Center for Food Safety Calls for court decision on GE labeling delay

The U.S. Department of Agriculture missed its July 19 deadline to issue the genetically engineered food disclosure law, so the Center for Food Safety is asking a federal judge to force the agency to do so. The labeling law was passed in 2016, and the lawsuit regarding the missed deadline was filed Aug. 1. Read more at CenterforFoodSafety.org …

Meet the ‘fanatic’ breeding colored cotton, growing heirloom wheat, and building soil carbon

Sally Fox operates a biodynamic farm in Northern California. Inside her house, she spins yarn from the cotton she grows. Her interest and activism in the organic movement started as a child. Now, she is experimenting with growing naturally colored cotton. Read more at Civil Eats …

IBM AgroPad combines paper, AI and the cloud to analyze soil and water

IBM released this week its new AgroPad, designed to help farmers test their soil and water for acidity and various chemicals. With a smartphone and the special AgroPad paper, afarmer can obtain a detailed report and adjust his fertilizing plans. Read more at TheSpoon.tech …

Great Barrier Reef showing ‘signs of recovery’

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is showing “substantial signs of recovery” from a massive coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017, Tourism and Events Queensland has reported. The 2016 bleaching damaged or destroyed 30 percent of the reef’s shallow water coral, but even deep reefs can suffer damage from mass bleaching incidents. Read more at Bloomberg …

Meet the farmers of Manhattan

A 52-story New York City skyscraper is headquarters for the country’s biggest bank. But it’s also the home of a farmer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 850 supposed farmers who live in Manhattan received nearly $16 million in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2016. Read more at EWG.org …