Chuck Benbrook

Embracing Value-Added, Evidence-Based Diversity Across the Food Industry is Good for Business

If you ask any brand manager, company executive, or corporate board member what a company’s most valuable asset is, the answer is always the same – consumer trust, and the marketplace loyalty grounded in that trust. Whether selling cars, computers, or potato chips, both trust and market share are difficult to earn and easily lost. […]

Narrowing the Conventional Versus Organic Farming System Yield Gap

Nearly everyone agrees that producing ample, nutritious and safe food to feed 9 billion people, with minimal harm to the environment, is one of mankind’s grand challenges. In the May 14, 2014 issue of National Geographic, Jonathan Foley sets out a thoughtful, five-step plan that highlighted these imperatives: “Freeze agriculture’s footprint” (e.g., stop clearing tropical […]

New Meta-Analysis Identifies Three Significant Benefits Associated With Organically Grown Plant-Based Foods

There have been four progressively rigorous meta-analyses published since 2009 focusing on differences in the nutritional quality and safety of organic versus conventional food. The latest comes out July 15, 2014 in the British Journal of Nutrition (BJN). I was the sole American scientist on the mostly European research team that produced the BJN paper: […]

Will Second-Generation Herbicide-Tolerant Crops Dominate the Weed Management Toolbox?

Problems triggered by the spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds in corn, soybean, and cotton country continue to worsen. An industry source recently projected that 70 million acres are now infested with one or more glyphosate-resistant weed. The presence of glyphosate-resistant weeds forces farmers to add additional herbicides to their control programs, and apply herbicides more often […]

Pesticide Residues in Organic Food — Delivering on a Promise

Avoiding pesticide exposure and risks remains the #1 reason most people choose organic food. This is not likely to change until there is convincing data that show only modest differences between the pesticide dietary risks associated with residues in and on organic food, compared to conventionally grown food.

Scaling Up Organic Production to Lower Costs: Will Quality Suffer?

An April 19, 2014 blog post by NPR correspondent Dan Charles discusses Wal-Mart’s plans to develop a substantial new line of organic food products that will be sold at a 25% lower price than other organic brands. The story quotes individuals who question whether Wal-Mart will be able to deliver on the idea without hurting farmers […]

Reflections on the Science Breakthrough of the Year

In its December 20, 2013 issue, the journal Science identified cancer immunotherapy as the science breakthrough of the year.  An editorial by the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Marcia McNutt explains the basis for the selection. She notes that the war on cancer started 40 years ago and has had great success in treating some cancers, while others […]

Do Farm Bills Drive or Deter Change?

Farm bills over the last forty years have shaped today’s agriculture systems and technology.  They have done so by setting the “rules of the road” and defining or shaping research and investment priorities. The new farm bill provides farmers, agribusiness, rural communities, and the food industry a more stable policy framework in which to make […]

New Insights Gained into the Role of Dairy Products in Promoting Healthier Diets

Dozens of studies, most of them conducted in Europe, have shown higher levels of health-promoting omega-3 fatty acids in organic milk compared to conventional milk, as well as lower levels of omega-6 fatty acids.  The National Institutes of Health, in a factsheet on omega-3 fatty acids, reports that: “Most American diets provide more than 10 […]