GRASSFED BEEF
Support Country of Origin Labeling: Stand Up for Local Ranchers, Not Imports
Since 2017, the U.S. has lost over 17 percent of its cattle ranches—more than 150,000 farms. The cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest size since 1951.
This shouldn’t be happening. Over the last decade, consumer demand for beef is up 9 percent. The U.S. herd should be growing to meet it.
Instead, imports are growing.
U.S. cattle ranchers rely on us to vote with our wallets and buy American beef. To support that, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, has introduced the Country of Origin Labeling Enforcement Act.
The best part of the bill is that it expressly overrides international trade agreements. This is important, because the last time the U.S. government implemented mandatory country-of-origin meat labels, Canada and Mexico used the World Trade Organization to strike them down.
It’s about time Congress stood up to anti-democratic usurpations of national sovereignty!
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress To Stand up for Local Ranchers, Not Imports!
BUY AMERICAN GRASSFED: Don’t be fooled! Until next year, meat can be voluntarily labeled “Product of the U.S.A.” even if it’s only slaughtered or processed here. Only buy American Grassfed Association certified.
Search AmericanGrassfed.org for a farm or ranch near you. You can also order to anywhere in the country from AGA certified White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, which generously gives us 10 percent of all purchases and you a $20 discount off your first purchase of $150 or more when you use the code ORGANICCONSUMERS. Support the OCA by ordering from White Oak Pastures.
USDA WATCH
Victory! Center for Food Safety Secures Win in GMO Labeling Lawsuit
Center for Food Safety:
“A federal court of appeals decision handed down today overturned a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule on the disclosure of genetically engineered (GE or GMO) foods. The case challenged the USDA rulemaking which applied the 2016 federal law mandating GMO labeling, now called ‘Bioengineered.’ USDA had exempted ‘highly refined’ or ultra-processed GMO foods—such as corn and soy oils—from disclosure, a loophole the court today held unlawful.
The court of appeals also held today that the lower court abused its discretion regarding USDA’s use of ‘QR code’ or smartphone labeling in the rule: the district court had previously held that USDA’s reliance on ‘QR code’ labeling alone on packages without other forms of disclosure was unlawful, but had nonetheless left such products on market shelves. The court of appeals determined that remedy was an error and instead held that the QR code section should be vacated, or made null and void. With the prior rule now struck down as unlawful in several ways, the court sent the issue back to USDA to redo in a future new rulemaking compliant with today’s opinion and order.
The case was successfully litigated by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) on behalf of a coalition of nonprofit labeling advocates and organic retailers.
The detailed 50+ page opinion held that USDA had acted unlawfully in excluding ultra-processed foods from the bioengineered disclosure standard. The statute had required disclosure for any food that ‘contains’ modified genetic material, but in the rule, USDA had grafted a loophole that said if the modified material was not ‘detectable,’ it was not ‘contained,’ and therefore need not be disclosed.”
Make your voice be heard on your opposition to GMOs today!
Tell The FDA to Take GMO Microbe “Milk” Off the Market!
NATIONAL CO-OP MONTH
How Equal Exchange Reclaims Power in Our Food System
The Cornucopia Institute:
“In honor of National Co-op Month, we’re shining a light on Equal Exchange, a worker-owned business that has been building long-term, economically just partnerships with small-scale organic farmer cooperatives around the world for the past four decades. The organization was founded to create an alternative trade model that puts power back in the hands of farmers and eaters.
Read on to learn about the various types of cooperative structures embodied by the Equal Exchange brand, featured on Cornucopia’s Independent Organic Brand List:
Producer co-ops: Coffee is typically grown in high altitudes by small producers – 60 percent of the world’s coffee is produced by an estimated 12.5 million people working on farms no larger than 50 acres. Yet the coffee industry is increasingly controlled by multinational corporations. Equal Exchange buys coffee and other products directly from producer co-ops, ensuring dignity for member farmers by going above and beyond Fair Trade standards to redefine ethical trade. These small farmer co-ops run their businesses democratically and decide how to invest in their communities, whether through shared organic compost production facilities or farmer-to-farmer training programs.
Equal Exchange’s green bag coffee, which features Cornucopia’s logo, is imported from farmers cooperatives that prioritize regenerative organic practices that are more resilient to climate change.”
FOOD & NUTRITION
Food Is Medicine: A Movement at a Tipping Point
by Angela Nelson, Tufts:
“The Food Is Medicine (FIM) movement is rapidly transforming how we think about nutrition as a central pillar of health care. At the third annual Food Is Medicine National Summit, hosted by the Food Is Medicine Institute at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, nutrition experts, policymakers, clinicians, and community leaders gathered to chart the future of this growing national effort.
