Agriculture | Grist

Forget Polar Bears and PPM

Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change 28
Posted 6 days, 9 hours ago So you're not moved by melting glaciers? Here are a few other reasons to pay attention to climate change, from supermodels to super-hungry rats.
thanks for nothing

Global boiling declares war on Thanksgiving 3
Posted 6 days, 11 hours ago Our increasingly extreme climate is devastating American agriculture. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, strengthened by global warming, caused $1.6 billion in agriculture damage in Louisiana alone. Now it appears that a Thanksgiving mainstay -- pumpkin pie -- is next on the global boiling hit list.
Climate Citizen: Michael Pollan on agriculture and health care 3
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago
Umbra's Just Bee-Cause

Tweet for the bees 4
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago Find out how you can support honeybee research, the lazy way -- plus, a second chance to drink in Umbra's incredible bee hugs video!
the empire strikes back

Soda lobby gets its game on 4
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago The sugar lobby has kept their work against the soda tax off their paperwork and thus out of public sight. But its invisibility doesn't lessen its ferocity or, so far, its effectiveness.
ISI isn't so popular

New allies in fight against Obama’s pesticide lobbyist nominee 1
Posted 3 weeks ago I'm sure many of you have seen the various petitions zipping around the Internet encouraging opposition to President Obama's nomination of pesticide lobbyist Islam "Isi" Siddiqui to the Office of the United State's Trade Representative. The argument against him goes something like this:
N.Y. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand answers Grist’s questions on the Kerry-Boxer bill 1
Posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago New York's new senator is a strong proponent of climate change legislation and has a unique set of concerns about it, reflecting the interests of her state. She answers our questions by video.
A new direction on research at the USDA? 4
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago Paula Crossfield interviews some experts (more Pollan!) on what we need to know about agriculture.
lies, damn lies, and baseball caps

The American Farm Bureau goes all in 29
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago Agribiz lobbying group AFB's new pitch: "Don't CAP Our Future."
Cooking oil

Can you taste the fuels in your food? 5
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago To see fossil fuels in action on a farm, Amanda Little paid a visit to a Kansas corn grower and hitched a ride in his high-tech tractor. This is the fourth installment in a series of exclusive excerpts from Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells -- Our Ride to the Renewable Future.
Myth congeniality

Pollan shoots down organic myths at Grist event 25
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks 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.
Weed Whacking

The chemical treadmill breaks down and the superweeds did it 7
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago Tom Philpott has been tracking the rise of so-called "superweeds" -- i.e. herbicide-resistant weeds -- for a while now. He's talked about the chemical treadmill -- "the situation wherein weeds and other pests develop resistance to poisons, demanding ever higher doses of old poisons and constant development of novel ones."
USDA FAIL

Can the USDA really keep our food safe? 10
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago Having read and listened to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's attempts at ground beef-related damage control in the wake of the recent food safety revelations, I'm left to wonder if the USDA simply needs to get out of the food safety business entirely.
what not to eat

Warning: This product may cause sickness, paralysis, and death 51
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago It's hard to draw any other conclusion from Michael Moss's New York Times blockbuster investigative piece on E. coli in industrial beef, which is centered on the plight of Stephanie Smith, a young dance instructor left comatose, near death and now paralyzed from eating a single Cargill hamburger.
Great, Danes

Big Pork and Sen. Grassley: the Danes want you to know your hogs don’t need endless antibiotics 4
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago According to Sen. Chuck Grassley, it's necessary to dose livestock daily with antibiotics--or we'll end up sorry, just like the poor Danes. Trouble is, the Danes say they're doing just fine after banning sub-therapeutic antibiotic use on farms.
Alfred E. Neuman now leads the AFB

Big Ag on climate change: “What, me worry?” 0
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago On the grave effects of climate change on agriculture, especially the triple threat of "droughts, bugs and big storms."
Champagne and real pain

Big Ag places a foot soldier at the U.S. Trade Office—but loses a GMO court battle 2
Posted 2 months 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.
Open Letter to Editors of 'The Nation'

‘Nation’ misses golden opportunity to highlight workers’ voices 2
Posted 2 months ago The food movement is slowly waking up to the fact that it has long treated the workers who plant and pick our food as if they were invisible. So it was with great anticipation that I read The Nation's food issue, sure that a magazine with such a solid commitment to worker dignity would drive home the message that human and labor rights are integral to true sustainability.
Spare change for local food

USDA’s $65 million drop in the bucket 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is so fired up about local food economies that it's coughing up $65 million for a new program called "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food."
Meat wagon

If JBS-Pilgrim’s deal goes through, four mega-firms will dominate the meat landscape 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
What the meat industry would look like if beef behemoth JBS bought chicken giant Pilgrim's Pride.