by Gilad Edelman Taking on corporate concentration has gone from a fringe idea to a key plank of the party’s strategy. Here’s how that happened—and why it matters. On a Monday afternoon in late July, a group of leading Democratic members of Congress, including Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Elizabeth Warren, gathered in small-town Berryville,…

By Dan Charles, NPR | 27 October 17 In a normal year, Kevin Bradley, a professor of weed science at the University of Missouri, would have spent his summer testing new ways to control a troublesome little plant called water hemp. This has not been a normal year. “I don’t even talk about weed management…

by Chris Prentice | October 24, 2017 NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nestle SA (NESN.S) is leaving the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a lobby group that represents hundreds of food companies in Washington, a spokesman for the group said, just months after a similar decision by Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N). A source at the company said…

by James McCommons | September 29, 2017 For more than 60 years the Rodale Institute has led the way for organic farmers and gardeners. On a warm May morning—one that signals the advent of a steamy summer—a tractor grumbles through a hillside apple orchard, misting the newly emerged fruit with a clay slurry for protection…

Perdue visits S.D., talks with few ranchers Carrie Stadheim October 27, 2017 Gary Peterson, John Heidler, Sharon Longwood, Peggy Veal, Ryan Veal, Lynn Briggs and several others traveled to Timber Lake, South Dakota, to meet with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue but the secretary did not take part in the scheduled meeting. Photo by Carrie Stadheim…

by Clarissa Wei | Oct 27 2017 “Permaculture is a white people word. We already lived that life; we just have to practice it.“ “Chokecherries!” Winona Katso shouts from the passenger window. She points to a bush sagging heavy with deep crimson berries just a couple feet away, and the pickup truck she is riding…

by Mark Weinraub, P.J. Huffstutter | October 25, 2017 CHICAGO (Reuters) – When Kansas farmer Tom Giessel drove over a deer carcass and punctured a tire on his combine during harvest this fall, he did not have the time or cash to fix it. He borrowed his neighbor’s combine to finish. U.S. farmers are cutting…

By Randy Jackson, Michelle Miller, Pam Porter and Lindsey Day-Farnsworth | October 26 A recent article by Tamar Haspel argues that the local and organic food movement can’t fix our food system. If this movement were solely focused on “buy fresh, buy local” at farmers markets and upscale restaurants, we would agree. However, bigger changes…

The solution to the climate crisis is in our peasant struggle for Food and Energy Sovereignty! La Via Campesina – Call to Action The next United Nations conference on climate change will take place from the 6th to 17th of November in Bonn, Germany 2017 – with Mother Earth heating up dramatically and humanity plagued…

By Philip Bethge, Spiegel | October 24, 2017 A release of internal emails has revealed that U.S. agrochemical giant Monsanto manipulated studies of the company’s herbicide, Roundup. Experts believe the product causes cancer – and the consequences for the company could be dire. Some companies’ reputations are so poor that the public already has low…