U.S. backs down on trade dispute

FA Note: This arti­cle exem­pli­fies the use of inter­na­tion­al law and trade agree­ments to nul­li­fy U.S. sov­er­eign­ty and con­sumer pro­tec­tions. Fac­ing threat­ened retal­i­a­tion from Cana­da over “coun­try of ori­gin” meat labelling ruled unlaw­ful by the World Trade Orga­ni­za­tion, the U.S. Con­gress moved quick­ly on Wednes­day to start to repeal the require­ment. “In light of the World Trade […]

Western Ranchers Sustain Big Grazing Victory at Appeals Court

Two ranch­ing orga­ni­za­tions, an Ari­zona ranch, and an Ari­zona ranch­er today won a major vic­to­ry at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Cir­cuit when a three-judge pan­el affirmed a rul­ing by an Ari­zona fed­er­al dis­trict court that grant­ed them sum­ma­ry judg­ment over a demand by envi­ron­men­tal groups that graz­ing per­mits be revoked and […]

Chairman Conaway Supports Bill to Stop “Waters of the United States” Proposed Rule

Today, House Agri­cul­ture Com­mit­tee Chair­man K. Michael Conaway (R‑TX) spoke in sup­port of H.R. 1732, the Reg­u­la­to­ry Integri­ty Act of 2015. The bill, which would force the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engi­neers to stop mov­ing for­ward with the pro­posed “Waters of the Unit­ed States” rule, passed the House by a […]

NPS Ecological Mismanagement at Point Reyes: By Design?

The Nation­al Park Ser­vice (NPS) was able to shut down Drakes Bay Oys­ter Com­pa­ny at Point Reyes Nation­al Seashore by fal­si­fy­ing data about envi­ron­men­tal dam­age it claimed the oys­ter com­pa­ny caused. Now NPS is tar­get­ing ranch­ers for removal from Point Reyes. Here is the lat­est update on the NPS cam­paign. The op-ed below by Sarah Rolph […]

Joel Salatin’s Testimony on Food Freedom in Maine

Joel Salatin tes­ti­fied on April 30, 2015 before a leg­isla­tive com­mit­tee in favor of a state con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment in Maine on the Right to Food. Below is the text of his remarks. Sen­a­tor Edge­comb, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Hick­man, and oth­er dis­tin­guished mem­bers of the Joint Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Agri­cul­ture, Con­ser­va­tion and Forestry: my name is Joel Salatin […]

Here We Stand, At The Twilight’s Last Gleaming: “All Private Property Rights In The U.S. To Be Strategically Usurped”

Here We Stand, At The Twilight’s Last Gleam­ing” These words are writ­ten past the mid­night hour and I remem­ber back to March 23, 2010 when Oba­macare was signed into law at the 11th hour.  I remem­ber it well; I was up almost all night, as it was around 11 pm that it was fin­ished.  Never […]

Oyster Farmer: ‘We Are Terrified’ Of The Government

Drakes Bay Oys­ter Com­pa­ny oper­at­ed in Point Reyes for decades until Nation­al Park Ser­vice offi­cials used fal­si­fied data to force Kevin Lunny’s fam­i­­ly-run oys­ter farm to shut down. The expe­ri­ence has left its mark on Lun­ny: “We are ter­ri­fied,” he told law­mak­ers dur­ing a hear­ing Thurs­day. “Let me be clear, we did not fail as […]

Vermont Becomes First to Have Mandatory GMO Labeling

Will oth­er states dive in by 2016? After months of con­sumer and activist com­ments, pick­et­ing at the Attor­ney General’s Office, and win­ning a law­suit against Mon­san­to who tried to over­turn the orig­i­nal law, Ver­mont has just become the first state to have manda­to­ry GMO label­ing. Ver­mont became the first state to become GMO-labeled (a step toward […]