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Headline	Author	Published	Section
The Fuel's Progress EPA refuses to lower requirement for ethanol in fuel supply		07 Aug 2008	News
Posted at 12:39 PM on 07 Aug 2008 The U.S. EPA gave a big, husky hug to corn ethanol Thursday, declining a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to reduce the amount of ethanol required to be blended into the U.S. fuel supply. The federal Renewable Fuel Standard mandates that 9 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol be poured into U.S. gas tanks this year -- which will suck up about a third of the U.S. corn crop. The ...
Topics: agriculture, energy, ethanol, food, news, politics, United States (all these topics)

An agricultural Waterloo Globalization failed, cheap oil is gone, local production is the only way forward	Jim Goodman	07 Aug 2008	Gristmill
Bigger is always better, isn't it? Big cars, big houses, big businesses, big farms. If you were big, you made more money. Clearly, that is the way of the world. When Europeans colonized the Americas, they wanted more land -- not some of it; all of it. Napoleon wanted more land. Nothing stopped him until Waterloo. So, do you think that the human race, has reached its Waterloo? Have we finally hit the wall with our never-ending desire for 'bigness'? I decided years ago ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, CSAs, economy, ethanol, industrial ag (all these topics)

Free to be E.U. and me Uncertainty, the precautionary principle, and GMOs	Jason D Scorse	06 Aug 2008	Gristmill
Even if we had perfect information on the environmental impacts of industrial chemicals and processes, determining the appropriate levels of regulation would be extremely difficult. In our modern economy, all of us are willing to accept some level of risk, some health and environmental impacts, in order to elevate our material standard of living. In essence, there is no "zero impact" equilibrium, unless we envisage some type of pre-industrial age (and even ...
Topics: agriculture, business, economy, European Union, regulation (all these topics)

Dispatches From the Fields: How CAFOs came to Iowa farm country Ironically, a lost battle against a hog factory planted the seeds for a sustainable farm	Ariane Lotti	06 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. ----- One Step at a Time Gardens is a model of agricultural sustainability. Over 50 varieties of vegetables grow in rotation on six acres of fine Iowa topsoil that receive no synthetic chemicals. Compost, cover crops, and chicken manure ...
Topics: agriculture, CSAs, Iowa, livestock, state politics, video (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)

Barren Spring Author Claire Hope Cummings dishes the dirt on genetically modified food	Bonnie Azab Powell	01 Aug 2008	Grist Feature
One of the most encouraging things about the sustainable-food movement is how effortlessly it crosses traditional political-party, religious, ethnic, and other lines. The right to good, clean, and fair food, to borrow Slow Food's shorthand, seems to unite people who'd never otherwise find themselves chatting at the same party: Home schoolers and dreadlocked hippies, libertaria ...
Topics: agriculture, books, food, GMOs, interview (all these topics)

Good news for modern farm animals From New Jersey, bad news for factory farms	Tom Philpott	01 Aug 2008	Gristmill
Thomas Hobbes famously described life in a 'state of nature' as 'nasty, brutish, and short.' The U.S. meat industry appears to have taken Hobbes' statement as a prescription for proper animal husbandry. Every year, millions of farm animals are slaughtered without ever knowing anything besides life in a grim, crowded cage. Many are subjected to painful mutilation, as in the case of 'tail docking.' In a sense, cows may have it worst of all. They typically spend th ...
Topics: agriculture, animal welfare, livestock, New Jersey (all these topics)

Biofuel bombshell World Bank finally releases 'secret' report on biofuels and the food crisis	Tom Philpott	31 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Remember a few weeks ago, when The Guardian leaked word of a 'secret' World Bank report that essentially blames U.S. and (to a lesser extent) E.U. biofuel policies for causing the global food crisis? You know, the food crisis that continues to generate excoriating hunger in the global south? Well, the World Bank quietly released a modified version of the report this week. Actually, The Guardian posted the original bootleg version, dated April 8, a week after its ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, economy, food, World Bank (all these topics)

