2023 Was the Year…

…We Stayed Committed to Peace

On October 7, 2023, when the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted, we renewed our commitment to dismantling the military-industrial complex and ending wars of empire by signing the World Beyond War peace pledge which reads:

“I understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, siphoning resources from life-affirming activities. I commit to engage in and support nonviolent efforts to end all war and preparations for war and to create a sustainable and just peace.”

On December 22, President Joe Biden authorized a record $886 billion in Pentagon spending when he signed Congress’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), one of the few major pieces of legislation Congress passes every year. (Case in point, Congress was supposed to rewrite the Farm Bill this year, but instead legislators procrastinated by passing a 1-year extension.)

About $60 billion of that goes straight to for-profit military contractors, proving what General Smedley Butler said nearly a hundred years ago, that war is a racket. As Andrew Cockburn chronicled in his 2021 book, The Spoils of War, military spending is driven by military contractors. 

Stephen Semler, cofounder of Security Policy Reform Institute, exposed the NDAA as corporate welfare and called out its Foreign Military Financing program as “a multibillion-dollar gift card for non-US countries to buy weapons from US firms.” According to Semler, the NDAA includes “$1.7 billion in FMF money for Ukraine, $3.5 billion for Israel (on top of the $3.3 billion it receives annually), and $2 billion for countries in the Indo-Pacific region as part of the administration’s aggressive China policy.”

War is paid for with our tax dollars, but it goes without saying that there are greater costs, the most heartbreaking being the people killed, injured and traumatized.

There are also tolls on our privacy and freedom. The NDAA included a four-month extension of the National Security Agency (NSA)’s infamous warrantless domestic surveillance program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

A cost of war that’s rarely mentioned is its impact on food security and farming.

Since October 7, Israel has suspended work permits for about 130,000 Palestinian farm workers from the occupied West Bank.

On December 18, Human Rights Watch said that the Israeli government was using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime. On December 26, Palestine’s Foreign Ministry said that more than a million people in Gaza are starving and called on the United Nations to officially declare a famine. 

The day before, on December 25, the Food Industries Association of Israel stated that approximately 90 percent of Israel’s food production is located in conflict zones and urged the government to act to prevent a food crisis.

In Ukraine, according to the Transnational Institute, the war has put 30 percent of land out of production. 

Large industrial farms, which produce 53.9 percent of the agricultural output (family farmers produce the other 46.1 percent), get a disproportionate share–70 percent–of subsidies from the Ukrainian government. Family farms don’t get much support from the government, but they “produce 95% of potatoes produced in Ukraine, 85% of vegetables, 80% of fruits and berries, about 75% of milk and more than 35% of meat.”

About two-thirds (65%) of family farmers growing crops and almost half (45%) of family farmers raising livestock have experienced war-related hardships. The explosion of the Kahkovskaya dam left 250,000 hectares without irrigation in the Kherson region where family farms grow vegetables. 

Despite these challenges, family farms have proven more resilient than industrial farms, at least in being able to continue to produce food. That doesn’t mean they’re not suffering. Up to 55 percent of the population of Ukraine are living below the poverty line now, compared to 2.5 percent before the war. 

Agribusiness is poised to exploit the economic weakness of family farmers and they’re about to get their opportunity as a law is set to take effect that lifts a ban on sales of farmland to corporations. Over the objections of Ukraine’s family farmers, starting January 1, 2024, the U.S.-backed Zelensky Administration will let domestic companies purchase up to 10,000 hectares.

Learn more: War and Theft: The Takeover Of Ukraine’s Agricultural Land

Tell Congress! No More Money for War!

…We Found Out What’s In Synthetic “Milk”

On October 27, 2023, news broke of the first-ever full-spectrum molecular analysis of synthetic milk.

Before this date, we knew the “milk” was made from “precision fermentation” and that it involved yeast and fungal cells genetically engineered to produce “whey protein”.

But we didn’t actually know what was in the “milk” until Dr. John Fagan did a full spectrum molecular analysis to detect and quantify every molecular species it contained.

The news was shocking. A “milk” product marketed as “dairy-identical” contained fungicide, quinic acid, normorphine, hesperidin, convallatoxin, and 92 additional small molecules literally unknown to science.

“Basically there are 92 compounds identified in synbio milk that are not named by scientists,” Dr. Fagan told Food Business News. “Nobody has looked at them for safety, nutrition, or quality.”

