1. Maine forms antibiotics study committee
Maine's legislature created a study committee on June 1st that will recommend actions the state can take to encourage prudent use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. This move results from legislation introduced by State Senator Scott Cowger, called the Keep Antibiotics Working for Maine bill, that would encourage state institutions to buy meat from producers who use antibiotics responsibly. The committee will present its recommendations to the legislature next January for further action. The committee will include doctors, a sustainable agricultural producer, an animal husbandry specialist, and others. Read the legislation creating the committee.

2. Pharma rice moves to North Carolina
Ventria Bioscience, the biotechnology company that hoped to grow pharmaceutical-producing (pharma) rice in Missouri, has abandoned its plans to plant there this spring. The decision followed strong opposition from local farmers and major food buyers and processors, including Anheuser-Busch and Riceland Foods, who feared that pharma rice would contaminate the food supply. Now, Ventria has applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for permission to plant pharma rice on three sites in North Carolina this summer. Although rice is not grown commercially in North Carolina, all the sites are close to a nursery where foreign rice varieties are quarantined and tested before being used by U.S. rice breeders to develop new rice varieties. Ventria has vowed to renew attempts to plant in Missouri next year and is also considering sites in South America and Puerto Rico. To read more, click here.

3. Compelled Subsidies. It’s What’s for Beef Producers.
The Supreme Court on May 23rd upheld the beef checkoff, a $1-per-head mandatory tax on all sales of cattle used to fund "Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner." ads and other beef promotions. To the surprise of many, the court found the ads to be government-controlled speech and therefore ruled the checkoff to be a constitutionally permissible, compelled subsidy of the government’s own speech. Opponents believe the checkoff forces family farmers to fund advertising campaigns and policy advocacy that undercut their interests in favor of big ag and foreign beef producers. According to the Western Organization of Resource Councils, more than 80 percent of beef checkoff funds go to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Read the Supreme Court decision. (PDF). To learn more about why some ranchers oppose the beef checkoff, visit http://www.worc.org/issues/art_issues/CHECKOFF.html.

4. “Store Wars” movie features organic veggies
A short animated film from the Organic Trade Association pits organic against mutant genetically engineered vegetables. The video was produced by Free Range Graphics, the same company that produced The Meatrix. To watch “Store Wars”, visit http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html.

5. Iowa, North Carolina use the most antibiotics
A new report by Environmental Defense ranks antibiotic use in animal agriculture by state. Iowa ranks highest in antibiotic use, with 2.2 million pounds of medically important antibiotics fed to livestock annually, followed by North Carolina with 1.7 million pounds. Delaware is the most intensive user, with 187,000 pounds of antibiotics per thousand square miles. People living in areas with intensive use of antibiotics as feed additives may be at greater risk of contracting antibiotic-resistant infections. The rankings were based on data taken from UCS’s report Hogging It! (2000). Read the new report, Resistant Bugs and Antibiotic Drugs (PDF).

6. Drought hits engineered soybeans harder
According to an April 2005 article in the Soya & Oilseed Bluebook, soybeans engineered for herbicide tolerance are suffering more than conventional varieties from the severe drought in southern Brazil. Crop losses in engineered soybeans are up to 25 percent worse than in conventional varieties. In the article, Brazilian officials blame the difference on the fact that most engineered soybeans have been smuggled in illegally from Argentina, and aren’t adapted to local climate and soil conditions. But the poor performance of the transgenic beans may also result from side effects of the glyphosate-resistance trait. A researcher from the University of Georgia reported in 1999 that when grown in warm soils, Monsanto’s engineered soybeans were stunted and more susceptible to stem-splitting than conventional varieties.
Read about the 1999 study
Read the 2005 article