Native Cactus of Texas

Maj. Chester William Kulas, USAF Ret. of Dallas died at his home on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. He was born in Cheshire, MA on September 4, 1932. Chester Kylas served 20 years in the United States Air Force. He found his passion with Texas Native landscape and gardening where he started a small landscape company. He believed in an organic, non-toxic environmental care approach, taking care of residential and commercial properties in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. TOFGA takes this time to honor Chester for his national service and environmental stewardship. Full Obituary Online

Foliar Late Blight

Late Blight Management on Organic Farms: 2010 3 hour Webinar now available online

GREENFIELD, Mass. (May 6, 2010)—. The President’s Cancer Panel Report released today exhorts consumers to choose food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers , antibiotics, and growth hormones to help decrease their exposure to environmental chemicals that can increase their risk of contracting cancer. Organic products avoid the use of these chemicals.

“Exposure to pesticides can be decreased by choosing, to the extent possible, food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers…Similarly, exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, and toxic run-off from livestock feed lots can be minimized by eating free-range meat raised without these medications,” according to the landmark report, “Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now,” submitted to President Obama by Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr., an oncologist and professor of surgery at Howard University, and Dr. Margaret L. Kripke, an immunologist at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Read the complete press release here and download the report here

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Agriculture Department has failed to enforce penalties against some who falsely marketed foods as organic, according to an internal department investigation.

A report by the agency’s inspector general says the agency needs to step up enforcement of those who sell products under the “USDA Organic” label but do not meet government standards to do so. The report says the department has made improvements in maintaining the integrity of the organic program in recent years, but needs to better handle complaints about potential violators.

Oversight of the organic program has become more important and more scrutinized as the industry has exploded in popularity over the last decade, growing 14 to 21 percent annually with sales of $24.6 billion in 2008. As more companies have vied to be part of the business, critics have charged that the government has not been restrictive enough in what it allows to be labeled as organic.

The internal report says the department has failed to monitor some companies it had already identified as improperly marketing their products as organic. In one case, the department never issued enforcement action against an operation that had marketed non-organic mint under the department’s label for two years.

Enforcement action can simply be an agreement to correct the problem or can be more severe, including revocation of an operation’s organic certification or cash penalties. In some cases, the report said, it took up to 32 months for the department to issue enforcement action while the companies continued to falsely market their products.

The report also said the department was not processing complaints about the program fast enough and that agents charged with certifying organic operations were not following consistent rules.

USDA official Rayne Pegg, who heads the agency that oversees the program, said the Obama administration has already proposed a budget increase to deal with some of the deficiencies. She said the department is working to improve the program.

The internal report “underscores the necessity for the reforms we have enacted and those currently under way,” she said.

The administration has pledged to step up oversight of organics, as critics have argued that the agency’s definitions are not tailored narrowly enough and that some products are organic in name only.

The department, for instance, announced last month new rules aimed to increase the amount of time livestock graze on pasture to qualify for an organic meat or dairy label.

In announcing the new standards, Kathleen Merrigan, deputy agriculture secretary and long time advocate of organics, called the new rules a “down payment” on future reforms of organic practices.

One constant critic of the organic program, Mark Kastel of the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, said he is satisfied with the agency’s response to the problems. The group had requested an audit of the program.

“The organic label is still the gold standard for families seeking the safest and most nutritious food,” Kastel said. “We need to work earnestly to make sure that it continues to deserve the trust of consumers.”

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

Download the entire report here.

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