‘About 90% of Americans agree eating more healthy foods is important to prevent the onset of many health conditions, and 86% agree that eating healthy foods should be a priority for treating major health conditions,’ Dariush Mozaffarian, cardiologist and director of the Food Is Medicine Institute, said during the first keynote address, when he cited a national poll published earlier this year. ‘Americans really get this, but at the same time, they’re confused about how to eat healthy, because it’s complicated.’
‘Almost every individual American wants to know what they should eat, what’s healthy, what’s not. But the amount of contradictory, inconsistent information and misinformation on the internet is very high, and it’s hard to know what to believe.’” — Cardiologist Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine
REGENERATE THANKSGIVING
Get Your Pasture-Raised Organic Turkey
Turkeys are excellent grazers and thrive on pasture, but it’s hard to find pasture-raised organic turkeys in most grocery stores. To get the best USDA Organic options, consult the Cornucopia Institute’s buying guide.
Better yet, buy your pasture-raised organic turkey straight from a local farm. Check out these options to find one near you:
All Real Organic Project farmers pasture-raise their organic turkeys.
The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association is another place to look for a pasture-raised organic turkey. Search their website Get Real Chicken.
You can also find farms that pasture-raise organic turkeys on our Regenerative Farm Map.
Is your local farmer sold out? Try these farms:
Wrong Direction Farm (NY) delivers pasture-raised organic turkeys to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Delivery is free for orders of $200 or more.
Elmwood Stock Farm (KY) ships pasture-raised organic turkeys nationwide.
SUPPORT OCA & RI
Protect American Farmers and Ranchers
By choosing American beef, you’re voting with your wallet to support local ranchers and the country’s agricultural heritage. That’s why the we at the Organic Consumers Association are championing the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Enforcement Act, introduced by Rep. Harriet Hageman. This crucial bill would ensure transparency and fairness in the meat industry.
A growing proportion of our meat now is imported, mostly from Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico and now we will be importing more from Argentina.
Right now we can’t trust voluntary “Product of the U.S.A.” labels, because there’s a loophole that allows meat from cattle that spent any amount of time in the U.S., even if they were just slaughtered here, to be labeled “Product of the U.S.A.”
As organic consumers, we seek meat that hasn’t been factory-farmed, but we also need to consider where it was produced. We choose grass-fed meat not only for health reasons, but also because grazing improves soil health and carbon sequestration on our farms, helping to build stronger food security for the future.
Will you stand with us?Your support can help us promote country-of-origin labeling and protect American farmers, advocate for policies that prioritize local agriculture and sustainable practices, and educate consumers about the importance of buying American-made products.
Every contribution counts, and with your help, both in taking action Support American Beef: Stand Up for Local Ranchers, Not Imports and with financial support we can make a real difference in the lives of American cattle ranchers and farmers and their communities.
Take action today!Donate now to support our efforts to stand up for American agriculture and promote organic and regenerative practices.
Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization
Have you considered making a grant request from your Donor-Advised Fund?
WEST BANK OLIVE HARVEST
Take Action in Solidarity With Palestinian Olive Farmers
You can act in solidarity with Palestinian farmers trying to harvest their olives in peace by buying olive oil and other fair trade and regenerative organic products from Canaan, a West Bank olive oil cooperative of over 2,400 family farms across 52 villages–as well as Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Canaan’s largest customer.
Dr. Bronner’s is run by the 5th generation of a family of soapmakers who were German-Jews from Laupheim, Germany. It was their grandfather, Emmanual “Dr.” Bronner, who brought the family tradition to America in 1929. His sister Lotte fled Nazi Germany in 1936 to the Ein Gev Kibbutz in what was then Palestine and is now Israel, and his sister Luise fled to the U.S. in 1938. His parents Berthold and Franziska stayed until it was too late and were murdered in the Holocaust, Berthold in Theresienstadt in 1942, and Franziska in Auschwitz in 1944, but their family continues to grow in the U.S. and Israel today.
It was this family history that inspired David and Michael Bronner, who run Dr. Bronner’s with their sister Lisa today, to start using Canaan olive oil in their soap in 2007. Their idea was to demonstrate peaceful coexistence in the Holy Land by mixing Muslim, Jewish, and Christian olive oil in their soaps. They made a commitment to source 90 percent of their olive oil from Canaan, and the balance from Israel, half from the Israeli Strauss family farm and half from Sindyanna of Galilee, an Israeli Arab and Jewish Women’s cooperative that includes Christian Palestinian farmers in Nazareth.
