USA: Dr. Charles Benbrook to be honored by The Organic Center

The first recipient of The Organic Center’s newly established Award of Excellence will be recognized on 7 March 2014 at the organization’s annual VIP Dinner held in conjunction with Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California.

Dr. Charles Benbrook (picture), who currently is a research professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University, has been selected to receive the award designed to honor an individual who has shown excellence in supporting the science behind the benefits of organic food and farming. At Washington State University, he serves as program leader of “Measure to Manage: Farm and Food Diagnostics for Sustainability and Health.” Prior to that post, Dr. Benbrook served as The Organic Center’s original Chief Scientist, and currently is a member of its Science Advisory Board.
 

Over the years, Dr. Benbrook’s career has focused on developing science-based systems for evaluating the public health, environmental, and economic impacts of changes in agricultural systems, biotechnology, and policy. He has worked extensively on pesticide use and risk assessment, and the development of bio-intensive Integrated Pest Management. He also played an important role in the evolution of the 1996 “Food Quality Protection Act.” Most recently, he has authored two research articles in peer-reviewed publications that have garnered much attention and acclaim, advancing organic agriculture, and shedding light on the increased use of pesticides in the USA due to genetically engineered crops. The first was published in PLOS One, one of the top three general science journals in the world. It showed that organic milk has a healthier nutritional profile than conventional milk. The second, published in Environmental Sciences Europe,  found that the use of herbicides in the production of three genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops - cotton, soybeans and corn - has actually increased substantially in the USA. More information is available here: http://organic-center.org/