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STOP THE 2026 FARM BILL
Farm Bill Would Enable Factory Farm Cruelty and Foreign Control
Hidden in the 2026 Farm Bill is Section 12006—a provision that would wipe out animal welfare laws in 15 states overnight.
Laws that voters passed by wide margins to ban the cruelest factory farm practices: pregnant pigs crammed in cages so small they can’t turn around, chickens packed into wire battery cages, calves confined in veal crates.
But Section 12006 goes further. It would block states from passing any new animal welfare laws, creating a race to the bottom that undoes over a decade of progress. Who benefits? Foreign corporations like China’s Smithfield and Brazil’s JBS that control our meat production and don’t want to follow our animal welfare standards.
This isn’t just about animal cruelty—it’s about who gets to decide how our food is produced. Section 12006 hands that power to foreign corporations while stripping it away from American voters and states.
HEALTHY LIVING
The Plastic Detox Review – A Film So Terrifying You Will Want To Change Your Life Immediately
Jack Seale, The Guardian:
“Get up, after a restless sleep. Shower, using products that contain plastic and are in plastic containers. Fix your hair and deodorise your body using sprays smoothed by plastics, before putting on clothes woven from synthetic (plastic) fibres, picking up your plastic phone and heading out, sipping water from a plastic bottle. Chew plastic gum. Buy a snack wrapped in plastic and receive a receipt printed on plastic-covered paper. Come home, take food out of its plastic packaging, cook it with plastic utensils, then store the leftovers in plastic tubs and clean up with detergents that contain plastics and come in plastic bottles. Clean your teeth with a plastic toothbrush and plastic-infused toothpaste. Go to bed.
The list of ways in which humanity is committing species suicide may be long and growing, but The Plastic Detox is here to suggest that room should be found for the overwhelmingly widespread use of petrochemical-derived plastics.
That’s the main concern of this documentary’s protagonist, epidemiologist Shanna Swan, whose 2021 book Count Down claimed that chemicals in plastic are a factor in falling sperm counts. Swan, a vibrantly bustling grandmother of six and great-grandmother of a precious one, hooks us in with an experiment flavoured by reality TV. Visiting Florida, California, and Idaho, she finds six couples who are struggling to conceive, and challenges them to live for three months with their exposure to plastics dramatically reduced.”
MENTAL HEALTH
Dusking: The Dutch Twilight Ritual Helping People Slow Down
by Emily-Ann Elliott, BBC:
“Welcoming dusk is a meaningful ritual in many cultures. In Japan, the yūyake song observes twilight. The Balinese tradition of matahari terbenam marks a moment of sunset contemplation; while in Sweden, the concept of kvällsro reflects the peaceful calm of evening. For writer and night-sky enthusiast Marjolijn van Heemstra, the Dutch custom of ‘dusking’ — pausing to watch the day fade into darkness — is about restoring attention to the world around us.
‘In many places we have a crisis of attention,’ she says. ‘People have a lot of problems focusing on things because there’s so much happening at once. But the crisis is much bigger for the world around us. If you don’t know a tree, even if it’s in front of your house, because you never take the time to look at it, you don’t mind it being cut. So, it’s about seeing things and trying to establish a relationship with them and then maybe caring for them.'”
PESTICIDES
U.S. Approval of GMO Wheat Threatens Farmer Livelihoods and Public Health
by Sustainable Pulse:
“A new report from Friends of the Earth raises alarm over the U.S. government’s recent approval of HB4 genetically engineered (GMO) wheat, warning that it could pose serious risks to public health, the environment, and U.S. farmers’ livelihoods, while offering no proven benefit. The approval of HB4 wheat marks a critical turning point: after decades of public opposition and trade concerns that kept GMO wheat off U.S. fields, consumers now face the prospect of herbicide-tolerant wheat entering the food system. However, it is not currently being grown commercially in the U.S. Friends of the Earth is calling on companies and consumers to reject HB4 GMO wheat before it enters the market.
