I had the opportunity to attend the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meeting for a day last week. The day was devoted to the Crops Subcommittee which is charged with looking at all the production inputs to be allowed or prohibited in organic agriculture. This is a daunting job, and board members (who are volunteers) […]
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy paper entitled “Organic Foods: Health and Environmental Advantages and Disadvantages” on October 22, 2012. It is slated for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal Pediatrics. This new review comes on the heels of a September, 2012 meta-analysis by a team of physicians at Stanford […]
A number of studies have recently suggested that organic farming better addresses issues related to climate change than non-organic farming. Many of the reported climate change advantages of organic farming flow from its prohibition of…
Every year in early September we celebrate Washington Organic Week (WOW). Consumers have been enjoying the season’s organic harvest for several months, but things really pick up now with apples, pears, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, and more. The organic farming sector in the state has a lot to celebrate. Despite some bumps in the marketplace […]
A comprehensive paper on the nutritional quality and safety of conventional versus organic food was published in the September 4, 2012 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine (Smith-Spangler et al., Vol. 157, Number 5: pages 349–369). The Stanford University Medical School team concluded that: “The published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are […]
I am extremely excited to announce that Dr. Chuck Benbrook will be joining WSU CSANR as a research faculty member in August of 2012. Chuck is well-known in organic food and farming circles nationally and internationally and brings a tremendous amount of capacity to the Center and to WSU’s overall organic and sustainable agriculture efforts. […]
To get you up to speed, here are the first two questions: 1.The EPA says agriculture only accounts for 6% of US greenhouse gas emissions (2009). Shouldn’t we focus our efforts on bigger problems such as coal fired power plants and automobile emissions instead? 2. Do “food miles” – the distance that food travels from […]
The most important function of CSANR is to catalyze and incentivize new scientific activity in support of improving the sustainability of farm and food systems. In recent years, the most crucial tool we have had to do this is the BIOAg Grants Program (Biologically Intensive and Organic Agriculture). Over the past decade, CSANR has provided […]
Language matters. The words we choose can greatly impact what we communicate. If I say “I see a car” most everyone who speaks English will get the exact same message. If I say “I support local foods” the interpretation will likely be highly variable. Let’s explore some of the language that accompanies society’s current heightened […]