Good and Good For You: Bixby & Co.
For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Kate McAleer, Bixby & Co., kate@bixbyco.com, tel 207.691.0648
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnatural.com, tel 303.807.1042
Good and Good For You: Bixby & Co.’s Organic, Nutty For You Craft Candy Snack Bar Wins 2016 Good Food Award™
Bixby & Co.’s Nutty for You bar wins prestigious Good Food Award™ proving that superior taste, environmental stewardship and supporting local communities go hand-in-hand in the natural candy market.
Rockland, ME (January 19, 2016) — Recognized for its dedication to handcrafted natural and organic craft candy snack bars, Bixby & Co. announces it is a recipient of the prestigious 2016 Good Food Award™ in the confections category.
Bixby founder Kate McAleer accepted the award in San Francisco on January 15 for its Nutty for You organic craft candy snack bar. The awards ceremony featured 800 people including farmers, chefs, journalists, and activists united to honor exceptional food crafters, including such luminaries as Alice Waters, Nell Newman and Slow Food Founder Carlo Petrini.
The Good Food Awards, a collaboration between the nonprofit Seedling Projects and a broad community of food producers, food writers and passionate food lovers, celebrates companies and products that represent the forefront of American craft food. The organization requires that products not only taste delicious, but also are respectful of the environment, and connected to communities and cultural traditions.
“We’ve always believed that great taste and socially responsible production should go hand-in-hand,” said Kate McAleer. “We’ve made responsibility, innovation and quality the centerpieces of our business, and we are happy for this recognition.”
Bixby Bars - Everything BUT Traditional
Unlike other chocolate bars, Bixby Bars are noted for their protein and fiber content,dedication to the highest quality ingredients and distinctive flavor profiles, such as Birdie (dark chocolate, sweet currant, hazelnut and Maine sea salt); Whippersnapper (blueberry, black pepper, dark chocolate and walnut); To the Nines (white chocolate, goji berry, cardamom, pistachio and almond); Nutty for You (dark chocolate, peanuts and Maine sea salt); and others. To view all of Bixby’s unique flavors, visit BixbyCo.com
Manufactured in a historic refurbished ice factory on the waterfront in scenic Rockland, Maine, the organic Nutty for You bar was singled out by the Good Food Awards for its superior taste, nutritional value and commitment to social responsibility. According to McAleer, the 1.5oz Nutty for You bar has five times as much protein (5g/serving) and four times as much fiber (3g/serving) as most standard candy bars. In addition to its organic certification, the Nutty for You bar also is certified Kosher, Non-GMO Verified, certified Gluten Free, and Rain Forest Alliance™ certified. All Bixby Bars are made without corn syrup, palm oil, artificial flavors, artificial colors, preservatives or additives.
About Bixby
One hundred percent women-owned, Bixby & Co. was founded in 2011 by Kate McAleer in Rockland, Maine. Inspired by her mother’s battle with breast cancer, Kate developed a line of better-for-you craft candy snack bars for the natural candy market. With a degree from New York University and a certificate in pastry art and culinary management from Institute of Culinary Education, Kate also is the winner of the 2015 Maine Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Bixby & Co is a recipient of Whole Foods Market’s Local Vendor Loan program. Bixby Bars are available online and in Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Raley’s, Giant, Stop & Shop, and other leading natural, organic and specialty food stores; and through distributors including UNFi and KeHe. For wholesale inquiries contact kate@bixbyco.com. Visit BixbyCo.com for more information.
Visit Bixby & Co. at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA, March 10-13 in the NEXT Pavilion, Room 304, 3rd floor, Booth #9618.
Communications by Compass Natural
Local Producer Loan Enables Emmy’s Organics To Expand Vegan, Gluten Free and Non-GMO Product Line
For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Samantha Abrams, Emmy’s, samantha@emmysorganics.com, tel 855.462.6697
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnatural.com, tel 303.807.1042 Whole Foods
A Certified B Corporation, cereal and snack maker Emmy’s Organics receives Whole Foods Local Producer Loan and introduces a new raspberry flavor to its line of tasty vegan, gluten-free and non-GMO macaroons.
Ithaca, NY (January 11, 2016) — Mission-driven manufacturer of vegan, gluten-free and non-GMO power snacks and cereals, Emmy’s Organics announces the launch of its new Raspberry Macaroon, the latest addition to its growing product lineup.
As a recent recipient of Whole Foods’ Local Producer Loan, a program that has provided over $25 million in low-interest loans to independent farmers and food artisans, Emmy’s Organics, based in Ithaca, NY, has expanded its product line and is introducing a new raspberry-flavored macaroon. Made with certified organic raspberry, coconut and vanilla, the new addition will be available in the Whole Foods Market Northeast region early this year, followed by a national roll out in the spring. The new macaroon is also available online.
“Our customers have responded well to our macaroon line and the new Raspberry Macaroons are a welcome addition by delivering a burst of raspberry tartness highlighted by a subtly sweet, creamy coconut finish,” says Emmy’s Co-founder and owner Samantha Abrams. “We are thankful for the Whole Foods New York Local Loan Program for giving us the opportunity to expand our line,” she adds.
