1. I use the phrase “grown with synthetic chemicals” to mean all farming that uses man-made chemicals such as fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides to manage the production of crops.
2. Organic agriculture, as defined by the USDA, is food grown without the use of man-made chemicals, without seeds that have been genetically modified, without the use of irradiation or sewage sludge, and, for animals, without hormones or antibiotics.
1. Andrew C. Martel, “Cases of Lead-Tainted Wells Climb in North Whitehall,” Morning Call, December 26, 2008, B5; Martel, “EPA Finds Elevated Arsenic, Lead Levels,” Morning Call, March 3, 2009, B1; Martel, “EPA Studies Options for Removing Lead-, Arsenic-Tainted Soil,” Morning Call, March 11, 2009, B1.
2. John D. Meeker et al., “Cadmium, Lead, and Other Metals in Relation to Semen Quality: Human Evidence for Molybdenum as a Male Reproductive Toxicant,” Environmental Health Perspectives 116 (2008): 1473-79.
3. PediatricAsthma.org, “The Burden of Children's Asthma: What Asthma Costs Nationally, Locally, and Personally,” http://www.pediatricasthma.org/about/asthma_burden.
4. American Academy of Allergy and Asthma Immunology, “Asthma Statistics,” http://www.aaaai.org/media/statistics/asthma-statistics.asp.
5. Ibid.
6. NASA Earth Observatory, “The Carbon Cycle,” http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle.
7. The Royal Society of Medicine Health Encyclopedia. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 2000. s.v. “carbon dioxide,”http://www.credoreference.com/entry/rsmhealth/carbon_dioxide.
8. Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous form of charcoal created by a process in which plant and animal wastes are burned. Because the process bypasses normal decomposition and also acts as a fertilizer, biochar is useful in sequestering soil carbon. International Biochar Initiative, “What Is Biochar?” http://www.biochar-international.org/biochar.
9. “Cap and trade” is a term used to describe emissions trading, in which a regulatory authority sets a limit, or “cap,” on the amount of carbon a company can release into the environment in a single year. The company is given a certain number of credits annually, and if it doesn't use them by the end of the year, it can sell those credits on the open market. Companies that exceed their limits must purchase credits from companies that have produced fewer emissions. S. George Philander, ed., Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change: Volume 1 (London: Sage, 2008), 364.
10. Novecta, “Charting a New Direction for Agriculture,” http://www.novecta.com.
11. Carlin Flora, “Cult of Clean,” Psychology Today, September/October 2008, 93-99.
12. United States Geological Survey, “Water Science for Schools: Irrigation Water Use,” http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wuir.html.
13. Robert J. Diaz and Rutger Rosenberg, “Spreading Dead Zones and Consequences for Marine Ecosystems,” Science 321 (August 2008): 928-29.
14. Ibid.
15. Courtney D. Kozul et al., “Low-Dose Arsenic Compromises the Immune Response to Influenza A Infection in Vivo,” Environmental Health Perspectives 117 (2009): 1441-47.
16. American Academy of Allergy and Asthma Immunology, “Asthma Statistics.” See note 4.
17. Agricultural Health Study, “AHS Scientists Begin Study of Lung Health,”Iowa Study Update 2008, http://aghealth.nci.nih.gov/pdfs/IAStudyUpdate2008.pdf.
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs),” http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html.
2. Liz Szabo, “Food Allergies in Kids Soar,” USA Today, October 23, 2008, 7D.
3. Alice Park, “The Year in Medicine 2008: America's Health Checkup,” Time, December 1, 2008, 41-51.
4. Global News Services, “USDA Halts Pesticide Testing,” Morning Call, October 1, 2008, A8.
5. Mount Sinai, “Children's Environmental Health Center: Environmental Toxins,” www.mountsinai.org/Patient%20Care/Service%20Areas/Children/Procedures%20and%20Health%20Care%20Services/CEHC%20Home/Environmental%20Toxins.
6. O. P. Soldin et al., “Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Exposure to Pesticides,” Therapeutic Drug Monitoring 31 (2009): 495-501.
7. Newswire, “FDA Supports Ban on Antibiotic Use for Growth Promotion, Feed Efficiency in Animals,” States News Service, July 19, 2009.
8. Iman Naseri, Robert C. Jerris, and Steven E. Sobol, “Nationwide Trends in Pediatric Staphylococcus aureus Head and Neck Infections,” Archives of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery 135 (2009): 14-16.
