Grist | Topics | 98 Results

RESULTS		Results 76 – 98 of 98
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Food Chain Radio: great edible audio	Erik Hoffner	02 May 2007	Gristmill
I'd like to recommend Food Chain Radio to all you people who like to eat. This podcast/broadcast is freely available and fascinating, delving into the implications of our appetites: everything from factory farming and CAFOs to irradiation and poisoned pet food. The most interesting recent show available at the link above is called Grandma's Wartime Kitchen, which discusses a time of rationing when oddities like knuckle of pork and stuffed beef heart became culinary trea ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, industrial ag, politics (all these topics)

The Route of the Problem Following U.S. consumerism through the fields of China and Brazil	Tom Philpott	12 Apr 2007	Victual Reality
In what surely counts as one of the greatest feats in the history of global trade, the United States has essentially outsourced its manufacturing base to China in little more than a decade. It all starts with shuttered factories. Photo: iStockphoto But in doing so, the U.S. has helped unleash new trends in global agriculture that threaten global climate stability and biodiversit ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Brazil, China, industrial ag, United States, Victual Reality, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

Food and Punishment Colorado's inmates-as-farmworkers plan says plenty about our food culture	Tom Philpott	15 Mar 2007	Victual Reality
Last summer, the Colorado General Assembly passed some of the nation's most rigorous anti-immigrant policy laws. Debate was fierce -- but only because some GOP lawmakers fumed that the Democratic-engineered crackdown wasn't draconian enough. How times have changed. Essentially, the state's political elite -- backed editorially by The Denver Post -- took aim at its low-wage wo ...
Topics: ag policy, Colorado, food and agriculture, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Bad Wrap How Archer Daniels Midland cashes in on Mexico's tortilla woes	Tom Philpott	22 Feb 2007	Victual Reality
Much has been made in the U.S. press about Mexico's "tortilla crisis" -- the recent spike in the price of its definitive corn-based flatbread. Media reports tend to focus blame on U.S. ethanol production, which has surged over the past year, causing the global price of corn to double. The situation stoked the food vs. fuel debate, showing that even marginally offsetting gasoline with ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, Mexico, Victual Reality (all these topics)

The Senate slaps sustainable ag And what you can do about it	Tom Philpott	21 Feb 2007	Gristmill
Ask small-scale, sustainable-minded farmers where they go for tips, and invariably they'll mention ATTRA, an information clearinghouse funded by the USDA. Just this morning, I went to attra.org to get information on how to make organic potting-soil mix for starting seeds. Like many farmers, I've printed out copies of ATTRA's indispensable guides to cover crops and soil management and keep them in a prominent place in the farm office. As a new farmer, I can't imag ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Congress, Department of Agriculture, politics, US Senate (all these topics)

Reform School Bush's farm bill 'reform' proposal falls woefully short	Tom Philpott	06 Feb 2007	Victual Reality
Bush's farm bill "reform" proposal falls woefully short By Tom Philpott 06 Feb 2007 Note: This is the third of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first two columns are here and here. The author promises not to return to the topic for at least a few weeks -- but will likely backslide from this pledge in his Gristmill blog posts. Can Bush point the way for America's farmers? Photo: whitehouse.gov/Eric Draper In this series, I promised to lay out new models for ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, food, local food, politics, sustainable ag, Victual Reality (all these topics)

The Short-Term Solution That Stuck Where farm subsidies came from, and why they're still here	Tom Philpott	30 Jan 2007	Victual Reality
Note: This is the second of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first article is available here; the third here. Fencerow to fencerow. Photo: iStockphoto Last week, I argued that it makes sense for society to support farming. Everybody needs to eat, and most would prefer to do so without devastating the environment or exploiting labor. Well, no one can accuse ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, Department of Agriculture, industrial ag, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Paying the Farm Bill Why federal farm support deserves a fresh look	Tom Philpott	23 Jan 2007	Victual Reality
Note: Over the course of three weeks, as Congress begins discussion of the 2007 farm bill, Victual Reality will be devoted to analyzing the political economy of farming and teasing out an agenda for a socially and environmentally sustainable farm policy. It's more exciting than it sounds, we swear! [Read the first installment below, the second installment here, and the third here.] Like a barnyard sow ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, industrial ag, legislation, politics, Victual Reality (all these topics)