Available in both 2-oz. bags and 6-oz. gusseted pouches, the new flavor will join current varieties: Chai Spice, Lemon Ginger, Chocolate Chip, Mint Chip, and Dark Cacao.
Forward Thinking, Forward Doing: B Corp Certified
Emmy’s Organics is passionate about its commitment to using business as a force for good. By becoming a certified B Corporation Emmy’s Organics has pledged to conduct business at higher standards for transparency, accountability and performance using the power of business to solve social and environmental issues. The company consciously works towards reducing its environmental impact by manufacturing in a solar and wind powered plant that produces minimal waste, using recycled packaging and using non-GMO, organic ingredients. The company also gives a portion of its sales to local charities and has creative benefits for its staff including health bonuses, paid time off, a monthly free lunch program, and financial transparency.
“Our values are right in line with B Corp values. We wanted a way to demonstrate the amazing things that our company does that our customers don’t see. Being a B Corp shows our commitment to our organization and the impact we make,” says Abrams. “We feel that becoming a B Corp sets us apart from other companies in our industry and we are proud of that,” she says.
About Emmy’s Organics
Emmy’s Organics is a family-oriented, Certified B Corporation based in Ithaca, NY. Launched in 2009 by Co-Founders Samantha Abrams and Ian Gaffney, Emmy’s produces a line of certified vegan, gluten-free and non-GMO macaroons, cereals and chocolate saucefrom premium raw ingredients in a wind- and solar-powered building. Emmy’s products are available nationally at leading and independent natural and organic retailers including Whole Foods Markets, Sprouts, HEB, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Wegmans, Barnes & Noble College, Heinens and more. Emmy's Organics' products are also distributed internationally in Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Visit emmysorganics.com to learn more. Connect on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
Communications by: Compass Natural Marketing
www.compassnatural.com
Organic Farming and Food Can Save the Planet
Message from historic Paris climate summit: Organic food and farming can save the planet.
Photo: Compass Natural
Message from historic Paris climate summit: Organic food and farming can save the planet
With coastal areas, island nations and poorer developing countries poised to bear the brunt of global warming, organic, regenerative agriculture was acknowledged for the first time at the COP21 global climate summit as a central solution for drawing down carbon and reversing climate change.
Amidst the historic COP21 climate accord, signed on Dec. 12 by 196 countries, also of import was the fact that 25 nations, plus more than 50 international organizations, private foundations, international funds, and consumer and farmer organizations, joined France’s pioneering “4 per 1000” Initiative, officially launched at the COP21 summit as a major global agreement to promote healthy soils and regenerative agriculture as a vital solution for food and climate security.
“This is a game changer because soil carbon is now central to how the world manages climate change,” said Andre Leu, president of IFOAM Organics International, the world’s leading organic farmers and producers association, based in Bonn, Germany. “I am stunned. After all the years of advocating for this at UN Climate Change meetings and being the lone voice in the wilderness, it has taken off so quickly and now is global with numerous countries and key institutions supporting it. However this is true of all tipping points,” he added.
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“We now go from trying to convince people about the multifunctional benefits of soil carbon sequestration to developing projects to implement it,” said Leu, who was in Paris to represent IFOAM and also as a steering committee member of Regeneration International, an international nonprofit organization with a mission to advance organic, regenerative agriculture as a practical, low-cost solution to drawing down carbon and reversing climate change.
“Everything is at stake…we have an alternative”
Visible throughout the COP21 climate summit was world renowned author and “rock star” agro-ecologist Vandana Shiva, promoting the connections between food and agriculture, climate change, and economic and social justice. Engaging media, government officials, NGOs and audiences throughout the Paris climate summit, Shiva’s messages were the same: “We don’t have much time,” and “fossil agriculture is the problem; organic agriculture is the solution.”
Speaking at an exhibition at Le Bourget, site of the official UN climate summit in Paris, Shiva said: “Everything is at stake now, and within the next 20 years, either we can shift and walk off the precipice where we stand and build a world that is livable, or walk over that precipice. It’s a human choice that we face."
She continued:
“Even though we know that industrial agriculture – we could call it 'fossil agriculture' – is 50 percent of the climate problem, the two sectors have never been seen as interconnected. And now there’s a deliberate attempt to keep ecological solutions out of the climate discussion. A deliberate attempt to keep the roots of climate change in industrial farming and globalized food systems out, because the very corporations that have given us half the climate problem want to steal the climate negotiations to expand their markets for GMOs; to expand their markets for fertilizers; to expand their control over agriculture to one agriculture…control of all farming.
We have an alternative. The alternative is seed sovereignty in farmers’ hands, and more biodiversity. Ecological agriculture can feed two times the population of the world; it can rebuild soil fertility; it reverses desertification; it can take out the stocks of carbon from the atmosphere and put it into the soil; and most importantly, it overcomes the human crisis of refugee creation and displacement which is at the root of so much of the conflicts and violence today.
So, organic farming offers an answer to sustainability, justice, peace, food security and climate security. And more industrial farming, more corporate control will worsen every crisis. The success of Paris will be for humanity to make peace with the earth and make peace with each other, because otherwise, humanity will have no chance for the future."
