Organic & Beyond • Friends of the Earth United States

Organic & Beyond

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Friends of the Earth works to advance organic for all: for our health, our families and our communities; for the farmers and farmworkers who grow our food; for the land that provides us with nourishment, the pollinators that make food production possible and the climate and ecosystems that sustain all of life.

Science shows that organic agriculture can produce enough food to feed a growing world population while protecting our health and the environment.

Organic farming protects us from toxic pesticides, is more profitable for farmers and conserves the soil, water and biodiversity that we need to feed the world for generations to come. It is also a climate solution. In times of drought and flood, organic outperforms industrial agriculture. And compared with industrial farming, it conserves water, saves energy and captures more carbon in the soil.

The United States represents 43 percent of the global market for organic food, less than one percent of total U.S. cropland is devoted to organic farming. Expanding organic agriculture is a tremendous economic opportunity for American farmers and an important conservation strategy for our nation.

The science is clear: with agroecological methods of farming, like organic, we don’t have to rely on toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers to produce abundant food. That’s great news for people, pollinators and all living things. We know that the need for resilient, regenerative farming is more urgent than ever. Industrial agriculture costs the world an estimated $3 trillion annually in environmental damage, and climate change threatens future food security.

Latest News See All
New Policy: Major Grocery Retailer Whole Foods Market Addresses Toxic Pesticides to Protect Pollinators

Amid bee crisis, leading organic U.S. food retailer focuses pollinator policy on pesticides in supply chain.

New Scorecard Reveals U.S. Food Retailers Fail to Protect Bees and Biodiversity

The 2023 Bee-Friendly Retailer Scorecard  tracks what the largest US grocery retailers are doing to address toxic pesticides in supply chains.

Connecticut Bans Brain-Damaging Chlorpyrifos

This bill will keep chlorpyrifos out of places that directly affect our communities, and provide safeguards for bees and other pollinators.

Latest Blog Posts See All
It’s time for Kroger to step up to help save the bees
It’s time for Kroger to step up to help save the bees

Without pollinators, grocery stores would run short of a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables, nuts, beans, and delicious favorites like chocolate and coffee.

The human cost of a perfect lawn
The human cost of a perfect lawn

Every year, 80 million pounds of pesticides are used on U.S. lawns to maintain attractive, lush greenery. In many cities across the country, Latinx immigrant workers are the primary labor force responsible for lawn care.

Three ways to support a resilient and just food system during the COVID-19 pandemic
Three ways to support a resilient and just food system during the COVID-19 pandemic

As farmers face the new crisis of the pandemic, we must come together to demand that federal stimulus funding and future farm policies support small and mid-scale farmers across the country who are supporting resilient and regenerative local and regional food systems.

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Featured Resources See All
  • Organic for All: Results of the Organic Diet Biomonitoring Study
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  • Bayer-Monsanto Merger: Big Data, Big Agriculture, Big Problems
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  • Farming for the Future: Organic and Agroecological Solutions to Feed the World
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Resources See All
  • 2023 Bee-Friendly Supermarket Scorecard
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  • Genetically Engineered Soil Microbes: Risks and Concerns
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  • Pesticides and Soil Health
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