9. Shuaihua Pu, Feifei Han, and Beilei Ge, “Isolation and Characterization of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains from Louisiana Retail Meats,” Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75 (2009): 265-67.
10. Margaret Mellon, “Testimony Before the House Committee on Rules on the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act H.R. 1549,” July 13, 2009, http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/july-2009-pamta-testimony.pdf.
11. Stephanie Woodard, “The Superbug in Your Supermarket,” Prevention, August 2009,102-109.
12. “EPA Completes Reregistration of Controversial Antibacterial Triclosan,” Pesticides and You 28 (2008-2009): 4.
13. Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis et al., “Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement,” Endocrine Reviews 30 (2009): 293-342, http://www.endo-society.org/journals/ScientificStatements/upload/EDC_Scientific_Statement.pdf.
14. Harvey Karp, “Cracking the Autism Riddle: Toxic Chemicals, A Serious Suspect in the Autism Outbreak,” Huffington Post, June 30, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-karp/cracking-the-autism-riddl_b_221202.html.
15. Melonie Heron et al., “Deaths: Final Data for 2006,” National Vital Statistics Reports 57, no. 14 (2009).
16. Devra Davis, The Secret History of the War on Cancer (New York: Basic Books, 2007), 4.
17. Agricultural Health Study, “Important Findings from the Agricultural Health Study,” http://aghealth.nci.nih.gov/results.html.
18. Agricultural Health Study, “Pesticides May Increase the Risk of Diabetes,” Iowa Study Update 2008, http://aghealth.nci.nih.gov/pdfs/IAStudyUpdate2008.pdf.
19. T. Edward Nickens, “Who Turned Out the Lights: Firefly Populations Appear to Be Dwindling. The Question Is Why,” Garden and Gun, August/September 2009, 30-31.
20. Diamanti-Kandarakis, “ Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.”
21. Matthew D. Anway et al., “Epigenetic Transgenerational Actions of Endocrine Disruptors and Male Fertility,” Science 308 (2005): 1466-69.
22. Leon John Olson et al., “Aldicarb Immunomodulation in Mice: An Inverse Dose-Response to Parts per Billion Levels in Drinking Water,” Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 16 (1987): 433-39.
23. Ibid.
24. Wade V. Welshons et al., “Large Effects from Small Exposures: I. Mechanisms for Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals with Estrogenic Activity” Environmental Health Perspectives 111 (2003): 994-1006.
25. US Environmental Protection Agency, “2,4-D RED Facts,” June 30, 2005, http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/24d_fs.htm.
26. Tyrone B. Hayes et al., “Characterization of Atrazine-Induced Gonadal Malformations in African Clawed Frogs (Xenopus laevis) and Comparisons with Effects of an Androgen Antagonist (Cyproterone Acetate) and Exogenous Estrogen (17beta-Estradiol): Support for the Demasculinization/Feminization Hypothesis,” Environmental Health Perspectives 114 Suppl 1 (2006): 134-41.
27. US Environmental Protection Agency, “Decision Documents for Atrazine,” April 6, 2006, http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/atrazine_combined_docs.pdf.
28. Natural Resources Defense Council, “EPA Making Illegal, Secret Agreements with Pesticide Makers, Threatening Public Health, Lawsuit Charges,” news release, February 17, 2005, http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressre-leases/050217.asp.
29. Mae Wu et al., “Atrazine: Poisoning the Well: How the EPA Is Ignoring Atrazine Contamination in the Central United States,” August 2009, http://www.nrdc.org/health/atrazine.
30. US Environmental Protection Agency, “Atrazine Updates,” November 23, 2009, http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/atrazine/atrazine_update.htm.
31. Wu et al., “Atrazine: Poisoning the Well.”
32. A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic characteristics have been altered by the insertion of a modified gene or a gene from another organism using the techniques of genetic engineering. The American Heritage Medical Dictionary (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007). s.v. “genetically modified organism.”
33. Monsanto, “Company History,” http://www.monsanto.com/who_we_are/history.asp.
34. USDA Economic Research Service, “Data Sets: Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.,” July 1, 2009, http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/biotechcrops.
35. US Environmental Protection Agency, “Consumer Factsheet on: Glyphosate,” http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/contaminants/dw_contamfs/glyphosa.html.
36. Caroline Cox, “Herbicide Factsheet: Glyphosate,” Journal of Pesticide Reform 24 (Winter 2004): 10-15; Lance P. Walsh et al., “Roundup Inhibits Steroidogenesis by Disrupting Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory (StAR) Protein Expression,” Environmental Health Perspectives 108 (2000): 769-76.