Carbon neutral is not enough
According to Leu, a successful organic farmer in his own right with a tropical fruit tree farm in Australia, “The global conversation changed in Paris to more than emissions and fossils fuels. Just
Vandana Shiva and Andre Leu help inaugurate an urban organic garden in Paris during the COP21 Global Climate Summit.
stopping fossil fuels and moving to renewables will not stop climate change,” he emphasized.
“The current CO2 level in the atmosphere is 400ppm,” Leu explained. “To achieve the less than 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise targeted at COP21, the level needs to be less than 300 ppm. Just stopping emissions means that we will go into severe climate change because of the cumulative effect of these gases over the next 200 years. We also have to draw down the excess 120 ppm CO2 out of the atmosphere.”
According to Leu, “The Paris Accord gives us the mechanisms to reverse climate change through the flexibility of the INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or individual country climate actions outlined under international agreement). The real work starts now with developing INDCs that not only stop emissions, but also draw them out of the atmosphere. The French have shown incredible leadership in this with the ‘4 per 1000’ initiative. This is a truly historic moment for our planet,” he said.
Shovel-ready solution
Transitioning from an extractive, fossil fuel-intensive energy system to a clean, renewable alternative is vital to any global strategy to mitigate climate change, but reducing emissions solves only half the problem, wrote Ronnie Cummins and Katherine Paul, founding steering committee members of Regeneration International, in a Dec. 10commentary published by the Organic Consumers Association. “We also have to draw down the billions of tons of CO2 currently heating up the atmosphere. Unless we address the climate change elephant in the room—Big Ag—we will fail to solve the climate crisis.”
According to Ratan Lal, director of Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, the world’s cultivated soils have lost 50 to 70 percent of their original carbon stocks and fertility over the past 100-plus years of commercial agriculture. Modern chemical-intensive, factory farm, GMO-based industrial agriculture is largely responsible for that loss, Cummins and Paul assert.
“The French Initiative is the most direct, most practical and only shovel-ready plan for reversing climate change,” they wrote. “We don’t need, and don’t have time to wait for expensive, unproven techno-fixes à la Bill Gates, some of which haven’t even made it to the prototype stage, and many of which could come with unintended consequences. We don’t need a corporate-focused ‘climate-smart agriculture’ scheme that promotes business as usual. And we definitely shouldn’t put our faith in Monsanto’s ‘carbon-neutral’ but ‘poison-positive’ plan.”
Pointing to the fact that the U.S. has yet to sign on to the 4 per 1000 Initiative, Organic Consumers Association, IFOAM and dozens of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are encouraging U.S. citizens to urge President Obama to pledge U.S. support. “If we’re going to subsidize any form of agriculture, it should be the regenerative, truly climate-friendly, health-friendly, farmer-friendly type,” Cummins and Paul suggested.
Grassroots application
Seeking to foster coordinated communications and shared tactics among the diverse organizations, NGOs, businesses and others descending on Paris, the team at Regeneration International – comprising a small, tech-savvy crew of young people and an international board of food, agriculture and climate experts, including Vandana Shiva and World Food Prize winner Hans Herren – sponsored more than 60 delegates from organizations based throughout the world to attend COP21 and participate in workshops, tours, planning sessions and related events.
Many delegates stayed in the same lodging, sharing meals, ideas, resources and conversation throughout the two-week Paris COP21-related event schedule.
“We were very excited to be among the delegates to Regeneration International at COP21 to participate in planning and strategizing how we’re going to mobilize the grassroots,” said Cindy Eiritz, strategic development manager for Healthy Soils Australia. “Together, we can stop soils from being net emitters to being net sequesterers of carbon, which will make a big difference.”
Working with rural communities in northern Zimbabwe, holistic management educator and regenerative rancher Precious Phiri showed audiences in Paris how it can be done. By implementing grazing management concepts promoted by such groups as the Savory Institute, her ranching techniques were able to bring back a diverse ecosystem and healthy grasslands, improve soil organic matter and sequester carbon – and restore water tables enough where ponds returned and elephants gathered to drink water where none had been before.
“For me, COP21 has been, with Regeneration International, a gathering of people who are determined and want to do something to reverse climate change, sequester carbon and heal soils across the world,” Phiri said in a video conversation with Savory Institute’s Chris
Kerston. “It’s been a pool of exchanging ideas and taking action. Speaking of how soils can be a solution to climate change. They are alive – they are the biggest carbon sink; the biggest cooler of the earth, if well managed. It’s where we need to be.”
Editor’s Note: Steven Hoffman participated in the COP21 Global Climate Summit in Paris on behalf of Regeneration International.
Announcing the Healthy & Natural Show 2016
For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, tel 303.807.1042 steve@compassnatural.com
Announcing the Healthy & Natural Show: Where Emerging Brands and Hungry Retailers Meet
Healthy & Natural Show, May 5-7, 2016, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois
The inaugural “Healthy & Natural Show,” produced by William Reed Business Media in conjunction with FoodNavigator-USA and NutraIngredients-USA, will bring together retailers and product manufacturers who are disrupting the industry with new and innovative natural, organic and nutritional products.
