Kaare Melby, OCA’s Organizing Coordinator, writes:

“I don’t think it’s a controversial statement to say that we have lost our relationship with food. But what does that mean? It means that our food has become divorced from the plants, animals, and traditions that it came from. The American diet is filled with highly processed junk foods, and the average person would be justified in not knowing what ingredients were used to create the foods they eat.

Over the past several decades, Americans have begun to realize that our food is making us sick. In a quest to understand why, we discovered that our food is filled with synthetic chemicals, preservatives, highly processed ingredients, and now even ingredients derived from synthetic biology! As a part of that realization, people began to notice that there were a few common commodity foods that seem to define junk food.

As the food movement grew, people also began to find that the commodity ingredients in junk food were produced using chemical-intensive industrial agriculture. And, as if that was not enough, these same commodity ingredients are the most common GMOs, making them even more toxic, and making the need to avoid them even greater.

At some point along the line, many commodity crops became synonymous with chemicals, GMOs, and junk food. Over time people began to simply avoid the most common commodity ingredients entirely. People decided that corn, soy, wheat, and even meat (and animal products) were bad for you.

I’d like to propose an alternative perspective: it’s not the plants and animals that are bad for us, it’s that we have lost the traditions and agreements that built our mutually-beneficial relationships with these plants and animals.”

Read More: Our Forgotten Sacred Relationship with Food

Real Farms, Not Fake Food

Wow! Just a month ago, prompted by your concerns, we started a campaign to get Apeel, the mysterious fruit coating backed by Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum that makes out-of-date fruit appear fresh, out of organic.

Now, thanks to your emails and social media posts, we’re getting results!

First, the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) said it never approved Organipeel for use as a fruit coating and any producer who used it that way “could be out of USDA organic compliance.”

Next, Starr Ranch Growers, which had proudly coated their organic apples with Apeel, said “No we do NOT use Apeel products on any of our products.”

Now, Stemilts, which was using Organipeel on its Artisan Organic apples, claims they “discontinued use of Apeel late May 2023.” 

Who’s next?

Limoneira, one of the largest U.S. growers of lemons, including organic, does not 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.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Limoneira to quit Apeel!

Comment on Limoneira’s Facebook post about Apeel

From the Alliance for Natural Health, USA: 

“The FDA recently held a Stakeholder Call with the hemp industry to provide further information on the agency’s plans to regulate CBD. Recall that the agency has rejected CBD as a supplement and is working with Congress to develop a “new pathway” for CBD. Details on this new pathway are scarce, but the idea seems to be to regulate CBD more than supplements but less than drugs. This will likely drive up the price of CBD and make it less available to consumers. We need to support bills that take this issue out of the FDA’s hands to create a legal pathway to market CBD supplements.

On the Stakeholder Call and in previous communications, the FDA holds up safety as the key issue preventing CBD from being a food or supplement. When the agency denied three Citizens Petitions arguing for CBD to be allowed as a supplement, they explained “it is not apparent how CBD products could meet the applicable safety standard for dietary supplements.” In a Wall Street Journal interview earlier this year, an FDA official said the agency is looking at whether CBD can be safely eaten every day for a long period or during pregnancy. In November 2020, the FDA posted information to its website warning consumers of the harms that CBD can cause, including liver damage and male reproductive toxicity.

The FDA has said that they will not be allowing CBD to be in food or supplements, explaining that the “existing regulatory framework” for foods and supplements are not appropriate for CBD.

We need Congress to create a legal pathway for CBD supplements. There are current bills that do this, notably one introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA). We cannot let the FDA stand in the way of wider access to this naturally occurring compound.”

Take action to protect CBD oil 

Read more: FDA Standing in the Way of Natural Pain Management 

US Right To Know reports:

“Just four corporations control most of the global supply of seeds and pesticides. Public oversight of their activities is crucial for a safe and healthy food system. Yet all these corporations – Bayer (which owns Monsanto), Corteva (formerly DowDuPont), Syngenta and BASF – have long histories of manipulating science, hiding the harm of their products, and attacking scientists and journalists who raise concerns about their products. Since their records do not inspire trust, these companies rely on third-party allies for their PR and lobbying.

