Dear Outpost Owners,

After having a few days to digest our annual meeting, we wanted to take a moment to  recognize your level of commitment to our cooperative.  Some of us shop, use re-usable bags and cups, donate time or money to Outpost organized community events, submit comments, fill out our surveys, read our website, follow and respond to our blogs, and attend owner events. We vote. And we celebrate our cooperative’s ongoing commitment to help our community.  We even recruit friends and family to attend the annual meeting to support our values.

An e-mail recently appeared in my inbox that really got me thinking about the sustainability of current conventional farming practices. The e-mail contained a link to a report by the Center for Food Safety as part of its Save Our Seeds (SOS) initiative (http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/campaign/save-our-seeds/). The report, Seed Giants vs. U.S. Farmers, highlights the ongoing practice of seed companies suing farmers for patent infringement when their fields are discovered to contain genetically engineered (GE or trangenic) crops, even though the farmers hadn't purchased GE seeds from the companies. The seed companies allege that farmers are knowingly saving seeds from prior year GE crops, or are obtaining GE seeds from “seed cleaners,” who specialize in the practice of processing seeds from prior years to use for subsequent plantings. According to the seed companies, these practices are expressly prohibited by the technology agreements signed by farmers who use GE seeds.

On Saturday, October 6, I had the pleasure of attending Harvest Day at Walnut Way, on 17th and North Avenue.  The entire 2200 block of N. 17th Street was blocked off for the celebration, with a large sound truck on the north end, providing a stage and sound system for talk and music.

The president of the Wisconsin Technology Council felt a need to weigh in on the issue of organic foods in Sunday’s Journal Sentinel, taking a shot at hippie gardeners and even your local co-op at the same time.

Give up organic?

I’m sure some people will think about that today, after hearing about a new study that found little evidence that organic food is any better for you than conventional food. Apple for apple and zucchini for zucchini, organic is often more expensive, after all.  No doubt, some folk will opt for cheaper conventional, but I’m betting the booming growth in the organic industry will continue.

I am an ardent Outpost owner for many reasons, but near the top is the collection of environmental policies put into place by the Outpost management and staff.  In fact, the WE Energies Summer 2012 newsletter “Energy for Tomorrow” highlighted Outpost as a visionary organization in the field of energy conservation.

Do the foods you eat contain GMOs?

GMOs are genetically modified organisms, plants and animals that have undergone alterations to their original genetic material at the cellular level.

First experimented with in the mid-1970s, genetic engineering has rapidly grown in sophistication and frequency. Early experiments revolved around methods to make plants less susceptible to frost, but researchers soon moved onto transgenic engineering, in which genetic material from different species are combined into one organism. 

Looking back through history, we see various “ages,” such as Iron, Bronze, Enlightenment, and the depressingly and aptly named, Dark. How will history look back at our present age? One answer may be the Age of Plastic. Looking around us, and how our way of life has changed in the past 100 years, it would be difficult to argue that this isn’t the Age of Plastic. If you still need convincing, walk around your house, your neighborhood, or your grocery store. Envision this walk without any plastic. Going even further, image life after this walk without all this plastic, and think what life would be like.

The folks growing our food, right here in our own state, are either dealing with near drought conditions in the south or flooding up north. Either way, their crops are being affected. You might not notice it or think about it, because there usually isn’t a sign reading, “Sorry, no strawberries this year. The heat ate them.” But what if there was?

It’s been nearly a month since I attended the Outpost screening of the movie Bag It.  And I have to hand it to Director Suzan Beraza.  Choosing Jeb Berrier as the focus of the movie was absolutely brilliant.  He’s a believable "everyman” whose experience with plastic isn’t so different from every one of ours. He’s not an avid environmentalist or a radical.  He’s just a guy in a world filled (increasingly) with plastic.  Best of all, he has a sense of humor about it, which makes the movie engaging and genuinely entertaining.

Altfrid Krusenbaum watches the skies from his farm in rural Walworth County and crosses his fingers. His family’s livelihood depends on the weather. As a dairy farmer, Altfrid monitors the weather because his herd of 153 cows depends on him. He in turn, depends on them. Until you walk with a farmer through his or her operation, you don’t have a really good sense of just what it takes to produce the food we eat or in this case drink. Ask Altfrid or any other farmer and they’ll be glad to tell you.

There has been a lot of talk lately about "pink slime." That's the term a former USDA official gave to a commercially prepared mixture of beef trimmings, dosed with a puff of ammonia to thwart germs and often mixed with ground beef as a cost cutting measure.

It won’t be long and that very last local apple will finally be eaten.

A new report is generating buzz in the natural foods industry. The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group which pushes for sustainable and organic agriculture, tested a number of natural and organic cereal brands and found that many of the cereals labeled as natural contained evidence of genetically modified products (GMOs). Further, the report suggests that “natural” cereals may contain pesticide residues.

A news report today says an approval of the first genetically-modified animal for human consumption is now in final review at the federal level.

The Obama administration look set to approve a new genetically engineered corn, designed to better tolerate drought conditions, but you still have time to let the USDA know how you feel.

Keeping chickens is now legal in the city of Milwaukee.

The sharply rising demand for biofuels around the globe is likely helping increase food prices, as nations cope with a difficult decision - whether to grow crops for fuel or for food.

Since 2006, the number of honeybee colonies in the United States has dropped precipitously. What are all those empty and abandoned hives telling us? A new documentary that tries to answer the question will air next week at the Time Cinema on Milwaukee's west side.
 

A series of rallies demanding that foods containing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) be labeled is planned for this coming weekend.