Over a half million students statewide offered farm-fresh, local food last year

MINNEAPOLIS – Schools serving over 558,000 students—or more than 68 percent of the state’s K-12 student population—are now engaged in Farm to School according to a pair of surveys released today by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the Minnesota School Nutrition Association (MSNA).

New study highlights need to regulate arsenic in food

MINNEAPOLIS – Dr. David Wallinga, senior advisor for science, food and health at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), issued this statement following the release of a new study published online from Environmental Health Perspectives which found arsenic in infant formula and cereal bars.

Minnesota businesses plan for future in green chemistry

MINNEAPOLIS – Over 200 business owners, entrepreneurs and green chemistry advocates will come together for the second annual Minnesota Green Chemistry Conference tomorrow, co-hosted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy (CSTPP).

FDA finally acts to ban unapproved use in food animals of critical human antibiotics

Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) today applauded the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for prohibiting some off-label or “extralabel” use of cephalosporin antibiotics in food-producing animals, more than three years after that order was first issued but withdrawn.

Climate Smart Agriculture and carbon markets will be a disaster for Africa

This was issued as a joint press release by the Gaia Foundation, African Biodiversity Network (ABN) and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy during the Durban UNFCCC climate talks.

Civil society calls on African negotiators to reject carbon markets for agriculture

 

Talking Turkey: Stuffing, Cranberries, Sweet Potatoes and…Arsenic?

Washington, D.C., November 22 – Nearly 88 percent of Americans surveyed by the National Turkey Federation eat turkey at Thanksgiving, but most will be blissfully unaware of what their turkey may have eaten—arsenic.

A Risky Proposition. Crop Insurance in the Face of Climate Change

Recent Farm Bill Bill proposals to expand crop insurance for U.S. farmers have failed to acknowledge threats to agriculture from climate change. Not including climate adaption for agriculture at the same time could threaten food security and farmers livelihoods and increase costs for taxpayers.

Weak CFTC position-limit rule ineffective, unsound says IATP

Today’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)  3-2 vote to pass a weak position-limit rule will not suffice to prevent excessive speculation that has roiled commodity prices since at least 2006, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

IATP applauds ethanol producer POET’s move to antibiotic-free ethanol production

POET, the world’s largest ethanol producer, announced Monday the launch of an antibiotic-free ethanol production process in select plants. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) applauded the initiative, and called for the rest of the ethanol industry to remove antibiotics from their production.