In a study by the Organic Produce Network and Nielsen, it was shown that sales of organic fresh produce items reached almost $5 billion in 2017, an 8% increase from the previous year (1). In fact, a bill was recently passed to increase the funding of organic farming research to...
East Windsor, NJ – The Sami-Sabinsa Group has long been involved with sustainable agricultural practices. As stewards of traditional Indian herbs, the company wants to ensure that the highly valued but neglected Pterocarpus Marsupium (vijaysar) tree series continues to survive. Pterocarpus marsupium extracts from the Indian Kino tree have been...
Anaheim, CA — This year’s Natural Products Expo West saw a good deal of discussion on agriculture, particularly the future of the USDA Organic standard and the importance of soil health to sustainable agriculture after a recent decision to allow the labeling of hydroponically grown crops as organic. In response,...
Washington, D.C. - The Organic Agriculture Research Act of 2018, a bipartisan bill that works to increase funding for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), was introduced recently by Senators Susan Collins, R-ME, and Bob Casey, D-PA. This bill, which acts as a Senate companion bill to the...
Washington, DC — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is seeking projects aimed at improving organic production including feed-related initiatives. The program is designed to bolster research, extension programs and education. The $17.6 million in grants are funded through a competitive process by NIFA’s...
Karen Howard, CEO and Executive Director of Organic & Natural Health Association, @OrgNatHealth, shares her perspective on 2018. We no longer have to wonder about the impact of the FDA’s budget being frozen, a federal hiring freeze, or a full-out directive to terminate and prevent promulgation of ‘most’ regulations. The...
According to the Washington Post, a bill has been introduced that would double the budget for the USDA’s oversight of the organic industry to $24 million over the next 5 years. Rep. John J. Faso (R-NY) presented the legislation, which has 33 House co-sponsors, because of the growing confusion around...
My relationship with food as a health promoting entity began at an early age. When I was less than five, my mother found me at the refrigerator in the middle of the night! I was silently eating a carrot. Wondering what in the world I could be doing, she politely...
Jacksonville, Fla.— The rise of “hydroponic,” or greenhouse-grown vegetable farming, has caused back-lash from traditional, organic vegetable farmers. A group of organic farmers, led by Dave Chapman, a vegetable farmer in East Thetford, VT, orchestrated a protest at a meeting of The National Organic Standards Board in Jacksonville, Florida in...
Large retail chains are discovering that reducing greenhouse gases is easier said than done, reports NPR. Specifically Walmart, which unveiled Project Gigaton, a plan to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by a billion tons of carbon between now and 2030 — almost as much carbon that is released from...