The “milk” has been through the GRAS process at the Food and Drug Administration. GRAS is a loophole that lets companies self-designate their food additives as “Generally Recognized as Safe.” GRAS ingredients can enter the food supply without having to go through FDA’s more rigorous premarket review and approval process.

The GRAS submission Perfect Day sent to the Food and Drug Administration for its non-dairy “whey protein” is full of worrisome information:

ALLERGENS – The level of the genetically engineered Trichoderma reesei fungus strain that produces the synthetic protein in the final product is at 6.7 percent. Three T. reesei proteins showed similarities to known allergens (Cryptomeria, Juniperus; Penicillium chrysogenum; and House dust mites).

HEAVY METALS – “Non-dairy whey protein” contains arsenic at 16.8 ppb. (There is no safe level of arsenic. The Environmental Protection Agency takes action when water samples are over 10 ppb.) It contains lead at 59.3 ppb. (There is no safe level of lead. The EPA takes action when water samples are over 15 ppb.)

The GRAS submission makes no mention of the 92 mystery molecules that Dr. John Fagan found in the synbio milk. None of the mystery molecules are GRAS or have undergone any FDA review.

Take Action to Ban New GMO Frankenfoods Made with Synthetic Biology (a.k.a “Precision Fermentation”)

…We Lost Our Beloved Ronnie

On April 27, 2023, Ronnie Cummins, co-founder (with his wife Rose Welch) of the Organic Consumers Association, passed away.

We continue to be inspired and guided by Ronnie. We always will. It is a great comfort to read his words and watch recordings of him speaking and singing and playing guitar. We love the quote chosen by Think Regeneration in their remembrance. It’s from the Acres U.S.A. conference in 2017, when Ronnie was on a panel with Vandana Shiva and André Leu. Fred Walters asked them, “How, in the face of all you see, do you stay positive and happy?” Ronnie answered:

“I don’t feel the least bit tired, you know. But, I think there’s a… I think there’s an inner planetary force out there that, when you get opened up to it, you get this strength, and it makes you smile all the time. And I believe that we have… we can tap into this force and that will make us invincible. You know, it’s hard to always feel that force—that solidarity, that compassion, that whatever it is—I don’t know exactly what it is, but most of the time it’s there. And this is a big universe—we don’t understand what’s going on, totally. We don’t understand where it came from, or where it’s going, or everything in it, but I think it’s worthwhile trying to cultivate personal health. You know, mental and physical, and getting out in nature, and being in contact with beauty and the sacredness of it all, and maybe the sacred herbs, too. I mean, I’ve always been a believer in the sacred herbs, but that’s why I’m a happy guy, and I’m going to stay like that until…

 “You know, I mean, I’m going to die at some point, but hopefully not before we’ve won. But, I actually think I’m going to come back in some form. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m going to come back to enjoy the fruits of my labor and all of our labor, so I look forward to seeing you in any of those forms.”

Visit Ronnie’s Collected Works and Tribute Page

…We Confirmed Apeel Isn’t Allowed in Organic

On May 26, 2023, after you had sent them thousands of emails, the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), finally had an answer for the question, “What was a mysterious fruit coating backed by Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum that makes out-of-date fruit appear fresh, doing on certified USDA Organic fruit?”

The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) said it never approved Organipeel as a fruit coating, only for post-harvest handling, so the use on organic fruit was out of compliance.

After that (and thousands of emails from you), most of the organic fruit brands that said they were using Apeel, including Stemilt and Starr Ranch Growers, stopped.

The last hold-out we know of is Limoneira, one of the largest U.S. growers of lemons, including organic. Limoneira doesn’t grow every lemon sold in the world, but CEO Harold Edwards’s goal is to “coat every lemon in the world with Apeel.” Limoneira signed an exclusive licensing relationship with Apeel Sciences on May 11, 2023.

Ask Limoneira: What’s So Apeel-ing?!

…We Found Out mRNA Vaccines Were Being Given to Food Animals

On January 11, 2023, Robert Malone broke the news that mRNA vaccines were already being used on livestock. James Corbett and Dr. Joseph Mercola soon published follow-up investigations.

We’d usually tell you to buy USDA Organic to avoid genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but OrganicEye reminded us this year that genetically engineered vaccines are still being used illegally in organic. If that’s happening, what’s to stop mRNA vaccines from being used in organic?

