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…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.)
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…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.”
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…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.”
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…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.
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…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?
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…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.
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…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.”
Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Gain-of-Function Research
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…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.
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…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.
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…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.
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…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 Roundup.
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.
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…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.
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…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.
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…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.