A Bridge to Somewhere? What we've learned from the biofuels series	Tom Philpott	15 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Future or folly? Photo: iStockphoto After spending much of the last several months thinking about the biofuels boom and its implications in preparation for this special series, we've come to a few conclusions. Like other energy sources, biofuels have significant environmental liabilities. Boosters' rhetoric about "renewable energy" aside, topsoil -- from which biofuel feedstocks spring -- is ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Are We There Yet? Not quite, but cellulosic ethanol may be coming sooner than you think	Jennifer Weeks	11 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Even as organizations ranging from Consumers Union to the Cato Institute cast doubt on the environmental value of corn-based ethanol, facilities designed to make it are popping up by the dozen throughout the Midwest. Meanwhile, cellulosic ethanol -- which can be derived from just about any plant matter -- draws near-unanimous environmental raves. Trouble is, the technology requir ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol, politics, scientific research (all these topics)

By the People, For the People Toward a community-owned, decentralized biofuel future	David Morris	08 Dec 2006	Soapbox
President Bush visits the Virginia Biodiesel Refinery in 2005. Photo: whitehouse.gov Biofuels won't single-handedly solve the climate crisis, nor will they deliver energy independence. But a base of widely dispersed, farmer- and citizen-owned biofuel plants can displace significant amounts of fossil fuels -- while also building local economies. What follows is a strategy for tweak ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, energy, politics (all these topics)

Give Green, Go Yellow How cash and corporate pressure pushed ethanol to the fore	Tom Philpott	06 Dec 2006	Main Dish
... got all liquored on that road house corn ... -- Tom Waits, "Gun Street Girl" Before it became widely used as a car fuel, ethanol was just grain liquor -- and the federal government was not particularly kind to it. We pledge allegiance to ADM. Shortly after the American Revolution, the new government imposed a draconian tax on the stuff, hoping to pay down wartime debt. ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

The Big Three The numbers behind ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel in the U.S.	Maywa Montenegro	04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
America devours oil like no other country in the world. Representing 5 percent of the global population, the country consumes fully a quarter of the world's oil. Every year, to move ourselves and our goods around, we burn 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 40 billion gallons of diesel -- enough to propel the average U.S. car around the world 1.6 billion times. But rising price ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Celebrate, But Organize What the Democrats' win means for the sustainable-food movement	Tom Philpott	15 Nov 2006	Victual Reality
After being sentenced to death on specious grounds in 1915, the pro-union agitator and singer Joe Hill delivered a bracing message to his supporters: "Don't waste time mourning, organize!" The bums may be gone, but don't get too giddy. Photo: iStockphoto Under more celebratory circumstances, Hill's formulation doesn't seem quite right; after helping purge so many scoundre ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, Congress, grassroots activism, politics, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Ethanomics 101 The shining promise of ethanol doesn't add up for farmers	Tom Philpott	25 Oct 2006	Victual Reality
No one can begrudge corn farmers their share of euphoria over the recent ethanol boom. Until very recently, their plight could be summed up by a bit of gallows humor I once heard from a dairy farmer: "I lose money on every gallon, so I try to make up for it on volume." Hopes are rising along with corn prices. That brief sentence sums up the desperation of large-scale farming. When p ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, energy, ethanol, renewable energy, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Roughage Riders Senators threaten to impose industrial-strength rules on small vegetable farms	Tom Philpott	11 Oct 2006	Victual Reality
Salad greens thrive in the fall; they love brisk, cool nights and mild, sunny afternoons. Meet your greens. Photo: iStockphoto Here in western North Carolina, members of my farm's CSA (community-supported agriculture) program are enjoying salad mixes that include spicy arugula, mizuna, and purple Osaka leaves, along with bitter endive, earthy shinginku -- and yes, even spina ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Congress, Department of Agriculture, food, local food, regulation, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Tortilla Spat How Mexico's iconic flatbread went industrial and lost its flavor	Tom Philpott	13 Sep 2006	Victual Reality
In a spectacle similar to the one conjured up by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, a Mexican judiciary panel handed the nation's presidency to Felipe Calder�n last week. Even The New York Times, in its circumspect way, acknowledged that the new president-elect's narrow victory over leftist rival Andr�s Manuel L�pez Obrador involved seemingly illegal activity by Calder�n's governmental and bi ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Big Ag, business, food, local food, Mexico, politics, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Reform ag subsidies, but don't plow them under Why the late, lamented Doha round wasn't really the answer for ag policy.	Tom Philpott	07 Aug 2006	Gristmill
Harvesting a bit of vintage Reagan-era rhetoric, L.A. Times columnist Jonah Goldberg recently denounced what he called 'welfare queens on tractors.' The right-winger's target was clear: The U.S. farm subsidy program, which doles out around $14.5 billion per year (depending on market fluctuations), mainly to large producers of corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans, and rice. As Congress opens debate on the 2007 Farm Bill -- the omnibus five-year legislation that governs agricu ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food (all these topics)