Thankfully, conscientious farmers are taking a stand against mRNA vaccines, including Pumpkin Creek Ranch (CO), Circle C Farm (FL), Arrowhead Beef (FL), Jensen Reserve (GA), White Oak Pastures (GA), Alderspring Ranch (ID), Cunningham Pastured Meats (ID), All Grass Farms (IL), Seven Sons (IN), Tyner Pond Farm (IN), Beeler’s Pork (IA), Thousand Hills (MN), Nature’s Gourmet Farm (MS), US Wellness Meats (MO), Freedom Valley Farm (MD), Beaver Brook Ranch (NJ), Freedom Farms (NY), Wrong Direction Farm (NY), Fred’s Farm (OH), Green Vista Farm (OH), Rep Provisions (OK), Oregon Valley Farm, Miller’s Bio Farm (PA), Red Hill Harvest (PA), Whitaker Farms (TN), Buck Creek Meat (TX), Pederson’s Natural Farms (TX), J&L Green Farm (VA), Polyface Farm (VA), Big Way Farm (VA), Northstar Bison (WI), and Good Ranchers.

Take Action to Restrict Risky mRNA Foods!

…People Started Eating Lab-Grown Meat

On June 21, 2023, the first lab-grown meat, “chicken”, had been approved for sale by the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. 

Lab grown meat has up to 25 times the global warming potential of factory farmed meat, but the two companies that manufacture lab-grown “chicken”, Upside Foods and Good Meat, still market it as better for the planet.

Exactly two restaurants in the U.S. sold lab-grown “chicken” this year. 

José Andrés’s China Chilcano in D.C. was doling out 2 ounce servings of Good Meat’s lab-grown “chicken” to 6 patrons per week as part of a $70 tasting menu, but it is no longer taking reservations.

Now, it’s only available at Bar Crenn, which offers diners a 1-ounce portion of Upside’s chicken as part of a six-course, $150 meal, which, according to Vox, is available to 16 diners across one weekend each month.

Ironically, Bar Crenn is certified “plastic free,” but is selling lab-grown “chicken” that is cultivated in single-use plastic bottles and, according to Wired, produces plastic waste more than 10 times faster than it makes meat.

Wired’s lab-grown “chicken” exposé cited insiders who revealed that “thousands of dollars of labor” went into preparing each night’s lab-grown chicken and that it “would frequently be ruined by contamination and have to be incinerated.”

Unlike a good ol’ fashioned organic veggie burger, the lab-grown “chicken” served at Bar Crenn uses multiple animal-derived ingredients, including porcine gelatin and bovine serum derived from the blood of adult cattle.

Learn more: Pharma Food: Biotech on Your Plate 

Take Action to Ban Lab-Grown Meat

…Cummins and Mercola’s The Truth About COVID-19 Proved Prophetic

On April 17, 2023, another layer of the official story of the origin of COVID-19 was cemented in Robert Kadlec’s Muddy Waters report for Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D.

Consider the source. As the Assistant Secretary for Pandemic Response (ASPR), a position he created long before COVID, Robert Kadlec was, for all intents and purposes, the Czar of Biowarfare with the power to funnel billions to his friends in the vaccine industry. Whitney Webb’s Engineering Contagion series chronicled Kadlec’s role in a past Plandemic, the 2001 anthrax attacks, traced by the FBI back to the U.S. bioweapons establishment. Vaccine maker Emergent Biosolutions, a company Kadlec had (has?) a financial stake in, profited handsomely from both anthrax and COVID-19.

In Muddy Waters, Kadlec made several unsubstantiated claims in support of his hypothesis that COVID originated in “an unintentional research-related incident.”

If you’ve read Ronnie Cummins and Dr. Joseph Mercola’s bestseller The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports and the New Normal, Why We Must Unite in a Global Movement for Health and Freedom, you know there was nothing unintentional about the Plandemic.

In Muddy Waters, Robert Kadlec hints, without elaborating, at:

1. The “circumstances around the apparent death” of Chinese coronavirus vaccine researcher Zhou Yusen who “may” have conducted research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2019.

On June 17, 2023, the Daily Mail embellished this, reporting (without citing its source) that “US investigators are said to have been told ‘Zhou fell from the roof of the Institute’, although this has not been confirmed.” Then, on June 19, the National Review ran with this, suggesting that it was Robert Kadlec who was the source of this claim, despite the fact that it was not included in his report. In an interview with SkyNews published November 28, Kadlec would neither confirm nor deny the rumor he started.

