Straus Family Creamery, the first certified organic dairy and creamery west of the Mississippi River, will be the first certified organic manufacturer in the United States to verify that all of Straus’ products are not contaminated by previously undetected genetically modified organisms (GMO). “Certified organic crops are at risk of contamination by genetically modified crops,” said Albert Straus, President of Straus Family Creamery. “We have rejected organic feeds for our animals because of GMO contamination. We need better controls over our feeds and ingredients, so we have established this relationship with The Non-GMO Project to ensure that all of our products are verified as non-GMO.”

American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) has filed a lawsuit in federal court to halt the anticompetitive practices of Monsanto as they relate to the marketing of Roundup® herbicide. The antitrust action, filed in the United States Court for the District of Delaware, alleges that Monsanto has violated federal and state antitrust laws by using its monopoly power in the herbicide market and biotechnology seed trait markets to unlawfully monopolize and restrain competition in the market for glyphosate herbicides, and has otherwise acted to maintain supra-competitive pricing for its glyphosate herbicides.

Monsanto Co. announced a partnership Wednesday with one of its rivals to develop new soybean products that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. The partnership with Solae Co. will speed research programs at both companies to develop a healthier soybean oil, according to the firms. Solae is majority owned by Monsanto’s competitor DuPont Co., based in Wilmington, Del.

In a continuing effort to purge GM traits from the rice industry, the Arkansas State Plant Board has banned the rice variety Clearfield 131. The measure passed on a 6-5 vote at a March 2 emergency meeting and came after lengthy board deliberation and often emotional testimony from farmers, seedsmen and millers. Bred to harness a natural mutation to tolerate the Newpath herbicide, Clearfield varieties have provided growers new tools to fight yield-sapping red rice. Many farmers facing red rice infestations consider the Clearfield technology a godsend and have set up farms around it.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a key patent in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready arsenal, possibly stripping the agribusiness giant of its power to license the technology to farmers. St. Louis-based Monsanto has the right to appeal the decision or try to reach a compromise by reducing the breadth of the patent. It has 60 days to respond.

Today, breeding strong, natural resistance into lettuces is still the most economical and eco-friendly way to defend vulnerable leafy greens from attack by microbial menaces. That’s according to horticulturist James D. McCreight, who directs a team of ARS specialists investigating diseases of lettuce - among other veggies - and fruits. These scientists are intent on discovering - in the world’s wild and domesticated lettuces - new and prized genes that can be moved into cultivated lettuces to boost their resistance.

The U.S. Agriculture Department ordered seed dealers not to sell BASF"s "Clearfield" rice as it"s seeds are contaminated with Bayer"s illegal GM Rice LL 601. At the same time preliminary approval was given to grow a GM rice variety that contains human genes.

Scientists have genetically engineered tobacco plants to produce a protein for a vaccine against amoebiasis — a disease predominantly affecting Central and South America, Africa and Asia. The World Health Organization estimates that amoebiasis, caused by the parasite Entamoeba hisolytica, causes 50 million cases and 100,000 deaths a year. There is currently no approved vaccine against the disease.

The Agriculture Department last night took the unusual step of insisting that U.S. farmers refrain from planting a popular variety of long-grain rice because preliminary tests showed that its seed stock may be contaminated with a variety of gene-altered rice not approved for marketing in the United States. The announcement marks the third time in six months that U.S. rice has been found to be inexplicably contaminated with engineered traits, and it comes just weeks before the spring planting season.

The Department of Agriculture has granted preliminary approval for a large-scale plan to grow genetically altered rice in Kansas, prompting some critics to raise safety concerns. Ventria Bioscience, based in Sacramento, Calif., wants to grow rice modified to produce human proteins on more than 3,000 acres of farmland near Junction City. The pharmaceutical rice would be harvested and refined for use in medicines to fight diarrhea, dehydration and other illnesses that kill millions of infants and toddlers each year.