Grist | Topics | 107 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 107
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Politics and the Dinner Table Weighing Obama's and McCain's stances on food and farm policy	Tom Philpott	03 Oct 2008	Victual Reality
Will the next president be tough enough to defy the wishes of agribusiness? Apologies to Grant Wood Last month at Slow Food Nation, Michael Pollan made an interesting point about food policy and presidential politics. Food issues won't likely play much of a role during the campaign's stretch run, Pollan said, but the winning candidate will almost certainly be forced to confront ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Barack Obama, food, John McCain, politics, presidential race 08, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Paying for environmental services A little noted provision of the new Farm Bill	Thomas Dobbs	19 Sep 2008	Gristmill
The federal Farm Bill that was passed and signed into law in June contains a little noted provision directing the USDA to establish a framework that would facilitate participation of farmers and landowners in emerging environmental services markets. At a time when the American market system seems to be collapsing all around us, how should the USDA proceed in carrying out this directive? A set of case studies of environmental service markets in agriculture and forestry a ...
Topics: climate, ag policy, regulation, agriculture, economy, Department of Agriculture (all these topics)

Critiquing the food declaration The 12 (annotated) principles for a healthy food and agriculture system	Jason D Scorse	03 Sep 2008	Gristmill
Being based in Northern California, I am lucky to be located at the epicenter of the sustainable agriculture and Slow Food movements in the U.S.; it means very tasty cuisine all year round. I was intrigued by the recent 12 principles for a healthy food and agricultural system disseminated by some of the luminaries in the Bay Area. Below is my commentary on the 12 principles, followed by some closing thoughts. Forms the foundation of secure and prosperous societie ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, events, food, slow food (all these topics)

Slow Food Nation: Revolutionary diet Slow foodies unveil declaration of sustainability	Russ Walker	29 Aug 2008	Gristmill
Copies of the Slow Food Declaration at San Francisco City Hall. Some of the leading voices in the movement for a sustainable agriculture system stood together Thursday to unveil the 'Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture,' a 12-point set of principles for reorienting American food away from corporate farms and long-haul delivery to local producers and land stewardship. The luminaries, including movement bigwigs like Alice Waters, Dan Imhoff, and Marion ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, events, food, slow food (all these topics)

Genetically modified diplomat U.S. foreign policy: GMO all the way	Tom Philpott	25 Aug 2008	Gristmill
About a week ago, The New York Times ran a brief interview with Nina V. Federoff, official 'science and technology adviser' to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Not surprisingly, Condoleeza Rice's science czar has a special place in her heart for genetically modified organisms. In the Times interview, Federoff defends GMOs: There's almost no food that isn't genetically modified. Genetic modification is the basis of all evolut ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Big Ag, GMOs, politics (all these topics)

Dispatches From the Fields: Mowing -- and re-growing -- the grassroots Now that farmers have gotten big or gotten out, it's up to alternative farmers	Ariane Lotti	19 Aug 2008	Gristmill
In 'Dispatches From the Fields,' Ariane Lotti and Stephanie Ogburn, who are working on small farms in Iowa and Colorado this season, share their thoughts on producing real food in the midst of America's agro-industrial landscape. ----- Since the early 1970s, if not before, U.S. farm policy has hinged on the mantra, 'get big or get out.' Larry Bee got big. He currently farms 5,000 acres in North Central Iowa and produces over 600,000 bushels of corn and about 90,00 ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, grassroots activism, industrial ag, Iowa (all these topics)

More on the World Bank and food prices Why the Bank itself bears its share of responsibility for the global food crisis	Tom Philpott	06 Aug 2008	Gristmill
Last week, I posted about World Bank economist Don Mitchell's controversial report on biofuel and food prices. According to Mitchell's calculations, U.S. and E.U. support for biofuels accounts for 70 to 75 percent of the recent rise in global food-commodity prices -- one that could force an additional 100 million people worldwide into poverty conditions, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The jump in food prices has an ecological component, too ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, food, World Bank (all these topics)

Farm-subsidy shenanigans Beware of U.S. trade officials bearing gifts	Tom Philpott	25 Jul 2008	Gristmill
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab made headlines this week by offering to reduce U.S. farm subsidies. The context was the so-called Doha Round of trade talks -- the WTO's latest, oft-stalled effort to grease the wheels of global trade. Among sustainable-food advocates, there's a reflexive tendency to cheer whenever farm subsidies go on the chopping block. But as is often the case in the farm-policy debate, this progressive-looking offer is anything but. First ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, industrial ag, shenanigans, World Trade Organization (all these topics)