1. The “several researchers inside the WIV [who] became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.”

That rumor had first popped up in an intelligence report that came out while Kadlec was still ASPR, so there’s no saying he didn’t create it, but it was “confirmed” when an unnamed source (Kadlec?) told Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Alex Gutentag (June 13, 2023) that the three were Ben Hu, Yu Ping, and Yan Zhu. The rumor was squelched when the scientists cleared their names by speaking to Science (June 23, 2023). 

Why would Kadlec go so far out on a limb as to concoct such bold and easily disproved fictions as these?

The first reason is that the public can be counted on to believe anything that confirms our suspicions that COVID leaked from a lab–even though it defies logic to think that the corporations and authoritarian governments that benefited from the lockdowns and vaccine mandates were just waiting around for an accident to happen. They conducted dozens of pandemic planning events like the World Economic Forum and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Event 201 and drafted documents like the Rockefeller Foundation’s Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development that included the “Lock Step” scenario where a global pandemic provides the opportunity for a “world of tighter top-down government control and more authoritarian leadership.”

The second reason is that he has to. The 2001 anthrax attacks were eventually pinned on Fort Detrick scientist Bruce Ivins, even though he didn’t have access to the weaponized silicon microencapsulated anthrax commissioned by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that was used in the 2001 attacks. Ivins was a convenient fall guy because he was dead and his death was ruled a suicide. The official story of the origin of COVID-19 will also have a fall-guy, and it could just as easily be Robert Kadlec as anyone else if he doesn’t play his cards right. As long as he blames China, the origins of COVID-19 don’t get caught up in scandals he’s associated with that link vaccine manufacturers like Emergent Biosolutions to the Plandemic.

The third reason is that this works fine for China. Every time the U.S. comes out with the new stories about how COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan lab, the Chinese foreign minister makes a statement like this one published to Twitter on June 26, reminding the world that there’s just as much evidence that SARS-CoV-2 came from Fort Detrick (shutdown in 2019 at the same time as the EVALI vaping disease): “The US should stop smearing others and start sharing info about its early suspected COVID-19 cases and biolabs, FM spokeswoman Mao Ning said, after the US declassified a report about potential links between Wuhan Institute of Virology and the pandemic’s origin.”

The hardest thing for any of us to wrap our heads around is the possibility that China and the U.S. conspired to create the Plandemic together. But, at Event 201, there was Avril Haines, now Director of National Intelligence, sitting right next to George Gao, the Anthony Fauci of China, talking about how best to censor information about vaccine dangers and force the “vaccine hesitant” to get jabbed. And, true to the plan, the U.S. and China played out the Plandemic, from lockdowns to vaccine mandates, in pretty much the same way.

Kadlec’s Muddy Waters report doesn’t mention: 

1. Ralph Baric, the University of North Carolina scientist who, in 2015, published a gain-of-function experiment he had conducted on bat coronaviruses collected by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but didn’t share the sequence of the chimeric virus he had created then until May 2020, long after rumors had been flying about how he could have created SARS-CoV02.
2. Anthony Fauci who, alongside Jeremy Farrar (then running the Wellcome Trust, now Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization), coordinated the early 2020 COVID origins cover-up. He made sure that all of the scientists willing to ignore the obvious evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in a lab were rewarded handsomely with grants from his National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
3. Eric Schmidt and Jeff Skoll, who launched the Predict and Prevent virus hunts out of Google.org with the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (later known as Metabiota) before the project got hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.). There’s no mention of Metabiota being involved in the virus hunts that turned up both the closest known relative to SARS-CoV-2 and the bat coronavirus Baric used in his 2015 experiment. That conveniently keeps COVID origins away from Hunter Biden, whose Rosemont Seneca funded and lobbied for Metabiota (now part of Ginkgo Bioworks).

It’s important to get the story of this Plandemic straight. If people fall for the lab leak ruse once, they’ll fall for it again and again.

Any gain-of-function biolab in the country could be the site of the next “accident.”

Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Gain-of-Function Research

…We Hosted the People’s Food Summit on World Food Day, October 16

OCA along with Regeneration International are building a movement for regenerative, organic and agroecological food and farming.

This year’s People’s Food Summit surpassed expectations. The views of the presentations are climbing to over 3.2 million and will be growing as these voices reach people over the coming weeks. The diverse topics covered were across the broad spectrum of regenerative agriculture, organic standards, water management, soil health, landscape transformation, schools and education, holistic management, climate resilience, and so much more.

