The persistent and powerful El Niño should lead to a 2015-16 winter which looks like those of  1982-83 and 1997-98, says the December Browning World Climate Bulletin. The editor, Evelyn Browning Garris, anticipates northern U.S. temperatures to average above normal in early winter and midwinter, with slightly less of an anomaly by later winter. Here

A “false flag” incident is the classic name given to an attack or event staged as a pretext for political or military action.  History is full of these false flag events, such as the  contrived attack on Germany by Polish-uniformed German soldiers — to justify Germany’s invasion of Poland. It’s known as the Gleiwitz incident, described this

Today’s Wall Street Journal (Dec. 9, 2015) features a page 1 article, “Organic vs. Non-GMO Food Makers Face Off” — dramatizing the fact that both organic-labeled and non-GMO-labeled food items are gaining market share rapidly. Hopefully you can read the original article at this link, but it’s possible that you’ll need a subscription.  What we

Advocates of the DARK Act — Denying Americans the Right to Know about GMO ingredients in their food — are apparently launching a new way to get legislation barring states and localities from imposing GMO food labeling. Paige Richardson, Director of the group “Oregon GMO Right to Know,” sent us this message today: “The good news: voters

Today, our longtime friends at AgriEnergy Resources e-mailed to their clients a list of winter grower meetings around the country. We’re passing the list on to you, as it’s full of opportunities to learn more about biologically sound production.  The three meetings highlighted in green are those where we’ll be presenting our 2015 field research results, plus

On Dec. 5, World Soil Day, two charitable foundations launched a $20 million new “Soil Health Institute” dedicated to” “serve as the primary resource for soil health information, working to set soil-health standards and measurement, build knowledge about the economics of soil health, offer educational programs, and coordinate research in all aspects of soil and

We’ve long hoped for a robotic, GPS-controlled laser “cultivator” that would whack weeds out of crops.  Scanning leaf shapes would be one way for the system to tell weeds from corn or beans. But a more practical way is already under development: Seed treating crops with a marking compound which causes the growing crop’s leaves to