Sustainable biotech crops -- solution or oxymoron? Industry report touts potential for biotech crops to combat climate change	Meredith Niles	30 Jul 2008	Gristmill
I am always a sucker for a catchy sounding report -- like the one the World Business Council for Sustainable Development released last week: 'Agricultural Ecosystems: Facts and Trends.' It had it all: the noble sounding 'Council,' the association between agriculture and ecosystems, and the appeal to my inner science-geek with words like 'facts' and 'trends.' I printed it out enthusiastically and got out my highlighter, ready to read all of the fascinating new insig ...
Topics: agriculture, climate, Department of Agriculture, GMOs, greenhouse-gas emissions, sustainable ag (all these topics)

An economist's eye view Outline for a move to a sustainable agriculture system	Jason D Scorse	29 Jul 2008	Gristmill
The agricultural industry is one of the biggest users of water, energy, and chemicals on the planet. Overall it poses one of the biggest threats to global biodiversity, which is why it deserves significant attention from the environmental community. But when it comes to defining what is meant by 'sustainable agriculture,' there is a lot of confusion. Many people think 'organic,' or 'local,' or 'non-GMO,' or even 'biodynamic.' It will come as little surprise that e ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, economy, food, World Trade Organization (all these topics)

Dispatches From the Fields: From tepary beans to arugula -- and back Can locavores embrace a truly place-based agriculture?	Stephanie Paige Ogburn	28 Jul 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. The architectural remnants of an ancient agrarian civilization known as the Ancestral Puebloans cover the Southwest. Photo: Stephanie Ogburn.It's somewhat astonishing that there's a thriving local food scene where I live, i ...
Topics: agriculture, Colorado, farmers markets, food, local food (all these topics)

Industrial food and fuel forever! If we just trust Monsanto and ADM, we can eat and drive to our heart's content	Tom Philpott	28 Jul 2008	Gristmill
I've been a pretty harsh critic of industrial agriculture for a while. I've also been known to utter unkind words about the government's extraordinary, multibillion-dollar effort to promote ethanol. But I've changed my mind. I now believe chemical-dependent, monocrop agriculture can be counted on to not only 'feed the world,' but also keep its hundreds of millions of cars on the road -- now and forever. What turned me around? This news: Archer Daniels Midland Co., D ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, biofuels, ethanol, food, industrial ag (all these topics)

A gastronomic renaissance Farmers markets and local agriculture: age-old systems for the future	Jim Goodman	25 Jul 2008	Gristmill
We often think that farmers markets are products of our times as they spring up in cities and small towns across the country. Truth is, a farmers market is the traditional way of selling agricultural produce around the world. The really nice aspect of this transaction is that the farmer receives just compensation for his product and the eater can be assured the product is fresh, local, and grown in a manner that is acceptable to all. If these criteria are not met, the c ...
Topics: agriculture, Department of Agriculture, farmers markets, food, local food (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)

Possible 'Cide Effects EPA to ban pesticide carbofuran from food in U.S.		25 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 7:12 AM on 25 Jul 2008 In an unexpected move, the U.S. EPA announced Thursday that it will act to ban the pesticide carbofuran from food in the United States before next year's growing season. The EPA said the pesticide can cause "nausea, dizziness, confusion, and -- at very high exposures -- respiratory paralysis and death"; the pesticide has also killed millions of birds and other wildlife. Carbofura ...
Topics: agriculture, news, toxics, United States, US EPA (all these topics)

Dispatches From the Fields: The risks of farming for 'non-farmers' No government disaster assistance for alternative farmers in Iowa	Ariane Lotti	22 Jul 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. ----- Now that Iowa has started to dry out from record flooding, farmers are looking to their fields and feeling the uncertainty of this year's crop. For conventional commodity crop farmers, that feeling is fleeting; they can breathe a sigh ...
Topics: agriculture, CSAs, food, Iowa, severe weather (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)

Rot and Sold On storing produce	Umbra Fisk	21 Jul 2008	Ask Umbra
Hi Umbra, Quick question: What is the best way to store vegetables in the refrigerator? I have a small crisper drawer and lots of vegetables from the CSA box. I don't want to use plastic bags but unfortunately they work well. Any suggestions? Thanks! Kati N. Washington, D.C. Dearest Kati, Did you say CSA box? You mean, you subscribed to a Community Supported Agriculture farm and are receiving weekly boxes of delicious, fresh, local vege ...
Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, food, green living (all these topics)