Chicago, IL (December 10, 2015) — The Midwest has long been a hotbed for food development and innovation and a launchpad for leaders in the good-food movement. With hundreds of healthy product companies established in the region, the Healthy & Natural Show, and its accompanied educational programs, are designed to highlight local and national healthy brands across six distinct categories: food, beverage, supplements, pet products, household products and personal care.
Set for May 5-7, 2016, at the Navy Pier Festival Hall in Chicago, the exhibition will provide a venue for small, local companies, as well as established national brands, to showcase products to all channels of retail including the “behind the core” target of retailers and consumers.
Focusing on product accessibility in the under-represented Midwest region, companies making healthier product options will have a local platform to display products. Healthy brands are invited to showcase their innovative offerings made with clean ingredients, and address specialized needs and offerings that consumers today increasingly demand.
“This is a unique educational approach,” states Len Monheit, General Manager, North America for William Reed. “We’re in an age where consumers have just as much access to information as those retailers with whom they shop. We’re going to newly empower our retail community, by giving them an intimate show experience to leverage this new knowledge and then give them access to an exhibitor base filled with leaders and disrupters.”
Educational Opportunities Are Key to the Gathering
Interpreting current science, understanding consumer confusion about product labels, creating product differentiation, and anticipating and understanding emerging needs & demands will be a few of the topics covered in the educational seminars. The show opener will be an educational series to demystify topics such as non-GMO, probiotics, supplement labels and the highly debated topic of how to define ‘natural.’
The Healthy & Natural Show educational events and the intimate access to manufacturers will help retailers to resolve points of confusion while also identifying opportunities. The show provides a needed venue where independents and other retailers have direct contact with manufacturers' products and expertise in the ever changing landscape of Natural and Organic foods.
$48 Billion Market and Growing
Natural and Organic food is the fastest-growing sector of the American food marketplace. This inaugural gathering of Midwestern innovators, influencers and key decision makers creates an opportunity for retailers to better understand the high growth opportunities within the natural and organic sectors. The event recognizes that at the core of innovation and advancement for the industry lie in agile, future thinking companies, and nimble, smaller retail establishments.
“Most consumers are increasingly choosing healthier and more natural products. Our plan is to provide access to these products for more retailers, with supporting education about both the products themselves and the consumer drivers behind the movement,” stated Len Monheit. “Placing this event in Chicago is deliberate. The Midwest is rich with emerging brands and hungry retailers. And at Navy Pier, we’ll create an intimate environment allowing the newer brands to showcase, and front of class retailers to learn and then provide accessibility.”
Registration for the Healthy & Natural Show is currently available online atwww.TheHealthyAndNaturalShow.com.
About the Healthy & Natural Show
The Healthy & Natural Show is brought to you by William Reed Business Media, publisher of leading titles in food and drink retailing, manufacturing and distribution. As an international multi-media events company, William Reed is focused on helping customers achieve business success and the Healthy & Natural Products show will be a major part of that success. Welcoming more than 40,000 representatives to over 40 live events, conferences and exhibitions every year — on every continent — the international media company regularly engages with over 2.8 million food, drink, nutrition, restaurant and food service professionals.
About William Reed
William Reed Business Media launched its first title, The Grocer, in 1862; and with unmatched expertise, the company is wholeheartedly focused on the future. Through aligning its mission with customers’ needs and requirements, William Reed supports the ever-changing dynamics of the sectors it serves – food, beverage, health, hospitality, retail, manufacturing and more. With high-value information and research, robust journalism, innovative events and revered awards, William Reed helps customers to compete and succeed within their markets.
Communications by: Compass Natural Marketing
www.compassnatural.com
Organic industry to Paris: Regenerative agriculture is solution to climate change
As delegations from throughout the world gather this week and next at the COP21 Global Climate Summit in Paris, to discuss global warming and climate change.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
As delegations from throughout the world gather this week and next at the COP21 Global Climate Summit in Paris to discuss how to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and increase availability of renewable energy, the role of food and agriculture is just beginning to become part of the global climate change conversation.
Led by the French government with its groundbreaking4% Initiative, a number of organizations and nonprofits including Regeneration International,IFOAM Organics International, Kiss the Ground,Project Drawdown and others are at the COP21 summit to advance the concept of building healthy soils to sequester carbon and reverse climate change.
Why? Because reaching zero emissions is a fine, lofty goal, but it’s already too late for that alone to cool our warming world. The only way to do that now, according to experts in regenerative agriculture and research from the Rodale Institute and others, is to draw carbon out of the atmosphere and put it back where it belongs: in healthy organic soils.
In fact, says the Rodale Institute (after conducting more than 30 years of ongoing field research), regenerative, organic farming practices and improved forestry, pasture and land management can move agriculture from one of today’s primary sources of global warming and carbon pollution to a potential carbon sink powerful enough to sequester 100 percent of the world’s current annual CO2 emissions.
“Simply put, recent data from farming systems and pasture trials around the globe show that we could sequester more than 100 percent of current annual CO2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices, which we term ‘regenerative organic agriculture,’" Rodale’s research team reported. These practices work to maximize carbon fixation while minimizing the loss of that carbon once returned to the soil, reversing the greenhouse effect.”