ANWR of the heartland, revisited WaPo's misguided call to scale back the Conservation Reserve Program	Tom Philpott	21 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Back in April, it already seemed obvious: Spooked by skyrocketing prices for corn, soy, and wheat, policymakers would push to put as much land as possible in the Midwest under the plow, environmental consequences be damned. One of the first policy levers, I figured, would involve gutting the Conservation Reserve Program. The CRP is a federal scheme that pays farmers to take ecologically fragile land out of production -- an act which benefits society but would otherwis ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, Department of Agriculture, food (all these topics)

Manifestos for the next president Climate action plans for the first 100 days and beyond	Maywa Montenegro	12 Jun 2008	Gristmill
I am blown away by the depth and scope of the nonpartisan Presidential Climate Action Project. Its centerpiece is a first-100-days plan, detailed in a 300-page report, covering issues ranging from energy policy and green collar jobs to the farm bill and ethanol subsidies to the Law of the Sea. My only quibble is the continued support for grain ethanol -- although the project does advocate quick turnover to cellulosic sources -- how quick that evolution will be is a ...
Topics: ag policy, climate, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

The farm bill: what went wrong Michael Pollan calls for crafting a viable alternative for next time	Guest author	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post by Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and The Omnivore's Dilemma. ----- Michael Pollan. After many, many months of wrangling, Congress recently passed a farm bill, overriding a veto by the president. In my view, it is not a very good bill -- it preserves more or less intact the whole structure of subsidies responsible for so much that is wrong in the American food system. On the other hand, it does co ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation (all these topics)

Old MacDonald had a farm bill The good, bad, and ugly in our national five-year agricultural plan	Guest author	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post from Debra Eschmeyer, marketing and media manager of the National Farm to School Network and the Center for Food & Justice. She works from a fifth-generation family farm in Ohio, where she continues her passion for organic farming by raising heirloom fruits, vegetables, and chickens. ----- We've all noticed higher grocery bills, but did you know Congress passed a $307 billion farm bill in late May that has a much bigger impact on what you ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, food, GMOs, sustainable ag (all these topics)

One hundred percent whole-wheat troubles WSJ: 'Fungus strain menaces global wheat crop'	Tom Philpott	30 May 2008	Gristmill
I hate to sound like a broken record, but remember in the winter, when a fertilizer magnate warned that the world faced the threat of famine if any major crop didn't do well? The magnate was William Doyle, CEO of a company that has aptly been dubbed the 'Saudi Arabia of Fertilizer,' Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. Here's what he said: If you had any major upset where you didn't have a crop in a major growing agricultural region this year, I believe you'd see famine. .. ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Big Ag, food, industrial ag, severe weather (all these topics)

Feeding the food-for-fuel debate USDA defends America's fuel supply	biodiversivist	27 May 2008	Gristmill
Vinod Khosla. Photo: brettwayn via Flickr. Much of what Vinod Khosla had to say in his latest post, and my responses to that post here, have been covered in previous posts. So, if some of this sounds eerily familiar, now you know why. Admittedly, I have an advantage in this debate because he can't respond directly to my arguments. Remember the West Wing episode where the Josh Lyman character makes the mistake of responding to a blogger? On the other hand, ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, Department of Agriculture, energy (all these topics)

The farm bill ups the cellulosic ethanol ante Lost amid the crop-subsidy battle, a new biofuel regime	Tom Philpott	24 May 2008	Gristmill
Amid all the thunder and lightening about subsidies in the new farm bill -- which officially became law Thursday -- Congress made a major policy shift with regard to the goodies lavished on ethanol makers. Under previous policy, biofuel makers -- whether conventional or cellulosic -- benefit from a 51 cent a gallon tax credit conferred on gasoline blenders. No any more. According to a recent Environmental Law & Policy Center memorandum [PDF] summing up th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Downer and out? The USDA's new ban won't keep sick cows out of the food supply	Tom Philpott	23 May 2008	Gristmill
Months after the downer-cow scandal of last winter, USDA chief Ed Schafer announced plans to ban all downer cows from the food supply. The rule involves cows that get sick after an initial inspection by veterinarians before slaughter. Under old rules, such cows could be reinspected by vets and then cleared for slaughter if the vet decided they posed no threat. In the press release announcing the proposed new rules, Shafer had this to say: Last year, of the nea ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, food, health, industrial ag (all these topics)

Night of the living farm bill After blunder, the legislation slouches back to limbo	Tom Philpott	22 May 2008	Gristmill
For the first time in its long process, the 2008 -- n�e 2007 -- farm bill was going according to script. Congress finally came up with a final version. Bush vetoed it, just as he had promised. The House overrode the veto, just as everyone knew it would. Next stop: the Senate, where Bush's veto was due meet another overwhelming override. And after that, law. Remember at the end of Chinatown, when everything gets hopelessly screwed up? Leading away a stunned and speechle ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics, shenanigans (all these topics)

