The Myth of No-Till: The Future is Regenerative Organic Agriculture

/by

The Rodale Institute’s 40-Year-Report on their Farming Systems Trial should end the myth of the toxic, GMO herbicide, no-till systems. Rodale’s scientific trials clearly show that these degenerative no-till systems are inferior to Regenerative Organic Agriculture on every key criterion. (Rodale 2022)

The Farming Systems Trial showed that the organic manure systems that used standard or limited tillage had higher levels of soil organic matter (soil organic carbon) and higher crop yields than GMO herbicide no-till. The trials produced the highest yields of maize in the tilled organic manure system and the best increases in soil organic carbon where the organic manure system used limited tillage. The limited tillage field was tilled every second year. Very significantly, 40 years of research show that organic maize yields have been 31 percent higher than conventional/industrial farming systems in drought years.

Photo credit: Unsplash

No-till does not produce higher levels of SOC

This information is consistent with a large body of science that shows that herbicide no-till systems do not produce higher levels of soil organic carbon (SOC) than tillage systems.

An earlier US  study comparing herbicide GMO no-till with an organic agricultural tillage system compared multiple parameters. The organic system found better soil quality, including SOC levels. The results found that systems incorporating high amounts of organic inputs from manure and cover crops can improve soils more than no-tillage systems despite reliance on a minimum level of tillage. (Teasdale, Coffman and Mangum 2007) .

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 74 published studies comparing no-till and full-tillage management. They found that no-till can reduce SOC stocks, cause losses in crop yields, and cause a decline in Carbon (C) inputs depending on climate. Yields can also increase with no-till adoption in some instances. C input losses greater than 15% with the adoption of no-till lead to a loss of SOC. (Ogle, Swan and Paustian 2012)

Research from Ohio State University compared carbon levels between no-till and tillage fields and found that, in some cases, carbon storage was more significant in the tillage fields. The key is soil depth. They compared the carbon storage between no-till and plowed fields with the plow depth of 20 cm and found that the carbon storage was generally much more significant in no-till fields than in plowed fields. When they examined 30 cm and deeper, they found more carbon stored in plowed fields than in the no-till ones. The researchers concluded that farmers should not measure soil carbon based on surface depth. They recommended going as much as one meter below the soil surface to get a more accurate assessment of SOC. (Christopher, Lal and Mishra 2009)

A review of 120 papers on SOC sequestration by researchers from universities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio compared the difference between the no-till and tilled plots.  Their findings did not support SOC sequestration claims of the no-till industry. They found that the no-till subsurface layer often loses more SOC stock over time than is gained in the surface layer. (Olson 2013)

Photo credit: Unsplash

Understanding Soil Organic Matter

The push for no-till is partially the result of the multiple roles of soil organic matter being ignored by agricultural workers. The other driver has been the sale of $billion of toxic herbicides and GMOs.

This lack of research into organic systems has resulted in fundamental errors in understanding how the cycling of soil organic matter works to release nutrients, build soil health and assist with water capture and retention.

Cycling the labile (short-term) organic matter fraction is the key to nutrient availability. Short-term soil disturbances, like animals trampling pasture and the correct tillage systems, oxygenate the soil. This stimulates soil microbes to feed on the soil organic matter, releasing nutrients. There is a massive misunderstanding about the role of microbes that oxidize soil organic matter. A certain level of oxidization is essential to release the nutrients to feed the crops. Without oxidization, many minerals can be locked into the organic matter. The key is to correctly manage the cycles of both the short-term and long-term soil organic matter fractions. We want the labile fraction to actively cycle and continuously release nutrients to feed growing crops. This can be done while increasing the stable soil organic matter fractions. (Leu 2021b)

Labile (Short-Term) Fraction

The labile fraction is composed of decaying organic matter. This is the most crucial part of the two main soil organic matter  (SOM) cycles. This is the stage in which microbes break down the residues of crops, leaves, twigs, branches, root excretions, animal manures, and animal remains and release all of their minerals, sugars, and other compounds into the soil to feed plants and other microorganisms. This complex process is known as the soil food web or the soil microbiome.

The key to this cycle is that it needs to be continuously fed with fresh organic matter—the molecules of life—to ensure that it is active.

Some models in books and scientific papers describe this cycle and then look no deeper into the SOM cycles. These models assume that all the carbon in the organic matter has to be completely decayed into carbon dioxide (CO2) for the minerals to be released as nutrition to plants. In natural ecosystems and under good management, though, some parts of the decaying organic matter form stable soil organic matter fractions.

Stable (Long-Lasting) Fraction

The most stable organic matter fractions are humus, glomalin (from fungi), and charcoal (char). Research shows that humus and char can last for thousands of years in the soil. Other fractions are less stable (labile) and can easily volatilize into CO2.

It is the lignins of plants that form humus, the most stable and important form of SOM. These are found in mature coarse plants. The key to increasing humus and building long-term stable SOM is to allow cover and cash crops to fully mature.

Photo credit: Unsplash

The Correct Tillage Systems

Correct tillage systems stimulate the microbiome to bio-degrade the short-term SOM fractions, releasing nutrients to the cash and cover crops. When this is done properly, a percentage of this organic matter is transformed by the soil microbiome into the stable soil organic matter fraction, increasing long-term SOM levels.

In well-managed systems, there can be a short decline in SOM levels as it is consumed by the soil microbiome to release nutrients to the crop, but SOM levels do increase in the long term. The correct management systems quickly replenish and increase SOM due to the roots of high-quality cover/cash crops excreting the molecules of life into the soil. This is the carbon gift / liquid carbon pathway.

The key to ensuring that the system is increasing and/or maintaining SOM levels is to continuously feed it with fresh organic matter—the molecules of life—so that it is active. This is done by growing plants. Bare soil should be covered with plants as quickly as possible.