Or, as the Wall Street Journal reported, “Organic practices could counteract the world’s yearly carbon dioxide output while producing the same amount of food as conventional farming…”
Industrial agriculture responsible for nearly half of all GHG emissions
“When it comes to being responsible for human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, industrial food and agriculture—including production, processing, packaging and distribution—is second only to the energy sector,” said Ronnie Cummins, director of Regeneration International. “Plus, with its reliance on fossil-fuel-based synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides, it is depleting our soils of essential organic matter and allowing carbon once stored for millennia in the soil to escape into the atmosphere. That is why we are here in Paris with an international delegation, to make sure our world leaders recognize the role of regenerative, organic farming, forestry, land management and soil conservation as a practical, low-cost solution to reversing climate change. The answer is, quite literally, right under our feet.”
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“Industrial farming is one of the major contributors to global warming, and to date, climate change negotiators and policy-makers have paid little attention to this fact,” said Andre Leu, president of IFOAM Organics International and founding steering committee member of Regeneration International. “If we want to reverse climate change, business as usual is not an option. Only a transition to agro-ecology and organic farming can lead to deep cuts in emissions from food production,” he said.
“Half of the smallholder farmers who grow the majority of global agricultural produce are amongst the world’s hungry, and they are also at the greatest risk of the impacts of global warming. Unless these farmers are given the agro-ecological technologies they need to meet the challenges posed by climate change, impacts on food production will be devastating, pushing millions into poverty," Leu added. "Agriculture and forest-related mitigation actions should thus contribute to food security and tackle activities with the highest emissions such as fertilizer use, particularly in ‘high-emitting’ countries."
4 percent sounds like a little but means a lot
With its recent launch of the 4% Initiative, the French government is taking the lead in calling attention to the role of food and agriculture in providing a solution to climate change.
“Building on solid, scientific documentation and concrete actions on the ground, the 4% Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate aims to show that food security and combating climate change are complementary,” said Christophe Malvezin, agricultural attaché to the French Embassy in the U.S., at a recent press conference in Washington, DC, to announce the launch of Regeneration International.
According to the French Agriculture Ministry, a 4 percent annual growth rate in soil carbon content would make it possible to stop the present increase in atmospheric CO2. This growth rate is not a normative target for every country, said the ministry, but is intended to show that even a small increase in soil carbon stock (agricultural soils, notably grasslands, pastures and forest soils) is crucial to improve soil fertility and agricultural production—and to contribute to achieving the long-term objective of limiting the average global temperature increase to the 1.5°C to 2°C threshold beyond which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that the
effects of climate change are significant. The initiative is intended to complement the necessary efforts to comprehensively reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, stated the French government.
In a special half-day session held on Dec. 2 at the COP21 Summit, David Nabarro, the United Nations Secretary General's special representative for food security and nutrition, outlined the “huge potential” for agriculture, based on the initiatives presented, to be a solution for climate change. “The time has come to reshape agriculture, but it must be of the right type: regenerative, smallholder centered, focused on food loss and waste, adaptation, soils management, oceans and livestock," Nabarro said.
Time to choose climate-friendly food
“If we are serious about changing the climate, we need to get serious about changing agriculture,” wrote Michael Pollan on the eve of the COP21 climate summit.
“Approximately one-third of the carbon now in the atmosphere had formerly been sequestered in soils in the form of organic matter, but since we began plowing and deforesting, we've been releasing huge quantities of this carbon into the atmosphere. Moreover, these emissions are strongly associated with foods and diets that we now know are very unhealthy," Pollan wrote.
"Either we can continue to feed ourselves using millions of gallons of fossil fuels to make synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to support the unsustainable monocultures that undergird the present food system, or we can turn towards modern organic and regenerative agriculture. The good news is that, thanks to the innovations pioneered by our most creative farmers, we already know how to do the right thing. We can produce healthier food while at the same time storing carbon in soil--carbon taken from the atmosphere, thereby helping to reverse climate change."
Join the regeneration movement
Founded in June 2015, Regeneration International's mission is to “build a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, policymakers and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revitalize local economies; regenerate soil fertility and water-retention capacity; nurture biodiversity; and restore climate stability by reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time drawing down excess atmospheric carbon and sequestering it in the soil.”
In doing so, RI is mobilizing consumers, farmers, environmentalists and businesses; aggregating research and information; and providing tools and resources in multiple languages for producers, land managers, scientists, and governments worldwide.
The organization was founded in June 2015 by internationally renowned agro-ecologist and author Vandana Shiva; World Food Prize winner Hans Herren; Andre Leu of IFOAM Organics International; Tom Newmark of Carbon Underground; Ronnie Cummins of Organic Consumers Association; Steve Rye of Dr. Mercola; former Germany Minister of Agriculture Renate Kunast; and other international leaders in food, agriculture, climate change and carbon sequestration.
For more information, visit www.regenerationinternational.org.
