RFA Ethanol Podcast

Envita® SC Receives OMRI Certification

Cindy Zimmerman

Azotic Technologies announces that Envita® SC has received certification from the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) for use in compliance with the USDA National Organic Program. Tom Tregunno, Global Business Development for Azotic, says OMRI certification introduces Envita SC to one of the fastest growing segments in agriculture. “Growers supplying bio-rational and organic products will now be able to take …

AgWired Precision, Nutrient Management, Organic, Precision Agriculture

Merge Organics Launches Marketplace

Cindy Zimmerman

Buyers and sellers in the organic food sector now have a new way to work together. Merge Marketplace, a new platform designed to connect organic producers with buyers of organic products, is now live. Buyers can list what they are in search of, while sellers can list their crops, livestock, and land. This new marketplace is hosted by Merge Organics, …

Farming, Food, Organic

LidoChem Challenges Scott’s Miracle Gro Trademark

Cindy Zimmerman

LidoChem, Inc. is fighting to protect its “Performance” trademarks in a case against Scott’s Miracle-Gro. LidoChem and its Performance Nutrition Division filed a claim to void Scott’s Miracle-Gro trademark registrations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “Miracle-Gro Performance Organics” and “Performance Organics.” LidoChem, Inc. owns 10 ‘Performance’-containing trademarks for products and programs in the professional agriculture and turf …

Agribusiness, Audio, Fertilizer, Organic

Agricultural Solutions LLC Announces New Ownership

Cindy Zimmerman

Agricultural Solutions LLC has ended its financial partnership with Intergro, Inc., but Intergro will remain a distributor for crustacean meal products. The newly independent leadership team responsible for the creation of the crustacean meal product line is excited to now take the brand in a new direction. Agricultural Solutions’ Managing Partner Don Long pioneered the conventional and organic production of …

Biologicals, Organic, Precision Agriculture, specialty crops

Alltech Crop Science Receives Organic Certifications

Cindy Zimmerman

Alltech Crop Science has attained organic certification in North America for two of its micronutrient fertilizers – Grain-Set® and Agro-Mos®. The two products are based on amino acid and fermentation technology and join the company’s other Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI)-certified products, including Soil-Set®, Crop-Set® and Galvanize® Contact, increasing options for organic growers to meet the nutritional needs of their …

Alltech, Fertilizer, Organic

USDA Seeks Comments on Organic Check-Off

Kelly Marshall

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving forward with a proposal for a nationwide check-off program for the organic industry. The USDA announced a public comment period for what is referred to as GRO Organic (Generic Research and Promotion Order for Organic) earlier this week. Commenters have until March 20 to weigh in on the topic. As it currently stands, all …

Organic, USDA

Huge Disservice to the Organic Industry

Chuck Zimmerman

I like to use images and especially video to help tell a story. In this case, however, there is just no need to do so. The folks at the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance brought to my attention the rather disgusting work of the Clif Bar Family Foundation demonstrated by their Seed Matters initiative that features a profanity spewing animated …

Ag Groups, Organic, USFRA, Wackos

USDA Reports Big Growth in Organic Certification

Kelly Marshall

Certified organic operations continue to increase significantly, according to the latest numbers from the USDA.  Growth is seeing a double-digit trend, with 21,781 certified operations in the U.S. and 31,160 world-wide. “Organic food is one of the fasting growing segments of American agriculture,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “As consumer demand for organic products continues to grow, the USDA organic …

Agribusiness, Food, Organic, USDA

Clif Bar & NYFC Address Shortage of New Farmers

Jamie Johansen

The American farmer is near 60 and new young farmers are in critical short supply, Clif Bar & Company and the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) announced a joint effort to support pending federal legislation that would remove one of the key obstacles preventing young farmers from starting to farm — student loan debt. “We are a generation of farmers …

Ag Groups, Farming, Organic, Video

Hungry for Food-Based Information

Joanna Schroeder

According to a new report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, although Americans do find GMOs, antibiotics, sustainability and transparency important, they are most concerned with affordability, nutrition and food safety. This survey found that Americans care a great deal about how their food is produced: a full 78 percent of Americans say they are “very” or “somewhat” interested …

Food, GMO, Nutrition, Organic, Research