The fact sheets below shine light on this hidden propaganda network: the front groups, academics and writers the pesticide companies rely on to promote and defend pesticides and the genetically engineered (GMO) seeds designed to increase pesticide sales.

Our reporting is based on internal corporate and regulatory documents obtained via public records requests in a years-long investigation by U.S. Right to Know. Our investigation inspired a counter campaign by the pesticide industry which has tried to discredit our work. According to a Monsanto PR plan, “USRTK’s investigation will impact the entire industry.”

Read the Reporting on URTK’s findings: Tracking the Pesticide Industry Propaganda Network 

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

Dr. Joseph Mercola writes:

“Primary sources of linoleic acid (LA) include seed oils used in cooking, processed foods and restaurant foods made with seed oils, condiments, seeds and nuts, most olive oils and avocado oils (due to the high prevalence of adulteration with cheaper seed oils), and animal foods raised on grains such as conventional chicken and pork.

Ideally, consider cutting LA down to below 7 grams per day, which is close to what our ancestors used to get. If you’re not sure how much you’re eating, enter your food intake into Cronometer — a free online nutrition tracker — and it will provide you with your total LA intake.

Cronometer will tell you how much omega-6 you’re getting from your food down to the 10th of a gram, and you can assume 90% of that is LA. Anything over 10 grams of LA is likely to cause problems. Healthy fat replacements include tallow, butter or ghee, all of which are excellent for cooking.

The table below provides a fairly comprehensive list of the most commonly consumed oils and their approximate LA content. In general, the lowest LA-containing fats — butter and beef tallow — would be the fats of choice. These excellent cooking fats would not only be the lowest in LA, but will also provide the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, and K2. Coconut oil is also very low in LA but doesn’t provide the important fat-soluble vitamins that tallow and butter contain.

Linoleic acid found in vegetables and seed oils may be the biggest contributor to chronic disease in the Western world.”

Read more: Linoleic Acid — The Most Destructive Ingredient in Your Diet

Given the magnitude of the crisis facing our planet, we at OCA believe we need to expand our redemptive message of Regeneration to encompass, not only the next stage of organic food and farming and land use, but also our political policies and practices. We must step up our efforts, not only championing organic regenerative food and farming, but international peace and economic justice, civil liberties, participatory democracy, and regenerating health, both mental and physical. 

In the midst of political corruption and opportunism, media censorship and fear-mongering, it’s essential to focus on positive ideas and solutions.

OCA is determined to keep working to stop corrupt politicians and the global elite from subsidizing chemical and fossil fuel-intensive agriculture, GMOs, lab food, and factory farms. We need to pay organic farmers and ranchers, not only a fair price for the food and products they produce, but we need to pay them for sequestering excess atmospheric carbon in soils and above ground plants and trees, as well as providing other key environmental services such as preserving clean water, improving soil fertility, protecting biodiversity, wetlands, and wildlife habitat, and rehydrating and reforesting parched landscapes.

Thank you for your past support and if you can, please help us keep the momentum going!

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not tax-deductible)

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Click here for more ways to support our work

Thank you to our 300,000 email subscribers and two million social media followers (OCA, Millions Against Monsanto, Regeneration International, Via Organica) who forward and share our information with friends and contacts.

Please tell everyone you know to sign up for the free Organic Bytes weekly newsletter, and the monthly newsletter of Regeneration International.

Cell Press, Phys.org writes:

“Mycorrhizal fungi have been supporting life on land for at least 450 million years by helping to supply plants with soil nutrients essential for growth. In recent years, scientists have found that in addition to forming symbiotic relationships with nearly all land plants, these fungi are important conduits to transport carbon into soil ecosystems.

