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Headline	Author	Published	Section
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: politics, agriculture, ag policy, food (all these topics)

Slow Food working to help Kenya It's not always just Monsanto screwing with the food system	Kurt Michael Friese	18 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Creating a food system that is "good, clean, and fair" involves more than the buy-local mantra and the anti-Monsanto-ADM-WalMart rhetoric I and so many others constantly chanting. Sometimes even more evil and insidious obstacles lie in our way. Witness what's taking place in Kenya: The political crisis in Kenya is now turning into a food crisis. Some of the areas hit the hardest by violence -- among them the Rift Valley, Coast Province, Nyanza ...
Topics: agriculture, food, Kenya (all these topics)

Plowing up the Amazon Scientist says biofuel boom endangers world's largest rainforest	Tom Philpott	18 Jan 2008	Gristmill
A fifth of the Amazon rainforest -- the world's biggest carbon sponge -- has disappeared since the 1970s. The Brazilian government has succeeded in recent years in slowing the deforestation rate, but its efforts have recently been faltering. Bungle in the jungle. Photo: iStockphoto In the last four months, 2300 square miles of rainforest got leveled, Reuters reports. In the year before that, the forest surrendered 3700 square miles. If the current rate hold ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, Brazil, deforestation, energy, rainforests (all these topics)

Say Cheese Pennsylvania will allow hormone labels on dairy products		18 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 10:26 AM on 18 Jan 2008 A decision by Pennsylvania agriculture officials that dairy products sold in the state could not be labeled as synthetic-hormone-free sparked a consumer outcry and a review by Governor Ed Rendell. Yesterday, officials more or less reversed that ban: dairies will be allowed to advertise that their cows aren't shot up with synthetic hormones, which increase milk production. However, dairies toutin ...
Topics: agriculture, food, news, Pennsylvania (all these topics)

Dominant Traits Monsanto's latest court triumph cloaks massive market power	Tom Philpott	17 Jan 2008	Victual Reality
How does your garden grow? Photo: iStockphoto At first glance, it was an open-and-shut case. In 1998, Mississippi farmer Homan McFarling bought soybean seeds with genetic traits owned by Monsanto, then as now the world's dominant provider of genetically modified seeds -- and also the biggest herbicide maker. Like all farmers who buy GM seeds, McFarling signed a contract obliging him not to ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, food, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Notable quotable	David Roberts	16 Jan 2008	Gristmill
"I really think the more I look at this whole cellulosic issue, there is a lot bigger problem to overcome here than people realize in terms of the feedstocks. We have a lot of work to do in that regard. I'm not sure cellulosic ethanol will ever get off the ground." -- Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Typical bicoastal blather An Iowa chef takes issue with Time's Joel Stein	Kurt Michael Friese	16 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Regarding the article Tom mentioned yesterday, Joel Stein's Time article, 'Extreme Eating': while Mr. Stein is of course free to eat whatever type of food he chooses, I must take exception to his contention that 'Dodd was basically telling the Iowans that every night they should decide whether to accompany their pork with creamed corn, corn on the cob, corn fritters or corn bread. For dessert, they could have any flavor they wanted of fake ice cream made from soy ...
Topics: agriculture, food, Iowa, local food (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)

Send in the Clones Cloned meat and milk just as safe as conventional, says long-awaited FDA report		15 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 5:05 PM on 15 Jan 2008 In a nearly 1000-page report, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has concluded that food from cloned animals and their offspring "is as safe to eat as that from their more conventionally bred counterparts." The report effectively removes regulatory barriers to cloned food being offered to U.S. consumers, but practical barriers still remain, and it will ...
Topics: agriculture, food, industrial ag, news (all these topics)

Edible Media: Anti-local yokel Joel Stein of Time takes a poke at the locavores	Tom Philpott	15 Jan 2008	Gristmill
The contrarian in me grinned when I read the concept. Time columnist Joel Stein pulls an anti-Pollan: He will cook dinner using only ingredients that traveled at least 3,000 miles from his home in L.A. And -- deliciously -- he will do his shopping at Whole Foods, which he declares 'the local-food movement's most treasured supermarket, the one that has huge locally grown signs next to the fruits and vegetables.' Ha, ha. It is a pretty funny joke -- especially on t ...
Topics: agriculture, food, green living, local food, magazines, shopping (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)

Miracle grow Cargill's well-connected fertilizer unit wows Wall Street, dumps on Florida	Tom Philpott	11 Jan 2008	Gristmill
As I wrote last week, the real winners in the ethanol boom aren't corn growers or even ethanol makers (though the latter will do just fine). Rather, it's the companies that make the inputs needed for growing vast quantities of corn. Photo: iStockphoto Monsanto, the world's dominant producer of genetically modified seed traits as well as the No. 1 herbicide maker, demonstrated that principle with its quarterly profit report last week. It harvested quarterly ...
Topics: agriculture, business, economy, industrial ag, politics (all these topics)

