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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Cross pollination
Israel trades irrigation technology for access to India's ag-gene bank |
Tia Ghose |
08 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Israel is seeking to invest in Indian agriculture, according to this article in the India Times. The two powers signed a bilateral agricultural agreement a couple years ago; in the pact, India agreed to trade information on "genetic resources" from their crops in exchange for Israel's dryland farming expertise. As part of the agreement, Israel would share its expertise on water recycling and irrigation. It would also help India "intensify" its agricu ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, India, Israel (all these topics) |
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Against Ethanol Odds
Biofuels not helpful in climate-change fight, new studies say |
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08 Feb 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:27 AM on 08 Feb 2008 Photo: doskophoto Two new studies published in the journal Science conclude that growing and burning biofuels actually increases net greenhouse-gas emissions and exacerbates climate change. The new research questions the assumptions of earlier studies, making sure to incorporate the effects of land-use changes into emissions calculations. When land-use changes are taken into accou ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, news, scientific research (all these topics) |
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The Butz Stops Here
A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz |
Tom Philpott |
07 Feb 2008 |
Victual Reality |
| Industrial agriculture lost one of its greatest champions last week: Earl "Rusty" Butz, secretary of the USDA under Nixon. Blustering, boisterous, and often vulgar, Butz lorded over the U.S. farm scene at a key period. He plunged a pitchfork into New Deal agricultural policies that sought to protect farmers from the big agribusiness companies whose interests he openly ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Department of Agriculture, industrial ag, Victual Reality (all these topics) |
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Next market bubble: farmland!
Thanks to the ethanol boom, big investors are plowing cash into corn country |
Tom Philpott |
07 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Big investors seem to have forgotten how to exist without some sort of speculative bubble. In the last decade, they've whipped cash from tech stocks to bonds to emerging markets to real estate to junk mortgages. With the latter bubble now deflating rapidly, they've turned to ... Midwestern farmland? Yes, big cornfields. Here's a Chicago asset manager talking about who's buying up farmland, quoted in USA Today: It's everybody from the person concerned about the sto ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, economy, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Edible media: Hole in the middle
New NYT pundit bravely defends GMOs, cloning |
Tom Philpott |
06 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web. The New York Times op-ed page appears to be grooming James E. McWilliams, a professor of history at Texas State University, as a rising pundit on food-politics issues. In August, The Times ran a McWilliams piece worrying that growing consumer desire for local food might be harming the environment. And yesterday, they had McWilliams wringing his hands about whether clone ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, GMOs (all these topics) |
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A rose by an organic name -- would it smell as sweet?
What qualifies as a green flower? |
Sarah van Schagen |
04 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Roses are red,Violets are blue,But if you want a greener choice,What the hell should you do? The NYT asks that very question (minus the poetic flair, of course) and struggles to answer it: And as in other industries with increasing demand for green products, the floral industry is debating what is environmentally correct. Should flowers be organic -- that is, grown without synthetic or toxic pesticides? Or should the emphasis be on fair trade, meaning that th ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, green living (all these topics) |
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The downside of high times
Drug cultivation in Northern California is a bad trip |
Erik Hoffner |
04 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Terrain magazine shows how the cozy-sounding northern California agriculture scene is drying up watersheds and poisoning the landscape, all to bring people their drug of choice. Installment one on the boom in illegal water rustling for wineries starts like this: After one of the rainiest years on record -- when parts of the valley had been flooded -- Anderson Creek, a tributary of the Navarro River, was dry. 'It was as if we were in a drought year,' says Hall, ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, California (all these topics) |
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Mad Flavor in the Bay Area: Coffee fetish
Blue Bottle generates more than just a caffeine buzz, but what does it mean? |
Tom Philpott |
31 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| In 'Mad Flavor,' I describe exceptional culinary experiences from small artisan producers. Mad Flavor is currently reporting from the San Francisco Bay Area. Now these guys obsess over coffee. I say that with affection. For years, I home-roasted my own green beans. I once owned a vacuum pot, and used it lovingly until it shattered. A famous Roman espresso bar once moved me to tears of joy. But I've never dropped 20 grand on a fancy brewing contraption. Oakland ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food (all these topics) |
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Pesticide-free produce, pesticide-free kids
Organic food reduces organophosphate exposure in children |
Clark Williams-Derry |
31 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| By now, I think most people understand that organic food is supposed to be healthier for you. But I think there are still some people who feel that the health benefits are a just a bunch of marketing hype. Well, this new study suggests that it ain't just hype -- organic produce really does reduce kids' exposure to some potentially risky pesticides. From the Seattle P-I: The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety o ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, health, organic food, toxics (all these topics) |
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Bittman on meat
In case you'd forgotten, industrial meat is a friggin' nightmare |
David Roberts |
29 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| It's a little weird that no one on Gristmill has yet pointed to Mark Bittman's stellar NYT piece on the environmental ravages of industrial meat. Philpott, where you at? Anyway, it's amazing. Go read it. Here's a taste (ha ha): Growing meat (it's hard to use the word "raising" when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it's a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth's ice-free land i ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, climate, energy, food, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics) |
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Will peak oil force the localization of agriculture?
