Grist | Topics | 713 Results

RESULTS		Results 176 – 200 of 713
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
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)

Poll: Rising food prices Are you spending more money on food?	Grist	16 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Food prices are soaring around the globe. Have you felt the pinch? Take our poll and tell us. You can vote below the fold. And read recent Grist content on the topic: Why Michael Pollan and Alice Waters should quit celebrating food-price hikes How expensive is food, really? Higher food prices mean crappier cafeteria fare for kids
Topics: agriculture, business, economy, food, green living, shopping (all these topics)

School-lunch crunch Higher food prices mean crappier cafeteria fare for kids	Tom Philpott	16 Apr 2008	Gristmill
As food prices rise, who gets hit first and hardest? Clearly, urban dwellers in the global south, where people spend upwards of half of their incomes on food. According to the Wall Street Journal, here's the ever-growing list of nations that have experienced food-price riots:Rioting in response to soaring food prices recently has broken out in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Ethiopia. In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to ...
Topics: agriculture, education, food, green living, health, parenting (all these topics)

That '70s show Thirty years ago, high crop prices caused environmental destruction, too	Tom Philpott	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Last week, I wrote about high crop prices that were inspiring people to make all manner of dubious land-use decisions, like plowing up environmentally sensitive land to plant environmentally destructive corn.Then I came across an interesting bit from Merchants of Grain: The Power and Profits of the Five Giant Companies at the Center of the World's Food Supply, by veteran Washington Post reporter Dan Morgan. I've just started the book, which first came out in 1979. It's ...
Topics: agriculture, books, economy, food, toxics, water pollution (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)

Coke: Still 'it' with the kids Coca-Cola and McD's top brands among teens, study says	Tom Philpott	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Photo: Taneli Mielik�inen There has been a lot of great work in the last decade to wake kids up to alternatives to industrial food. Here and there, farm-to-school programs have been launched, soft drinks banished from cafeterias, books like Eric Schlosser's Chew on This have emerged. Yet clearly, much more work needs to be done. Seems that teens are still gulping down Coke and flocking to McDonald's (when they're not heading for Burger King, evidently seen ...
Topics: advertising, agriculture, business, food, health, industrial ag, messaging (all these topics)

The solution beneath our feet As food prices rise, policymakers ignore potential of home and community gardens	Guest author	11 Apr 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest essay by Bill Duesing, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farmers Association of Connecticut. It originally aired on WSHU Public Radio in Fairfield, Conn. ----- 'Gardens are viewed as 'hobbies' by most politicians/bureaucrats and administrators and are seldom taken seriously as real sources of real food,' says a University of Connecticut agricultural extension specialist, speaking of the United States Department of Agriculture. This attitud ...
Topics: agriculture, Department of Agriculture, food, gardening, organic food (all these topics)

ANWR of the heartland? Why plowing up Conservation Reserve Program land won't solve the food crisis	Tom Philpott	11 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Uh oh. The New York Times reports that 'thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government's biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate.' Rather then let the ground lie fallow, they're planting it with corn, soy, and wheat -- the price of each of which stands near or above all-time highs. 'Last fall, they took back as many acres as are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined,' The Times reports. And there's serious pressure to bring mo ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, cellulosic ethanol, economy, food, industrial ag (all these topics)

Can industrial agriculture feed the world? Part 2 Global food riots edition	Tom Philpott	10 Apr 2008	Gristmill
A couple of months ago, I raised the question, can industrial agriculture feed the world?I was being intentionally provocative. For decades, policymakers have treated low-input, diversified agriculture -- 'organic' in the sense described by the great British agriculture scholar Sir Albert Howard -- as a kind of hippy indulgence. Sure, it's nice to grow food without poison, but you can't feed the world that way. To feed the globe's teeming masses, you need loads of mined ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, food, industrial ag (all these topics)

Going With the Grain While food prices rise, here's a stick-to-your-ribs pasta dish that won't cause sticker shock	Roz Cummins	10 Apr 2008	'Tis the Season
Every time I go to the supermarket lately, I get sticker shock. Why is it suddenly costing an arm and a leg to keep body and soul together? Part of the explanation lies in recent developments at the gas station. Skyrocketing fuel prices translate to higher costs for growing and transporting food -- and higher retail prices for us. Then there's the biof ...
Topics: agriculture, food, green living, recipes, Tis the Season (all these topics)

The technologies needed to beat 450 ppm, Part 1 Examining the IPCC's 'portfolio of technologies'	Joseph Romm	10 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In 2007, the IPCC wrote [PDF] in its Working Group III summary (page 16): The range of stabilization levels assessed can be achieved by deployment of a portfolio of technologies that are currently available and those that are expected to be commercialised in coming decades. This assumes that appropriate and effective incentives are in place for development, acquisition, deployment and diffusion of technologies, and for addressing related barriers (high agreement, ...
Topics: agriculture, business, carbon sequestration, climate, energy, green building, IPCC (all these topics)

Smithfield's European strategy The hog giant CAFOizes Poland and Romania to gain access to Western Europe	Tom Philpott	09 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Farmers in Iowa and North Carolina -- the two states that together house nearly half of U.S. hog production [PDF] -- won't be surprised by this report, from the International Herald Tribune: The American bacon producer, Smithfield Farms, now operates a dozen vast industrial pig farms in Poland. Importing cheap soy feed from South America, which the company feeds intensively to its tens of thousands of pigs, it has caused the price of pork to drop dramatically ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, European Union, food, industrial ag, Poland, Romania (all these topics)

