Today in Organic: July 29, 2009

• A couple of weeks ago, we learned that tomato transplants sold at Wal-Mart and Home Depot carried late blight fungus -- the same thing that caused the Irish potato famine -- and it's spreading through the northeast and destroying whole tomato crops. Now, the New York Times is reporting that in parts of Upstate New York, the fungus is jumping from tomatoes to potatoes, wiping out whole fields.

• Good news for Jews: According to Mother Jones, "After 2000 years of formalized Jewish dietary law, Israel's top Rabbi has threatened to revoke the kosher status of vegetables deemed excessively sprayed" with pesticides.

• Chicago isn't the only place where urban farming is gaining popularity. A Newsweek article finds that the movement is spreading to cities across the country, checking in with urban farming operations in Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Seattle, Brooklyn, Kansas City, and Chicago.

• A new Mostly Vegetables podcast discusses CSAs around the Twin Cities with Brian DeVore from the Land Stewardship Project.

• Change.org's Sustainable Food blog profiles the Rodale Institute, the Kutztown, Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization that conducts research and offers training workshops on sustainable farming. We had the pleasure of meeting Rodale Institute CEO Tim Lasalle at the Kickapoo Fair, and we agree with Change.org: We need institutes like Rodale.