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers cause a Decline in SOC

The main reason for the loss of soil carbon in farming systems is not tillage; it is synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Research shows that there is a direct link between the application of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers and a decline in soil carbon. (Khan et al. 2007, Mulvaney et al. 2009, Man et al. 2021)

Scientists at the University of Illinois analyzed the results of a fifty-year agricultural trial. They found that applying synthetic nitrogen fertilizer had resulted in all the carbon residues from the crop disappearing, as well as an average loss of around 10,000 Lbs of soil carbon per Acre (10,000 kg of soil carbon per hectare). This is around 36,700 pounds of carbon dioxide per acre (36,700 kg of CO2 per hectare) over and above the many thousands of pounds of crop residues that are converted into carbon dioxide yearly. The researchers found that the higher the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, the greater the amount of soil carbon lost as CO2. This is one of the major reasons there is a decline in soil carbon in industrial agricultural systems and an increase in organic systems. (Khan et al. 2007, Mulvaney et al. 2009)

Regenerative Organic Agriculture is the Future

It is a myth that the toxic degenerative GMO herbicide no-till systems can give higher crop yields and significant increases in soil organic carbon.

The fact is that we have enough high-quality studies now to show that Regenerative Organic Agriculture has the highest yields and the best increases in soil organic carbon.

Scaling up Regenerative Organic Agriculture can reverse climate change, increase biodiversity, improve water capture and retention, stop soil loss, be more profitable for farmers and ranchers, and very significantly nourish the world with high yields of healthy non-toxic food.

References:

           Christopher S. F, Lal R and Mishra, U, 2009. Long-term no-till effects on carbon sequestration in the Midwestern U.S. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 73: 207-216.

            Khan, S.A., R.L. Mulvaney, T.R. Ellsworth, and C.W. Boast. 2007. The myth of nitrogen fertilization for soil carbon sequestration. Journal of Environmental Quality 36:1821-1832. \

            Leu A 2013, Commentary V: Mitigating climate change with soil organic matter in organic production systems. TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT REVIEW, 2013, WAKE UP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, Ed. Ulrich Hoffman, UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2012/3 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION  ISSN 1810-5432

            Leu A  2014, THE POTENTIAL FOR MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE WITH SOIL ORGANIC MATTER INCREASES IN ORGANIC PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. Acta Horticulturae. 1018, 75-82

            Leu A 2021a, Our Global Regeneration Revolution: Organic 3.0 to Regenerative and Organic Agriculture https://regenerationinternational.org/2021/07/12/our-global-regeneration-revolution-organic-3-0-to-regenerative-and-organic-agriculture/

            Leu A 2021b, GROWING LIFE, REGENERATING FARMING AND RANCHING, Acres USA, Greeley Colorado, USA, December 2021

            Mulvaney, R.L., S.A., Khan, and T.R. Ellsworth. 2009. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers deplete soil nitrogen: A global dilemma for sustainable cereal production. Journal of Environmental Quality 38:2295-2314.

            Man, M., B. Deen, K.E. Dunfield, C.Wagner-Riddle, and M.J. Simpson. 2021.Altered soil organic matter composition and degradation after a decade of nitrogen fertilization in a temperate agroecosystem. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 310:107305.

            Ogle SM, Swan A and Paustian K. 2012,  No-till management impacts on crop productivity, carbon input and soil carbon sequestration, Agriculture, Ecosystems &Environment,

Volume 149, 1 March 2012, Pages 37-49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.12.010

            Olson K R 2013, Soil organic carbon sequestration, storage, retention and loss in U.S. croplands: Issues paper for protocol development. Geoderma, 2013; 195-196: 201 DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2012.12.004

            Rodale 2022, Farming Systems Trial 40-YEAR REPORT, Rodale Institute, https://rodaleinstitute.org/science/farming-systems-trial, Accessed December 8, 2022

            Teasdale JR, Coffman CB and Mangum RW (2007). Potential long-term benefits of no-tillage and organic cropping systems for grain production and soil improvement. Agronomy Journal, Sept–Oct, 99 (5): 1297-1305.

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

/by

For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VÍA ORGÁNICA

Another regenerative, transformative and biodiverse year

We completed a new cycle of seasons and despite the climatic irregularities, an increase in the amount of soil inoculated and recovered after rainfall is perceived, which is stored more thanks to the organic matter added throughout the farm. This encourages active microbiology and with it, grasslands and forest areas have been restored, increasing the amount of biomass each year allowing its transformation into proteins such as eggs, lamb, duck and rabbit meat, increasing the soil’s capacity as a store and water sponge, CO2 capture, among other benefits.

This year we remodeled the organic fertilizer station with the support of Germán, Diego and Don Nacho, a work inspired by CEDICAM (Center for Integral Farmer Development), which trains and shares experiences among farmers to produce living food and healthy soils by promoting the use of local inputs and beneficial microbiology. Jesús León Santos, leader of this organization and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, trained us.

Thanks to the rescue of ancestral seed varieties by the team of the Alegria sisters, biodiversity has increased. The Alegria sisters have maintained and improved the seed house, which allows exchange with other producers.

If we could fly like the huitlacoche or the mockingbird that brighten up the park with their song every morning, we could notice a small green dot in the Jalpa Valley that vibrates from the ground and even the cosmos for the life that every day is expressed in different ways thanks to the ecological management and the hands and hearts that protect and maintain this Agroecological Park free of pesticides.

Packages

Billion Agave Project

The Billion Agave Project is three years old now and the project has already established a fermented maguey forage production station enriched with leguminous species, such as mesquite or guaje. The interest of producers has increased to generate reserve forage for the 8 months of drought. Forage that not only has reduced animal feed costs but also the pressure on grazing areas, allowing the recovery of landscapes with better soil retention and vegetation cover. A forage shredding machine designed by Engineer Jose Flores of Rancho Zamarripa was shipped to Oaxaca to CEDICAM assisting the network of more than 1500 farmers organized and ready to use the maguey for their livestock.

Finally, a production cycle of mesquite seedlings was completed, which are produced from January to September and planted during the rainy season in different research plots, reaching 90% of success in the establishment of the seedlings, along with the small seedling nursery, other native leguminous species with forage potential received from INIFAP in Celaya are also germinated. Thanks to its rapid establishment, the maguey has been the guest of honor this year and the only thing to do is to keep growing it, the plant will be in charge of doing everything else.