Developed by the Argentine biotechnology firm Bioceres Crop Solutions, HB4 wheat is engineered to tolerate the toxic herbicide glufosinate ammonium. Glufosinate is banned in the European Union because it poses risks to human health. It is also linked to negative impacts on soil and ecosystem health.
SUPPORT OCA & RI
A Food System That Serves People, Animals, and the Earth
There is something buried in the 2026 Farm Bill that everyone should know about!
Section 12006 would wipe out animal welfare laws in 15 states—including California’s Prop 12, which voters passed and the Supreme Court upheld. Who benefits? China’s Smithfield and Brazil’s JBS, foreign corporations that control our largest meat producers and don’t want to follow our animal welfare rules.
This is exactly why Organic Bytes exists. We keep you up to date on the most recent developments in our food and farming sector and connect the dots between corporate agriculture and foreign control of our food system. We cut through the Farm Bill’s dense legal jargon to show you what’s really happening—how Chinese and German companies lobby Congress to exempt themselves from rules they find inconvenient.
For over two decades, we’ve been fighting for organic and regenerative agriculture—farming that works with nature instead of against it. We believe healthy soil, clean water, and humane treatment of animals aren’t luxuries; they’re necessities for our survival. While industrial agriculture depletes the earth and concentrates power in fewer and fewer hands, we champion the farmers and food producers building a better way forward.
But this work takes resources. We don’t have the millions that agribusiness spends lobbying Congress. We have something better: readers like you who care about truth and aren’t afraid to act on it.
The Farm Bill vote is coming soon. Your support today helps us keep exposing these corporate power grabs, while promoting the organic and regenerative solutions our planet desperately needs.
Can you help us continue this critical work with a contribution today?
Thank you for standing with us for a food system that serves people, animals, and the earth—not just corporate profits.
Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization
Have you considered making a grant request from your Donor-Advised Fund?
NEW BOOK
When the Forest Breathes: Suzanne Simard on Regeneration and Relationship
Bioneers:
“Forests are not collections of individual trees. They are living communities shaped by cooperation, memory, and cycles of renewal that stretch across generations.
In her new book, When the Forest Breathes, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard deepens the groundbreaking work that transformed our understanding of forest ecosystems. Expanding on the research she first brought to wide public attention in Finding the Mother Tree, Simard offers both a scientific and personal vision for how forests regenerate and what is lost when we disrupt the relationships that sustain them.
Drawing from decades of research, as well as close collaboration with Indigenous communities whose stewardship practices long recognized forest interdependence, Simard challenges the industrial model of forestry that treats trees as isolated competitors. Instead, she reveals a dynamic system in which older trees support younger ones, nutrients and information move through underground fungal networks, and kinship influences growth, resilience, and survival.”
TAKE ACTION
Why Small Farms Matter—And Who Should Save Them
by Brooks Lamb, NYT:
“In the next two decades, the owners of roughly 300 million acres of American farm and ranch land are expected to retire or die. How and to whom this land is transferred will determine the future of rural America and our food system.
Much of this land could end up being taken over by the nation’s biggest and wealthiest agricultural operations, which already dominate farming. Other land could be bought up by private investors, many of whom see the acreage as a low-risk asset in their financial portfolios or a future subdivision, strip mall or data center. These entities have purchased thousands of small and midsize farms over the last few decades and are eager to buy more.
The biggest barrier to entry for next-generation farmers isn’t knowledge or training or work ethic; it’s the historically high price of farmland. Young people need an agricultural economy that makes it easier for them to farm. They need viable, consistent markets for high-quality local products. And, most important, they need affordable land.”
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Scrap the 2026 House Farm Bill!
NEW STUDY
One Exposure. Twenty Generations Later, the Damage Is Still Unfolding.
Pamela Ferdinand, U.S. Right to Know (USRTK):
“A single exposure to a toxic agricultural fungicide during pregnancy can echo through 20 generations — with inherited disease risks from kidney disease to infertility not fading, but worsening over time, according to groundbreaking research published Tuesday.
