Bill Wirtz
Viewpoint: Proposed Vermont bill follows New York in banning neonic pesticides — a move that lacks evidence and will hurt farmers
A new bill in the Vermont House would ban the use of certain insecticides by the state’s agricultural sector. Bill ...
Viewpoint: With only 4% of New York farmland organic, why is the state letting this narrow special interest group dictate crop protection policy for all farmers?
The 1980s farm crisis wasn’t only a fiscal and economic burden on the states and the farm workers, it also ...
How RFK, Jr.’s science disinformation machine rolls on despite so many debunking articles (like this one)
The presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a reminder of the insidious imbalance of conspiracy theories: They are always ...
Reckoning for European Green Deal ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy: EU lawmakers side with farmers and consumers, bury plan to cut chemical pesticide use by 50%
In a stunning upset, the European Parliament voted down the "Sustainable Use of Pesticides" bill, which marked the cornerstone of ...
Viewpoint: Anti-pesticide hysteria brings together conspiracy theorists and science-illiterate people on the left and right
he list of opponents to pesticides is long and diverse: It includes conservative health nuts and very online paleo types, ...
Viewpoint: European concessions to green activists undermine their own technology-rejectionist agenda, opening door to CRISPR and other new breeding techniques
Legislation in Europe either dies a quiet death or goes out with a lot of fanfare. The “Farm to Fork” ...
America needs food: Why do presidential debates ignore agricultural policy?
Much of the presidential debates involve rehashing points of the last two presidential terms. Gun rights, immigration, and the conduct ...
Viewpoint: Growing gene-edited food in Europe still faces long delay despite recent reform recommendations
The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, recently announced that it intends to loosen rules ...
Viewpoint: Protectionist food trade policies — ‘EU’s obsessively unilateral embrace of organic farming is intransigent, impractical, and inconsiderate of other nations’
As the World Trade Organization is meeting in Geneva... Biden administration officials have taken aim at Europe’s protectionist trade policies ...
Viewpoint: How Russia teams up with US environmental activists to promote disinformation about the crop biotechnology science
As the now year-old war in Ukraine continues to unravel, so do the stories revealing the ruthlessness with which the ...
Viewpoint: The politics of farming affects every American. Here’s why agriculture will be the next presidential election’s big issue
Whether it’s Mexico’s threat of banning the import of American corn, or the five-year revamp of the American Farm Bill, ...
Viewpoint: Why the EU’s Farm to Fork policy doesn’t measure up to tech-driven sustainable US agriculture
Recently, the USDA hosted the Agricultural Outlook Forum, and as someone who covers food and trade policies in Europe, the ...
Viewpoint: How the European Union’s proposed sustainable food initiative could hurt US farmers
The European Union is carving out the legislative framework for so-called Sustainable Food Systems (SFS). In essence, these new regulations ...
Viewpoint: Do US regulatory bodies pose a national threat to safe and productive agriculture?
The Biden administration has released an updated security memorandum, which outlines the threats to the American agricultural system, as well ...
Viewpoint: Changing mindsets — Organic agriculture is less efficient than conventional farming and has a larger carbon footprint
The United Nations recently confirmed that the world population has officially reached 8 billion. However, what should be a celebration ...
Viewpoint: American agriculture is far more efficient — and sustainable — than in Europe. Here’s why
Toward the end of the 1980s, the divergence between Europe and the United States in terms of agricultural output became ...
Viewpoint: Farmer protests in Europe challenges misguided restrictions on biotechnology innovation
Over the summer, farmers in the Netherlands vehemently protested against the government's new environmental rules. Over multiple weeks, thousands of ...
Viewpoint: ‘He overlooks complexity’ — Will King Charles promote his cult organic farming views and reject agricultural biotechnology?
King Charles didn’t discover his penchant for sustainability all by himself. After Charles met the Indian anti-globalization activist and environmental ...
‘43% lower yields’: Challenging common wisdom, organic farming is ‘less efficient, more expensive, and worse for the environment’
Consumers are misled about the alleged benefits of organic farming. Organic food is thought to be healthier (it isn’t) and ...
Viewpoint: ‘Defenders of modern agriculture should vehemently push back against the notion that today’s food model undermines bee health or human health’
Since the introduction of neonicotinoid insecticides – the pesticides blamed for bee death – in the mid-90s, bee populations have ...
Viewpoint: Is Russia undermining global food security by funding European-based environmental activists opposed to genetically modified crops?
Why is Europe's political class questioning the effectiveness of modern agricultural practices and the legitimacy of nuclear power when the ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s organic-centered farm policy is a blueprint for what the United States should not do
The EU's "farm to fork" strategy has been in the works for some years; it represents the overall sustainability ambitions of the ...
Viewpoint: Why we should trust farmers when it comes to herbicide application
Weed-killers have come under fire by activist groups opposing the use of crop protection, accusing it of harming endangered species ...
Russian invasion of Ukraine throws cloud over European Union’s Green Deal Farm to Fork plans
The European Commission’s “Farm to Fork” strategy seeks to reduce pesticides by 50 percent, devote 25 percent of agricultural land ...
Viewpoint: Are we overusing agricultural chemicals? Not if we we want increased yields, lower prices and more sustainable practices
We would be remiss to ignore the positive effects that modern crop protection has had for us. Without pesticides, crop losses ...
Viewpoint: Anti-chemical campaigners misleadingly invoke a looming ‘insect apocalypse’ to justify demands to junk targeted, synthetic pesticides
“Alternatives to sulfoxaflor exist, what are we waiting for?” titles a blog post on the website of the Belgian environmentalist NGO ...
Viewpoint: Will the US endorse this Congressional proposal to adopt Europe’s innovation-stifling ‘precautionary principle’ regulation?
A new bill supported by environmental organizations and co-sponsored by progressive lawmakers Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and ...
Viewpoint: The EPA is embracing ‘precautionary politics’ — and abandoning its long-time commitment to evidence-based risk-benefit assessments of agricultural chemicals
Unlike the European Union, the U.S. has maintained a reasonable standard on studied substances allowed for use in modern agriculture ...