Rough to the Gills Judge says Calif. salmon in trouble but offers no short-term solution		21 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 11:04 AM on 21 Jul 2008 The dams and aqueducts that shuttle water from California's Sacramento River Delta to the rest of the state will "appreciably increase jeopardy" to salmon and steelhead in the coming months, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said Friday. But while Wanger agreed with environmentalists that "the three salmonid species are not viable and are all in jeopardy of ex ...
Topics: agriculture, California, litigation, National Marine Fisheries Service, news, water conflicts (all these topics)

Phosphorus For Us Sick of algae-polluted water, Florida groups sue EPA		18 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 1:55 PM on 18 Jul 2008 A flock of Florida green groups has sued the U.S. EPA, seeking state and national water-pollution standards for fertilizer runoff from factory farms. Nitrogen and phosphorus flow from agricultural operations into many Florida waterways (among other places), triggering algae blooms which suck oxygen from the water and kill off marine life. Exposure to the algae, which contaminates many drinkin ...
Topics: agriculture, Florida, litigation, news, US EPA, water pollution (all these topics)

Uganda Drink That? Ugandan coffee endangered by climate change		17 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 3:52 PM on 17 Jul 2008 Uganda's coffee industry could be basically kaput in 30 years, according to a new Oxfam report. Uganda is Africa's second-largest coffee exporter after Ethiopia, but the report direly predicts that if "average global temperatures rise by two degrees or more, then most of Uganda is likely to cease to be suitable for coffee." In the last two decades, inconsistent weather has reduced crop yiel ...
Topics: agriculture, climate, climate change impacts, food, news, severe weather, Uganda (all these topics)

Carrots, sticks, and crumbs The farm bill is over, so what happens next?	Aimee Witteman	17 Jul 2008	Gristmill
In a stuffy room on Capitol Hill last week, I joined a couple dozen activists and farmers to discuss the farm bill. Why would we bother to meet in hot-as-an-oven Washington D.C. to discuss the legislative mess that recently sputtered to an all too drawn-out end? While the ink is barely dry on the new farm legislation, the campaign for the 2012 Farm and Food Bill has already begun. The group of grassroots advocates met in D.C. last week to wipe the sweat from th ...
Topics: agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Top of the crops USDA scientist: Some crop residues may be too valuable for biofuels	Ron Steenblik	17 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Converting crop residues into cellulosic ethanol sounds to many people like a good idea -- certainly better than using food crops themselves. Yet according to respected USDA soil scientist Ann Kennedy, the stems and leaves left over after crops are harvested may have more value if they are left on the ground, especially in areas receiving less than 25 inches of precipitation annually. That includes most of the United States (click on link to see map) west of the 100th ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, ethanol, scientific research (all these topics)

Have you smelled the little piggies? In eastern North Carolina, citizens and students rise up for environmental justice	Guest author	17 Jul 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post by David Hamilton and Jordan Treakle. David is an organizer with the Real Food Challenge, and a founding member of FLO (Fair, Local, Organic) Food at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Treakle, a UNC student, is also a member of FLO Food. Last month, about 150 people converged on Raleigh for the pinnacle of a 51-hour hog vigil. Busloads full of children and old-timers from Halifax, Duplin, Sampson, and Bladen counties, where the sten ...
Topics: agriculture, air pollution, environmental justice, food, North Carolina, toxics, waste (all these topics)

Beyond-Organic Buzz As summer heats up, a tasting of six 'natural' white wines	Tom Philpott	15 Jul 2008	The Bottom Line
As summer heats up, a tasting of six "natural" white wines By Tom Philpott 15 Jul 2008 When it comes to white wine, the nose knows. Photo: Tyler Bell When the summer sun rages, there are few antidotes more pleasing than a light dinner and a glass of chilled white wine. Of course, as summers get hotter, it gets more difficult to enjoy that indulgence without thinking about climate change and other ecological degradation. And that leads to a natural question: Wher ...
Topics: advice, agriculture, food, green living, green products, The Bottom Line (all these topics)

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