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David Roberts |
29 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Stuart Staniford says no. Sharon Astyk says yes. Jeff Vail also says yes. |
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| Topics: agriculture, energy, food, local food, oil (all these topics) |
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GMOs as environmental pollution
Schmeiser to play David to Monsanto's Goliath again |
Kurt Michael Friese |
28 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Most of you will recall the high-profile battle fought by Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser when he was sued for growing their GM seed without tithing to the corporation for the privilege. Schmeiser insisted that Monsanto's patented DNA blew onto his land, but he lost an acrimonious fight in Canada's Supreme Court anyway. Now Percy's back for more. Schmeiser has filed suit against the agribusiness giant in his Bruno, Saskatchewan, small claims court ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, business, food, GMOs, industrial ag, litigation (all these topics) |
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USDA food-safety czar: Ethanol waste causes tainted beef -- and that's okay
Let cows eat vaccines along with distillers grains |
Tom Philpott |
28 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| In December, a study came out suggesting a link between distillers grains -- a waste product of the corn-ethanol process -- and a spike in cases of beef tainted with the deadly E. coli 0157 virus. You see, the government-mandated ethanol boom has dramatically pushed up corn prices. To cut costs, feedlot operators have been substituting cheap distillers grains for pricey corn. Thus in the past year or so, we've seen an explosion in use of distillers grain as livestock ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, Department of Agriculture, energy, ethanol, food (all these topics) |
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Eco-Farm: California dreaming
Notes on California's big sustainable-farming conference. |
Tom Philpott |
28 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Note: This is another in a series of posts from Eco-Farm, the annual conference held by the Ecological Farming Association of California. At Eco-Farm, some 1,400-1,500 organic farmers, Big Organic marketers, and sundry sustainable-ag enthusiasts pack into a rustic, beautiful seaside conference hall an hour-and-a-half south of San Francisco to talk farming amid the dunes. Satan gave me a taco: Harvesting talent at Eco-Farm. Photo: Bonnie Powell, Ethicurean ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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Eco-Farm: Buzz kill
A long-time beekeeper's take on colony collapse |
Tom Philpott |
27 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Note: For the next few days I'll be reporting from Eco-Farm, the annual conference held by the Ecological Farming Association of California. At Eco-Farm, some 1,400-1,500 organic farmers, Big Organic marketers, and sundry sustainable-ag enthusiasts pack into a rustic, beautiful seaside conference hall an hour-and-a-half south of San Francisco to talk farming amid the dunes. Long-time California bee keeper Randy Oliver gave an interesting session on apiary in an age o ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Eco-Farm: Seeds of ignorance
Investigative journalist reveals serious safety concerns about GM food |
Tom Philpott |
25 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Note: For the next few days I'll be reporting from Eco-Farm, the annual conference held by the Ecological Farming Association of California. At Eco-Farm, some 1,400-1,500 organic farmers, Big Organic marketers, and sundry sustainable-ag enthusiasts pack into a rustic, beautiful seaside conference hall an hour-and-a-half south of San Francisco to talk farming amid the dunes. I've been writing about genetically modified food since I first took up food-politics writing ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, GMOs, health, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Biomass, part III
The most critical assumption on cellulosic biofuels: yields |
Vinod Khosla |
25 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| My most critical assumption with cellulosic biofuels is on land efficiency: tons of biomass per acre, and hence gallons of fuel produced per acre, and more accurately, miles driven per acre. I believe biomass yields per acre will multiply by two to four times from today's norms. The lack of genetic optimization and research on cultural practices, harvesting, storage, and transport with would-be energy crops -- miscanthus, sorghum, switchgrass, and others -- m ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Eco-Farm: Eric Schlosser on Florida pickers and fair wages
Fast Food Nation author regales organic-farmer audience |
Tom Philpott |
25 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Note: For the next few days I'll be reporting from Eco-Farm, the annual conference held by the Ecological Farming Association of California. At Eco-Farm, some 1,400-1,500 organic farmers, Big Organic marketers, and sundry sustainable-ag enthusiasts pack into a rustic, beautiful seaside conference hall an hour-and-a-half south of San Francisco to talk farming amid the dunes.The ever-excellent investigative writer Eric Schlosser kicked off Eco-Farm with a hard-hitting key ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, industrial ag, organic food (all these topics) |