Seasonal Crop

Do It Yourself

November is gone, leaving us with cold weather and a little moisture left by a storm. This can be taken as an advantage to make a rotation of our crop areas and recover the balance of the soil. We recommend the following:

1.- Take the time to inspect your orchard: check which crops developed better, which ones adapted according to the sun, shade or season, take your general notes of the orchard, this will allow you to plan for the next cycle.

2.-Evaluate your soil, check how much it improved or if it is compacted and it’s worth repeating the preparation of the double digging or even incorporate more compost.

3.- Take the opportunity to plant something cold, remember not to repeat the same crop in the same place to recover the soil and break the cycle of some bugs or diseases.

4.- Direct sow radish, carrots, cilantro, arugula. You can also make a mixture of salad leaves and sow a section, usually salad leaves are adapted to cool weather. You can mix several types of lettuces, with mustard, watercress, arugula and you will harvest a delicious mix.

Water in the evenings and avoid losing moisture during the day.

Ranch Recipes

INGREDIENTS:

– 5 medium size cooked beets
– 3 oranges
– 2 shelled jicama
– 4 apples
– 2 limes
– 12 pieces of sugar cane, rind removed
– 1 cup of cleaned peanuts
– 1 split lettuce
– 2 cloves
– 200 grams of piloncillo
– 2 pinches of salt
– 3 tablespoons of honey
– 2 tablespoons of homemade vinegar or apple cider vinegar
– 1 teaspoon of coarse pepper
– Water, as needed

PROCEDURE:

Cook the beets with the piloncillo, cloves, salt and water. Leave a little bit of stem to the beets so that they have a good color.

Slice all the fruits. Remove the seeds from the oranges and limes to prevent them from turning sour.

Mix everything so that all the fruit is painted and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Surprise your family and enjoy this Christmas salad with your favorite dishes.

Inspirations

This month we have two important dates, December 3 is World Day for the Non-Use of Pesticides and December 5 is World Soil Day. Vía Orgánica is part of the National Campaign Sin Maíz no Hay País (Without Corn There is No Country) and our director in the CDMX, Mercedes López Martínez, is the representative of the class action lawsuit against GMO corn in Mexico. Through the lawsuit, a struggle is being waged that encompasses, among many others, these two issues: a struggle against pesticides and for the health of the soil. This month we share with you the documentary: “The World According to Monsanto” directed by Marie-Monique Robin, which has inspired many people in this struggle to continue defending our planet and our corn.

December Activities

January Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, turnoff  to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

FACEBOOKFACEBOOK    TWITTERTWITTER    INSTAGRAMINSTAGRAM

SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!

CompartirShare       TweetTweet             forwardForward 

Women Voices from Global South Discussing Food Sovereignty and  Climate Change at COP 27

/by

During COP 27, a group of women from Abya Yala(1) raised their firm and deep voices to speak up about food sovereignty in regions that are so different and yet alike as America and Africa. The talk was organized by Regeneration International and OMANIAP.

At the Green area of the climate summit in the Tutankhamun auditory, the powerful female voices pondered about the impact of climate change in the lives of women and their communities, the consequences for food sovereignty and the importance of ancestral science and knowledge, demanding public policies to guarantee their rights, territories, water, biodiversity, seeds and preserve their traditional foods.

Mercedes López, Vía Organica’s Director in Mexico City started the discussion in the panel speaking about the need for communities to choose the concept of food sovereignty over food security (used by FAO). Food sovereignty is more comprehensive and prioritizes food, ancestral seeds, territories, and water for the people. It is the people who have the option to choose healthy, local and nutritious food and the right to protect themselves from poor quality agricultural imports foreign to their traditional diet. López insisted on the importance of the participation of communities in agricultural policy; prioritizing and acknowledging farmers’ voices.

Food security, on the other hand, implies access to sufficient food regardless of its origin, processing and use of agrochemicals and/or transgenic seeds,  all this without respect or consideration to food culture and pertinence.

She called out the fact that Coca-Cola and Nestle where sponsors of COP 27. Companies that have favoured  industrial agriculture, warming of the planet and cause of  obesity and malnutrition; in addition to polluting the planet with their plastic containers and using water reserves.

Precious Phiri, Regeneration International’s African Coordinator, pointed out that climate change is strongly impacting women from the Global South, and made the point that the term climate change does not seem to her strong enough and it would be better to talk of climate emergency, with economic and social consequences.

She mentioned that it is important to go beyond food security, under which groups of donors are pushing communities to have access to any type of food, just like the  green revolution model pushed by Big Ag, without taking care of diversity and specificity of nutrition amongst different communities.

This represents a big challenge for farmer communities that are pressured to adopt a model that places them in insecure situations and the answer ends up being worse than the problem. She concluded her participation commenting that climate emergency is creating a very serious economic, environmental, and social situation and it affects more women, who have the challenge to feed their families.

Wilma Mendoza, President of the National Confederation of Indigenous Women from Bolivia (CNAMIB, by its Spanish Initials) mentioned how indigenous women are fighting to keep their identity, seeds, and territories in the face of GMOs and industrial agriculture.

She explained that in Bolivia food sovereignty and security topics are included within the Development Plan, but monocrops are still supported.

Mendoza mentioned that women are more aware about the need to eat  their own foods with no agrochemicals or GMOs , and are the seed keepers. It is women-she went on- , who are more affected by droughts, flooding, frosts, plagues and deforestation.

On her turn, Mayra Macedo, Secretary of the National Organization of Andean and Amazona Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP) mentioned that public policies and food programs in Peru are insufficient and promote monocrops such as oil palm and papaya, invading their Amazonian lands, destroying the rainforest and polluting it.

Macedo said that there are two social central food programs: school breakfast which is deficient because it includes high processed foods and beverages, that only benefit the economy of companies that sell these products and not the communities and promoting raising backyard animals such as guinea pigs which cannot survive in the Amazonian region because they live in cold climates like the Andes. She criticized the lack of vision and knowledge in both programs.

