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Here, organic certification expert Gwendolyn Wyard at Oregon Tilth, Inc. explains the role of certifiers in the organic system and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the work they do to promote and protect organic integrity. 

Regardless of diet, organic foods are a smart priority. Opting for organic foods is an effectual choice for personal and planetary health. Buying organically grown food--free of harmful chemicals, bursting with more nutrition, taste, and sustainable sustenance--is a direct vote for immediate health and the hopeful future of generations to come.

Last week, and capping at least a decades-long battle by consumer advocates, the EPA announced a ban on the pesticide endosulfan -- one of the last legal organochlorine pesticides, a notorious group of which DDT is a member. Horrifically toxic (possibly more toxic to humans than DDT) and banned in the European Union since 2007, endosulfan remains in common -- though technically restricted -- use, especially on Florida tomatoes* and California and Nevada cotton according to the Pesticide Action Network.

Beccy and I didn't feel like ingesting opium tea or marijuana pancakes, featured menu items in Vang Vieng, a backpackers' mecca in northern Laos. We had just arrived on a bus from Vientiane, the lovely Laotian capital, and we already wanted out.

"Can you take us to Vangvieng Organic Farm?" I asked an idling tuk-tuk driver.

The Kathleen Show in Madison asks that question in an interview with Maria Rodale, author of "Organic Manifesto" and you can listen in at 2 p.m. central time, today.

For more information, click here.

If you're eating non-organic celery today, you may be ingesting 67 pesticides with it, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.

The group, a nonprofit focused on public health, scoured nearly 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine what fruits and vegetables we eat have the highest, and lowest, amounts of chemical residue.

There are many great reasons to go organic. It helps combat climate change, fosters species diversity, prevents damage to valuable water resources, and protects farmers and farmers’ families from exposure to harmful chemicals.

By Jennifer Rose

Continuous improvement lies at the heart of the corporate philosophy at SunOpta, Inc.. “We are constantly looking for creative ways to do what we do better,” explains Gunta Vitins, the company’s director of public relations.

It should come as no surprise, then, that SunOpta has established a goal of zero waste for all of its production facilities, and that it has embraced an ‘out-of-the-box’ approach to achieve it.

Llano Seco Rancho is a place like no other. Located at the northern end of California’s Sacramento Valley, this 18,000-acre ranch is home to native grasslands, wetlands, oak savannahs, and riparian forests rich with wildlife.

It has not always been this way. Prior to 1991, much of the land was ‘lasered’ (leveled and graded) to create more suitable conditions for rice production. Other acreage was dedicated to dry grain production and grazing, leaving little unaltered space for the area’s native plant and animal species to thrive.