Originally published in The Hill newspaper America wouldn’t be America without hemp. The sails on ships of discovery were made from hemp, the canvas that covered wagon trains were made from hemp. Our forefathers were hemp growers, even the original farm upon whose land the Pentagon building now stands grew hemp, and while the claim that the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper is questionable, a new farmer’s declaration of independence from unwarranted govern

Originally published in The Hill newspaper Since 1981, the Rodale Institute, America’s oldest organic research institute, has conducted North America’s longest side-by-side farming systems trial: comparing organic, conventional and, for the last handful of years, GMO agriculture, collecting data on yields, economics, nutrition, soil health and energy. The foundation of organic agriculture is not only the absence of the use of toxic chemicals in food production, it's also the

Yesterday the White House and USDA hosted a meeting with food, agriculture and data industry officials in an attempt to encourage innovation to stem the effects of climate change on agriculture and food production. Beyond "stemming" the effects of climate change on agriculture however, the way we produce food has the potential to substantially address and even reverse many of the root causes driving climate change. Here's how: The overall global food system -- including land-