She went on making a call for women to become involved in policy making, specifically in social programs designed to bring back food sovereignty.

The last speaker was Melania Canales Poma, Leader of the Quechua People and Coordinator of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women from America (ECMIA-South Region) who  said that indigenous women demand guarantees and respect to their collective territories. She mentioned as an example that in Peru, 49% of the territory is in the hands of farmer and native communities, but the land is being invaded and they are being dispossessed in various legal ways.

She went on wondering how food sovereignty would be possible if women are being deprived of their land and pointed out the importance of reviewing the legal status of the territories. It is indigeneous woman, after all, who have raised their voices against GMOs and defended ancestral knowledges.It is indigeneous women who have demanded rights, opposed machismo, extractivism and dispossession.

The talk ended with comments and questions from the audience,  summing up the importance of preserving indigenous practices, knowledge and science from the ancestors; to resist transculturation of nutrition and colonialist customs acquired through migration; demanding recognition and visibility of  women’s inputs with fair payments; organization in biocultural spaces; as well as preserving ancestral traditions such as rainwater capture to face the scarcity that is prevailing around the world.

Even though it was a small space in the middle of a vast array of side events, conferences and high level debates, this group of women showed that they  are organizing, fighting and proposing new alternatives every day to defend biodiversity, seeds, territory and women’s dignity in different communities all over the world.

1 Abya Yala in Kuna language (Colombia and Panama) means earth, life, territory, flourishing land. “Abia” means “hole of blood”, “mature mother”, “mature virgin”, “land in its full ripeness”. The term is used to name the territory between the American Continent.

 

 

Wrapping Up COP27

/by

SHARM AL-SHEIKH – COP27 ends with an agreement for a “Loss and Damage” fund without any implementation plans or consensus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, this means very little progress for solid recommendations for climate action and achieving net-zero emissions urged by the UNFCCC to avoid the catastrophic tipping points of a +1.5C warmer planet.

Sponsored by companies such as Coke, with a presidency held by a military government that severely represses its citizens (in a holiday resort far away from the realities of the Egyptian people) we were never going to expect much from the outcome of COP27 to shift the international community away from its business-as-usual pattern.

However there were some good works made by many.

Despite these circumstances, Regeneration International sent a small and dedicated delegation to COP27, where it joined forces with friends and partners such as AFSA, IPES-Food, IFOAM Organics International, SEKEM, ONAMIAP and the “4 per 1000” Initiative to advocate evidence and concrete examples of how agroecology, regenerative agriculture and indigenous agrobiodiversity (preserving traditional seeds) can reverse global warming and nourish communities. The management of soils, their organic matter, and their capacity to build back ecological stability, including sequestering carbon, must be in every negotiation and commitment since it is the hope we have for a livable planet.

Our team also had the chance to interview some light bearing figures in our movement; you can watch them by clicking on the links below.

Interview with Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM Organics International at COP27

Meet our dear friend Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM – Organics International, promoting agroecology and regenerative organic food systems as a way to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Interview with AFSA’s Bridget Mugambe at COP27

RI’s Africa Coordinator Precious Phiri and Bridget Mugambe of AFSA (Alliance of Food Sovereignty in Africa) and gain insight into Africa’s most prominent civil society and their actions to regenerate the climate emergency through agroecology. 

Interview with Uganda Parliament Member Kayaa Christine Nakimwero at COP27

Watch our interview with Kayaa Christine Nakimwero, a member of Parliament in Uganda who is campaigning for seed sovereignty to ensure climate resiliency and food security in Africa.

RI was also an official partner of the Future Economy Forum organized by SEKEM. Together with many other partners and friends, we formed the regenerative movement’s most significant gathering since RI’s congregation in 2015 at COP21 in Paris. A series of dialogues and events offered a space for the regeneration movement to merge our strengths, strategies, and ideas and move forward together for regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration.

 For the first time in COP history, Agriculture and food systems were highlighted as a top priority. With the UNFCCC’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture implementing plans for climate action through agriculture and the COP hosting more than 200 side events on food and agriculture, the momentum for food and farming is there to stay. Yet, much of the COP misused the term regenerative, and very few side events promoted anything but regenerative and agroecological practices. GMOs, lab meat, and no-till glyphosate-drenched practices were on the menu of most side events, with the Food Systems Pavilion opening with pro-GMO/industry rhetoric from various members of AGRA and other green revolution advocates. 

 RI participated in several side events, including the “4 per 1000” High-Level Segment promoting tangible and shovel-ready regenerative practices such as holistic planned grazing and regenerative agroforestry via our Billion Agave Project. Our presence was all the most important and has allowed us to unite with our partners in preparation for COP28 to aggregate the true policymakers, scientists, advocates, and practitioners of change to form an ironclad alliance with our partners. 

 

Being in South Sinai, our COP delegation took the opportunity to visit the Habiba Community, located only a few hour’s drive from the COP negotiations. Deeply integrated into the Bedouin cultural landscape, this organic farm is empowering women and training hundreds of small hold farmers across 75 farms to adapt and mitigate climate change using regenerative practices. 

 

Despite the many circus like confusion that went together with hosting a COP in a place for the World’s rich, we are glad we were there, together with our allies. There is still a lot of ground to be covered, we need more and more civil society representatives in the negotiation rooms. We need to get in touch with country-based negotiators so that we can also influence the outcomes of these negotiations. As earlier stated, we look forward to the next COP, this time with much bigger numbers from our movement. It is needed. 

The Distorted Lies About Sri Lanka’s Organic Pathway

/by

Recently there have been a series of articles stating that Sri Lanka’s economic chaos was caused by the government forcing the country to go organic.

These articles’ familiar false narratives, untruths, and language style show that they were written by spin doctors from a PR company employed by pesticide/big agriculture cartels. They were cut and pasted by poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The narrative was that the government forced farmers to become organic by banning chemical fertilizers.  This caused crop failures and food shortages which caused the riots, causing economic chaos.

