Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: organic farming

organic farming stories: 6 news summaries

Video Sting Shuts Down Cruel Slaughterhouse 

Hidden camera catches calves being beaten, skinned alive

(Newser) - The Humane Society released more video yesterday from its hidden camera sting of Bushway Packing, after the USDA shut down the organic veal slaughterhouse on Friday. The footage, shot this summer, isn’t for the queasy; calves too weak to walk are dragged, kicked and shocked repeatedly, among other abuses.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
veal animal cruelty USDA veal farms organic farming

 'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up 

USDA says small farms are becoming more popular even as large farms grow

(AP) - Most evenings, Gary Mithoefer can be found at the end of a long gravel driveway off a busy highway, tending two garden plots filled with white sweet potatoes, squash, cabbages, and a dozen other vegetables still thriving in early fall. The 62-year-old, who gardens after his workday ends at his... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture farming farms USDA farmer farm sustainability farmers organic farming

(Newser) - Americans are buying more so-called "natural" foods and angering advocates of organic, who say the distinction is a scam, the Chicago Tribune reports. The natural food market—that is, any food labeled "natural"—has spiked by 10% to $12.9 billion with cheaper-than-organic prices. But it's mostly... More »

MORE ABOUT:
organic food green products natural food organic farming

'Organic' Foods May Not Be as Pure as You Think

USDA's label increasingly meaningless as agri-business pushes in

(Newser) - Demand for organic food has boomed into a $23 billion-a-year industry, but consumers who often pay twice as much for food with the coveted label aren't always getting what they expect. The criteria for obtaining a "USDA Organic" certification have been relaxed in recent years, with ostensibly organic products... More »

MORE ABOUT:
organic food organic USDA Department of Agriculture organic farming women's issues

(Newser) - "Got Milk?" isn't the question organic dairy farmers want to hear these days. Consumers couldn’t get enough of organic milk three years ago, but the souring economy and glut of new-to-the-market organic farmers have spoiled sales, which are expected to drop nearly 15% this year. “We’... More »

MORE ABOUT:
organic food milk Vermont dairy farmers organic farming

(Newser) - Liberal arts students are ditching traditional summer internships of office coffee-fetching for life on the land, reports the New York Times. As part of a generation well-versed in Michael Pollan's attack on industrial agriculture and interested in social change, these students see organic farm work as a political statement.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
environmentalism student activism Michael Pollan internship organic farming

6 Stories