Tabling the presidential discussion, part I: Follow the money How Obama and Clinton stack up on food and ag	Tom Philpott	10 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Now that the Democratic campaign has narrowed to two clear front-runners -- each of whom has managed a surprise victory over the other in a major primary -- the time has come to take a look at how they stack up on food and ag policy.If elected, would these prospective presidents kowtow to Big Food interests -- or work to rebuild local and regional food systems? To gain insight, over several posts I'll compare and contrast Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on three fr ...
Topics: agriculture, Barack Obama, elections, food, Hillary Clinton, politics, presidential race 08 (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)

Lettuce All Shine On Shiny plants will save the climate, say researchers		09 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 9:17 AM on 09 Jan 2008 You thought fighting climate change was going to be hard? Pssh -- all we gotta do is plant some peppers and we'll be home free. OK, it might not be that easy, but California scientists say they've hit on an unusual climate-change solution: shiny plants. Encouraging farmers to plant foliage that reflects the sun's heat back into space could reduce maximum daytime temperatures in agricultural ...
Topics: agriculture, climate, climate change mitigation, news (all these topics)

The Splice of Rice in China GM crops reduce emissions and could be used as carbon offsets, says biotech company		08 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 4:51 PM on 08 Jan 2008 Money paid to offset greens' sins by emission could go toward planting of genetically modified crops in China, if biotech company Arcadia Biosciences gets its way. Arcadia says its rice requires less nitrogen fertilizer, and farmers planting it should be rewarded with carbon credits for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. The comp ...
Topics: agriculture, carbon offsets, China, GMOs, greenhouse-gas emissions, news (all these topics)

The Big (Local) Apple NYC invests in local-food infrastructure	Tom Philpott	07 Jan 2008	Gristmill
While the farm bill wallows about in Congress, awaiting reconciliation between House and Senate versions, some state and local governments are making their own smart food policies, investing public resources in the worthwhile goal of rebuilding local food systems. A piece in last week's New York Times food section reminded me of that happy fact. The article, by Kim Severson, details an effort to build a permanent, in-door, year-round farmers market facility for New Y ...
Topics: agriculture, farmers markets, food, local food, New York, New York City (all these topics)

Monsanto counts its cash Seed-and-chemical giant sees its profit triple	Tom Philpott	04 Jan 2008	Gristmill
In a gold rush, the firms that supply the gold diggers with tools -- not the gold diggers themselves -- make the highest and steadiest profits. That's a platitude, but it's also usually true. And it's now playing out in the boom in corn-based ethanol. Don't waste much time envying corn farmers. Sure, they've seen the price of their product double over the past year and a half or so. But they've also seen their costs inch up. Fertilizer, land rents (much of the farml ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol, food, industrial ag (all these topics)

Meat Wagon: Get it while it's hot Avoid burgers in Texas, Hillary gets charred for CAFO ties, and more	Tom Philpott	31 Dec 2007	Gristmill
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat industry. In a proper finale to an E. coli-tainted 2007, the USDA has issued a public-heath alert regarding 14,800 pounds of stolen hamburger meat down in Texas. Get this: the hot meat is 'thought to be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.' By my calculations, there is enough of the tainted stuff floating around Texas to produce no fewer than 74,000 quarter pounders. Texas Grist readers, don't say you we ...
Topics: agriculture, food, health, Hillary Clinton, industrial ag, Iowa, politics, Texas (all these topics)

Edible Media: Deep south Edna Lewis, late doyenne of traditional southern fare, in Gourmet	Tom Philpott	28 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web. The January issue of Gourmet is devoted to the food of the U.S. south -- probably our sturdiest regional culinary tradition. I adore southern cooking, and the issue had my stomach grumbling from start to finish. I can think of few dishes that sound as satisfying as "simmered greens with cornmeal dumplings" (page 37). Beyond the enticing recipes and food-porn photos, ...
Topics: agriculture, food, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Flying By Nitrogen Ammonium drifts into national parks		28 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 4:24 PM on 28 Dec 2007 You may not be able to smell cow poop in Yellowstone, Glacier, and Rocky Mountain National Parks, but the air there has become increasingly contaminated with nitrogen compound ammonium, says a recent report from the National Park Service. Possibly originating in concentrated animal feeding operations, ammonium in the three parks -- as well as six other parks in Arizona, Idaho, South Dakota, and Utah -- was m ...
Topics: agriculture, air pollution, industrial ag, National Park Service, national parks, news (all these topics)

Feedlot meat production: nothing if not profitable Tyson Foods chief nets $10 million -- oops, no, $24 million	Tom Philpott	27 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Update [2007-12-28 10:14:4 by Tom Philpott]:According to AP, Tyson CEO Richard Bond made total compensation of $24 million in 2007, not $9.88 million, as reported by Bloomberg. Here's how industrial meat production works: you stuff animals into pens, feed them genetically modified, nutritionally suspect corn and soy (along with growth hormones), and force them to wallow in their own waste while keeping them alive with regular lashings of antibiotics.Then you haul the ...
Topics: industrial ag, business, Big Ag, agriculture, food (all these topics)

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