This is a distortion of the truth by falsely connecting the dots. The economic chaos was not caused by the country going organic, as it hadn’t gone organic. The government was only planning to do so in the future.

Sri Lanka’s Economic Troubles

Sri Lanka was in severe economic trouble due to the build-up of financial debt caused by a combination of factors that began with the crippling financial drain, infrastructure damage, and social disruption of the decades-long civil war.  The crisis was exacerbated in April 2019 due to church suicide bombings destroying the international based tourism industry, which was a significant provider of foreign currency for the country.  The value of its currency fell and made it more expensive for industry and the government to import essential goods such as fuel.

On top of this, tax cuts in 2019 reduced government revenue and deepened that country’s national debt. The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic decimated the tourism industry. All these factors caused a significant increase in inflation, contributing to shortages of food and essential goods and increasing food insecurity in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was in severe economic and social trouble by the beginning of 2021.

The Import and Export Control Department banned the importation of chemical fertilizers on April 27, 2021, because they contributed over $400 million to the trade deficit. This was the start of a range of measures that would be proposed to create an economic recovery.

The following month on May 10, 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave a directive to form the Presidential Task Force for creating a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions for Climate Change. This Task Force had the aim to turn Sri Lanka into a world leader in “the benefits that could be derived nationally and internationally by the launch of a programme for improving biodiversity in Sri Lanka and eco-friendly houses by utilization of organic and natural fertilizer and the potential for sustainable development by minimizing climate changes and through a green economy.”

Organic Agriculture was not the Cause of Sri Lanka’s Economic Chaos.

The ban on chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals was not to turn Sri Lanka into an organic country; it was to reduce Sri Lanka’s crippling national debt. A presidential task force was formed to develop a green, climate change-resilient economy of which organic agriculture was one aspect.

Sir Lanka never implemented a national organic transition program, so the campaign to blame the collapse of its economy on organic agriculture is pure misinformation based on a series of lies fed by a PR company to poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The economic chaos, not the decline in rice yields, was the cause of the riots. The traditional withholding of rice stocks and the artificial increases of prices that the rice miller oligarchies do every year after the primary harvest season created artificial shortages that contributed to the riots. Other contributing factors were the result of fuel and essential items shortages and excessive inflation, making everything more expensive and unaffordable.

Transitioning to Organic

The sudden reduction of fertilizer caused a decline in rice production. However, this was not because the country went organic. It takes three years to transition a farm to organic and decades to transition a country or region, as in the cases of the successful transitions of Bhutan and Sikkim. Just stopping chemical fertilizers does not make a farm organic.

The national and international organic sectors advised the Sri Lankan Government against doing this because it would lead to a sudden drop in yields. We develop plans to manage the transition to organic and advise against the sudden cessation of fertilizers and agrochemicals for this reason. A plan was never developed for Sri Lanka, although a few proposals were started to begin the process that would require decades to implement.

Organic agriculture is not a system of neglect. Stopping chemical fertilizers and toxic agrochemicals do not make a farm organic. Organic agriculture has a variety of management systems to increase soil fertility and effectively manage weeds, pests, and diseases. These take years to develop, requiring three years to get organic certification.

Higher Yields with Organic Agriculture

Transitioning to organic does not have to decrease yields. Best practice organic systems are getting equal to higher yields than industrial and agricultural systems, especially in developing countries like Sri Lanka.

Noémi Nemes from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) analyzed over 50 economic studies. She stated that the data: ‘… demonstrates that, in most cases, organic systems are more profitable than non-organic systems. Higher market prices and premiums, lower production costs, or a combination of the two generally result in higher relative profits from organic agriculture in developed countries. The same conclusion can be drawn from studies in developing countries, but there, higher yields combined with high premiums are the underlying causes of their relatively greater profitability.’

The critical issue here is that organic agriculture provides a higher income and higher yields in developing countries. Significant increases in yields can be achieved by teaching farmers to add science-based regenerative and organic practices to their traditional methods by adopting:

  • Better soil nutrition through recycling soil organic matter (SOM) and correct mineral balance
  • Improved pest and disease management
  • Water use efficiency – by increasing soil organic matter
  • Better weed management methods
  • Eco-function intensification: increasing the diversity of systems

A report by the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that reviewed 114 projects covering 2 million hectares and 1.9 million farmers found that organic agriculture increases yields in Africa. ‘…the average crop yield was … 116 percent increase for all African projects and 128 percent increase for the projects in East Africa.’

Increases in Rice Production

Rice is the most important staple food crop in Sri Lanka. There is ample evidence that rice production and profitability can increase with regenerative and organic agriculture based on the science of agroecology.

A research project conducted in the Philippines by MASIPAG found that the yields of organic rice were similar to industrial systems. Very significantly, the research project compared the income between similar-sized industrial and organic farms and found that the average income for organic farms was 23,599 Pesos compared to 15,643 Pesos for industrial farms.

While the rice yields are similar, the most significant information that came from this study was when the average family living expenses were deducted from the net income. It showed that at the end of the year, on average, the organic rice farmers had a surplus income of 5,967 pesos, whereas the industrial rice farmers had a loss of 4,546 pesos.

The improvements in the science and practices of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) using regenerative and organic systems are getting impressive yields higher than the average.

Professor Uphoff from Cornell University states: “SRI methods have often enabled poor farmers to double, triple, or even quadruple their yields, not just individually but on a village level, without purchasing new varieties or agrochemical inputs.”

The Future

The new Sri Lankan Government is working with their national organic movement to develop a plan to implement organic agriculture. The national organic movement is in contact with the organic program managers in Bhutan, who have successfully transitioned most of their country into organic agriculture.

The transition program is essential because of the current exceptionally high prices for synthetic fertilizers and the poor exchange value of the Sri Lankan currency; most farmers cannot afford these fertilizers. They are going into deep debt when they use them or have reduced yields by not using them because they haven’t been taught effective alternatives.

Adopting best-practice organic and regenerative systems based on the science of agroecology will ensure good yields and higher incomes for farmers without these expensive and toxic chemicals.