Each presenter and organization that participated in the People’s Food Summit has helped bring awareness and education about regenerative agriculture to an international audience.

We present proven, farmer-based, real-world examples that are the future of our food and farming systems.

We are dedicated to advancing regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty. By presenting this summit, we are visualizing the stories and serving as a platform for small-scale food producers and social movements striving for a healthy future, regenerating earth, societies, and local economies.

OCA and Regeneration International will continue to provide space for conversations and educational enrichment like the People’s Food Summit helped by our supporters like you.

Watch these amazing farmers from around the world

…the California GMO Mosquito Release Was Canceled

On May 11, 2023, Oxitec withdrew its application to experimentally release millions of GMO mosquitoes in California.

GMO mosquitoes are supposed to reduce native populations of diseases-causing mosquitoes by transmitting a gene that causes the mosquitoes to die in the absence of the antibiotic tetracycline. 

The trouble is, tetracycline is ubiquitous. It’s used as a human medicine. It’s given to factory-farmed animals prophylactically. It’s sprayed on fruit trees to prevent disease. It contaminates water and food. It wouldn’t be hard at all for mosquitoes to be exposed to enough tetracycline to stay alive.

Oxitec has admitted this problem, acknowledging research where mosquitoes were exposed to enough tetracycline to survive via cat food!

Florida is the only place in the U.S. where GMO mosquitoes have been released.

This year in Florida, locally-acquired dengue cases reached a record high of 138.

Learn more: Beyond Pesticides – Efficacy and Health Issues Stop Release of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes In California

…Ercilia Sahores Became Our International Director

On May 31, 2023, when Ercilia Sahores became our new International Director, she had already been working with us for nine years. A committed and charismatic leader, Ronnie had always planned for her to take the helm.

Ercilia joined the Vía Orgánica and Organic Consumers Association team in Mexico in 2014. In 2015, she took part in Regeneration Internationals’ founding meeting, the organization where she would also work as Latin American coordinator and form part of the steering committee.

As part of the Regeneration International team, Ercilia works to keep regenerative organic standards strong, defending them from corporate greenwashing and takeover. She has an active role at the Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity, Desertification and Climate Change and in identifying and bringing together the emblematic, proven, farmer-based solutions against climate change. She organizes the People’s Food Summits and People’s Climate Change Summits in different countries in Latin America and is the main coordinator for Regeneration Internationals’ Latin American partners.

As part of the Vía Orgánica team, Ercilia manages the apiaries at the ranch, and often provides workshops on regenerative and natural beekeeping and the importance of pollination. She leads the Billion Agave project, working closely with communities and municipal governments and has an active role in daily activities at the ranch.

As part of OCA’s organizing efforts abroad, Ercilia took part in the International Monsanto Tribunal. She coordinates campaigns in Mexico to preserve non-GMO corn and South-North efforts to fight against the corporate takeover of our food and health system.

Ercilia has created countless alliances and networks which she intends to continue growing over the years. We can count on Ercilia to keep the work and legacy of Ronnie Cummins alive and to work tirelessly to realize his vision for a more organic, regenerative world. 

Learn more about Ercilia

…Organic Rising, a Film Featuring Ronnie Cummins, Was Released

On October 1, 2023, Organic Rising came out. 

So many of our organic heroes are in this film! In addition to our very own Ronnie Cummins who the director dedicated the film, Organic Rising includes:

Keith Freitas, an organic lemon farmer, on pesticide drift.

Jim Goodman of Northwood Organic Farm, on life over profits.

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch, on water pollution from industrial agriculture. 

Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology, Purdue University, on glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roudup.

Winona LaDuke of the Ojibwe White Earth Reservation, on the genetic modification of wild rice and food as medicine.

Jeff Larkey of Route 1 Farms, on the basic principles of organic.

Dr. Kris Nichols, when she was the Chief Scientist at the Rodale Institute, on why farmers should let nature work for them.

Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, on the flavor of grains milled the old fashioned way and the problems with genetic modification.

Dr. Vandana Shiva on Monsanto’s trick to make us doubt scientists like Dr. Don Huber.

Dr. Michael Skinner, professor and biological scientist at Washington State University on obesity and DDT.

Mark Smallwood, when he was Executive Director of the Rodale Institute, on the differences between organic and conventional farming, from soil health to yields.

Eva Worden of Worden Farm, on the number-one reason people buy organic.

