Study finds that GMO labeling, such as that required by a recently proposed New Jersey bill, would help consumers make more fully informed purchasing decisions

Monsanto’s earnings drop 34% in first quarter

Profit of $243 million reported, down from $368 million

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

As a result of record harvests in soybeans and corn that sent prices for the crops plummeting, farmers from South America and beyond reduced their need for corn seeds from Monsanto, dropping the company’s earnings by 34%.

They said corn acres dropped by about 20% in Argentina, 10% in Brazil, and their cotton planning in Australia saw reductions.

Their profits went from $368 million, trading for about 69¢ per share, to $243 million, or 50¢ per share.

A GMO ban in Los Angeles is reportedly losing support, and may not happen at all. Just three days before local lawmakers were slated to vote on a ban on all genetically-modified crops, a massive lobbying effort was embarked upon by a biotech trade group.

It is called Plenish and it is a cooking oil that has been approved by the USDA as safe to eat. It is made solely of genetically modified (GM, GMO) soy beans and they say it may very well change the way the world sees GMOs.

Voters in the May election will be asked to determine the future of genetically engineered crops in Benton County.

An initiative that would ban the planting of genetically modified organisms or patented seeds has qualified for the May 19 ballot.

Backers of the anti-GMO ballot measure, known as the Local Food System Ordinance, turned in initiative petitions with more than 3,000 signatures last month, and Elections Supervisor Jeff Doty has ruled that 2,658 were valid.

Under state election law, supporters needed the signatures of at least 2,171 Benton County voters, or 6 percent of the number who cast a ballot in the last gubernatorial election, Doty said. He added that the measure would be assigned a number on Friday.

Monarchs may win 'endangered species' protection (The Ecologist)

With Monarch butterfly numbers down by 90% in 20 years - largely as a result of GMO crops in key feeding areas - the US Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the insect's status with a view to granting it legal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Endangered Species Act protection may be warranted for Monarch butterflies, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency will now conduct a one-year status review on monarchs, which have declined by 90% in the past 20 years. The migratory butterflies are especially vulnerable as they migrate vast distances of 3,000 miles or more each year, between the US, Mexico and Canada. The migration cycle is unique in the natural world as it spans multiple generations. "This journey has become more perilous for many monarchs because of threats along their migratory paths and on their breeding and wintering grounds", says the FWS.

A new GMO variety of tall fescue turfgrass that's resistant to glyphosate herbicides has been cleared for cultivation by USDA.

Iowa farmers and companies are suing Syngenta AG, claiming they suffered financial losses when China rejected corn shipments containing a genetically modified seed developed by the agribusiness giant but not approved for use by China.

Iowa farmers and companies are suing Syngenta AG, claiming they suffered financial losses when China rejected corn shipments containing a genetically modified seed developed by the agribusiness giant but not approved for use by China.

City Council panel backs away from GMO ban it previously supported

Three days before Los Angeles lawmakers voted on a proposal to ban genetically modified crops, the world's largest biotechnology trade group hired three top City Hall lobbyists to stop it.

The matter had sailed through a meeting weeks before with only one City Council member expressing doubt.

But when a council committee sat down to vote again this month, three of the five members came out strongly against it — though they said lobbyists had nothing to do with it.

The action shocked Councilman Paul Koretz, who co-authored the proposal and expected his colleagues to rubber-stamp it as they had many times before.

"Since nothing else had changed ... it clearly was heavy lobbying," Koretz said later.

Such a ban would be largely symbolic in L.A. because there are currently no known genetically modified organisms, known as GMOs, grown within the city.