harvest
Food

Family Farmers Take Center Stage on World Food Day

ROME, Italy, October 16, 2014 (ENS) – “We have made progress against hunger, but over 800 million people remain undernourished,” said José Graziano da Silva today. As head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, he was speaking at the 2014 World Food Day ceremony in Rome, urging recognition and support for family farmers. […]

produce
Food

Court Battle Looms Over Vermont’s GMO Food Labeling Law

MONTPELIER, Vermont, May 23, 2014 (ENS) – Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has signed a first-in-the-nation law requiring the labeling of food produced by genetic engineering. “I am proud that we’re leading the way in the United States to require labeling of genetically engineered food,” said the governor. […]

tuna
Food

80 Governments Agree ‘Unorthodox Steps’ to Restore Oceans

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, April 25, 2014 (ENS) – The Global Oceans Action Summit for Blue Growth and Food Security concluded today in The Hague with commitments from 80 government ministers, the fishing industry and civil society to tackle key threats to the world’s oceans: climate change, overfishing, habitat loss and pollution. […]

drinks
Business

Pepsi, Coke Pledge to Respect Land, Fisheries, Forest Rights

ROME, Italy, April 25, 2014 (ENS) – The two largest beverage companies in the world have pledged to conduct their businesses in ways that promote secure ownership rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests as a means of eradicating hunger and poverty, supporting sustainable development and protecting the environment. […]

bumblebee
Food

Extinction Threatens One-Quarter of Europe’s Bumblebees

GLAND, Switzerland, April 3, 2014 (ENS) – Seventeen of the 68 species of European bumblebees are threatened with extinction, finds a new study assessing the species group at the European level. Of the five most important pollinators of European crops, three are bumblebee species. […]

salmon
Food

The Story Behind Daniel Levin’s Documentary, “Kaltag, Alaska”

KALTAG, Alaska, March 13, 2014 (ENS) – This is a story that needs to be told: an ancient culture imperiled and under siege as Bering Sea fish resources are sold off to the highest bidder. Poor people eliminated from the bidding war, their subsistence resources eliminated, the spiral downward to hopelessness and despair, and then, too often, suicide. […]

Obama
Food

Obama Signs $1 Trillion Farm Bill Into Law

WASHINGTON, DC, February 7, 2014 (ENS) – Today, President Barack Obama signed into law the nearly $1 trillion farm bill, which extends, expands, or modifies federal agriculture and nutrition programs, including farm income support, crop insurance, conservation, credit assistance, trade, research, food assistance and rural development through the fiscal year 2018 crop year. […]

grain
Food

India’s Dangerous ‘Food Bubble’

By Lester R. Brown
WASHINGTON, DC, December 4, 2013 (ENS) – India is now the world’s third-largest grain producer after China and the United States, due to the adoption of higher-yielding crop varieties and the spread of irrigation. But the water that irrigates three-fifths of India’s grain harvest comes from wells that are starting to go dry. […]

Food

Typhoon Spares Philippines’ Rice Fields

MANILA, Philippines, November 14, 2013 (ENS) – Amidst the deaths and devastation wrought by Super Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan that lashed the Philippines last weekend, the island nation has caught a much-needed break. The rice crop was spared because the storm struck in between planting seasons, say officials with the International Rice Research Institute. […]

demonstration
Food

GMO Labeling a Hot Ballot Fight in Washington State

OLYMPIA, Washington, November 4, 2013 (ENS) – With one day before the election in Washington State, grassroots organization Food Democracy Now! is urging its 650,000 members and citizens everywhere to make calls urging voters to support Yes on 522, a ballot initiative that would require labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms. […]

lettuces
Food

Real Food Short Film Contest Offers Cash Prizes

SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 28, 2013 (ENS) – The Real Food Media Film Contest, a new competition seeking short films about sustainable food and farming, is welcoming entries. The contest invites aspiring filmmakers to create 30-second to four-minute films in one of four styles: documentary, advocacy, experimental, or wildcard. […]

bee and flowers
Food

EPA Debuts Bee-Protective Pesticide Labels, Enviros Demand More

WASHINGTON, DC, August 16, 2013 (ENS) – To protect bees and other pollinators, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed new pesticide labels that prohibit use of some neonicotinoid pesticide products where bees are present. Environmentalists want the agency to take these pesticides off the market. […]

corn
Food

GMO Battle Marks Choice of 2013 World Food Prize Winners

WASHINGTON, DC, July 2, 2013 (ENS) – The 2013 World Food Prize has gone to three scientists turned chemical company executives who pioneered the development of genetically modified organisms, GMOs. For the first time, the jury’s selection has been met with “shock and outrage” from sustainable food and environmental advocates across the world. […]