The film has a beautiful original score arranged by composer and producer Matthias Gohl, composed by Mark Stewart and Toddy Renolds, and performed by Mark Stewart, Jerry Douglass, Dave Mackay, Jamey Haddad, Toddy Renolds, and Gregg August.

Watch the Trailer

Watch Organic Rising

…Localities Banned Pesticides While Nations Condoned Them

On October 11, 2023, California became the tenth state in the country to ban consumer sales of lawn and garden neonicotinoid pesticides when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Pollinator Protection Act. Neonics are killing bees and birds, putting 200 endangered species at risk.

On November 3, 2023, a U.S. court reversed an Environmental Protection Agency decision to stop the agricultural use of chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxin linked to lowered IQ, attention deficits, and learning disabilities. Beyond Pesticides criticized the decision as “dissonant considering that in the U.S. there is only one chlorpyrifos manufacturer left, residential use is banned, and non-residential uses such as on golf courses have been declining. Further, California has banned all uses, as have Oregon, Hawaii, New York, and Maryland.”

On November 16, 2023, the European Commission reauthorized the use of Monsanto (now Bayer)‘s carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate (sold as Roundup, among other brand-names) for another 10 years. The decision was made despite the fact that Austria, Croatia and Luxembourg voted against the renewal, while France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Malta and the Netherlands abstained, and the necessary majority to renew the license was not reached. The E.U.’s move to reauthorize glyphosate without a majority vote was criticized as “scandalous” by the French pro-environmental farming group Confederation Paysanne and Greenpeace said it was outraged. The decision doesn’t impact E.U. bans at the country level.

On December 12, 2023, the New York State legislature delivered the Birds and the Bees Protection Act to Gov. Kathy Hochel. The bill is subject to a pocket veto, if the governor doesn’t sign it within 30 days.

When we’re up against multinational corporations, people have more power at the local level. The biggest pesticide companies, BASF & Bayer (Germany) Corteva (U.S.) and Syngenta (China), know this and that’s why they’ve done their best to transfer power over pesticides from local governments to the states, from the states to the federal government and, in the case of the European Union, from national governments to the commission.

There are only seven U.S. states, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Utah and Vermont, where localities can ban pesticides. In 2023, advocates in Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota launched campaigns to take local control over pesticides. Minnesota passed a law to allow localities to ban the non-agricultural, outdoor use of pesticides that kill pollinators.

States still have the power, but the chemical cartel wants to repeal states’ right to regulate pesticides.

The Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act would allow communities to act at the local level to protect themselves from pesticides, without being preempted by state or federal law.

Tell Congress: Pass the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act!

Make Your State the First to Ban Roundup!

Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Chlorpyrifos!

Take Action to Ban Bee-Killing Neonic Seed Treatments!

…We Fought For A Better Farm Bill

One of our main focuses has always been to improve policies that support small farms and healthier farming practices. This year that meant fighting for a better Farm Bill by educating our readers about what should be included in the Bill and asking them to take action by contacting their Congresspeople.

Most Farm Bill money subsidizes massive monocultures of over-fertilized, pesticide-drenched genetically engineered grains for factory farmed animal feed, the sweeteners and oils used in processed food, and ethanol.

What about the family farmers growing healthy fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains, and pasture-raising animals?

Although to most of us it’s a no brainer that government support should go to farmers that are producing food in a way that benefits the environment and provides healthy food to their communities, Big Ag interests and influence prove to be a powerful drug that is hard for Congress to say no to. That’s where we the people come in, to help amplify the voices of farmers and consumers who want a healthier food and farming system.

By fighting for a better Farm Bill we can the power back and decide where our tax dollars are used.

TAKE ACTION: For better food, demand a better Farm Bill!

…of consolidation for the Billion Agave Project (BAP)

With 10 areas of implementation of the project already set up, we strengthened the BAP network, which currently has 40 members, signed and developed collaboration agreements with scientific and research institutions and have trained over 92 students in the second issue of the Billion Agave project certification program.

Vía Orgánica, our school ranch in central Mexico has become the leading, main hub for the development of the BAP, receiving local and international visitors who are interested in replicating a model of agroforestry with social, climate, environmental and economic beneficial impacts for semi arid areas. For that, we’ve already started the research of agroforestry models with best companion trees depending on the area of implementation, using multipurpose native tree species and pertinent cultural models for producing not just animal fodder, but also several agave by-products.

Read more about the Billion Agave Project at the Via Organica ranch and farm school.

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