The news over the past few weeks has been riddled with headlines like “Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’,” “Monarch butterflies are going extinct,” and “The insect apocalypse is here.” If it sounds bad, that’s because it is.
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Service have published findings that two metabolites — or what is left when a chemical is broken down — of a widely used neonicotinoid insecticide have been found in tap water. The findings are sparking public health concerns, as one of the metabolites is 319 times more toxic to mammals than the parent neonicotinoid chemical, imidacloprid.
A week after the inauguration of Governor Gavin Newsom and a few days into the legislative session, the California Food and Farming Network (CFFN) and the California Food Policy Council (CAFPC) have released the 2018 Food & Farm Scorecard — a report revealing the policy votes of California’s 120 elected state legislators on food and farming issues. Pesticide Action Network is a member of CFFN.
Mai Nguyen (they/them) is a grain farmer, the California Organizer with the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), and a founding member of the California Farmer Justice Collaborative (CFJC). PAN’s Farmer Justice Fellow Moretta Browne recently talked with Mai about co-organizing the California Farmer Justice Collaborative.
After months of negotiations, the 2018 Farm Bill was just passed by the U.S. House and Senate. Next up? The bill is expected to be signed into law by the end of the week.
For the second year in a row, California is experiencing unprecedented devastation and loss brought about by fires, ripping through communities in both the northern and southern regions of the state.
However, in the midst of destruction and hardship, people have been stepping up for each other in inspiring ways. Numerous online donation platforms have been set up, businesses and organizations are collecting food, clothing and other material donations, and helping hands are coming from many directions.
With 435 House and 35 Senate races on the ballot last week, the 2018 midterms were closely watched across the nation – not least of all by advocates of sustainable agriculture.
On Halloween, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a truly scary announcement -- the agency decided to continue its registration of Monsanto’s (now merged with Bayer) highly controversial dicamba-based herbicide, Xtendimax. The chemical has damaged millions of acres of farmland over the past two seasons of use, and with this decision, the devastation will continue.
In mid October, the Food Sovereignty Prize was awarded to two organizations recognized for their commitment to food sovereignty or, “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”
The Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF) has been building power with Florida’s farmworkers for more than 25 years, and is led and governed by farmworkers in the communities in which it works. PAN Senior Scientist Margaret Reeves recently chatted with Jeannie Economos, FWAF’s Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project Coordinator.
