Here is a compilation of some of the most important and compelling organic food news stories as of late.

There is probably nothing more must-read than the article in The New York Times about the failure of GMOs. The NYT accurately said that GMOs have not resulted in increased yields or decreased amount of pesticides, and this piece was validation to those of us in the organic community who have long believed that GMOs are nothing but failed promises.

While the federal government and President Obama continue to defend GMOs, Germany has taken an opposite approach. Its cabinet has approved a draft law banning GMOs. Meanwhile, Sonoma County is trying to create a 13,734 square mile GMO-free zone in Northern California.

Big Food’s lobbying group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, was hit with an $18M campaign financing fine over their action during Washington’s GMO-labeling measure a few years ago. Read more »

(To follow my day-to-day organic food adventures, please be sure to follow me on Snapchat: maxorganic)

At the beginning of this year, I was very close to naming glyphosate as one of my Top 5 Organic Food Trends for 2016 but decided against it.

While glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp and named by the World Health Organization as a “probable human carcinogen”, impacts the organic food world tremendously, it isn’t organic per se. Nevertheless, I knew it would be in the news a ton in this year, and it certainly has been lately. Read more »

The University of Vermont Medical Center kitchen is reducing the amount of GMOs that it is serving, Costa Rica is proposing a moratorium on GMOs, and a judge has rejected a request to block Oregon’s GMO ban. Huge thanks to The Center for Food Safety for everything they have done in Oregon to support our people there.

What scientist Bill Nye got wrong in his about-face on GMOs.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has been real busy trying to make her mark in the organic world. Not only did she announce a collaboration with Juice Beauty for an organic make-up and skincare line, but she and partner/exercise guru Tracy Anderson launched an organic, take-out food service in The Hamptons called 3 Green Hearts.

Mendez Fuel in Miami is setting a new trend in the pressed organic juice world. Read more »

These 10 organic food news stories over the past week or so really caught my eye.

1) GMO-LABELING IN OREGON HEADING TO A RECOUNT

If you haven’t heard by now, we came in 812 votes short in Oregon’s GMO-labeling ballot initiative, which means this slim margin automatically triggers a recount.

Please consider donating money for the recount because Monsanto is stepping up its efforts to defeat us in this final stage. The recount will take place between December 2-12.

2) STARBUCKS PUTS MAJOR SPIN ON VERMONT LAWSUIT  Neil Young launched a boycott of Starbucks because the company is part of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the trade organization that is suing the state of Vermont to overturn the GMO-labeling bill there.

Starbucks has since put out some MAJOR spin trying to separate themselves from the controversy. However, it doesn’t take much to see that their response is nothing but hot air.

No, Starbucks is not suing Vermont directly. However, Starbucks does help fund and is a member of the GMA, which is suing Vermont directly.

The Organic Consumers Association has called for Starbucks to quit the GMA immediately. Read more »

We have gotten several good pieces of news over the past few weeks. Most notably, GMO-labeling is now officially on the ballot in Colorado, and the vote will take place in November.    

The USDA announced that it is cracking down on misleading organic marketers, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that it will be phasing out genetically-engineered crops and will ban bee-killing pesticides on national refuges.

Huge kudos goes to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who has publicly come out against the dangerous Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement. If you’ve never heard of TTIP, see my recent post about it. Very scary stuff. Read more »

There has been a ton going on in the organic food world lately, so let me get you caught up.

The other day I wrote about the trick that major food companies were employing in Washington State’s GMO-labeling campaign. They funneled their money through the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) in order to avoid disclosing their opposition to GMO-labeling. Why did they do this?

In last year’s Proposition 37, California’s ballot initiative to label GMOs, these companies faced HUGE backlash and didn’t want to receive that negative publicity all over again.

Well, the Attorney General in Washington believed that this maneuver violated state laws and filed a lawsuit to force disclosure of who donated money to defeat his state’s GMO-labeling initiative. The GMA quickly folded and made the donor names public. Not surprisingly, it was many of the same players who were against Proposition 37 in California.

In other GMO news, Oregon passed a bill to limit GMO oversight, a real step backwards, but a Mexican judge banned GMO-corn in that country. Read more »

By now, most of you are probably well aware of the illegal GM-wheat discovery in Oregon.

Since then, South Korea and Japan have halted shipments of wheat from the U.S., class action lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto for negligence, and the USDA has reported that this was an “isolated incident.”

Organic farmers lost a legal decision to protect themselves against GMO-contamination, and in what has to be the most laughable news over the past few weeks, Monsanto and Syngenta executives won the World Food Prize. These two companies are poisoning the environment with their toxic chemicals and yet they win awards.

(If you’re not familiar with Syngenta, they are the proud owners of Atrazine, a toxic weed killer. 76 million pounds of Atrazine is dumped onto our farms each year, mostly for corn, and 94% of our water supply now contains it. Click HERE to watch a shocking video about Atrazine.)

If chemical companies winning food awards isn’t scary enough, just wait. Read more »