GMO Labeling Fight Goes to Washington
Pro-GMO labeling advocates are gaining ground, opponents of GMO labeling took their money and influence to Washington, D.C.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Alarmed that pro-GMO labeling advocates may be gaining ground, opponents of GMO labeling took their money and influence to Washington, DC, in December to try to outlaw states from passing GMO labeling bills, and allow manufacturers to call their GMO products “natural.”H.R. 4432, called the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014 by bill sponsor Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), and backed by corporate agribusiness and mainstream food industry interests, seeks to prohibit states from exercising their right to label GMOs. Further, the bill would allow manufacturers to call GMO foods “natural.” Additionally, Pompeo's legislation, if passed, would create a “voluntary” labeling system over mandatory labeling, and would nullify GMO labeling laws already passed by Maine, Vermont and Connecticut.
While many in the food industry favor uniform national GMO labeling legislation over a patchwork of state laws, Pompeo’s bill, dubbed the DARK Act, or the “Deny Americans the Right to Know Act,” by opponents of the bill, seeks to take the teeth out of GMO labeling. Backers of H.R. 4432 hope to do away with mandatory labeling, while codifying FDA's voluntary labeling system. Currently, FDA does not require labeling for genetically modified foods. However, voluntary labeling has been in place since the mid-1990s, and yet few
to no companies have ever voluntarily labeled their products as containing GMOs.
On December 10, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s health panel held a hearing in Washington, DC, entitled “Examining FDA’s Role in the Regulation of Genetically Modified Ingredients.” Despite a growing body of scientific research pointing to environmental and health risks associated with GMOs, when asked by Congressional panel member George Butterfield (D-NC), “Is there a scintilla of evidence that would suggest that these foods are unsafe?,” FDA official Michael Landa responded, “Not to our knowledge, no.”
Representatives at the hearing were skeptical of the need for GMO labeling, claiming it would confuse consumers or that it was simply “illogical” and “irrational.” Rep. Pompeo claimed that GMO labeling would raise food prices dramatically for consumers.
In testifying at the Congressional hearing, Kate Webb, Assistant Majority Leader in the Vermont House of Representatives, cautioned that H.R. 4432 would ultimately undo the work of Vermont’s recently passed Act 120, the law that requires genetically engineered products sold in Vermont to be labeled as such. Webb was one of the primary sponsors of Act 120, which passed 28-2 in the state Senate and 114-30 in the Vermont House.
“Most people would greatly prefer a national mandatory labeling system and national rules designed to restrict misleading claims of products being ‘natural,’” Webb said at the hearing.
“One of the great strengths of a capitalist democracy is not only do we cast a vote at the polls, we also do so in selecting the products we purchase,” she said. “Transparency allows us to see how things work, be it government, financial institutions or the foods we eat—what is in them, where they come from, and how they are produced. This transparency allows us to make informed decisions, and ultimately build trust.” Webb urged the subcommittee to oppose H.R. 4432 and support the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered products.
Webb and Scott Faber, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Environmental Working Group, were the only two witnesses to testify against H.R. 4432. Other witnesses included Michael Landa, Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FDA; Alison Van Eenennaam, PhD, Biotechnology and Genomics Cooperative Extension Specialist, University of California, Davis; Stacey Forshee, Fifth District Director, Kansas Farm Bureau; and Tom Dempsey, President and CEO of the Snack Food Association.
“Poll after poll shows that consumers want the right to know what’s in their food and how it’s produced,” said Scott Faber. “Because our food choices have such a significant impact on our lives, this is a trend that should be welcomed, not frustrated. So it’s disappointing that some members of Congress, led by Rep. Mike Pompeo, are fighting to deny Americans the right to know whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients.”
FDA Approves Genetically Engineered Salmon
The FDA on November 19 approved the world’s first genetically engineered animal for human consumption.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
It’s been a whirlwind month of GMO developments, and health-conscious consumers, GMO labeling proponents, fishermen, non-GMO food producers and others are resting a bit uneasy as the nation heads into the year-end holiday season. First, without requiring any labeling and insisting that it’s safe, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 19 approved the world’s first genetically engineered animal for human consumption – the AquAdvantage salmon, produced by AquaBounty Technologies in Waltham, MA.
Saying that it “rigorously evaluated extensive data submitted by the manufacturer…and other peer reviewed data,” FDA concluded, "there are no biologically relevant differences in the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage salmon compared to that of other farm-raised Atlantic salmon.” The GE salmon is expected to enter the market, including restaurants and retail stores, in about two years, reported ABC News.
Saying No to “Non-GMO”
On the same day, FDA also announced it is not in favor of the term “non-GMO,” used by hundreds of companies on tens of thousands of product labels. In guidelines published for voluntary labeling of food from genetically engineered sources, FDA said “GMO” conveys an overly broad and inaccurate meaning when applied to food products. “Most foods do not contain entire organisms,” the agency said.
FDA indicated it would prefer food labels to say “Not bioengineered,” or “This oil is made from soybeans that were not genetically engineered,” reported the New York Times on November 20. The Times also reported that FDA remains opposed to mandatory disclosure of genetically modified ingredients on food labels.
