 People Tell Government to Block Seed Mergers

September 20, 2016 Washington, D.C.—As the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to examine consolidation in the agriculture seed and chemical industry, nine groups have submitted petitions signed by 708,000 people urging the Department of Justice and elected officials to block several pending mergers that

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soap-kid-hands

44 years later, pesticide-free soap

Well that took awhile. In early September, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a list of products they will no longer allow in soaps. On that list was the pesticide triclosan — which was identified as a chemical of concern in 1972.

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