This is sure to end well	JMG	09 Apr 2008	Gristmill
What is it that we learn from history again? Oh, right, nothing: Out on the farm, the ducks and pheasants are losing ground. Thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government's biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate. They are spurning guaranteed annual payments for a chance to cash in on the boom in wheat, soybeans, corn and other crops. Last fall, they took back as many acres as are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined. I'm read ...
Topics: agriculture (all these topics)

New vision for global agriculture 'IPCC for agriculture' has little teeth, but great timbre	Maywa Montenegro	07 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Some are calling it a project that will transform global agriculture as we know it. Others are calling it a utopian dream. One thing is for sure, however: When the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAAST) releases the final draft of its report on April 15, sparks will still be flying. Instigated in 2005 by the United Nations and the World Bank, among others, the IAAST was supposed to be an IPCC for agriculture. (Inde ...
Topics: agriculture, climate science, environmental justice, environmental movement (all these topics)

Vanity is Green Digging into the relationships between business and environmentalism	Maywa Montenegro	07 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Admittedly, this is more of a link dump than a true blog post, but sometimes the green goodness is too good to pass up ... As Sarah and David have mentioned, the May edition of Vanity Fair is their third annual green issue. Featuring, ironically, the material girl on the cover, it's crammed with features that will enlighten, illuminate, and ... disturb.Pulitzer prize-winning journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele investigate Monsanto. ('We've never writt ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, celebrity, green living, music, shopping (all these topics)

Notable quotable	David Roberts	07 Apr 2008	Gristmill
'We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals.' -- CNN founder Ted Turner, on what will happen if global warming is not quickly addressed (video under the fold)
Topics: agriculture, climate, extinction, quotables, severe weather (all these topics)

Up, up, and away: corn edition Corn hits a new record -- $6 a bushel	Joseph Romm	06 Apr 2008	Gristmill
At the end of February, I blogged on a Fortune article that had the subhead 'The ethanol boom is running out of gas as corn prices spike.' That article noted: Spurred by an ethanol plant construction binge, corn prices have gone stratospheric, soaring from below $2 a bushel in 2006 to over $5.25 a bushel today. As a result, it's become difficult for ethanol plants to make a healthy profit, even with oil at $100 a barrel. Just six weeks later, we have an AP article ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, Department of Agriculture, energy, food (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)

Who owns your tomato? Another big horticultural seed company bought by Monsanto	Matthew Dillon	04 Apr 2008	Gristmill
When Monsanto buys into a market, they buy in big. In 2005, Monsanto's seed/genetic trait holdings were primarily in corn, cotton, soybeans, and canola. That year, they purchased Seminis, the world's largest vegetable seed company (see And We Have the Seed) specializing in seed for vegetable field crops. Now their takeover of the vegetable seed sector continues, as they have announced the intent to purchase the Dutch breeding and seed company, De Ruiter Seeds.This pur ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, Department of Justice, food, industrial ag, regulation (all these topics)

Against the grain: What are they thinking? Part 2 Time bashes grain ethanol	Joseph Romm	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. ----- All that glitters is not gold. And all that grows is not green. That is the belated realization about grain ethanol -- in fact, about any ethanol whose feedstock is grown on cropland. Joe Romm has done a good job posting on this issue, including his report on the recent studies featured in Science magazine. I'd like to weigh in with a few add ...
Topics: agriculture, cellulosic ethanol, deforestation, Department of Agriculture, energy, ethanol, magazines, renewable energy (all these topics)

The U.S. never had small government Taxes and public investment: less intrusive than alternatives	Gar Lipow	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Occasionally, as happened on one of my posts, someone will mention the early 20th century and before as a happy era when small government was the rule. These people are confusing low taxes with small government. Government has played a huge role in the U.S. since it became a nation. It's just that for much of its lifespan, the U.S. used military force to wipe out Native American nations and take their land. That extremely valuable land was then used to subsidize develop ...
Topics: agriculture, politics, public lands (all these topics)

U-boat sightings European biodiesel industry being bankrupted by loophole	biodiversivist	02 Apr 2008	Gristmill
They call them U-boats because they pull into a port just long enough to do a U-turn and head off to Europe. They stop just long enough to blend a touch of fuel into the tank so they can claim the government subsidy. Let's say you have a million gallons on board from, say, a palm oil plantation in Indonesia, or a soybean operation in South America. An hour or two after your arrival, your pockets are bulging with just short of a million U.S. taxpayer dollars. From the ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, economy, energy, fossil fuels, international politics, shenanigans (all these topics)

Got food? Farmworker Awareness Week is a chance to recognize the people whose labor means we can eat	Fawn Pattison	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is Farmworker Awareness Week, a time to support the millions of farmworkers whose labor puts food on every American table, and who work and live in some of the worst environmental conditions in our nation. It's estimated that 2 to 3 million farmworkers plant, tend, and harvest American crops every year. Many farmworkers in the U.S. are migrants who move from place to place following the harvest. Where I live, in North Carolina, migrant farmworkers are the ma ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, environmental justice, food, grassroots activism, health, toxics (all these topics)

Birds do it; bees do it NYT op-ed: pesticides wiping out songbirds	Tom Philpott	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
When the little bluebird Who has never said a word Starts to sing Spring ... It is nature, that is all, Simply telling us to fall in love. -- Cole Porter, 'Let's Do It' The immortal refrain of an old Cole Porter chestnut -- 'birds do it; bees do it' -- has taken on an ominous ring. Evidently, songbirds have followed honeybees by engaging in a massive die-off. (Bats, whose mating rituals evidently didn't capture Porter's fancy, are dying off as well.)According t ...
Topics: agriculture, extinction, food, health, organic food, US EPA (all these topics)

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