Ronnie Cummins (1946-2023), a leading figure in the organic and regenerative movement globally, has passed away from complications related to recently diagnosed bone and lymph cancer.
Ronnie Cummins was the co-founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its international affiliates Via Organica (Mexico) and Regeneration International.
OCA is a non-profit, U.S. based network of two million consumers, dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and regenerative system of food, farming, and land use. The OCA’s primary strategy is to work on national and global campaigns promoting health, justice, and climate stability that integrate public education, marketplace pressure, media work, litigation, and grassroots lobbying.
Cummins was active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in public education, grassroots mobilization, and marketplace pressure campaigns. Over the past three decades he has served as director of U.S. and international campaigns dealing with agriculture issues including organic standards, food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming.
In 2009 Cummins co-founded Via Organica, a network of organic consumers and farmers based in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. In 2015 Cummins also co-founded Regeneration International, a global network dedicated to mitigating and reversing climate change through regenerative food, farming and land use.
Cummins was a frequent lecturer, both in the US and abroad as well as a regular contributor to online publications such as Organic Bytes, Common Dreams, Mercola.com, Truthout, Alternet, Counterpunch, and Eco-Watch.
Cummins was also the author of a series of children’s books called Children of the World, as well as the book Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers (Marlowe & Company 2004). His other books included, Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Climate, Farming, Food, and a Green New Deal was published by Chelsea Green in February 2020. Cummins’ latest book was The Truth About COVID-19, co-authored with Dr. Joseph Mercola.
(13 votes, average: 3.62 out of 5)
Loading...
His loss will be felt throughout the organic and health & wellness community. He was a man of truth, principle, ethics, and integrity, all of which are hard to find these days. I hope his legacy will be honored and that his fight for true organic farming and food will be continued by other members of the organic community.
Wow, the hits just keep on coming, don’t they? Ronnie was just a great organizer — and person! I met him on his visit to NYC in the early 1990s, and spoke at a press conference against Monsanto’s recombinant bovine growth hormone, from which the Brooklyn Greens launched its successful campaign against rBGH in school milk. Saw Ronnie many times over the decades, last time at his wonderful organic restaurant, via organica, in San Miguel de Allende Mexico. (for those who say that organic is just too pricey, check out Ronnie’s restaurant, where you can eat great healthy food at less than you’d pay for crap in New York!) Ronnie’s surprise death is a real blow …. We’re all facing mortality of late, and to quote the Clancy Brothers, “Always remember the longer you live / the sooner you’re going to die.” But didn’t expect THIS. Thank you Ronnie for fighting for all of us against the predatory pharmaceutical companies, and for the earth.
Sad, sad news indeed. Ronnie was a force to be reckoned with. His most recent project I heard of was recycling agave waste. He will be sorely missed.
Our Hero was fighting Goliath. Goliath’s favorite weapon is poison. I pray for an autopsy. 😓🙏😓
Ronnie Caused a Ruckus
Ronnie was a rebel
A fearless rabblerouser
A writer and a rocker
A late-night talker
Ronnie seized moments
Ronnie made things happen
Ronnie told the People
How they could take Action
Save Organic Standards!
Sign this petition!
Label GMOs!
Take it to the nation!
From Finland, Minnesota
To sunny Mexico
Ronnie carried torches
And let us all know
Ronnie had a vision
A world of harmony
Ecological balance
Equals, you and me
Rest in peace, brother
We’ll carry on the cause
Environmental justice
Healthy food for all
Jim Riddle, May Day, 2023
What a shock to see read of Ronnie’s passing today.
Ronnie was a legend of the Organic Movement.
May he rest in peace, he was such a mover and shaker and never stooping to corruption, Lord bless him on his journey.
Emily Wallis – long time subscriber to his newsletters
My condolences to the Cummins family. Mr. Cummins did a lot to open the eyes of many people to the dangers of glyphosate and other deleterious substance inclusive of GMOs.
Too bad the PsTB and their political friends and multinational corporate execs refuse to listen to what Mr. Cummins and many others like him had to say. It would appear that the quarterly and annual bottom line of the holy balance sheet and auditor’s report is more sacred than human life.
I always remember the article wherein a reporter asked one of the Senior Executives at Syngenta on the street whether he ate GMO foods. The Sr. Exec said ‘No’. He then realized what he’d said but it was too late to recant his statement. The article however quickly disappeared from circulation.
It’s the same with all these fertilizers and pesticides and foods that have Roundup built into them. Unfortunately the general public doesn’t seem to care and that is sad. They will however be the first to complain when they get sick even though they refuse to educate themselves.
Ronnie you did your job brother. Now safe passage on your journey to the next life.