Regeneration International will continue supporting the Sri Lankan organic movement in achieving this critical outcome.

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

/by

For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Vía Orgánica ranch was born as a connection space between producers and consumers. Its first space was a store designed to publicize local, wild, artisanal products, coming from the hands of guardians of some natural landscape. It was the producers who inspired this project and continue to motivate it, which is why we dedicate this newsletter to the families of organic producers who take care of the planet and feed the world.

The need we have as consumers to have healthy, seasonal, local, diversified food and above all grown with agroecological techniques; that improve the soil and preserve the species of flora and fauna, is increasing. The educational ranch concentrates and is an example of the different models of food production in semi-arid landscapes, expressing in a creative and beautiful way the work that many farmers carry out. We promote their wisdom and knowledge in activities that we spread through our tours and workshops. We allow to create a connection with what we consume and we offer the possibility of choosing and thinking about our consumption in favor of the solidarity economy, our health and the planet’s health too.

The educational ranch is a space to think about how our food gets to our table and the challenges that imply for each producer who resists and remains in their territory, which is why our relation offers another possibility to resume our food landscape with greater awareness.

Throughout our history, a network of more than 120 seasonal producers has been strengthened, who in small extensions of land, are given the task of maintaining traditional knowledge of food production, processing and conservation and offer their products in various stores, responsible in the region.

Choose your plan!

All November visit the ranch from Monday to Sunday and learn all about the Ofrenda that will be displayed with products from the milpa and the semi-arid landscape in tribute to the producers and leaders who have left.

Do not miss the whole month of hiking in the mountains! You can now come and collect your pumpkin to bake with butter, or make a pie.

Book your visit!

Billion Agave Project

Halfway through autumn, the Billion Agave Project advances with achievements and challenges, integrating more producers, teachers, researchers, environmentalists and decision makers to immerse themselves in this soil regeneration initiative with two dominant species of the semi-desert: the maguey plants and the mesquite trees.

Over two years we’re still learning about the nature of these species; the mesquites propagated by air layering and now distributed in the field while associated with native bushes and trees of the Jalpa Valley, show us their great capacity for adaptation and development.

As for the agaves, we learn about the management of this species, we have adapted tools such as clearings and coas for cleaning pruning and use of the agave leaves. We also explore the use of aggregation pheromones for the monitoring and control of the agave weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus), considered the main pest of the species.

Seasonal Crop

Guavas and the first tangerines begin to be harvested. Crops are raised for storage after the rainy season. The honey harvest begins in the region.

Do It Yourself

During the month of November, the temperature may begin to drop and you will receive the first frosts in your garden or orchard. Here we share some tips to maintain your plants.

– Water in the evening to prevent your plants from frost burn.

– If you have a blanket to cover your plants at night that can lower the temperature, take advantage of it, or use agrovelo or a sky blanket that allows you to lower the temperature below 0 degrees Celsius.

– Get ready to plant root crops that tolerate low temperatures such as radishes, carrots, turnips, garlic, onions, beets and also leaves such as lettuce, arugula and spinach. They love cool temperatures.

– Your orchard will be less colorful because the cold reduces flowering. But surely you can have a delicious salad harvested from your garden all year round.

Cooking Time

TAMALES DE MUERTO RECIPE

INGREDIENTS: 

– 2 kg of black corn dough for tamales
– 1/2 kg of pork lard
– Chicken broth (as needed)
– Corn husks for tamales

FOR THE SAUCE: 

– 10 ancho peppers without seeds hydrated in hot water
– 2 large garlic cloves
– 1 small onion
– 1 tablespoon of butter
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1/2 ranchero cheese

PROCEDURE FOR THE SAUCE

Grind the peppers, garlic and onion with a little of the liquid in which the peppers are hydrated, heat the butter and add the sauce. Cook for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should be thick.

PROCEDURE TO PREPARE THE DOUGH

Cream the pork lard with a little salt until it changes color, then add the dough and a little broth and stir until the dough fluffs and is smooth. Mix vigorously until when you put a small piece of dough into a glass of water it floats.

The dough does not have to be very loose. Once ready, pour half of this dough on a clean and damp cotton cloth, spreading the dough with your hands. Spread using a spoon, half of the sauce and half of the cheese. Roll up with the help of the cloth, cut into slices and put each piece on the corn husks previously hydrated with hot water. Prepare a steamer, arrange the tamales horizontally and cook for one hour.

Enjoy your delicious tamales this Day of the Dead season with a delicious pumpkin atole.

Inspirations

This month in which we honor our deceased, we do not forget and honor those who gave their lives to defend the environment and therefore all of us. This 2022 they have been assassinated: Verónica Patricia Guerrero Vinueza, Francisco Vázquez Domínguez, José Trinidad Baldenegro, Néstor Iván Merino Flores, Patricia Rivera Reyes, Teófilo Barrera Herrera, Marcelo Carrera Reyes, Omar and Jesús Bañuelos Acevedo. We demand justice and an end to violence against defenders in Mexico and around the world.

November Activities

December Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, turnoff  to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

FACEBOOKFACEBOOK    TWITTERTWITTER    INSTAGRAMINSTAGRAM

SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!

CompartirShare       TweetTweet             forwardForward 

People’s Food Summit 2022

/by

Regeneration International, in conjunction with our partners, held a world wide “People’s Food Summit” again this year.

It was the second time this world’s first event was held – a major 24-hour event on World Food day on Oct 16, featuring speakers from every region of our planet.
It was a spectacularly successful event, with over 700,000 people from all regions of our world tuning in to watch and listen to numerous topics.

Because we reached so many people, this event had a very high impact.
This year’s participatory, virtual summit started in Oceania and moved westwards through the time zones of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Each region was self-organized, so they were empowered to present the messages and issues that are their priorities.

The People’s Food Summit is a truly participatory summit that empowers the majority of the world’s food producers: the small-holder family farmers, pastoralists, and foresters who produce 70% of the food we eat.

This year we also featured natural health as how we produce our food and what we eat is essential to our health and the health of our environment and society. Regenerative organic agriculture and climate change were also a feature of the summit.