Consumers want to know, however. Driven by market demand, the Non-GMO Project Verified seal is the fastest growing seal in the natural products channel. In 2015, 34,000 products representing $13.5 billion in annual sales featured the Non-GMO Project Verified seal on the label, reported the Non-GMO Project. Additionally, the market for certified organic products, where GMOs are prohibited, grew 11% to $39 billion in annual sales, Organic Trade Association reported in April 2015. And, in a June 2015 ABC News poll, an overwhelming 93% of U.S. consumers said the federal government should require labels on food saying whether it's been genetically modified or "bio-engineered" (the poll used both phrases). “Such near-unanimity in public opinion is rare,” ABC News said.
Senate Grapples with GMO Labeling
Also in late October, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) announced she would deal with the GMO labeling issue once and for all, hopefully seeking a compromise before the end of the year. Depending on whom you talk to, this would either provide some semblance of mandatory labeling – perhaps by requiring cryptic QR codes on the label, a move that would require consumers to have smart phones and the time to check each product – or Stabenow’s efforts could potentially pre-empt Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law, set to take effect in July 2016, in favor of a national voluntary labeling system. Such a move would be seen by GMO labeling proponents as an extension of the DARK Act (Safe and Affordable Food Labeling Act, H.R. 1599), passed in the House of Representatives this past summer, and backed by the biotech industry and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
“Senator Stabenow believes that for any solution to pass the Senate, it must establish a national system of required disclosure that would ensure consumers get the information they want about their food, while also solving the problem of a 50-state patchwork of regulations,” a spokesperson for Senator Stabenow said. Groups including Organic Consumers Association, Center for Food Safety, Food Democracy Now!, Food & Water Watch, Just Label It and others are urging industry and consumers to contact Senator Stabenow's office as well as their own senators and the White House to demand mandatory GMO labeling.
Spawning a GE Animal Market
From its first application in 1996, AquaBounty Technologies had been waiting nearly 20 years for commercial approval of its GE salmon, produced by combining the genes of Atlantic salmon and Chinook salmon with those of a different marine species, an ocean pout, to make it grow twice as fast as normal farmed salmon on 25% less feed.
“AquAdvantage salmon is a game-changer that brings healthy and nutritious food to consumers in an environmentally responsible manner without damaging the ocean and other marine habitats,” Ronald Stotish, CEO of AquaBounty, said in a statement.
One wrinkle, exacerbated by FDA’s refusal to require labeling disclosure in approving the GE salmon, is that the ocean pout, an eel-like fish, is not considered Kosher, creating an unprecedented conundrum for lovers of Kosher lox.
“The decision to approve GMO salmon without a mandatory disclosure is yet another example of how FDA’s outdated policy keeps consumers in the dark,” said Scott Faber, executive director of Just Label It, in a statement. “Consumers will have no way of knowing whether the salmon they are buying comes from nature or comes from a lab. It makes sense to give consumers the right to know and to choose whether this fish, or any other food that contains GMO ingredients, is right for their dinner table.”
Into the Wild
Producing the GE salmon eggs in Canada, and then shipping the fry to be raised in fish farms in Panama, AquaBounty ensures that it can keep its genetically engineered fish from escaping and potentially contaminating or outcompeting native salmon populations. The company also claims its GE salmon are sterile and would be unable to breed in the wild.
Yet, Canadian scientists in 2013 reported that AquaBounty’s GE salmon could crossbreed with a closely related species, brown trout, and pass on the GE traits to the hybrid offspring. Also, Dana Perls of Friends of the Earth pointed out to NPR that the company’s egg production facility, located on Prince Edward Island, is near an estuary that feeds into the North Atlantic, prime breeding waters for native Atlantic salmon.
Additionally, Center for Food Safety (CFS), Food & Water Watch and others expressed concerns over reports of negligence and mismanagement at AquaBounty’s Panama facilities that could increase the risk of escape. According to a complaint filed in November 2013 by the environmental group Centro de Incidencia Ambiental de Panama (CIAM), AquaBounty’s Panama production facilities were missing legally required permits and inspections, including a wastewater discharge permit.
“These allegations suggest a dangerous pattern of non-compliance and mismanagement by AquaBounty, raising the likelihood of an environmentally damaging escape of these fish,” said George Kimbrell, senior attorney for Center for Food Safety. Indeed, CFS also revealed that AquaBounty itself reported “lost” GE salmon, which resulted from extreme weather and frequent flooding in this region of Panama.
“We’ve been fighting against GMO salmon for 10 years,” Larry Collins, VP of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s shockingly irresponsible of the FDA to allow this untested science to be tested on human guinea pigs.”
“This sets the bar incredibly low for engineered animals,” said Michael Hansen, senior scientist for Consumers Union. “There were serious problems with the safety assessment.” Hansen expressed concern that testing for potential allergens was only done on a very small sample size, and that the tested GE salmon actually did show a higher allergenicity.
AquaBounty was recently acquired by biotech billionaire Randal Kirk, reported Max Goldberg, editor and publisher of LivingMaxwell.com. In addition to owning the AquAdvantage GE salmon, Kirk is reported to own Okanagan Specialty Fruits, producer of the recently approved GMO Arctic apple; Oxitec, a company that wants to release genetically engineered mosquitoes to fight dengue fever; and Intrexon, a company pursuing synthetic biology, an extreme form of genetic engineering, said Goldberg.
