From Silent Spring to GMO bashing to cotton defaults to the EPA — here are the Top 10 most viewed blogs/columns on deltafarmpress.com for 2012.

1.Goodbye, Scarlett… — Hembree Brandon

We lost one of our Farm Press family in 2012, Scarlett Bright, a part of our close-knit organization for the past 17 years, gone much too soon, at age 44, another victim of the scourge that is breast cancer.

2. What happens if Congress fails to act on House farm bill? — Forrest Laws

Writing a farm bill will be much more difficult when a new Congress arrives in January.

3. The silent spring that never was: What half a century has wrought — Hembree Brandon

A half-century post-publication, Rachel Carson’s book, "Silent Spring," remains controversial, condemned by many reputable scientists as “junk science” that, broadly applied, would have returned us to the Dark Ages, while others laud it as the spark for a worldwide movement that has slowed or reversed the trend of environmental degradation.

4. PETA and the death of sanity — Chris Bennett

Whether leveling ridiculous accusations against ranchers, or making outrageous charges against farmers, or even assaulting the sensibilities of U.S. pet owners, publicity-hungry PETA ups the ante each year with increasingly desperate litigation.

5. Study says organic no healthier than conventional — Elton Robinson

A new study confirms once again that not only is conventional agriculture a safe, sustainable, responsible system for supplying the world with food, it is also the system by which all others are compared.

6. More GMO-bashing, but as usual the other side gets short shrift in media — Hembree Brandon

The headlines in the world media and on the Internet were downright apocalyptic: “Massive tumors in rats fed GM maize.” “New study: Rats fed lifetime of GM corn grow tumors; 70% of females die early.” “Shock findings in new GMO study: Rats fed lifetime of GM corn grow horrifying tumors.” And on and on.

7. And we're paying for this? Do-nothingest Congress in half a century — Hembree Brandon

In a four-year term fraught with economic and political disasters, those who track such things note this is the do-nothingest Congress since the 1960s. Its latest Gallup poll approval rating was 10 percent.

8. Defaults send chilling signal to cotton shippers — Elton Robinson

The American Cotton Shippers Association conducted a survey of Amcot and ASCA members and found that cotton companies and cooperatives have over $850 million of open contracts abroad that are either at-risk, an arbitration is ongoing or there is an unfulfilled award.

9. And with that mint iced tea I’ll have some napalm, please — Hembree Brandon

If nuclear Armageddon comes and the earth is covered in radioactive dust a foot deep, mint will still be here, glowing eerily in the dark ... and spreading, spreading, spreading.

10. EPA hunting bullfrogs with shotgun in Sackett case — Chris Bennett

The EPA has 17,000 full time employees and approximately an $8.4 billion budget. It also has a fondness for hunting bullfrogs with a shotgun.