Vermont

Farmers markets now have an online tool that provides the markets with accessible resources to understand legal issues and legal risk.  The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law school, along with the Farmers Market Coalition, and others, have launched the Farmers Market Legal Toolkit online.  It’s a ...

This week, Vermont announced the state has stopped enforcement of its GMO labeling law, following President Barak Obama signing the national GMO labeling bill.  Vermont’s Attorney General William Sorrell issued the announcement Tuesday saying he was pleased Vermont spurred Congress to act.  However, Sorrell a...

GMO labeling advocates are ramping up pressure on companies who already have labeled their products because of the Vermont labeling law to make sure they keep that information available for consumers.  The GMO labeling bill signed by the President gives the USDA two years to come up with rules to implement the bill.  ...

A recent online survey found Vermont’s GMO labeling law strongly misleads consumers.   The survey, sponsored by the American Soybean Association, asked more than 1,600 shoppers regarding their understanding of five common on-pack food labels.  When con...

At the 2016 Aspen Ideas Conference in Aspen, Former Food and Drug Administration deputy commissioner Michael Taylor suggested Vermont is doing the nation a favor when it comes to genetically modified organisms.   During a food safety panel discussion over the weekend, Taylor proclaimed “Vermont might be doing the technology community a favor in forcing this issue of transparency,” according to Pol

The Vermont GMO labelling law goes into effect in less than four weeks, on July 1st.   Andy LaVigne of the American Seed Trade Association said the law goes beyond just labelling food.   “Everything starts with the seed, especially in the food side business, and it does impact some of our members that are producing GMO seeds for American farmers. So we want to ...

With a little over 50 days left before the Vermont GMO labeling law takes effect, Congress has little time to put together and pass a fix at the Federal level.  Politico said this week options for what the bill should contain are limited.  ...

Vermont’s new GMO law goes into effect July 1st that will require any foods that have even a portion that contains genetically modified organisms to be labeled.   National Council of Farmer Co-operatives President Chuck Conner says this could hurt smaller farmers.   “...

The Vermont Retail and Grocers Association wants the state to delay its GMO labeling law slated to start July 1st.   The Vermont Business Magazine reported Monday that the Association is supporting an amendment under consideration by the Vermont Senate delaying the law until July of next year.  However...

Now that the Senate is back in session after a two-week break, will lawmakers address GMO labeling?   The Senate failed to limit debate on a voluntary GMO-labeling bill last month, and supporters are vowing to try again.  The question is this: can middle ground can be found to get farm-state Democrats and state’s-rights Republicans to vote for the bill.  Talks on how ...