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Cystic River
Ag practices are mucking with the Mississippi River, says research |
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24 Jan 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:47 PM on 24 Jan 2008 The Mississippi River has been dramatically changed by agricultural practices, says new research in the journal Nature. In the past 50 years or so, carbon levels in the river have jumped 40 percent, while the actual amount of water flowing through the riverbed has increased 9 percent -- the equivalent of five Connecticut Rivers. "Agricultural practices are causing a greater perc ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Mississippi River, news, scientific research (all these topics) |
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Genetically engineered 'supercarrot'
New superfood is higher in press-release fluff and poor journalism than your average carrot |
Matthew Dillon |
24 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The best way to read this post is to begin with a recent press release from Texas A&M on their new Supercarrot. Second, read Wired magazine journalist Alexis Madrigal's coverage of the story. Alexis praises the next generation of biotech crops. He writes that, 'A carrot that increases what's known as the bioavailability of calcium could have a major impact in the marketplace.' Really? You are correct, Alexis: it could have a major impact on a totally ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, GMOs, health (all these topics) |
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Pork porn
Eating extremely local pigs |
Adam Browning |
24 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| For pork lovers squeamish about hunting, check out this fascinating account of an intrepid urban farmer who doesn't let the fact she lives in the hood in Oakland, Calif., get in the way of her commitment to eating local. Very local. Like backyard local. So ... here's the piggies on day one. And last days. Read up from the bottom. She's a beautiful writer, and she has some insightful things to say. |
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| Topics: agriculture, food, local food, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Biomass, part II
Better agronomy for energy crops |
Vinod Khosla |
24 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I believe improved crop practices are a vital aspect in meeting our cellulosic feedstock needs. There are a few areas that offer significant potential: crop rotation, the use of polyculture plantations, perennials as energy crops, and better agronomic practices. We address all four issues here. Though none of these have been extensively studied, early studies and knowledgeable speculation point to their likely utility. Further study of th ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, food (all these topics) |
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Seeds of wisdom
Seed-savers and greens unite to challenge Monsanto's latest cash cow |
Tom Philpott |
23 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| For years, candy makers and other industrial food manufacturers refused to use genetically modified sugar, fearing a consumer backlash. Photo: iStockphoto As a result, Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beet -- designed to withstand heavy application of Roundup, Monsanto's herbicide -- has been dead in the water. (Sugar beets, grown in the Midwest and Northwest, account for half of U.S. sugar production; cane, grown mainly in Florida, provides the rest.) B ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, business, food, GMOs, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Woe Dirt
Erosion is as big a problem as climate change, say experts |
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22 Jan 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:29 PM on 22 Jan 2008 Planet Earth loses some 1 percent of its topsoil to erosion every year -- and that's an environmental threat on par with global warming, say experts. "Globally, it's pretty clear we're running out of dirt," says geologist David Montgomery, who identifies agriculture as the main culprit for "soil mining." In the U.S., cropland is estimated to be eroding at least 10 times faste ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, news (all these topics) |
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Land and liberty
How food sovereignty benefits people and planet |
Erik Hoffner |
22 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| One of the most prominent voices fighting corporate control of food and water, Food and Water Watch, recently teamed up with international development and human rights organization Grassroots International to issue an important paper, 'Towards a Green Food System' (PDF), about how the food sovereignty movement (the right of peoples to define their own food, agriculture, livestock, and fisheries systems independent of market forces) emerging from Asia to Africa is good ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, food (all these topics) |
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