Grist | Topics | 102 Results

RESULTS		Results 26 – 50 of 102
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
The corn identity How Congress is shortchanging our health and sweetening things for the food industry	Bill Chameides	24 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Are we becoming children of the corn, thanks in part to large subsidies and overproduction? Photo: NREL/Warren Gretz At dinner Sunday night, I asked my friend Prasad if he knew about the new farm bill and what it means for average Americans. He didn't. I wasn't surprised. With the election, the war, and rising prices to fret about, not many people are pondering legislation about farms. But they should, because it has huge implications for the country's n ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food, health, legislation (all these topics)

Who is a farmer? Linguistic insights into agriculture	Sharon Astyk	23 Apr 2008	Gristmill
One of the problems people have discussing sustainable agriculture is the question of language. I was trained originally in English literature and hold as an article of faith that language matters -- deeply. That is, I believe that we can only come to an honest vision for the future with a shared language that accurately describes our world. Agriculture is in the news, obviously -- and the future of farming is a big question. But we keep running up against the ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food, gardening, green space, placemaking (all these topics)

What are GMOs good for, again? Study: transgenic soy brings lower yields than conventional	Tom Philpott	23 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) came to dominate U.S. grain agriculture over the last 12 with very little real public debate. Sure, people like me have complained loudly, and groups like Center for Food Safety have mounted forceful lobbying and public education efforts. But U.S. policymakers have ignored these criticisms and chosen to wave these epoch-making technologies from the lab to the field to the plate with minimal oversight. That's at least partially be ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Big Ag, food, GMOs (all these topics)

Agro-sham Bush and farm policy 'reform'	Tom Philpott	17 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In the farm bill debate, the Bush administration has joined Environmental Defense Fund, The Environmental Working Group, and other Big Green groups in taking a 'reform' position: subsidies are bad, so let's cut them. I've been arguing that this position amounts to no reform at all, because it doesn't address the underlying problem of U.S. farming: the relentless pressure on our farmland from chemical-intensive agriculture -- an arrangement that in the end benefits ag ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, George Bush, industrial ag, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Putting your money where your mouth is How expensive is food, really?	Sharon Astyk	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
There is no doubt whatsoever that rising food costs are hurting people all over the world. More than half of the world's population spends 50 percent of their income or more on food, and the massive rise in staple prices threatens to increase famine rates drastically. We are already seeing the early signs of this in Haiti and in other poor nations. It is also undoubtedly true that rising food prices are digging into the budgets of average people, including me. An ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, economy, food, legislation, politics, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Crunch time for the farm bill The legislation isn't perfect, but it's far better than extending the 2002 bill	Aimee Witteman	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
With the new farm bill languishing in the last stages of negotiations, many are bemoaning its lack of sweeping reform, suggesting that we have gained very little from months and years of work. But if the new bill is not to be the visionary document that many hoped and advocated for, what, if anything, do we stand to lose if the new bill is vetoed or negotiations reach an impasse and the 2002 farm bill is extended for two years? There are several small but import ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, local food, organic food, politics, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Skewed View from the Berkeley Hills Why Michael Pollan and Alice Waters should quit celebrating food-price hikes	Tom Philpott	04 Apr 2008	Victual Reality
As their grocery bills rise, Americans should take comfort: the price they're paying for industrially produced food in the supermarket is starting to approach that of artisanally produced food at the farmers' market. And that might make more of them choose healthier, less environmentally destructive diets. At least, that's the message of an article in Wedne ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, consumerism, economy, food, health, local food, politics (all these topics)

Farm subsidies: beyond simplistic outrage Gourmet magazine points the way toward a green and smart farm policy	Tom Philpott	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, there's a detailed article about the farm-subsidy mess. It can be summarized as follows: 1) the government-engineered ethanol boom has driven up farm-commodity prices; 2) farm incomes are sharply up; yet 3) the government still makes subsidy payments in the billions per year; and thus 4) it's time to cut the subsidies.The logic is impeccable. And surely, payment caps should be much lower and blocked from going to high-income farmers an ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, industrial ag, legislation, politics (all these topics)