37. Beyond Pesticides, “Scientists Call for ‘Inert’ Ingredient Disclosure,” Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog, January 23, 2007, http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=11.
38. American Academy of Environmental Medicine, “Genetically Modified Foods,” May 8, 2009, http://www.aaemonline.org/gmopost.html.
39. Brian Halweil, “Still No Free Lunch: Nutrient Levels in U.S. Food Supply Eroded by Pursuit of High Yields,” Organic Center Critical Issue Report, September 2007, http://www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/Yield_Nutrient_Density_Final.pdf.
40. “The Year in Medicine 2008: Genetically Modified Foods: China Has the World Worried,” Time, December 1, 2008, 60.
1. Deborah Koons Garcia, director, The Future of Food (Mill Valley, CA: Lily Films, 2004).
2. Many people believe that GMOs are just modern versions of hybrid seeds, but that is not the case. Hybrid seeds are created by manually manipulating pollen from plants that might not otherwise mate. GMOs are created by using a special gun to manually insert fragments of one or more separate species’ DNA into that of plant seeds.
3. Based upon estimates by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2007,” ISAAA Brief 37-2007 Executive Summary, http://www.isaaa.org/Resources/publications/briefs/37/executivesummary/default.html
4. Stated by an Iowa farmer in a focus group meeting.
5. David S. G. Thomas and Andrew Goudie, The Dictionary of Physical Geography (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000), s.v. “salinization.”
6. Charles Benbrook, “Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use: The First Thirteen Years,” Organic Center Critical Issue Report, November 2009, http://www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/13Years20091126_FullReport.pdf.
7. Todd R. Callaway et al., “Diet, Escherichia coli 0157:H7, and Cattle: A Review after 10 Years,” Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, April 15, 2009 (6): 67-80.
8. Carolyn Lochhead, “Crops, Ponds Destroyed in Quest for Food Safety,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 2009, A1.
9. Colin McClelland, “Farmer Loses Battle in Biotech Dispute,” Associated Press, May 24, 2004.
10. Paul Elias, “Enforcing Single-Season Seeds, Monsanto Sues Farmers,” Associated Press, January 13, 2005.
11. Olivia Judson, Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), 1-3.
12. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steel, “Monsanto's Harvest of Fear,” Vanity Fair, May 2008, 156-70.
13. Comment heard in a farmer focus group meeting.
14. USDA Economic Research Service, “Table 4: Certified Organic Producers, Pasture, and Cropland,” Data Sets: Organic Production, September 9, 2009, http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/organic/Data/PastrCropbyState.xls.
15. Chris Kenning, “Kentucky Goes After ‘Marijuana Belt’ Growers,” USA Today, September 30, 2007, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-30-kentucky_N.htm.
16. Ashfaque Swapan, “We Are at a Watershed: Vandana Shiva,” India West, October 29, 2008, B1.
17. An article in New Scientist presented the results of a study disputing the facts and figures on Indian farmer suicides. However, the study was conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), whose mission is to bring “better seeds” to the Third World. (By the way, “better seeds” is generally a euphemism for GMO seeds. At the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, I even heard Bill Gates use the term in explaining how he was going to spend his billions to help bring “better seeds” to developing countries.) IFPRI is supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (http://cgiar.org), which is a major recipient of funding from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. Andy Coghlan, “GM Cotton in the Clear Over Farmer Suicides,” New Scientist, November 6, 2008, 14.
18. Beverly D. McIntyre et al., eds., International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD): Global Report (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2009).
19. Deborah Keith, “Why Walking Out Was Our Only Option,” New Scientist, April 8, 2008, 17-8.
20. Ibid.
21. “Arvind's Organic Cotton Project Saves Farmers from Suicide,” Economic Times, May 13, 2008.
1. Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Years 1799-1804, Volume I (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1852).
2. Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (New York: Viking, 2005).
3. Francis J. Peryea, “Historical Use of Lead Arsenate Insecticides, Resulting Soil Contamination and Implications for Soil Remediation,” Proceedings of the 16th World Congress of Soil Sciences, Montpellier, France, August 20-26, 1998.
4. Will Allen, War on Bugs (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2008), xxviii.
5. Ibid., 22.
6. Ibid., 35.
7. Justus Liebig, Organic Chemistry in Its Applications to Agriculture and Physiology (Cambridge, MA: John Owen, 1841), 149.
8. Allen, War on Bugs, 37.
9. Diarmuid Jeffreys, Hell's Cartel: IG Farben and the Making of Hitler's War Machine (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2008), 40.
10. Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, eds., American Authors, 1600-1900 (New York: H. W. Wilson, 1938).
11. Richard A. Wines, Fertilizer in America: From Waste Recycling to Resource Exploitation (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985), 34.
12. Jimmy M. Skaggs, The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), 4.
13. Wines, Fertilizer in America, 35.
14. Skaggs, Great Guano Rush, 2.
15. Allen, War on Bugs, 27.
16. Skaggs, Great Guano Rush, 9.
17. Skaggs, Great Guano Rush, 14.
18. “Guano Islands Act,” Travel and History, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1047.html.
19. Allen, War on Bugs, 28.
20. Skaggs, Great Guano Rush, 160.
21. Wines, Fertilizer in America, 48)
22. George Vaughan Dyke, John Lawes of Rothamsted: Pioneer of Science, Farming and Industry (Harpenden: Hoos, 1993), 89.
23. Royal Society (Great Britain), “The Founders of the Rothamsted Agricultural Station: A Sketch of the Life and Work of Sir John Bennet Lawes, Bart., F.R.S., and Sir J. Henry Gilbert, F.R.S.,” Obituary Notices of the Royal Society of London, http://www.archive.org/details/foundersofrotham00royarich.
24. Dyke John Lawes of Rothamsted, 90.
25. Wines, Fertilizer in America, 86-87.
26. Allen, War on Bugs, xxv.
27. Beyond Pesticides, “USDA and EPA Pushing Coal Ash for Agriculture Despite Toxicity Uncertainty,” Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog, October 20, 2009, http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=2571.
28. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, This Is DuPont: The Story of Farm Chemicals (Wilmington, DE: E. I. du Pont de Nemours, n.d.).
29. Jeffreys, Hell's Cartel, 44-46.
30. Ibid., 89.
31. Allen, War on Bugs, 52-55; Fred Aftalion, A History of the International Chemical Industry, Chemical Sciences in Society Series (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), 252.
32. Allen, War on Bugs, 83.
33. Michael A. Kamrin, ed., Pesticide Profiles: Toxicity, Environmental Impact, and Fate (New York: Lewis, 1997); Syngenta, Syngenta Crop Protection, http://www.syngentacropprotection.com.
34. Allen, War on Bugs, 107.
35. Dietrich Stoltzenberg, “Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew,” Croatica Chemica Acta 78 (2005): A17-19.
36. Peter Hayes, Industry and Ideology: IG Farben in the Nazi Era (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 361.
37. Jeffreys, Hell's Cartel, 267
38. Ibid., 278.
39. Daniel Charles, Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food (Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2001), 8.
40. Peryea, “Historical Use of Lead Arsenate Insecticides.”
41. “Arsenic in Chicken Feed May Pose Health Risks to Humans,” ScienceDaily.com, April 10, 2007, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070409115746.htm.
42. Allen, War on Bugs, 175.
43. Ibid., 147.
44. Cargill, “Our History,” February 11, 2009, http://cargill.com/company/history/index.jsp.
45. Charles Wheelan, Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), 36.
46. “George Washington,” Ohio History Central, July 1, 2005, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=4.
1. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, “Grants Received During 2006,” Plant and Soil Sciences 2, no. 2 (2006): 5-6.
2. Andrew Pollack, “Crop Scientists Say Biotechnology Seed Companies Are Thwarting Research,” New York Times, February 20, 2009, B3.
3. Notice the language in this article in my local paper describing the group comprised of Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, Deere and Company, and DuPont (the italics are mine): “Organizers of the newly formed Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy said Thursday they want to change the debate about biofuels. Their plan is to convince consumers and politicians that both goals can be met at once by increasing agricultural productivity.” Christopher Leonard, “Biofuels Lobby Is Formed,” Morning Call, July 25, 2008, E2.
4. Keystone Center, “Diverse Group Releases First-of-Its-Kind Report Measuring Agriculture Sustainability,” news release, January 12, 2009.
5. David J. Morrow, “Rise, and Fall, of Life Sciences; Drugmakers Scramble to Unload Agricultural Units,” New York Times, January 20, 2000.
6. Leah Zerbe, “Media Miss Major Global Warming Contributor,” Rodale.com, November 18, 2008, http://www.rodale.com/food-and-global-warming.
7. I. R. Dohoo et al., “A Meta-Analysis Review of the Effects of Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin: 1. Methodology and Effects on Production,” Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research 67 (2003): 241-51; and I. R. Dohoo et al., “A Meta-Analysis Review of the Effects of Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin: 2. Effects on Animal Health, Reproductive Performance, and Culling,” Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research 67 (2003): 252-64.
