As an activist, he couldn’t make ends meet, so he made his living for many years as a newsstand owner at the University of Minnesota, president of a food cooperative in Barnsdale, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, and a house. he is a painter Mr. Welch was waiting for a table.
“He was almost a hippie,” she said in a phone interview.
The two worked for Rifkin in the 1990s, with Cummins as director and Welch as campaign manager. They set out to help enforce the USDA’s organic food standards, create educational materials for organic consumers and businesses, and establish the Organic Consumers Association to encourage public pressure campaigns on organic food issues. bottom.
This “hippie” finally got a real paycheck — $112,900 in 2021.
The OCA has separated the two organizations.He owns Mexico-based Via OrganicaAgroecological School and Research Center in 2009, and in 2014, Regeneration International, This advances ways to develop agricultural practices that rebuild degraded soils.
In the view of Andre Roux, International Director of Regeneration International, Cummins is “a powerful elite that monopolizes power and wealth and undermines democracy, fair wages, healthy food, peace, the climate and the environment.” It is said that he was standing up to environment. ”
Cummins’ long-standing goal has been for the government to mandate labeling of genetically engineered foods. He fought for ballot initiatives in several states, winning his first major victory in Vermont, which became the first state to pass labeling laws in 2014.
Faced with a potential patchwork of state laws, Congress passed a comprehensive federal label law in 2016.
But Cummins didn’t consider it a victory.
The law superseded stricter Vermont law and gave businesses the option to use icons and scannable QR codes to direct consumers to websites instead of scribbling information on packaging. . Also, some foods, such as highly refined sugars and oils, were exempt from labeling requirements.
