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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Organically killed
Are 'organic pesticides' the way forward for organic agriculture? |
Tom Philpott |
23 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| How are proponents of regenerative agriculture supposed to respond to news like this? Green pesticide and herbicide developer Marrone Organic Innovations is nearly done raising $7 million in a second round of funding, CEO Pamela Marrone said Wednesday. Wow, somebody's investing in organic agriculture -- millions, no less. That's news. But does it have to involve pesticides?Pesticides aren't just problematic because they're derived synthetically. They're also troubli ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, health, industrial ag, organic food, toxics (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, food, health, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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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 -- née 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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics, shenanigans (all these topics) |
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Certified organic, fair-trade free riders
If you support the standards but not the certifiers, then what? |
JMG |
22 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| At my local Saturday farmers market, I stopped to buy some coffee at the local roaster's booth. I was eying the wares when I noticed that the spendy bags of coffee ($9 for 12 oz.) labeled 'Fair Trade' didn't have the any independent certification of that fact. I asked the guy behind the booth, and he said, 'Well, it is fair trade coffee, and the owners pay the fair trade price, but they don't want to pay for the label mark because it just pays people here in the U.S. -- ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, farmers markets, food, green living, organic food, shopping (all these topics) |
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Profit Actually
Monsanto execs make millions off farmers' backs |
Matthew Dillon |
22 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Hugh Grant -- Monsanto chair, CEO, and president -- probably won't notice the increased price of a loaf of bread. And if he does, it will be with a smile. Grant is $13-million-and-change wealthier today than he was on Monday, as he choose to exercise stock options -- 116,000 shares worth -- that netted him a profit of over $114 per share. Like many of us, I wouldn't mind paying the extra dollar per loaf of bread if I knew the majority of that dollar was going back ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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The truth about no-till farming
It does not save carbon and is <em |
Joseph Romm |
22 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The list of very knowledgeable folk who still are pushing no-till farming as a greenhouse-gas mitigation strategy -- even though science passed them by a while ago -- includes: Sen. John McCain Princeton University* [PDF] The Chicago Climate Exchange [PDF] The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions [PDF] I buried the science in the McCain post, but it deserves higher visibility. As a major review article [PDF] from Agriculture, Ecosystems and E ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, carbon offsets, carbon sequestration, climate (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy (all these topics) |
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The Onion on GM tomatoes
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Tom Philpott |
22 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| From The Onion: PASADENA, CA--Geneticists at the California Institute of Technology announced Monday that they have developed a tomato with a 31 percent larger price tag than a typical specimen of the vine-ripened fruit. 'By utilizing an exciting new breakthrough in gene-splicing technology, we've been able to manipulate this new tomato with recombinant DNA in such a manner as to make it nearly as pricey as a similarly sized tangelo,' said Dr. Lee Nolan, who headed u ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, funnies, GMOs (all these topics) |
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Da yoots take over Maverick Farms
A new generation pilots the farm's operations as it transitions to training others |
Tom Philpott |
21 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Some Grist readers may have noticed that I've been writing on the blog nearly every day, while keeping up the Victual Reality column. How can I do all of that and farm, too? The truth is, I went full-time at Grist last November, when I took on the position of food editor. And to maintain my sanity, I've moved into a much less active role on Maverick Farms. We're in the process of turning Maverick into a farm incubator -- a program designed to train our area's next gene ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, CSAs, food (all these topics) |
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Fertile for problems
South America's industrial-ag powerhouse eyes rainforest potash deposits |
Tom Philpott |
21 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I've been writing for a while about industrial agriculture's fertilizer problem -- about how mass-scale food (and biofuel) production relies on finite, geopolitically problematic, and environmentally destructive resources to maintain soil fertility. (See posts here, here, and here.) Well, that story is heating up down in Brazil, an increasingly important hub in the global industrial food system. Brazil ranks as the world's second-largest soy producer (soon to overtak ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, Brazil, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, John McCain, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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Hard to Stomach
Federal food-aid package promotes GMOs |