8. Andrew Martin, “Fighting on a Battlefield the Size of a Milk Label,” New York Times, March 9, 2008, B7.
9. Katie Zezima, “Organic Dairies Watch the Good Times Turn Bad,” New York Times, May 28, 2009, A12.
10. Jeffreys, Hell's Cartel, 41.
11. E. I. du Pont de Nemours, This Is DuPont, 30.
12. Andrew F. Smith, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 351.
13. Wheelan, Naked Economics, 224.
14. Alessandra Rizzo, “UN: World Hunger Reaches 1 Billion Mark,” Associated Press, June 20, 2009.
15. Tyron Richardson, “The Land Barge Is Back,” Morning Call, January 21, 2009, A1.
16. Comment heard in a farmer focus group meeting.
17. Al Gore, Our Choice (Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2009), 121.
18. Alex Crippen, “Warren Buffett and the Perils of Swimming Naked,” CNBC.com, August 6, 2007, http://www.cnbc.com/id/20147026.
19. USDA Economic Research Service, History of Agricultural Price-Support and Adjustment Programs, 1933-84: Background for 1985 Farm Legislation, Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 485, December 1984.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Earl L. Butz, “Crisis or Challenge?” Nation's Agriculture 46, no. 6 (1971): 19.
25. Vernon P. Grubinger, “Organic Vegetable Production and How It Relates to LISA,” HortScience 27 (1992): 733-61.
26. J. Heckman, “A History of Organic Farming: Transitions from Sir Albert Howard's War in the Soil to USDA National Organic Program,” Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 21 (2006): 143-50.
27. “Agribusiness Works to Define Sustainable Agriculture,”Environmental Leader, July 8, 2009, http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/07/08/agribusiness-works-to-define-sustainable-agriculture.
28. Philip Mattera, USDA Inc: How Agribusiness Has Hijacked Regulatory Policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC: Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, 2004).
29. Bradley S. Klapper, “UN Expert Faults US, EU Biofuel Use in Food Crisis,” AP Worldstream, September 10, 2008.
30. Jeff Etchason, “Advancing Medical Technology and Declining Health” (presentation, Lehigh Valley Hospital Network, Allentown, PA, March 4, 2009).
31. Deborah Koons Garcia, director, The Future of Food (Mill Valley, CA: Lily Films, 2004); Marie-Monique Robin, director, The World According to Monsanto (Arte France Video, 2008).
32. “Green Shoots: No Matter How Bad Things Get, People Still Need to Eat,” Economist, March 21, 2009, 390.
33. “Court: US Can Block Mad Cow Testing,” Morning Call, September 1, 2008, A10.
34. Organic Farming Research Foundation, “About Organic,” http://ofrf.org/resources/organicfaqs.html.
35. Tara Parker-Pope, “For 3 Never-Easy Years, Every Bite Organic,” New York Times, December 2, 2008, D5.
36. Wheelan, Naked Economics, 52.
1. Lord Northbourne, Look to the Land (Hillsdale, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2003), 58.
2. USacreage: “Data Sets: Organic Production,” http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/ Organic; global acreage: Helga Willer, Minou Yussefi-Menzler, and Neil Sorensen, eds., The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2008 (Bonn, Germany: International Federation of Agriculture Movements and Frick, Switzerland: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, 2008), 26.
3. According to the USDA, the number of women farmers increased by 29 percent nationally between 2002 and 2007. Arlene Martinez and Scott Kraus, “More Women Drawn to Farming,” Morning Call, March 15, 2009, B1.)
4. A roller-crimper, or cover-crop roller, is a tractor extension that was invented by the farmers at the Rodale Institute. In one pass, the roller-crimper mats down the cover crop and a rear-mounted Monosem no-till seed drill plants the seed. For more information, see http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/introducing_a_cover_crop_roller.
5. “Composting is, in broadest terms, the biological reduction of organic wastes to humus. Whenever a plant or animal dies, its remains are attacked by soil microorganisms and larger soil fauna and are eventually reduced to an earthlike substance that forms a beneficial growing environment for plant roots. This process, repeated continuously in endless profusion and in every part of the world where plants grow, is part of the ever-recurring process that supports all plant life.” Deborah L. Martin and Grace Gershuny, eds., The Rodale Book of Composting (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1992), 1.
