Willie Nelson of Farm Aid fame and Anna Lappe, author of “Diet for a Hot Planet,” in this article advocate citizen activism against Big Ag. Three corporations process more than 70% of US beef and 80% of corn seeds planted in the US are owned by Monsanto. This consolidation means we have lost control of our food supply and must take action to get it back.

What Anna Lappe recommends is in keeping with the work of her mother Frances Moore Lappe, author of “Diet for a Small Planet” published in 1971 and still a classic. The elder Lappe makes a distinction between ‘Thin Democracy’—we go to the polls, vote for our preferred candidate, and let him/her do the work of governing. That’s in contrast to ‘Living Democracy,’ making choices every day that promote connection and are in the interest of all of us. Each one of us creates democracy day by day. And our food choices are the most important of all. Frances Lappe’s most recent book is “EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want.”

Something else we can do here in South Dakota is lobby our Congressional delegation to eliminate federal subsidies to Big Ag and instead help small family farmers, the folks who raise the foods we see at our farmers markets, the people who know how to farm without GMO seeds, growth hormones, and pesticides.

We can help growers and ourselves by buying most of our food at farmers markets, even in winter. Click on the boxes at the top of this page for info on where to buy local.

The Heartland Film Society, together with Dakota Rural Action, will present the film Farmageddon at the Elks Theater in Rapid City on Monday, March 26, at 6:30 pm.

This is the story of people around the country coming together to provide healthy local food to the members of their community and their struggles with state and local officials who made this very difficult. The sale of raw milk and government pushback plays a key role. This film dramatizes the frustrations of Black Hills raw milk producers who want to sell their milk locally.

Here’s the trailer.

Here at DLFN we’ve had multiple articles on the reasons Monsanto’s herbicide RoundUp should not be used on crops and why Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready GMO crops that tolerate larger amounts of Roundup should not be consumed. Now Monsanto’s rival Dow Chemical has come up with its own GMO corn that tolerates large amounts of their herbicide 2,4-D, an ingredient in Agent Orange.

In case you weren’t around during the Vietnam War, you should know that 20,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange were used by the US to defoliate the rainforest in parts of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia during that war—to eliminate the hiding places of those defending their country. The result was large numbers of people killed, large amounts of disease, large numbers of birth defects.

Forty years later researchers have not come up with conclusive evidence that 2,4-D used on crops is harmful to humans. But tests on humans are very hard to do because we don’t clone humans or keep them in cages to eliminate all the variables. Cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, and autoimmune diseases probably have multiple causes, and exposure to pesticides, powerful chemicals designed to kill living things, is sure to be one of them.

Today 2,4-D, shorthand for 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, is widely use throughout the world as a weed killer that attacks broadleaf plants but not members of the grass family—the family that includes corn, wheat, rice, oats, and other grains. Since grains are the major food source for people worldwide, the chemical companies claim that use of RoundUp and 2,4-D (sold under such trade names as Weed B Gon, Killex, and Weedaway) are necessary for feeding the world. Farmers in India who committed suicide because they couldn’t afford the high cost of American-style seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers they were told would increase crop production would have disagreed.

The 2,4-D GMO corn has not yet been approved by the US Department of Agriculture. A group called Just Label It! is promoting the labeling of all GMO food sold in the US. The group encourages consumers to send their views to USDA now. Their website makes it easy.

Our friend and local farmer Darel Anderson sent us this post, which explains why we all should buy local food or grow our own.

Having attended the Pennington County Master Gardeners Spring Fever 2012 annual event I had the privilege of hearing horticulturalist Dr. Jeff Gillman of the University of Minnesota speak on gardening topics. One can be cautiously impressed with his common sense ideas and a mostly organic approach. He stated however, that a gardener can do less environmental damage by Roundup applied according to instructions, for example, than by home remedies applied haphazardly. Also, that no chemicals, organic or synthetic, are all good or all bad, that it is up to us to use them properly. While these statements have some merit, I personally like the all-natural approach. Sure, it may take a lot more patience, specialized knowledge, planning, and labor, but you can eat what you grow without wondering if it’s going to do you mischief.

I was gladdened to hear a modern-day professional horticulturist espouse the attributes and wisdom of Sir Albert Howard, the soil building by natural means advocate, J.I. Rodale, the organics advocate, and Rachel Carson who of course led us to question the use of synthetic chemicals for insect and weed control. If these people and their methods aren’t already familiar to you, introduce yourself to their knowledge, and you will profit immensely.