The study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tracked rats whose ancestors were exposed in the womb to vinclozolin, a fungicide once widely sprayed on turf grass and fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, raspberries, lettuce, and grapes, including wine grapes. Researchers found that chemical changes that regulate how genes are switched on or off in developing embryos and throughout life — known as epigenetics, or ‘epimutations’ — remained altered in sperm 23 generations later.
Later generations showed more severe disease, declining fertility, and lethal birth complications than earlier ones. In some generations, mothers and entire litters died during childbirth. Just as striking, researchers also found a small number of rare DNA mutations.”
HEALTH
Undigested Fruit Sugar Is Linked To Increased Anxiety and Inflammation
by Karina Petrova, PsyPost:
“A recent study published in the journal Brain Behavior and Immunity reveals that an inability to properly digest fruit sugar is linked to increased anxiety and body-wide inflammation. The research suggests that unabsorbed fructose alters the community of bacteria in the digestive tract, which then triggers immune responses that can affect the brain.
These discoveries offer new insights into how our modern, sugar-heavy diets might be influencing our mental health. The human digestive system relies on specific transport proteins to absorb fructose into the bloodstream. Think of these transporters as specialized doorways lining the small intestine. These doorways can only let a limited amount of sugar through at one time.
When someone consumes more fructose than their intestinal doorways can handle, the excess sugar continues moving down the digestive tract. It eventually spills into the large intestine. This condition is known as fructose malabsorption.”
The results showed that sixty percent of the volunteers had fructose malabsorption
ENVIRONMENT
Long Overlooked as Crucial to Life, Fungi Start to Get Their Due
Jim Robbins, Yale Environment 360:
“Fungi create soil, sequester vast amounts of carbon, and contribute $55 trillion to the global economy, but knowledge about them is scarce. Now, mycologists are pushing to get the international scientific community to recognize fungi on the same level as plants and animals.
Mycologists refer to fungi as ecosystem engineers because they perform essential roles. Approximately 80 percent of terrestrial plant species partner with fungi, according to a number of studies. Ectomycorrizal fungi, for example, form a dense, protective sheath around the root tips of trees, including oaks, beeches, and pines.
It’s a symbiotic relationship: The fungus provides the tree with nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, from the soil, in exchange for carbohydrates produced by the trees through photosynthesis. Fungi increase the surface area of trees’ root systems, allowing them to live in nutrient-poor or even toxic conditions.”
LITTLE BYTES
Other Essential Reading and Videos for the Week
The Soil-to-Gut Connection: Why Homegrown Vegetables Cultivate Better Microbiome Diversity
Spring Equinox 2026: When Is It, and What is It?
Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Regains 87 Acres of Historically Significant Lands
‘I Took Two Bites and Had To Spit It Out’: Candy Makers Are Phasing Out Real Cocoa in Chocolate
Chocolate Company Announces Plans to Produce Lab-Grown Cocoa
‘Massive Boost of Serotonin!’: How a Dose of Nature Is Treating Mental Illness
3 Charts To Better Understand the Potential Link Between Pesticides and Cancer
Fetuses Likely Have More ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Blood Than Thought – Report
‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied to Fertility Damage, Fetal Harm, and Generational Effects, Review Finds
3,800 Workers Are on Strike at One of the Largest Meatpacking Plants in the U.S.
When “Natural” Isn’t Natural — and Protections Aren’t Protected
U.S. Sauna Industry Heating up as More Embrace It for Wellness
We Call It Medicine: The Mass Psychiatric Drugging of America’s Poorest Children
Testimony of Catherine Austin Fitts on Cash and Programmable Money Bills in Tennessee Legislature
Microplastics May Be Fueling Parkinson’s Disease, Scientists Warn
The post Organic Bytes Newsletter #934: How the 2026 Farm Bill Would Crush Animal Welfare Laws appeared first on Organic Consumers.
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