6. A swale is a low-lying or shallow depression in the land.
7. Organic Farming Research Foundation, “Organic Provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill,” May 20, 2008, http://ofrf.org/policy/federal_legislation/farm_bill/080520_update.pdf.
8. Northbourne, Look to the Land, 59.
9. J. I. Rodale, Organic Merry-Go-Round (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books, 1954), 6-7.
10. Henk van den Berg, “Global Status of DDT and Its Alternatives for Use in Vector Control to Prevent Disease,” Environmental Health Perspectives 117 (2009): 1656-63.
11. Heckman, “A History of Organic Farming.”
1. David Pimentel et al., “Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems,” BioScience 55 (2005): 573-82.
2. “Finding the Real Potential of No-Till Farming for Sequestering Carbon,” ScienceDaily.com, May 7, 2008, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506103032.htm.
3. Don Comis, “No Shortcuts in Checking Soil Health,” Agricultural Research 55, no. 6 (2007): 4-5.
4. David R. Higgins and John P. Reganold, “No-Till: The Quiet Revolution,” Scientific American, July 2008, 70-7.
5. This fact was confirmed by farmers who participated in our focus groups.
6. Chensheng Lu et al., “Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children's Dietary Exposure to Organophosphorus Pesticides,” Environmental Health Perspectives 114 (2006): 260-3.
7. Kai Ryssdal, “Using Technology to Grow More Food,” interview with Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant, Marketplace, America Public Media, August 20, 2008, http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/20/corner_office_grant.
8. Andrew Martin, “How Green Is My Orange?” New York Times, January 22, 2009, B1.
9. World Resources Institute, World Resources 2005: The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty, September 2005, http://www.wri.org/publication/content/7957.
10. International Union for Conservation of Nature, “Wildlife Crisis Worse Than Economic Crisis—IUCN,” news release, July 2, 2009, http://www.iucn.org/?3460/Wildlife-crisis-worse-than-economic-crisis—IUCN.
11. Chensheng Lu, et al., “Dietary intake and its contribution to longitudinal organophosphorus pesticide exposure in urban/suburban children,” Environmental Health Perspectives, April 2008, 116(4):537-42; Chensheng Lu, et al. “Organic diets significantly lower children's dietary exposure to organophosphorus pesticides.” Environmental Health Perspectives, February 2006, 114(2):260-63.
12. Daniel A. Maraño, “Nature's Bounty: Soil Salvation,” Psychology Today, September/October 2008, 57.
1. S. A. Khan, et al., “The Myth of Nitrogen Fertiliztion for Soil Carbon Sequestration,”Journal of Environmental Quality 36 (2007):1821-1832.
2. R. L. Mulvaney, et al., “Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers Depelete Soil Nitrogen: A Global Dilemma for Sustainable Cereal Production,” Journal of Environmental Quality 38 (2009):2295-2314.
3. Grist.org, “New Research: Synthetic Nitrogen Destorys Soil Carbon, Undermines Soil Health,” www.grist.org/article/2010-02-23-new-research-synthetic-nitrogen-destroys-soil-carbon-undermines-”
4. C. J. A. Bradshaw. X. Giam, and N. S. Sodhi, “Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries.” PLoS ONE 5(2010): e10440. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010440
5. www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/bp-oil-spill-timeline-deepwater-horizon
6. Reuters, “Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Overlaps BP Spill Zone.” www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6713YZ20100802
7. NASA Global Climate Change, “How Warm Was This Summer?” http://climate.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction-ShowNews&NewsID=409
8. NASA Global Climate Change, “Carbon Dioxide Concentration,” http://climate.nasa.gov/keyIndicators/index.cfm Carbon Dioxide
9. A. Paganelli, et al., “Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling,”Chemical research in toxicology. 2010 Aug 9. [Epub ahead of print] Abstract of Clinical Research in Toxicology (Online 9 Aug. 2010; DOI: 10.1021/tx1001749).
10. Croplife.com, “Poll: Farmers Taking Action Against Glyphosate Resistance,” http://www.croplife.com/news/?storyid=2886
11. Environmental Health News, “Insecticide to Be Banned—Three Decades after Tainted Melons Sickened 20,000 People,” www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/aldicarb-phaseout
12. Karen Kaplan, “Organic Strawberries Are Better—In Some Ways—Researchers Say,” LA Times, September 2, 2010
13. Rodale Institute, “Drought Tolerance Critical, Say DuPont and Monsanto. We Couldn't Agree More.” www.rodaleinstitute.org/20100827_drought-tolerance-critical