A number of major retailers have announced they won't sell the GE salmon, including Whole Foods Market, Costco, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Target, and Kroger. Leading restaurants including Legal Sea Foods, Red Lobster and others also announced they wouldn’t be offering GE salmon on the menu.
Photo: AquaBounty Technologies
Regenerative Agriculture a Low-Cost Solution to Climate Change
Regeneration International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing organic, regenerative agriculture, a solution to combat climate change.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Editor's Note: Compass Natural's Director Steven Hoffman will be attending the COP21 Global Climate Summit in Paris in December 2015 on behalf of Regeneration International to promote the power of organic, regenerative agriculture to help feed the world AND cool the planet. Learn more here and on Facebook. What is the cost of preventing global warming? Not that expensive, really, if one considers switching to widely available and inexpensive organic farming practices, reported Rodale Institute in a landmark White Paper published in May 2014.
In fact, said Rodale after conducting more than 30 years of ongoing field research, organic farming practices and improved land management can move agriculture from one of today’s primary sources of global warming and carbon pollution to a potential carbon sink powerful enough to sequester 100% of the world’s current annual CO2 emissions.
Thus, a term coined years ago by organic pioneer Robert Rodale is now newly emerging: Regenerative Agriculture, with the power to "feed the world and cool the planet," say the founders of Regeneration International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing organic, regenerative agriculture and land management worldwide as a solution to combat climate change. Rodale’s researchers point to organic farming as a way to reduce energy inputs and minimize agriculture’s impact on global warming, draw down carbon from the atmosphere into healthy, organic soils, and also help farmers better adapt to rising global temperatures and extreme weather.
“Simply put, recent data from farming systems and pasture trials around the globe show that we could sequester more than 100% of current annual CO2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management practices, which we term ‘regenerative organic agriculture.’ These practices work to maximize carbon fixation while minimizing the loss of that carbon once returned to the soil, reversing the greenhouse effect, said the study’s authors.
Or, as the Wall Street Journal reported in a May 2014 feature article, “Organic practices could counteract the world’s yearly carbon dioxide output while producing the same amount of food as conventional farming…”
It seems like a powerful solution to climate change lies literally right under our feet.
Conventional Agriculture Adds Heat The global food system is estimated to account for one-third or more of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, says Anna Lappe, author of Diet for a Hot Planet. Much of the fossil fuel used in commercial agriculture comes not only from running tractors and machinery, but also because petroleum is a primary ingredient in synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, widely used in conventional agriculture.
While insisting that pesticides and GMOs are the only way to feed a growing population, conventional agriculture and livestock production are today a significant part of the problem, says Rodale, and also are responsible for widespread clearing of forests, grasslands and prairies. Palm oil production alone, with its destruction of the world’s largest rainforest region, is why Indonesia is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas producer.
Also, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is known to release large amounts of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, a potent GHG and a primary threat to earth’s ozone layer. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer also is responsible for the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, an oxygen-depleted area the size of New Jersey in which no fish can survive.
Organic A Cool Solution According to Dr. David Pimentel of Cornell University, author of Food, Energy and Society, organic agriculture has been shown to reduce energy inputs by 30%. Organic farming also conserves more water in the soil and reduces erosion. Also, healthy organic soils tie up - or sequester - carbon in the soil, helping to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
“On-farm soil carbon sequestration can potentially sequester all of our current annual global greenhouse gas emissions of roughly 52 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (~52 GtCO2e). Indeed, if sequestration rates attained by exemplar cases were achieved on crop and pastureland across the globe, regenerative agriculture could sequester more than our current annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,” Rodale concluded.
Farming in a Warmer Future Changes in temperature caused by global warming could have dramatic effects on agriculture. Extreme weather, rising temperatures, drought and flood caused by global warming all could have an adverse impact on yield, disease and insect pests.
Organic farmers may be better able to adapt to climate change, in that healthy organic soils retain moisture better during drought, making it more available to plant roots. Also, organic soils percolate water better during floods, helping to decrease runoff and soil erosion.
According to Rodale Institute’s 30-year field trials, in good weather, yields for organic and conventional corn and soybeans are comparable. However, organic soils are 28-70% higher in production in periods of drought compared to conventional soils. Researchers at the University of Michigan similarly found that while yields are comparable in developed countries, organic farms in developing countries can produce 80% more than conventional farms.
Rodale also found that during flood, there is 25-50% more water infiltration in organic soils, thus preventing runoff and erosion. Carbon-rich organic soils act as a sponge: for every pound of carbon increased in the soil matter, you can add up to 40 lb. of additional water retention, says Rodale.
For developing nations, organic farming could make a huge difference in adapting to climate change. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, organic farming can be more conducive to food security in Africa than most conventional production systems, and it is more likely to be sustainable in the long term. Furthermore, the FAO found that organic agriculture could build up natural resources, strengthen communities, and improve human capacity, “thus improving food security by addressing many different causal factors simultaneously.”
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition reported, “Sustainable and organic agricultural systems offer the most resilience for agricultural production in the face of the extreme precipitation, prolonged droughts and increasingly uncertain regional climate regimes expected with rapid global warming.”
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