In a meta-analysis published June 5 in the journal Current Biology, scientists estimate that as much as 13.12 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) fixed by terrestrial plants is allocated to mycorrhizal fungi annually—roughly equivalent to 36% of yearly global fossil fuel emissions.

The paper is part of a global push to understand the role that fungi play in Earth’s ecosystems. “We know that mycorrhizal fungi are vitally important ecosystem engineers, but they are invisible,” says senior author Toby Kiers, a professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije University Amsterdam and co-founder of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN). “Mycorrhizal fungi lie at the base of the food webs that support much of life on Earth, but we are just starting to understand how they actually work. There’s still so much to learn.”

But there’s a race against time to understand and protect these fungi. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warns that 90% of soils could be degraded by 2050, and fungi are left out of most conservation and environmental policy. Without the fertility and structure that soil provides, the productivity of both natural and crop plants will rapidly decline.”

Read more about this new study 

Learn more about carbon sequestration through soil ecosystems

Becca Lewis writes on Lifehacker:

“Food forests aren’t anything new

The idea of a food forest is new to many of us, but it’s actually an ancient way of growing food, dating back at least 2,000 years. While European colonists often didn’t recognize the permaculture food forests planted by indigenous people in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, nomadic and semi-nomadic people have been cultivating crops to use for food and medicine for thousands of years. Rather than strict rows and bare soil between plants, the features of a food forest are layered, looking to an uninitiated observer like a naturally occurring feature in a forest, so it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the idea became popularized as a form of gardening for the urban and suburban gardener.

Plant your forest from tall to short

Starting a permaculture food forest requires enough space for at least a few trees and shrubs so that you can plant your forest from tall to short. For maximum sun exposure, plant your tallest trees first—from south to north in the northern hemisphere, and north to south in the southern hemisphere. You might start with nut trees; then fruit trees like pear, cherry, and apple; then shrubs like blueberries, raspberries, hazelnuts, and rosemary; then herbs like oregano, thyme, and sage; and finally use a cover crop that will help attract pollinators and add nutrients, like clover, vetch, bush beans, or other nitrogen fixing plants.”

Learn how you can increase yield, water less, and have more time to enjoy your garden

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Common Dreams, reports:

“By recognizing that the question of NATO enlargement is at the center of this war, we understand why U.S. weaponry will not end this war. Only diplomatic efforts can do that.

George Orwell wrote in 1984 that “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Governments work relentlessly to distort public perceptions of the past. Regarding the Ukraine War, the Biden administration has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the Ukraine War started with an unprovoked attack by Russia on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In fact, the war was provoked by the U.S. in ways that leading U.S. diplomats anticipated for decades in the lead-up to the war, meaning that the war could have been avoided and should now be stopped through negotiations.

Recognizing that the war was provoked helps us to understand how to stop it. It doesn’t justify Russia’s invasion. A far better approach for Russia might have been to step up diplomacy with Europe and with the non-Western world to explain and oppose U.S. militarism and unilateralism. In fact, the relentless U.S. push to expand NATO is widely opposed throughout the world, so Russian diplomacy rather than war would likely have been effective.”

Read more: The War in Ukraine Was Provoked—and Why That Matters to Achieve Peace

Check out the most recent headlines on our Planting Peace page

When it comes to food pH and health, there is a lot of confusion. If a lemon is acidic when it’s outside of the body, can it have an alkalizing effect on the body when eaten? And why does it matter? The answer may be simpler than you think, but it does require a change in how we think about our food and its effect on the cells and systems of our bodies. In this special episode of Good Vibes Healing, Dr. Henry Ealy of the Energetic Health Institute and Alexis Baden-Mayer of the Organic Consumers Association explore the confusing topic of food pH and how it can affect your health.

Watch Good Vibe Healing: Understanding Food, Acidity, Alkalinity, and Net pH

Find more episodes of Good Vibe Healing on Rumble and Rokfin

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