Finger-Lickin' Bad How poultry producers are ravaging the rural South	Suzi Parker	21 Feb 2006	Main Dish
A person driving through the South might notice the chicken houses dotting the hills and flatlands. He might marvel at the larger ones, as long as a football field. He might react to their gagging stench for a moment, and then forget as he travels on. But those who live near the structures -- stuffed with as many as 25,000 chickens each -- combat the odor and health hazards daily. Not yer pappy's chi ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, air pollution, Alabama, Arkansas, environmental justice, health, Oklahoma, Poverty and the Environment, state politics (all these topics)

Raw milk, hot commodity Despite a recent crackdown, Washington State's raw-milk policy might point way forward.	Tom Philpott	28 Nov 2005	Gristmill
In a nation riddled with diet-related maladies like obesity and diabetes, the official fear that greets raw milk is impressive. You can waltz into any convenience store and snap up foods pumped liberally with government-subsidized high-fructose corn sweetener, deep-fried in government-subsidized partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Yet in many states, teams of bureaucrats devote themselves to 'protecting' us from raw milk -- and imposing onerous fines on farmers who da ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, health, Washington (all these topics)

Organic: Friend or Faux? Organics program weakened under Bush administration changes, activists say	Amanda Griscom	18 May 2004	Muckraker
Organic: Friend or Faux? Organics program weakened under Bush administration changes, activists say By Amanda Griscom 18 May 2004 The Bush administration is giving Americans new reason to watch what they eat -- and it's got nothing to do with carbs. Sealed with a hiss? Over the course of 10 days in mid-April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued three "guidances" and one directive -- all legally binding interpretations of law -- that threaten to seriously dilute the meaning of th ...
Topics: ag policy, food, Muckraker, organic food, politics (all these topics)

Rick North, of Oregon PSR's Campaign for Safe Food A safe-food crusader answers readers' questions		02 Apr 2004	InterActivist
When Monsanto (the big guy) took on Oakhurst Dairy (the smaller guy) here in Maine, Oakhurst did a bit of hedging on their label language. How could things have happened differently? What should dairies do? ��-- Steve Hoad, Windsor, Maine Rick North, of Oregon PSR's Campaign for Safe Food. For those not familiar with this story, Monsanto sued Oakhurst Dairy in Portland, Maine, in Jul ...
Topics: ag policy, Bill McKibben, food, food and agriculture, health, InterActivist, interview, Oregon (all these topics)

Rick North, of Oregon PSR's Campaign for Safe Food A safe-food crusader answers Grist's questions		29 Mar 2004	InterActivist
What environmental organization are you affiliated with? Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oregon Chapter. What does it do? PSR is a nonprofit educational organization committed to the elimination of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, the achievement of a healthy and sustainable environment, and the reduction of violence and its causes. PSR has programs on the health effe ...
Topics: ag policy, Bill McKibben, food, food and agriculture, health, InterActivist, interview, Oregon (all these topics)

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