Ronnie Cummins

Ronnie Cummins is a veteran activist, author, and organizer. He is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association and its Mexico affiliate, Via Organica.
Articles by this author
![]() |
Views Sunday, November 05, 2017 How Regenerative Food and Farming Can Reverse Rural Poverty and Forced Migration in the Americas One of the most politically charged debates today, especially in the U.S. and Europe, is the so-called “immigration crisis.” There are approximately 250 million (3 percent of the world’s 7.6 billion people) migrants in the world today. About 20 percent, or 47 million of those, live in the U.S... Read more |
![]() |
Views Tuesday, October 24, 2017 Global Warming ‘Costing Taxpayers Billions.’ Here’s How to Fix It. Another report sounding the alarm about climate change. Another missed opportunity to talk about the most promising solution: regenerative agriculture. The New York Times yesterday cited a new report by the notoriously conservative Government Accountability Office (GAO), which said “climate change... Read more |
![]() |
Views Tuesday, July 25, 2017 Dirty Dairy: Why Consumers Need to Force Ben and Jerry's to Go Organic The Vermont brand has been built on a bucolic image of cows grazing on endless pastures . . . Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and other Vermont companies have used this idyllic imagery to sell their products. Gone are the days, however, when most of Vermont’s cows were grazing in spectacularly scenic... Read more |
![]() |
Views Thursday, July 20, 2017 Organics: Ferreting Out the Fraudulent Few, While Demanding Higher Standards, Better Enforcement A recent series of articles by a Washington Post reporter could have some consumers questioning the value of the USDA organic seal. But are a few bad eggs representative of an entire industry? Consumers are all for cracking down on the fraudulent few who, with the help of Big Food, big retail... Read more |
![]() |
Views Wednesday, February 01, 2017 Three Life-or-Death Reasons Why Climate, Food, and Native American Activists Need to Keep Working Together On Tuesday, January 24, Donald Trump signed presidential memorandums to revive the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines—two major dirty oil and fracking pipelines halted by the Obama administration after massive resistance from indigenous, climate and other public interest... Read more |
![]() |
Views Thursday, November 10, 2016 Now That It's Over, It's Times to Exercise Our 'True Power' The best thing about the 2016 election, a contest between two of the most unpopular candidates in history, is that it’s over. Now, we get back to work. Back to our radical roots (it’s never been lost on me that the word radical originates from the Latin word for root). With this divisive and toxic... Read more |
![]() |
Views Thursday, October 20, 2016 The Long March Against Monsanto: A Letter from The Hague We are today in the midst of a battleground for two very different approaches to agriculture. One is the agro-ecological approach based on the use of open source traditional seeds based on biodiversity and living in harmony with nature. The other is the mechanistic world of an industrial system... Read more |
![]() |
Views Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Bayer and Monsanto: A Marriage Made in Hell The two multinationals that teamed up during the Vietnam War to poison millions of people with its Agent Orange herbicide—St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto and Germany’s Bayer AG—are looking to become one. Bayer has announced a bid to buy Monsanto in a deal that would expand Bayer's GMO and pesticide... Read more |
![]() |
Views Thursday, April 28, 2016 Is a GMO Labeling Victory within Our Grasp? Oh, to be a fly on the wall inside the offices of the top lobbyists for the Grocery Manufacturers Association. So close to the July 1 deadline for complying with Vermont’s GMO labeling law, and still no court ruling to overturn Vermont’s law. Still no federal legislation to preempt Vermont’s law... Read more |
![]() |
Views Monday, April 11, 2016 Monsanto’s Evil Twin: Disturbing Facts About the Fertilizer Industry What do you know about the worldwide chemical fertilizer industry? If you’re like most people, not much. There’s plenty of press coverage and consumer awareness when it comes to genetically engineered food and crops, and the environmental hazards of pesticides and animal drugs. But the fertilizer... Read more |