Regeneration International has been working with our many partners such as the Organic Consumers Association, The Global Alliance for Organic Districts, IFOAM Asia, Navdanya, the International Network of Eco Regions, Savory Hub Africa, Via Organica, AFSA, The League of Organic Municipalities and Cities and BERAS International in hosting the People’s Food Summit on World Food Day to present these inspiring speakers, and get an overview of exciting agricultural projects from around the world.

Resources:

The  Good Food Festivals  – Market for Smallholders’ Traditional, Climate-Smart Crops and Source of Healthy Foods for Zimbabwean Consumers by Caroline Jacquet

Take some time to listen to some of these highlighted talks!

 

Regenerating Seed and Food Culture in Africa

/by

Production of culturally appropriate food, that is healthy, nutritious and abundant is slowly but surely making its sound known across the African continent. This is mainly due a wonderful collective of country, regional and pan African movement building towards influencing systems and policy.

For the longest time, the narrative of food and agriculture in Africa has been degraded, with African seeds being labeled as tired, ways of farming as backwards, and a chain of narratives that include Africa being poor and needing “new technologies”. However, farmers are putting their best foot forward in changing the trajectory by using natural, local and biologically regenerative practices to grow food and nourish their families. Most industrial agriculture approaches that are mostly linked with the green revolution in Africa are proving to lead to more hunger and crop failures in the face of unreliable weather patterns due to the climate crises.

Small holder farmer organisations are focusing on building soil health,  as a way of creating resiliency, and sustenance for the communities.  I am sharing some photos of a seed fair we recently had here in the communities of Hwange National park in Zimbabwe.  These farmers live in one of the most difficult landscapes, with about 350-400 ml of rainfall on a good year, a long dry and hostile season which makes it hard for them to grow crops for longer periods. The Seed fair was a celebration of seed, food, culture and indigenous wisdom on seed preservation.  It was attended by representatives from 6 villages, the Chief and different leaders.

The theme of this work is founded on generosity and abundance thinking, communities go through a lot of challenges and over time mindsets shift towards scarcity and less connections with the environment around them. Working with farmers to celebrate seeds and food creates a space for just reciprocal relationships between people and between people and their environment.

Farmers are continuously transitioning to growing small local grains that are resilient to the harsh weather and soil conditions.

We use mobile animal enclosures to enrich and build soil, plant mixed crops for resiliency and improved harvest. Farmers harvest 2 times more than they normally would in each plot that has been impacted. This is a win-win-win solution, it is locally cheap, builds soil and nourishes families. Our hope is that eventually farmers will be able to mobilise themselves into bigger groups and continue to impact the broader landscape.

There are a lot of opportunities for communities to connect at country level for cross learning. As we build up momentum to the People’s Food Summit on October 16th, 2022- we are excited that the voices of small holder farmers from across the world will be represented.  Regeneration is creating all the connection of the pieces in the puzzle of life, culture, ecology and economies.

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

/by

For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Commemorating the International Day of Rural Women and their role in food, it is important to remember the work of the women who collaborate in the project: 

The team of women that work and create Vía Orgánica are distributed along most of the areas of the ranch: regenerative farm, care of sheep and goats, apiary management, reforestation, seed care, food production, food preparation, customer service, education, finances, social media, administration and maintenance. Their hard work is essential for the operation of the ranch, each one of them being fundamental pieces to make Vía Orgánica work. Demonstrating that field work can be and, in many cases, is directed by women, even if the opposite is thought. 

The women who work inside the ranch are only a small part of the great number of women who work and achieve wonderful things from their own spaces, being providers of food with love and strength. 

Choose your plan!

Visit the ranch and discover the trails to the mountain. Did you know that upon arrival you can rent a bicycle and ride on the ranch? You can also have picnics in one of our rest areas with incredible views and explosive vegetation that you can still see in October. Treat yourself to an adventure ride, if you wish you can stay in a thermal adobe cabin or simply eat a dish made with fresh ingredients from our garden at the restaurant. 

In October, come and harvest your own pumpkin from the milpa and cook it as you like, in a rich pumpkin cream, in a delicious cake or pie. 

Come as a family, ask about our packages and book your visit!

Billion Agave Project

Since the Billion Agave Project was created, one of the objectives was, to create a course called “Agaves and Mesquite: Regenerating semi-arid land”. This diploma course was seen since the beginning, as a tool to spread and motivate the regeneration of the landscape with these two crops. It was designed a year ago in collaboration with the University of Guanajuato. The scope of this course was 60 people from all over Mexico and Ecuador, where 50% were women. It was attended by activists, students, producers and environmentalists determined to recover properties, mountains, hillsides, communities or colonies and to contribute to generating change with actions. The diploma course had more than 15 speakers: researchers, committed teachers from different instances such as the University of Chapingo, UNAM, University of Guanajuato, INIFAP, and others. 

The agaves and mesquites have been the perfect pretext to unite, make a community, listen, connect, add, sow curiosity, will and impetus in each of the participants. And with their way of being, strong and resilient, giving more than they take, they give us a life lesson, we just need to understand it. 

Seasonal Crop

Autumn has begun and it is the perfect time to raise some seasonal crops, the milpa is forming the fruits that come from there, such as the pumpkins that are at their maximum growth and mature and can be stored for months. The bean pods along with the cobs, broad beans and everything that the milpa gave us. Let’s not forget the delicious seasonal honey. 

We advice to consume according to the season, take advantage of the gifts that nature gives us full of colors and varied flavors. 