A storm is brewing Why the disaster trust fund is bad news	Guest author	04 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Britt Lundgren and Jason Funk. Britt Lundgren is an agricultural policy fellow at Environmental Defense Fund. Jason Funk is a Lokey Fellow in the Land, Water and Wildlife program at Environmental Defense Fund. ----- The recent fires in California and the severe drought in the Southeast are just two of the litany of disasters that have hit agriculture in recent memory. When natural disasters happen, members of Congress (at l ...
Topics: legislation, agriculture, politics, ag policy (all these topics)

Cellulosic ethanol: not likely to be viable New study from mainstream ag economists at Iowa State	Tom Philpott	03 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Cellulosic ethanol represents a beacon on the horizon -- the justification cited by wiseguys like Vinod Khosla for dropping billions per year in public cash to prop up corn ethanol production. Corn ethanol, you see, is a bridge to a bright cellulosic future. But the beacon is looking more and more like a mirage, a ghost, a specter; the bridge we're hurtling down may well lead to a chasm. A quiet consensus seems to be forming among people you'd think would know th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Farm bill agonistes After all the fuss, looks like we might get an extension of the 2002 farm bill	Tom Philpott	27 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Photo: iStockphoto Remember the farm bill -- the omnibus federal legislation that generated so much sound and fury last year? Like a downer cow slouching toward its executioner, the farm bill still lives, sort of. The House, Senate, and president are haggling over it, squabbling over the bill's price tag and how it will be funded. If they don't hash something out by March 15, they may just extend the 2002 farm bill. Here's what Tom Harkin, chair of th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Election '08: Real alternatives for real food? Questions for Obama and Clinton from a Wisconsin farmer	Guest author	19 Feb 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Jim Goodman, a farmer in Wonewoc, Wisc., and a Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow. It first appeared in the Capitol Times (Madison, Wisc.). ----- The candidates have come and gone through Wisconsin for the primary season, but I still have some questions for the Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. I would like to be enthusiastic about this election, I really would. After the past ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Barack Obama, biofuels, elections, food, health, Hillary Clinton, local food, politics, presidential race 08, Wisconsin (all these topics)

The Butz Stops Here A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz	Tom Philpott	07 Feb 2008	Victual Reality
Industrial agriculture lost one of its greatest champions last week: Earl "Rusty" Butz, secretary of the USDA under Nixon. Blustering, boisterous, and often vulgar, Butz lorded over the U.S. farm scene at a key period. He plunged a pitchfork into New Deal agricultural policies that sought to protect farmers from the big agribusiness companies whose interests he openly ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, industrial ag, Victual Reality (all these topics)

War is peace; sickness is life Livestock registration, pitched by feds as voluntary, is creeping toward mandatory	Kurt Michael Friese	22 Jan 2008	Gristmill
You have read, in this space among many others, of the sinister nature of genetic modification and the patenting of seeds. I have ranted endlessly about the dangers of the food system being in the hands of just a few corporate land barons. No reason to stop now. For about five years now the USDA and many large corporate interests have been pushing a program called the National Animal Identification System. NAIS is touted as an effective tool in battling the s ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part V Direct and value-added marketing in the farm bill	Aimee Witteman	20 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the last installment of a five-part series of farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For additional information about the status of sustainable agriculture priorities in the House and Senate versions of the farm bill, please check out SAC's farm bill progress chart. Farm Bill "conference" negotiations are underway at the staff level. Please call your Senators and Representative today and tell them what you want to see in th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part IV The Conservation Security Program	Aimee Witteman	16 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the fourth in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For more information about the status of other sustainable agriculture programs in the Senate and House versions of the bill, please see this 2008 Farm Bill legislative tracking chart (PDF). The 2008 Farm Bill conference committee negotiations are just getting underway at the staff level -- please contact members of the Agriculture Committee and weigh in! In add ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part III Organic production and research	Aimee Witteman	15 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the third in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For more information on the status of all sustainable agriculture provisions in the Senate and House versions of the farm bill, please visit SAC's farm bill legislative tracking center. Despite the fact that organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing sectors of American agriculture, the U.S. is currently experiencing a domestic shortfall of organically pro ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, organic food, politics (all these topics)

