Renewable Farming

July 2015

Phil Pitzenberger showing field to Ukrainian delegation

Ukrainian farm managers eager to learn more about non-GMO soybeans

Last week we learned that one of our friends, Paul Syltie, was arranging a Midwest tour of Ukrainian farm managers interested in learning more about biologically sound technology for soybeans — so we offered to help. When the group of three managers flew out from Chicago to visit Iowa last Monday, we took them to […]

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Monsanto-initiated study: No glyphosate in human breast milk

A detailed feature by Elizabeth Grossman on the website civileats.com offers the best perspective we’ve seen on the “study vs. study” controversy over glyphosate residues in mothers’ breast milk. You’ve probably seen the report last week from Washington State University assistant professor Michelle McGuire stating that no detectable glyphosate was found in 41 samples of women’s

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World Health Organization releases full report on glyphosate as “probable human carcinogen”

The World Health Organization’s Agency for Research on Cancer has released its full report in which it classified glyphosate and its weedkiller formulation as a probable human carcinogen. You can download the entire report at this link as a PDF file. It is 92 pages long and loaded with technical data. So for starters we’d recommend

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U.S. House to vote on “Deny Americans the Right to Know” act

A federal legislative effort to block retail labeling of GMO foods is heading for a vote in the U.S. House of Representative this week, probably Thursday.  It would pre-empt any state’s right to require such labeling — as Vermont has already done, and which several state referendums have attempted to require.  A Wall Street Journal

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Sap analysis has paid off for farmers served by this crop consultant

John Kempf of the firm Advancing Eco Agriculture presented several reports on experience with crop sap testing at an online webinar July 14. After two full seasons of experience with sap testing, and fieldwork with it so far this year, the firm’s fertility recommendations to farmers have changed drastically. And their farmer clients are clearing more profit from

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More than El Niño at work in a soggy Eastern and Southeastern U.S.

When rained-out farmers collect at the local coffee shop to gripe about incessant rain this summer, much of the blame falls on the ebbing and flowing El Niño. Today, even Rush Limbaugh was intoning about the biggest El Niño in a half-century and its possible impacts. Meteorologists fuel that commentary. Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com,

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Study finds genetic engineering of soybeans leads to formaldehyde content

A broad-based scientific study released today at a Washington, DC press conference finds that genetic engineering of soybeans leads to accumulation of formaldehyde — a known carcinogen with zero tolerance in foods — and depletes glutathione, a vital anti-oxidant. The research report was published today in the journal Agricultural Sciences. Researcher Dr. V. A. Shiva

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