The Issue
Local & Sustainable
EWG works to promote policies and grow markets that support local, regional, sustainable and organic food systems in order to expand opportunities for farmers, improve access to healthier food and protect the environment.
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The Latest on Local & Sustainable
When Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) spoke to the Organic Trade Association's Washington Policy Conference the other day, her talk had two parts: the part where she left the distinct impression that she had no idea whom she was talking to, and the part where it seemed she didn't care.
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Federal nutritional guidelines advise us to eat five-to-nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. That’s not too difficult if you are lucky enough to have access to the fresh and tasty produce grown in Northern California, where I live.
But many folks in this region and in the rest of the country aren’t so lucky.
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Big Ag is big business – and big profits. And when anyone raises questions about the billions of tax dollars lavished on the largest industrial growers of corn, soybeans and other commodity crops or points out the harm that these perverse incentives do to the environment, Big Ag’s lackeys lash out.
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Attending the TEDx Manhattan event on the future of food and farming was a day-long drink from a fire hose of cutting-edge ideas, sobering realities and sincere enthusiasm about how America can eat better and farm more sustainably.
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Food and agriculture policy always comes down to money: how federal dollars will be prioritized and spent.
Read MoreThe 10 most important stories from EWG's AgMag blog in 2010.
Read MoreCutting back on the amount of meat in the American diet is one of the best ways people can shrink their carbon footprint – and at the same time slim their waistlines and improve overall health.
Read MoreRecent government-sponsored tests at more than a dozen California farms found that organic strawberries were tastier and more nutritious than conventionally grown berries. On top of that, the organic berries had longer shelf life and left the soil in better condition.
Read MoreWith its new blog, Mission Organic Made Easy, the Boulder, Colo.-based Organic Center (TOC) delivers on its promise to communicate all the good reasons to eat food devoid of harmful agrichemicals and to use natural products untainted by toxic chemicals.
Read MoreOver the past decade, organic produce sales have soared from 3 percent of the retail produce market in the U.S. in 2000 to nearly 11 percent last year, to $9.5 billion. According to surveys by the Organic Trade Association, organic produce’s precipitous trajectory barely slowed when the global financial crisis took hold in late 2008.
Read MorePeople may know that organic produce is a better bet - for our heath and the environment, yet only about 2% of U.S. food sales are organic. Yes, a paltry 2 percent.
Read MoreI've been perusing Alexandra Zissu's new book, The Conscious Kitchen, lately. It's a current, thoroughly-researched, user-friendly reference for buying and cooking food that's good for you and the environment.
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First, the heavily subsidized commodity crop growers complained when the Department of Agriculture dared to send out encouraging messages about local and organic farming. Next, a coalition of Big Ag groups, including USA Rice and the Texas and Minnesota Corn Growers Associations, fired another salvo at organics, this time in an online broadside this week (March 1) that missed the mark by enough to become a self-inflicted wound.
Read MoreLast summer, EWG President Ken Cook dropped in on the Kickapoo Country Fair held by Organic Valley - a farmer-owned cooperative of more than 1,300 organic family farmers nationwide – in LaFarge, Wisc. There he was interviewed by Dorothee Royal-Hedinger, the host, web video producer and blogger for OrganicNation.TV website.
Read MoreI live in an old house (1911) and used to work in affordable housing, so the dangers of lead paint aren't new to me. And with toddlers around for years now, I know to avoid paint chips in the mouth and lead dust in the air. What I didn't connect - until recently - was that there might be lead in our soil, which is where we grow food.
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Environmental Working Group researcher gets to the bottom of the hydroponic vs organic question.
Read MoreOn July 24, 2007, Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook delivers a 5-column, 75-foot long petition urging Congress to grow organics to Ron Kind, WI (D), co-chair of the House Organic Caucus.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group's Ken Cook discusses the 2007 Farm Bill and organics at UC Berkeley's "Food Fight: A Teach-in on the 2007 Farm Bill" on March 21, 2007.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group's Ken Cook discusses the 2007 Farm Bill and organics at UC Berkeley's "Food Fight: A Teach-in on the 2007 Farm Bill" on March 21, 2007.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group's Ken Cook discusses the 2007 Farm Bill and organics at UC Berkeley's "Food Fight: A Teach-in on the 2007 Farm Bill" on March 21, 2007.
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