Big Ag | Grist

Deniers with attitude (and power)

Sen. Inhofe and U.S. Farm Bureau chief casually chat about destroying the climate bill 0
Posted 5 days, 16 hours ago On the floor of the U.S. Senate, a pair of climate change deniers flexed their muscles against the Kerry-Boxer climate bill.
Hog-tied

Six months after the outbreak, who’s investigating the CAFO-swine flu link? 16
Posted 1 week, 3 days ago A half a year after the novel H1NI outbreak, federal authorities still aren't investigating possible links to hog CAFOs. Tom Philpott ponders why that might be.
Isi serious?

Obama’s attempt to tap an agrichemical-industry flack runs into trouble 2
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago When Obama nominated an agrichemical-industry point man to a top post in the U.S. Trade Office, I cynically thought he would skate right through the Senate confirmation process. Now I'm not sure.
Pollan-ated

Big Ag’s odd obsession with You-Know-Who 4
Posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago I really really really didn't want to write another post on Michael Pollan. Don't get me wrong -- I'm a big fan. It's just that reducing the whole of the food movement to Pollan's work naturally ignores so much else that's going on. But don't blame me for this post. Blame Big Ag.
Myth congeniality

Pollan shoots down organic myths at Grist event 25
Posted 1 month ago Michael Pollan debunked some myths about organic agriculture Tuesday night at a Grist event in San Francisco, in a conversation with Grist food writer Tom Philpott and the audience. In response to a question about whether we can really feed the world without industrialized ag (ah yes, a perennial), Pollan pointed out that we're not feeding the world with it now.
Notable quotable

War is peace; chemical ag is sustainable ag 1
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago
GMO job--or new food paradigm?

Another Monsanto man in a key USDA post? Obama’s ag policy’s giving me whiplash 20
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago With new ag appointments, the Obama administration's food/ag policy keeps zigzagging between progressive change and the agrichemical status quo.
Champagne and real pain

Big Ag places a foot soldier at the U.S. Trade Office—but loses a GMO court battle 2
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago If you run a globe-spanning, U.S.-centered agribusiness firm, you're probably not sure whether to cry in your Krug or toast with it this week.
Meat wagon

JBS: industrial meat’s new heavyweight champ 2
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago Remember two weeks ago, when I warned that if JBS snapped up Pilgrim's Pride, four transnational giants would dominate the U.S. meat market? Well, it happened. Here's what it means.
Meat wagon

If JBS-Pilgrim’s deal goes through, four mega-firms will dominate the meat landscape 1
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago
What the meat industry would look like if beef behemoth JBS bought chicken giant Pilgrim's Pride.
Paging Dr. Pepper

Pollan says health-care reform will fail unless we change the way we eat 11
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago
First in The New York Times last week and then on NPR this weekend, Michael Pollan made that point that if we want to fix our health-care system, we have to fix our food system.
food reform DOA?

When lobbyists cheer, the news can’t be good 1
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago
There's a new chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Alas, the giant sucking sound you're hearing is agricultural reform rushing down the drain.
Hi, cotton

Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln grabs Senate ag committee chair [UPDATED] 1
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago
It's a dark moment for sustainable-ag advocates--and those still hoping for robust climate legislation: Blanche Lincoln (D.-Cotton) looks set to become chair of the Senate ag committee.
California screamin'

California’s ag crisis and our concentrated food system 10
Posted 2 months ago
California's severe drought--which could well be related to climate change--isn't just ravaging Los Angeles. The drought has helped tip the state's Central Valley, epicenter of U.S. fruit and vegetable production, into a severe crisis.
'Feeding the world'--or consuming it?

The way we eat is trashing the fragile conditions that make human life possible 22
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
In the ongoing debate about whether sustainable agriculture can "feed the world," it's important not to lose sight of what industrial agriculture is doing to ecosystems--both in specific areas and on a grand scale.
'TIME' for Change

Sustainable ag meets the MSM—and wins! 14
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
TIME Magazine's current cover story wants you to know that our fossil-fueled, chemically intensive industrial food system is destined to fail. The second part of that sentence isn't news to Grist readers. But the first part of that sentence is news, but I wouldn't have expected to read such a strong critique of Big Ag in a bastion of the MSM.
King Corn speaks

An ‘agri-intellectual’ talks back 49
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
A lot of folks have asked what I think of the essay "The Omnivore's Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals," by Missouri corn-soy farmer Blake Hurst...
Meat wagon

Cargill, the National School Lunch Program, and antibiotic-resistant salmonella 3
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Remember when Cargill recalled nearly a million pounds of hamburger meat tainted with antibiotic-resistant salmonella? Turns out the beef-packing plant in question regularly supplies school cafeterias. And just last year, USDA inspectors watched slaughterhouse workers perform egregious hygiene violations--and the agency declined to fine the company.
A win for the farm team

Offsets and Big Ag: Does the climate bill give away too much to the farm sector? 1
Posted 2 months, 4 weeks ago
The compliance market for offsets proposed under Waxman-Markey would result in a major realignment in the types of offsets offered, shifting away from renewable energy to offsets derived largely from land use, land use change, and forestry projects.
Spray-and-trade

Can climate legislation survive the Senate Ag Committee’s embrace? 4
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Some have hoped that climate legislation would be strengthened in the Senate, but if the Agriculture Committee has any say, don't bet on it.