• Is the USDA sustainable….

    ….one of my favorite websites is the work of Paul and Gabe Brown…..holistic ranchers just outside Bismarck, North Dakota.  Recently they linked to an article in a Yale publication that does the best job I’ve seen so far of explaining the way Big Ag and Big Government are chasing their tails….trying to get ahead of Nature. The problem is the darn weeds have unlimited research capability….not even Monsanto’s labs can keep up with them.  Incredibly, it’s a New York Times editorial board member who lectures our “smart guys”.  The article actually gives me some cause for hope! http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_folly_of_big_agriculture_why_nature_always_wins/2514/#.T4Rf8AnUGyo.mailto Incidentally, you can check out Brown’s Ranch at  http://www.brownsranch.us/    

  • Something else not added to Thistle Hill meat….

    ….another warning about the weed killer that is killing you:  glyphosate.  It’s everywhere….in fact, I see garden sprays actually bragging on the label in big letters that it’s in their mix. I think it is also important to mention in connection with those industry studies which “prove” that genetically-modified foods are safe”.  One thing those studies never do is couple the testing of GM foods with the glyphosate that is almost always used in conjunction with genetically-modified farming.  You just aren’t going to have one without the other. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/25/food-minerals-soil-health.aspx

  • The EPA stands guard….

    ….protecting our health!  Don’t dare light up a cigarette on the beach. But when it comes to pesticides in your food…the EPA says not to worry.  It’s just Monsanto doing its thing! http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/26/bt-toxin-residues.aspx

  • Just a rumor….

    ….but if I were still a reporter, I’d be on this one. There are reports in the Midwest that genetically-modified foods aren’t behaving as advertised and Monsanto has been buying-up old line seed companies. As I said, just rumor but maybe that chemical giant’s big bet may not be paying off.

  • The bugs win!!!

    An important milestone that won’t get much press coverage:  A top-level health officials say we have indeed “run the course” of antibiotics.  Super-bugs have won the battle and there’s nowhere we can turn. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477273/Weve-reached-end-antibiotics-Top-CDC-expert-declares-miracle-drugs-saved-millions-match-superbugs-people-overmedicated-themselves.html Just a few days ago, there was an article…one of dozens we’ve seen…worrying about where all this is headed.  But now, as we read in the first story above, we don’t have to worry about where we’re headed.  We’re there. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/feeding-antibiotics-to-cows-is-bad-for-humans-but-congress-wont-stop-it-new-report-says/2013/10/22/ecd2de08-3afd-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_story.html It’s the same group of Merchants of Death (Monsanto, et al) inflicting GMO on us that have, of course, blocked any attempt to control the use of antibiotics in feeding animals.  Like hormones, antibiotics speed…

  • Get the dirt out of food!

    Sounds good in Washington.  And in the Big Food board rooms. So the FDA is going to crack down on—who else—small farmers.  The idea is we should all disinfect our produce and pack it in plastic.  Okay, so there’s a big recall underway right now for vegetables that Big Food packed just that way.  But nothing’s perfect. Small farmers, of course, can’t afford to buy the machinery to market food that way.  And intelligent consumers are smart enough to know they don’t want it that way.  The last thing they want is another chemical (not to mention plastic) on their veggies. But the feds….right up to the guy closest to…

  • GMO….what’s it worth to you….

    ….$15-million dollars or more if you’re Monsanto, DuPont, or your neighborhood supermarket and their buddies.  That’s how much they’re pouring into a fight in Washington State to prevent consumers from knowing whether they’re eating genetically-modified food. Most places in the world require a GMO warning label on food but not in the United States.  (Somehow Democrats and Republicans always manage to get together on that!) However, the state of Washington is going around the fix in the capital of Washington (where Monsanto focuses its dollars) and is voting on a referendum making GMO labels mandatory. http://www.cornucopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/I-522.poster.1023.jpg

  • This will turn out well….

    ….it could just be that Monsanto has an extra couple bucks laying around and they want to improve the world.  I’m sure stranger things have happened, but I can’t recall when. Anyway, the Frankenseed company has just purchased a weather data bank for about a billion dollars.  Why?  The Monsanto executive in charge of strategy says he just wants to help you. http://www.fastcoexist.com/3019387/why-monsanto-just-spent-1-billion-to-buy-a-climate-data-company Thanks to Dr. Sue Beal, who saw this on the Fast Company magazine website.

  • Myth busting – Part 3….

    ….I’m from the government and I’m here to protect you. Bt toxin has been around for a long time; a major ingredient in pesticides farmers use on crops such as corn.  But those clever folks at Monsanto developed Genetically Modified Corn that puts the Bt toxin right in the seed. Well, along with all the reservations about GMO food, some experts worried that it would only be a matter of time before those clever bugs developed a resistance to Monsanto’s “wonder seed”.  Even the government’s own advisory panel argued against the product but, of course, the USDA ignored it’s own experts and sided with Monsanto. So now, the expected as…

  • The menace that is Monsanto….

    ….I know it’s the proverbial broken record, but if there’s one thing I’m “called” to do, other than eat grass fed beef, it’s keeping Monsanto front in center.  There probably is no greater menace to the well-being of the world (and, yes, I include Islamic terrorism, Iran, Vladimir Putin and the Dallas Cowboys in the list) than Monsanto. If there ever was a company that should be broken up and scattered to the four winds it is this evil bunch.  For those of you new to this blog, here’s a primer: http://www.cornucopia.org/2013/07/the-monsanto-menace/