As 2024 comes to a close, all of us at Center for Food Safety (CFS) want to take a moment to celebrate all that we've achieved this year. In 2024, our small but mighty legal team won one groundbreaking David vs Goliath case after the next, protecting millions of acres of farmland and hundreds of endangered species, reducing agricultural toxins, and holding corporations accountable. We know our strategy works - over our 25 year history, CFS has won an amazing 75%+ of our cases! Below is a timeline of our most impactful wins from this year.

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February 2024: after 4 years of hard-fought litigation against Monsanto and the federal government, a federal court in Arizona struck down the EPA's approval of the controversial, drift-prone pesticide dicamba, halting its use across millions of acres across the country. The pesticide had previously caused unprecedented drift damage to thousands of neighboring farmers organic and conventional crops, as well as to orchards, gardens, and trees. Hundreds of endangered species, including many pollinators, are also threatened by the pesticide.

For further reading, here's some of the top articles on the win! (1, 2)

May 2024: After 2 years of hard-fought litigation in Oregon state court, defeating two motions to dismiss, and on the eve of trial, the state of Oregon pulled back a permit approval for a mega factory farm which would have been the largest in the state of Oregon, raising and slaughtering over 3.5 million chickens annually. CFS had challenged the permit representing of nearby organic farmers in the Willamette Valley. The factory would have been build 1,000 yards from a river home to endangered salmon.

For further reading, here's the top article on the win!

October 2024: In a challenge to USDA organic food standards and the organic label, a federal court sided with CFS, filing on behalf of many organic stakeholders, in a challenge to "grower group" certification of organic farms. This decision is vital for protecting small organic landholders, who without group certification, would not be able to farm organically.

 October 2024: Based on our legal petition and subsequent legal action, the US Fish and Wildlife Service found that protection for the Iowa Skipper Butterfly under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted, the first step in the listing process. Like the Monarch, the Skipper is mainly threatened with extinction due to pesticide use due to conversion of its habitat to monoculture cropland.

For further reading, here's some of the top articles on the win! (1, 2)

October 2024: A federal court ruled in CFS's favor in a challenge to the establishment of industrial aquaculture in US federal waters after several years of hard-fought litigation, agreeing with us that the nationwide aquaculture general permit violated several core environmental laws, and sending it back to the agency. In the case, we represented pro bono a dozen other entities, including ocean conservation groups, commercial and recreational fishers, and the Quinault Indian Nation.

For further reading, here's the top article on the win!

October 2024: After decades of EPA inaction, CFS's litigation resulted in successful settlement with the agency to for the first time ever protect farmworkers and consumers from the endocrine disrupting harms of pesticides. The settlement sets out a years-long schedule of court-ordered deadlines for EPA to test pesticides for endocrine harms and take protective action based on that testing. In the case, CFS represents coalition of farmworker and environmental health organizations, including Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Organización en California de Líderes Campesinas, Center for Environmental Health, Pesticide Action Network of North America, and Rural Coalition.

For further reading, here's the top article on the win!

December 2024: After 4 years of litigation, a federal Court struck down USDA rules from the 2020 Trump Administration which gutted the regulation of all genetically modified organisms (GMO), including seeds, plants, and grasses. Previously, new GMOs had to go through a formal approval and risk assessment process at USDA, including public notice and comment, with consideration of environmental risks and risks to farmers; the Trump era rules gave the industry the power to "self-regulate" for many GMOs.

For further reading, here's the top article on the win!

December 10, 2024: As a result of a ten year CFS-led legal and science campaign, two lawsuits, and subsequent settlements, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally proposed protection for the Monarch Butterfly under the Endangered Species Act. The main driver of Monarchs' dramatic decline in recent decades has been Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, sprayed on commodity crops engineered with resistance to it. The listing is a landmark one also in terms underscoring industrial agriculture's primary role driving the extinction crisis.

For further reading, here's some of the top articles on the win! (1, 2)

December 12, 2024: The final end of GE salmon, the first-ever (and still only) GE food animal. After a 20 year CFS fight, the makers of the GE salmon, AquaBounty, went bankrupt. This follows a 5-year successful litigation (2015-2020) holding that the FDA's approval of the GE salmon violated core environmental law. That holding was a result of a 10 year regulatory, media, and market campaign from 2005-2015, which opposed the federal governments' approval of the salmon, during which over 2 million consumers took action to oppose the approval. AquaBounty's GE salmon never became a commercial reality.

For further reading, here's the top article on the win!