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19 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:09 AM on 19 May 2008 A $770 million food-aid package proposed by the Bush administration may also aid U.S. agribiz, as the feds have slipped in language promoting the use of genetically modified crops in developing countries. Proponents of bioengineering say that GM crops are hardier in harsh climates and can produce higher yields; opponents say that just ain't the case. The food-aid package must be approved by Congress, and eve ... |
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| Topics: Africa, agriculture, Big Ag, food, GMOs, legislation, news, politics (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Nitrogen bomb
'Science': nitrogen as important as carbon in climate change |
Tom Philpott |
16 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Speaking of the troubles associated with industrial agriculture and its fertilizer regime, check this out:The public does not yet know much about nitrogen, but in many ways it is as big an issue as carbon, and due to the interactions of nitrogen and carbon, makes the challenge of providing food and energy to the world's peoples without harming the global environment a tremendous challenge.The speaker is University of Virginia environmental sciences professor James Gallo ... |
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| Topics: climate, agriculture (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, food (all these topics) |
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Dairy, Dairy, Quite Contrary
Why that organic label on your milk doesn't tell the whole story |
Tom Philpott |
16 May 2008 |
Victual Reality |
| Tastes great, but who's paying the health-care bills? As a writer, one of my goals is to demystify farming for non-farmers -- to remind people that their food comes from somewhere, grown by someone, often drawing down finite resources. Less than 2 percent of Americans farm, yet all of us eat. Whether you're scarfing a Whopper or savoring a farmers' market peach, food has a hi ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, economy, food, organic food, sustainable ag, Victual Reality (all these topics) |
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The Tale That Dogs the Ag
Congress finally passes veto-proof farm bill |
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16 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:54 AM on 16 May 2008 Defying President Bush's veto threat, the Senate joined the House Thursday in voting "yay" on the $289 billion omnibus legislation that covers everything from farm subsidies to food stamps. In both chambers, support for the bill tallied strong enough to override Bush's threatened veto. The legislation has bitterly divided the sustainable-agriculture world. Supporters acknowledge the ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, legislation, news, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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'The Saudi Arabia of fertilizer'
One big corpration dominates the soon-to-be-prized potash market |
Tom Philpott |
15 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Industrial agriculture currently stands as humanity's big plan for "feeding the world" as global population moves toward 10 billion and the earth warms. Increasingly, as oil supplies tighten and prices rise, we're looking to industrial ag to fill our gas tanks, too.Unhappily, this relatively new form of farming relies utterly on three elements -- two mined (potassium and phosphorus) and one synthesized from natural gas (nitrogen) -- to maintain the product ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Canada, food (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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China's coming land grab
More hidden costs of our love affair with cheap imported goods |
Tom Philpott |
11 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Remember a couple of weeks ago, when a Brazilian soy magnate turned a voracious eye on the Amazon rainforest, marveling at how awesome it would be to raze more of it to plant soy? Blairo Maggi, known as Brazil's 'soy king,' said this: With the worsening of the global food crisis, the time is coming when it will be inevitable to discuss whether we preserve the environment or produce more food. There is no way to produce more food without occupying more land and taking d ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, Brazil, China, economy, rainforests (all these topics) |
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Farm Team
Timothy LaSalle of Rodale on the surprising climate benefits of organic farming |
Anna Lappé |
09 May 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| Organic methods: good for carrots and for the climate. The Rodale Institute, founded by organic farming visionary J.I. Rodale, is one of the nation's leading organic-farming research and advocacy organizations. Today, Rodale sits on a 333-acre farm near Kutztown, Penn., home to the longest-running U.S. field trials study to compare organic and conventional farming practices. I h ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, climate, food, interview, organic food, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, organic food, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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Better homes and gardens
The NYT on urban farming |
Tom Philpott |
08 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Viewed through a wide lens, the world's troubles seem overwhelming: climate change, pointless war, spreading hunger, surging food and energy prices, etc. There's a tendency to seek big-brush answers to these vast problems, to ask: what's The Solution? Failing inevitably to find it -- much less implement it -- we plunge deeper into despair and political impotence. Of course, taking a broad view of the world is critically important. But that perspective may be better at ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, local food, placemaking, sustainable ag, urban planning (all these topics) |
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