When I heard that Dr. Gillman would speak at this year’s lecture, I re-read his book “How the Government Got in Your Backyard: Superweeds, Frankenfoods, Lawn Wars, and the (Nonpartisan) Truth about Environmental Policies” co-authored with Eric Heberlig. Like his lecture his book, though mostly of an organic mindset, seems to say that synthetic chemicals are necessary to feed the world community. Gillman states that “Without these pesticide applications, we would be left with only a fraction of the food that we currently grow.”  Maybe so, but isn’t it worth doing a little of your own gardening to insure your health and that of the environment? If we all grew our own, we might not have miles of grocery store shelves full of “cheap” corn and soybean by-products, the majority of which are downright dangerous to our health, considering their high fructose corn syrup, sodium and chemical content. With proper growing methods and the human power to grow food the right way no one will go hungry.

One of the most important topics this book points out is that even though the USDA produces the guidelines a grower must follow to achieve USDA certification, actual certification is provided by independent certifiers. That means that some of these independent agents may have stricter or more lenient standards than you as a consumer are expecting. In my opinion, this procedure negates the real legitimacy of the organic label. Therefore, know how your food is being grown and where it comes from and become your own independent certifier.

When it comes right down to it, good food takes a lot of effort and time-honored knowledge. ”Our food system depends on consumer ignorance,” as Michael Pollan says. “You can buy honestly priced food (home/locally grown) or irresponsibly priced food, (industrial/manufactured).” Know where your food comes from, how it is grown, and the real cost/benefit to your health, the economy and the environment.

Genetically modified organisms, GMOs, have been in the news a lot lately, and for good reason. Organic farmers object to the growing of GMO corn, soybeans, and alfalfa near their fields because of possible contamination of their crops and seed. Monsanto, a chemical company that produces GMO seeds, has been known to sue farmers for patent violations if such seeds find their way to an organic farm or if seeds are saved for the next planting. Here’s more from Michael Pollan.

A 2001 US Supreme Court decision allowed for the first time patents on living things. It was a decision with far-reaching effects on our food supply, our health, and on nature in general. Justice Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto attorney, wrote the majority opinion, which says, “newly developed plant breeds are patentable under the general utility patent laws of the United States.” And the company that owns the patent also owns the seeds. So patented GMO seeds are the property of Monsanto, even after they are sold to the farmer.

One of the features of Monsanto GMO seeds is that the plants they produce are “Roundup Ready.” That means they will tolerate a large amount of Roundup, the weed killer related to Agent Orange. Monsanto has sold Roundup worldwide by claiming that it breaks down in the environment and becomes harmless. Not true, according to investigators. The rate of breakdown is extremely variable depending on soils, microbial action, temperature, etc. Roundup is now found in groundwater, the air, even rainwater.

In the US 86% of corn, 93% of soybeans, and 95% of sugar beets are genetically modified. GMO alfalfa, grazed by and fed to dairy cows and beef cattle, was approved by the USDA in 2011 with no buffer zone requirements to protect neighboring farms. And these four crops are major sources of our food. Soy is consumed as soy cheese and soy milk, soy hot dogs, veggie burgers, soy oil, tofu, natto, tempeh, and, in the form of lecithin, as an emulsifier in foods. Corn is a primary ingredient in chips, Doritos, tostados, taco shells, corn oil, and breakfast cereals, and high fructose corn syrup is used in baked goods, ice cream, candy, and pop. Corn is a primary feed of chickens, pigs and cows. The US, under pressure from Big Ag, does not require GMO labeling of human food or animal feed as does the European Union.

While organic farmers are taking action, consumers also have concerns. Dr. Mercola has extensive information on his website. Of particular interest is his interview with Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus of plant pathology at Purdue University. Dr. Huber states that Roundup Ready plants produce food that is less nutritious and contains traces of the weed killer, which kills beneficial microbes in the human digestive system. The active ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate, which kills weeds and also the microbes in healthy soil. It is an endocrine disruptor and is believed to cause reproductive failure in livestock and in humans.

Because Dr. Huber has been so vocal, not only about his own research but also the control that Big Ag has over research funding, he has been targeted by Monsanto, but he’s not giving up. “GMOs” he says, “are like a virus. They don’t kill right away, but they do over time.”

Meanwhile, 828 scientists from around the world have signed an open letter warning of the dangers of GMOs. You can read it here: