The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will today hold a hearing on the nomination of Scott Hutchins to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary for research, education and economics.

245 organizations representing farming, farmworker, public health, labor, food safety and environmental interests sent a letter to the U.S. Senate today urging them to oppose the nomination of Scott Hutchins as chief scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Today, over 60 local officials from across the country have joined together to send a letter to the farm bill conference committee urging the rejection of a poison pill rider that would preempt local governments from setting their own restrictions on toxic pesticides.  

It is disappointing to see the EPA fail to recognize the overwhelming scientific evidence on neonics while countries around the world take decisive action to protect people and the planet.

These bee-killing pesticides pose a serious threat to public health, the environment, and our entire food system. We applaud the Canadian government for recognizing the overwhelming body of scientific evidence on neonics and phasing out these dangerous pesticides.

The Massachusetts legislature failed to pass legislation today that would restrict the use of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides. H. 4041, An Act to Protect Massachusetts Pollinators, would have restricted the use of neonics to licensed pesticide applicators only.

At a time of ecological crisis, this Farm Bill worsens the disastrous impacts of climate change, collapsing biodiversity and severely degrading soil, water and air.

Today farmworkers, students, public health, beekeeping, environmental, faith-based and consumer groups held a protest at Kroger’s (NYSE: KR) annual shareholder meeting, calling on the company to sign onto the Fair Food Program and commit to eliminate toxic pesticides from its supply chain.

If Kroger is serious about protecting pollinators, people and the planet, it must phase out the use of toxic pesticides on the food it sells and increase its domestic organic offerings.

Advocates argue that while the policy is a good first step - Kroger must do more to phase out pesticides in its supply chain on the food it sells.