Support Palestinian Farmers by Buying from Canaan
Support Israeli Farmers by Buying from Strauss
Support Christian Palestinian Farmers by Buying from Sindyanna of Galilee
Support Them All by Buying Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps
VIDEO: Dr. Bronner’s Organic Fair Trade Olive Oil From the Holy Land
COMMUNITY KITCHEN
Mark Bittman’s New Restaurant Aims to ‘Turn the Food System on Its Head’
Miranda Lipton, Barn Raiser:
“For the first time in his life, a New Yorker in his late 70s was able to take his entire family out to dinner. On September 19, on a quiet, tree-lined street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, he and his family joined 60 others at Community Kitchen, a sliding-scale fine dining nonprofit restaurant, launched by former New York Times columnist and food justice advocate Mark Bittman.
The restaurant’s two-month pilot, housed in the Lower Eastside Girls Club, aims to welcome guests from varying economic means to experience artfully prepared meals at a price they can afford, sourced directly from farmers in the region. In doing so, the Community Kitchen team aims to build a model founded on the belief that healthy, delicious food should be accessible to all, and that it doesn’t need to come at the cost of fair labor or environmental compromises—–from the farmer tending the soil, to the hostess welcoming guests, to the diner from the local neighborhood.”
HEALTH SYSTEMS
It’s Time to Fundamentally Rethink How America Pays for Health Care
by Daniel Plotkin, Stat 10:
“The U.S. health care reimbursement system was built for a different era — one that prioritized high-stakes ‘cure’ interventions over the nuanced ‘care’ interventions better suited to the ongoing needs of today’s patients, physicians, and other providers. To improve outcomes, satisfaction, and value, we must upend this outdated approach and build a model that rewards thoughtful, relationship-driven care rather than volume and costly procedures. It’s time to fundamentally rethink how we pay for health care in America.
What we need is a reboot: change the underlying valuation to reward cognitive care services rather than high-tech cure services. This would yield something that is currently hard to imagine: providers incentivized to listen, think, communicate, and coordinate care with one another, and with patients and their families.
This new system would require Medicare to pay doctors and other health care professionals significantly more for spending time and fostering relationships than does our current system.”
CLIMATE
Global Conservation Body Backs Genetically Modified Wildlife Over Indigenous Opposition
Miacel Spotted Elk, Grist:
“This week, members of the International Union of Conservation of Nature, one of the world’s largest conservation groups, voted against a moratorium on the release of genetically engineered species into the wild to assist in conservation efforts and in favor of the use of synthetic biology, the technology used to alter or ‘edit’ genetic material in living cells.
The two motions have drawn intense criticism from Indigenous-led groups and international organizations focused on agriculture, beekeeping, conservation, and biodiversity, which lobbied the International Union of Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, to impose the moratorium. A related motion, which would green light the use of synthetic biology for research, was approved in a vote.
‘At this point, the science is new, and we don’t actually have data or evidence to suggest that it could be safe,’ said Dana Perls, a senior food and technology manager at Friends of the Earth, a network of environmental groups. ‘Instead, we have evidence that suggests this is highly risky. It’s irreversible.’”
NEW RESEARCH
Scientists Announce “Stunning” Results After Examining Farmland Soil Treated Only With Organic Fertilizers
Eric Ralls writes for Earth.com:
“Beneath our feet lies one of Earth’s most overlooked treasures – a thin, living skin of soil that quietly feeds us, shelters us, and helps control the climate by keeping carbon out of the air.
Farmers influence that system every season through how they manage their fields. The question that keeps coming up is: Which practices actually help soil hold on to carbon for the long haul?
Carbon does not stay put by accident. It needs places to settle and forms that resist rapid breakdown. That is why researchers are paying close attention to how fertilizers and field practices change tiny features within soil where carbon can be stored indefinitely.
In soil plots that received manure or compost, total carbon levels were higher than in plots receiving synthetic fertilizer or no fertilizer. Imaging of microaggregates showed more carbon in tiny pores and more carbon attached to mineral surfaces in organically amended soil. These locations are associated with longer carbon residence times.”
Learn about the carbon sequestering power of Regenerative Agriculture
HEALTH
Cloned Meat Is Quietly Getting Closer To Being Sold in Canada — But People May Not Know They’re Buying It
Laura Brehaut, National Post:
“Cloned meat could be coming to a grocery store near you. Whether you’re receptive to the technology or not, you may be none the wiser from looking at the package. Health Canada has made moves to lift restrictions on meat from cloned cattle and pigs, no longer considering it a ‘novel food,’ meaning it could be commercialized without notification or labelling.
Novel foods are ‘products that are new or changed compared to existing foods,’ such as the first Health Canada-approved genetically modified animal (and now defunct), AquAdvantage salmon, which hit the shelves in the late 2010s — with no special labelling required.
According to Health Canada’s policy update, the department’s Food Directorate decided that there should be no difference between the regulation of cloned and conventional meat products. Foods derived from clones of other animals, such as goat and sheep, however, are still considered novel foods.”
LITTLE BYTES
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