Do It Yourself

Arriving October the temperatures drop down during the nights and sunrises. If you started your garden at the beginning of the year, it probably now has brown and yellow colors, which indicate that your crops are physiologically mature, that is, they are in their reproductive stage and surely full of seeds. If this is your case, we recommend to do the following:

1.- Harvest some flower or fruit seeds that may have formed and store them for the next heat cycle. 
2.- If you have any empty space to cultivate, we recommend to recover fertility in the soil with donor crops (legumes) and some cereal such as wheat or barley that will be sown and integrated into the soil when it has 10% flowering to increase organic matter, fertility, microbiological life and symbiotic activity in it. This will also allow you to give your planter a break and prepare it for the next cycle. 
3.- Plant your mix of salad leaves such as lettuce and spinach, which grow well on cold days. 
4.- Take the time to monitor your plants, check which ones grew better, and write down which ones called the insects, and which crops grew more difficult and easier. It is important that you take note, you will learn from each cycle.

Come and Visit

October Activities

November Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, deviation on the way to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

FACEBOOKFACEBOOK    TWITTERTWITTER    INSTAGRAMINSTAGRAM

SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!

CompartirShare       TweetTweet             forwardForward 

The Onslaught of Genetic Engineering 2.0

/by

Over the past 30 years OCA and our allies across the world have fought hard against gene-spliced GMO foods and crops and the toxic pesticides and chemicals that always accompany them, exposing their dangers, limiting their market share, and in some countries bringing about mand

atory bans (Mexico) and/or labeling and safety-testing. (USA and Europe)

But now Bill Gates, the gene-engineers, the World Economic Forum, and the Davos “Great Reset” technocrats and authoritarians, the folks who anticipated and profited off of COVID and the lockdowns, have a bold new plan to shove down our throats: get rid of animal agriculture, ranching, and small farms entirely. Make lab-engineered fake meat, fake milk, and fake cheese the new normal. Pretend they’re not genetically engineered and therefore they don’t have to be properly safety-tested and labeled. Divide and conquer vegans and carnivores, urban consumers and rural communities.  Drive into bankruptcy and off the land the billion ranchers, small farmers, and herdsmen/women around the world, who depend on raising animals and livestock for their survival.

The powerful Lab Meat and Lab Dairy lobby, funded by Bill Gates and a growing number of Silicon Valley tycoons, pay lip service to reducing the CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from factory farms, and rhetorically decry animal cruelty, but their highest priority seems to be undermining and destroying organic and regenerative farmers, especially those practicing holistic grazing and pasturing, those raising animals without glyphosate, neonics, GMO grains, or other chemical-intensive inputs.  Gates and the Great Resetters seem hell bent on establishing a new, unregulated monopoly of lab engineered (and of course patented) Frankenfoods. Tellingly enough the Big Meat giants (JBS, Cargill, Tyson, et al) and the Dairy Giants (Unilever and Nestle) are all now investing in fake meat and dairy as well, hedging their bets and diversifying their greed.

The cheerleaders and fake-hip entrepreneurs of Frankenfoods 2.0 claim their products are not really genetically engineered (a lie); that they are entirely plant-based (a lie); and that they are safe (the government allows these companies to self-declare their SynBio products as safe), nutritious (a lie), ethical (a lie), and basically equivalent to real meat and dairy (another lie).

As Organic Insider points out:

“In recent years, ‘animal-free’ dairy proteins have found their way into everything from ice cream to cream cheese to snack bars, but many shoppers, food manufacturers and retailers are unaware that these are actually unlabeled and unregulated GMOs. Further compounding the problem is that consumers may be misled into thinking that these products are ‘natural,’ which could potentially take market share away from the organic industry.”

“‘Companies call these things ‘synthetic biology’ and ‘fermentation technology,’ but these foods are all just GMOs,’ said Michael Hansen, Senior Staff Scientist at Consumer Reports. ‘They are using terms people do not understand, so that people will not realize these are GMO ingredients.’”

A recent poll in the UK indicates that 60% of consumers do not want to eat GE lab meat.

The cabal pushing lab meats and dairy, and their Monsanto/Bayer/Syngenta/ Dow/DuPont counterparts pushing pesticide-drenched, first generation GMOs (1.0), claim that organic farming and holistic grazing and the pasturing of animals are inefficient and even dangerous, and that in our Brave New World of gene-splicing, gene-editing, and so-called precision fermentation, only elite lab engineers, large corporations, and technocrats can feed the world and mitigate the environmental and climate crisis.

But in fact there is a growing body of evidence that these 21st Century Frankenfoods are neither safe nor nutritious. SynBio Frankenfoods are neither sustainable nor-plant based, nor by any stretch of the imagination equitable for family farmers, ranchers, and indigenous/traditional communities. SynBio foods are not properly safety-tested nor labeled. Indeed upon closer examination, looking at the official risk disclosures that publicly-traded SynBio manufacturers such as Ginko Bioworks are required to provide to investors, this new generation of GE foods pose a potentially catastrophic threat to our health, environment, and the livelihoods of the world’s three billion small farmers, ranchers, indigenous herders, and rural villagers.

As Ginko admits:

“The release of genetically modified organisms or materials, whether inadvertent or purposeful, into uncontrolled environments could have unintended consequences… we cannot guarantee that these preventative measures will eliminate or reduce the risk of the domestic and global opportunities for the misuse or negligent use of our engineered cells materials, and organisms and production processes.”

Although there has been a small but longstanding resistance to Synthetic Biology, spearheaded by public interest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as ETC Group, Friends of the Earth, and the International Center for Technology Assessment, which we have supported in the past, OCA believes the time is ripe to build up a new, vastly expanded U.S. and global campaign of farmers and consumers to stop the Frankenfoods 2.0 fake meat, fake dairy onslaught.

Through mass public education, litigation, boycotts, and protests, the goal of this revitalized farmer/consumer campaign will be to drive these genetically engineered Frankenfoods (fake meat, fake milk, fake cheese) off the market, and, in the process, turn back the planned demolition of our organic and small farmer-based food and farming system by Bill Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation, Silicon Valley Big Meat, Big Dairy, and the Davos Crowd.

Learn more: The Playbook for GMO 2.0 Is Going Exactly To Plan, Brands Step in to Combat It

Read lots more articles on SynBio by going to the Real Farms, Not Fake Food campaign page.

Stay tuned for future developments.

Ronnie Cummins is co-founder of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Regeneration International, and the author of “Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Food, Farming, Climate and a Green New Deal.”