Meat Wagon: Factory farms milk the government Conservation title schemes, youth flee CAFO country, and a side of E. coli beef	Tom Philpott	14 Jan 2008	Gristmill
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat industry. In the business section of Sunday's New York Times, reporter Andrew Martin shined a bright light on a USDA program called the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP. Funded through the conservation title of the farm bill, EQIP was originally intended to support farmers who wanted to improve the ecological performance of their farms -- say, by sharing the cost of building a fence to k ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, industrial ag, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part II A livestock title for fair and competitive markets	Aimee Witteman	11 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the second in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Want more details on all of the sustainable agriculture provisions in the next Farm Bill? Go here (PDF) for a matrix that shows the status of provisions in the House and Senate versions. A shrinking number of companies dominate the nation's food supply, exerting market power over the entire supply chain from farm gate to dinner plate. In the livestock sector, th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, business, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part I Supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers	Aimee Witteman	10 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the first of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For the diehard policy wonks out there, you can also download the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's matrix (PDF) showing the status of sustainable agriculture priorities in the House and Senate versions of the farm bill. Soaring demand for organic and local foods means exciting market opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers, but the current public policies require ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

The underground food movement gains force, plus lots of bad news Top green food stories of 2007	Tom Philpott	21 Dec 2007	Gristmill
'...to make whole what has been smashed...' -- Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History All over the country, communities are organizing to establish food sovereignty. From low-income neighborhoods in Milwaukee to Detroit and Brooklyn, to the very heart of industrial agriculture, people are getting their hands dirty and building up their own alternatives to industrial food. In a nation with billions of dollars invested in growing, processing, distributin ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, health, local food, politics, sustainable ag (all these topics)

The corn supremacy A new piece on the insanity that is U.S. ethanol policy	Joseph Romm	20 Dec 2007	Gristmill
I have an article in Salon on the insanity that is America's ethanol policy. The new energy bill sets this country on a path to finish the assault on the world food supply begun by the (even lamer) 2005 energy bill. As I explain, our ethanol policy does not help fight global warming, but it does threaten food supplies: In just the past two years, food prices have jumped 75 percent in real terms ... The Economist points out the amazing statistic that "the deman ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, ethanol, food, politics (all these topics)

Senate farm bill post-mortem The Sustainable Ag Coalition delivers its assessment	Tom Philpott	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has been involved in farm bills since the mid-1970s, working behind the scenes to try to snatch farm legislation from the paws of agribusiness. So when he delivers his assessment on how things went, he does so from the perspective of long memory. His insights are particularly important now, as sustainable-ag and food-justice advocates figure out what's in the Senate version that's worth fighting for. And there ...
Topics: industrial ag, sustainable ag, agriculture, legislation, ag policy, politics (all these topics)

Time for some rehab Agriculture is drunk on corn-based ethanol	Thomas Dobbs	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Thomas Dobbs is Professor Emeritus of Economics at South Dakota State University, and a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow. ----- American agriculture is becoming addicted to corn-based ethanol, and the economic and environmental effects of this addiction call for some intervention! The explosive growth in U.S. ethanol production from corn is having worldwide ramifications. December 6 articles in The Economist ('Cheap no more' ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, economy, ethanol, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Farm bill update Payment limits topple, but the livestock title looks good -- for now	Tom Philpott	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Update [2007-12-14 13:5:54 by Tom Philpott]:The Senate just passed the farm bill, 79-14. Presumably the livestock title is intact. Now it's time to mount an epochal battle to defend that important title as Congress reconciles the House and Senate versions, which will take place in early 2008. The Senate is set to vote on the farm bill this afternoon. I'll be trying to pull a Brian Beutler and follow the debate via CSpan. An amendment that would have limited subsi ...
Topics: ag subsidies, legislation, politics, ag policy, agriculture (all these topics)

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