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Separating the Grain from the Chaff in Agriculture & Food
Browsing All posts tagged under »GMO«
New MacDonald, Old Divisions?
March 2, 2015
Here's the real irony: campaigns like "New MacDonald" threaten to alienate the very people the organic sector needs most right now: farmers. In my opinion, it's time to start building bridges, not digging trenches.
End the Food Wars: Let’s Fight for Understanding Instead
February 10, 2015
What would our conversations about food and agriculture look like if we strove for mutual understanding rather than a conversion to our way of thinking? What if the loser of an argument was the one who had failed to gain any understanding or appreciation for the viewpoints of their opponent?
Has the “Food Movement” Become a Religious Cult?
November 24, 2014
I have a confession to make: in late August, I attended a conference sponsored by Big Ag. Wait, it gets worse…I went because I was invited to take part in a panel discussion. But that’s not all. One of my fellow panelists was a conventional farmer who grows thousands of acres of crops, many of […]
Feeding the World: Beyond the GMO/Organic Dichotomy
August 19, 2014
We should all recognize by now that “feeding the world” is much more a logistical and political challenge than an agricultural one. As a farmer, however, I spend a lot of time thinking about producing food economically, efficiently, and ecologically. Conventional wisdom dictates that genetically-engineered crops are a vital part of the overall solution, while organic […]
Organic Farming and Modern Technology: Friend or Foe?
June 27, 2014
I just listened to a recent interview with Julie Borlaug, associate director for external relations for the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M. Julie is the daughter of the scientist who is often referred to as the ‘father of the Green Revolution,” which saw the introduction, beginning in the late 1950s, of […]
Want to Move the GMO Discussion Forward? Label Them!
March 26, 2014
If your views tend toward the “pro-GMO” perspective, you’re the audience I had in mind when writing this piece. Here’s my thesis: I believe mandatory labels would be the best tool to provide clear, accurate and consistent information to consumers about foods containing, or derived from, genetically engineered crops and animals, and they would also […]
Deconstructing Don Huber – A Tale of Two Talks
January 10, 2014
This is a story of two talks, both of which are almost identical. It’s also the story of two people, both of whom are also the same person. What separates both are a couple of years, perspective gained, and perspective lost. I first heard Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at Purdue […]
An Organic Farmer Walks into Monsanto…
December 13, 2013
The story of how I came to be touring Monsanto starts back in late April and a blog post where I questioned the current tenor of the GMO debate. It caught the attention of Janice Person, a Social Media Director for Monsanto, who commented, “if you ever want to see what we do at Monsanto, I would love […]
GM Alfalfa Coexistence, Part 2: Assessing Practises
September 21, 2013
Shortly after I published my last blog post on GM Alfalfa Coexistence, a couple of people contacted me, wanting to know my reaction to the specifics of the Best Management Practices that were included as part of the plan. Of course, shortly after the post went up, it was also confirmed that the hay exported by […]
The Blog of Rob Wallbridge
Occasional posts on food, farming, and related topics from an organic farm in Western Quebec, Canada.
The Fanning Mill 
January 29, 2016
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