Members of the California Farmer Justice Collaborative (CFJC) have been hard at work putting issues of farmer justice in front of local policymakers in California. In fact, earlier this month, CFJC members had a powerhouse meeting with California Assemblymember Robert Bonta and members of State Senator Nancy Skinner’s staff to discuss next steps for farmer justice in California.
In a historic ruling in the San Francisco Superior Court earlier this month, a jury found the Monsanto corporation (recently merged with Bayer) fully liable for health damages caused by its herbicide, Roundup. The plaintiff, DeWayne Johnson, was awarded $289 million in damages.
As of Thursday morning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has 60 days to finalize its ban of the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used to release “Pesticide Industry Sales and Usage” reports every two years — but that was almost 20 years ago. Several months ago, after fielding a question from a colleague, I found the most recent iteration of this report, released at the end of 2017 and covering market estimates from 2008 to 2012.
The PAN Fellowship Program supports a pathway to leadership for food and farming activists from frontline communities. Leaders with a deep and personal understanding of the issue —including their social, political and cultural context—can craft meaningful and appropriate solutions for their communities and the system as a whole.
It’s mid-July and temperatures are soaring. So are the numbers of dicamba drift-related crop injuries sweeping across rural America. Also rising: the outrage of farmers, gardeners and rural residents, as they watch this unnecessary chemical debacle unfold, once again. Watching unperturbed from the sidelines: Monsanto (recently acquired by Bayer) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Earlier this week, a new appointment for chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was announced, and it’s a 30-year veteran of Dow Agrosciences. Really?
It was clear from the minute he was appointed that Scott Pruitt was a wildly inappropriate choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.) Last Thursday, after months of public pressure and outrage, he finally submitted his resignation.
We know that ending reliance on hazardous pesticides can only happen by creating healthy, just food and farming systems — and this means for all of us. One way we can do this? A safer, more transparent food chain.
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed its version of the 2018 Farm Bill by a vote of 86-11. While still flawed, the Senate bill is much better than the widely criticized House version of the bill, which narrowly passed a week prior.
Now the Farm Bill will go on to conference where the two versions will be reconciled into one final bill — and along with partners we’re pressing for the preservation of the Senate version of the bill, rather than retreating to the House version.
