Show-Me No Rice Pharming: An Overview of the Introduction of and Opposition to Genetically Engineered Pharmaceutical Crops in the United States

Farmers in California and Missouri have one thing in common- opposition to the production of genetically modified (GM) pharma crops.\u27 A pharmaceutical crop, or pharma crop, is a plant that has been genetically altered so that it produces proteins which are used as drugs. Pharmaceutical companies can then harvest the crop and isolate the proteins, which may be used to make human or veterinary drugs. Farmers\u27 fears include a variety of health and environmental hazards; in particular, they fear contamination of their regular crops and the associated market loss. These concerns surfaced in both states where Ventria Bioscience announced plans for production of pharma rice

Socially Disadvantaged Farmer Issues can be Addressed When Diverse Frontline Agricultural Workers Proactively Work Together

This paper focuses on socially disadvantaged farmers (SDFs) and civil rights issues as it relates to the USDA. It also deals with Diversity Initiatives in the 2008 Farm Bill, and discusses an assessment by Jackson Lewis LLC of the USDA’s efforts to deal with the diversity initiatives. Redacted USDA case studies examined at the 2010 Professional Agricultural Workers Conference at Tuskegee University are presented. The findings revealed that at that time the 2008 Farm Bill Initiatives were not effectively being implemented. It was recommended that the USDA should: keep making the effort to reform or improve its civil rights practices; be more customer-oriented; follow-up on clients; be transparent; and continue using 1890s, community-based organizations, and other outreach entities to reach SDFs

Socially Disadvantaged Farmer Issues can be Addressed When Diverse Frontline Agricultural Workers Proactively Work Together

This paper focuses on socially disadvantaged farmers (SDFs) and civil rights issues as it relates to the USDA. It also deals with Diversity Initiatives in the 2008 Farm Bill, and discusses an assessment by Jackson Lewis LLC of the USDA’s efforts to deal with the diversity initiatives. Redacted USDA case studies examined at the 2010 Professional Agricultural Workers Conference at Tuskegee University are presented. The findings revealed that at that time the 2008 Farm Bill Initiatives were not effectively being implemented. It was recommended that the USDA should: keep making the effort to reform or improve its civil rights practices; be more customer-oriented; follow-up on clients; be transparent; and continue using 1890s, community-based organizations, and other outreach entities to reach SDFs