Farm and function Agriculture produces more than just crops -- and it's time for policy to reflect that	Thomas Dobbs	22 May 2008	Gristmill
In spite of the best efforts of sustainable agriculture, environmental, and healthy food advocates over the past two years to reform U.S. farm policy, the bill recently passed by Congress lacks fundamental reform. Although the bill includes some environmental and healthy food system improvements over existing legislation, the system of commodity subsidies remains intact, and it is these subsidies, together with biofuels subsidies and mandates embodied in the farm bill a ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Biofictions Wall Street Journal editorial mischaracterizes both my position and biofuels	Vinod Khosla	22 May 2008	Gristmill
To my surprise, on Tuesday I found myself cited by the Wall Street Journal as a strong advocate of subsidies for food-based ethanol, and as a recipient of 'federal dole' who ought to 'take a vow of embarrassed silence.' While I appreciate the Journal's foray into fiction writing (and I'd love to discuss my status on the dole with my accountant, who recently filed my taxes), I would like to clarify a few facts and offer a more rounded view of biofuels and ethanol ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy (all these topics)

No farmers? No food Much depends on finding a new generation to put dinner on the table	Zoe Bradbury	20 May 2008	Gristmill
Every time I come in from my farm fields and tune into the news these days, the headline is about food: food prices, food scares, food shortages, food riots. Food has America's attention these days, but folks are overlooking a critical piece of the brewing crisis: a national shortage of farmers. We farmers make up a mere 1.6 percent of the U.S. population right now. Picture an inverted pyramid balanced precariously on its nose: that's our national food supply, with ...
Topics: agriculture, food, ag policy (all these topics)

The 'maverick' speaks on agriculture McCain thunders against ag subsidies, vows fealty to trade agenda	Tom Philpott	19 May 2008	Gristmill
Speaking before the National Restaurant Association on Monday, John McCain delivered a stirring rant against agriculture subsidies and the latest farm bill (text here.) No doubt burnishing his "maverick" image among editorial writers, the senator lambasted the bill as a giveaway of "billions of dollars in subsidies to some of the biggest and richest agribusiness corporations in America -- many of which are heavy political contributors to members in bot ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, John McCain, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Food sovereignty An alternative to global industrial agriculture	Jon Rynn	18 May 2008	Gristmill
At the conclusion to an article on the global food crisis, Walden Bello discusses an idea put forward by an international farmer's group, Via Campesina:Food sovereignty means, first of all, the right of a country to determine its production and consumption of food and the exemption of agriculture from global trade regimes like that of the WTO. It also means consolidation of a smallholder-centered agriculture via protection of the domestic market from low-priced imports; rem ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, industrial ag (all these topics)

The farm bill, Archer Daniels Midland's man at USDA, and me I loathe the farm bill but can't bring myself to accept the Bush administration's party line	Tom Philpott	16 May 2008	Gristmill
People keep asking me what I think about the new farm bill -- the one that will soon likely become law, since both houses of Congress passed it with majorities that would withstand Bush's threatened veto.I hate it; it fails utterly to make the investments we need to rebuild local and regional food systems around cities and in rural areas. But I think I hate the Bush administration's vision for agriculture even more. The debate between Congress and the Bushies has change ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, food (all these topics)

Siding with the Bushies? Why a Bush veto of the farm bill is bad for the food movement (and the world)	Elanor Starmer	12 May 2008	Gristmill
My former boss in D.C. once said that if she ever found herself on the same side of an issue as the Bush administration, it was time to go back and look more closely: There must be a hidden agenda. That was the thought that struck me as I contemplated the administration's farm bill veto threat on Friday. I understand the calls from some in the sustainable-ag community to veto the farm bill (and thank Tom Philpott and the comment crew for outlining them). The argume ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Congress (almost) passes a farm bill; Bush vows to veto How should sustainable-food advocates respond to the latest farm bill proposal?	Tom Philpott	08 May 2008	Gristmill
For months now, the 2007 farm bill has been in limbo, tied up in reconciliation negotiations between the House and the Senate.On Thursday, the bicameral Farm Bill Conference Report agreed on a final proposal. The latest version will go to the larger House and Senate next week for approval; if all goes well, it will finally go to President Bush's desk. But since this wouldn't be the 2007 farm bill without a final dose of drama, negotiations seem far from over. "The ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, organic food, sustainable ag (all these topics)

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