22/July/20

 

Arkansas farmer Adam Chappell was a slave to the herbicide-resistant superweed called pigweed. In 2009, several years prior to the roller coaster rise and fall of commodity prices, he was on the brink of bankruptcy and facing a go broke or go green proposition. Drowning in a whirlpool of input costs, Chappell cut bait from conventional agriculture and dove headfirst into a bootstrap version of innovative farming. Roughly 10 years later, his operation is transformed, and the 41-year-old grower doesn’t mince words: It was all about the money. [GMW: If you read just one article this month about the reality of chemical/GMO farming, let it be this one. Chappell is not an organic farmer but he has adopted many organic/agroecological methods – and has been rewarded with high profitability. And he doesn't have much good to say about GMOs.] AgWeb

 

 

MPs have defeated an attempt by Tory backbenchers to ensure parliament has a vote on any post-Brexit trade deal. An amendment to the Trade Bill currently going through the Commons would have given MPs and peers a say on any new agreement signed by the government. Although the amendment was supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, it failed to attract enough Tory rebels to pass. The defeat of the amendment could result in the government approving the import of untested and unlabelled GMOs from the US. GMWatch

 

 

GMO crops arrived in Latin America with great force in the 1990s, promising economic stability for producers and farmers. The reality has been different, especially in countries like Argentina where the production of GMO crops has multiplied exponentially in the last 20 years. Marco Filardi, a lawyer for human rights and food sovereignty in Argentina, said, “The promises they made 24 years ago to eradicate poverty and hunger have completely failed, and instead, the food emergency in the country has increased. The second promise was the reduction of pesticides, which have increased by 1500% since the introduction of these crops, including glyphosate, among others. These crops and their derived products not only affect natural resources and biodiversity, but they are also harmful to the health and sovereignty of peasant farmers and inhabitants." SlowFood.com

 

 

A groundbreaking civil case involving the long-time groundskeeper and superintendent at a local golf course will proceed, thanks to a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The case is being brought by the family of Thomas Walsh, who died 12 years ago at age 56 of leukemia. He spent much of his career maintaining golf course greens using powerful pesticides like Roundup. A lawsuit was filed against the chemical companies involved, claiming his cancer was caused by the pesticides. In 2018, a panel of Superior Court judges ruled that the Walsh family’s medical experts will be allowed to testify at trial. cbslocal.com