In the first quarter of 2006, as I reported yesterday, Archer Daniels Midland somehow managed to boost the price of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) despite mounting concern over the sweetener's health effects. The company booked a cool $113 million profit from HFCS over the quarter, more than three times more than it netted in the same period a year before ($33 million). This, despite a slowing domestic market for sweet soft drinks, as consumers increasingly switch to juice and bottled water. The company's official explanation -- "increased sweetener and starch selling prices" -- doesn't explain how it managed to make …

Dear Umbra, I work in a grocery store. Recently a customer refused to purchase our cashews because they weren't organic. Does it really matter if nuts are organic? Are they sprayed with chemicals during production? Did the customer have a point, or should she have sucked it up and bought our cashews? Brianna Farmington Hills, Mich. Dearest Brianna, I am shocked, shocked to find that the bland, chewy cashew is the most popular nut in the world. A cashew tree in Brazil. Photo: iStockphoto. Cashews are related to mangoes and poison oak. They grow on large mango-esque trees, which produce …

Supermarket chains now offering store-brand organic foods The hippies-and-yuppies stereotype that's long stuck to organic food may soon fade, as mainstream supermarket chains in the U.S. introduce hundreds of store-brand organic products. Supermarket organics can cost 10 to 15 percent less than national-brand organics, while still adhering to the same federal standards. Consumer demand is driving the trend: the market for organics has leapt from $3.6 billion in sales in 1997 to an estimated $15.5 billion this year. Organic farming is still relatively niche, "but the suppliers and growers are understanding the opportunity, and capacity is growing," says Safeway's senior …

EPA withdraws plan to approve toxic fumigant methyl iodide After contriving to approve toxic fumigant methyl iodide for use in strawberry fields forever, the U.S. EPA has withdrawn the plan in the face of fierce opposition from California officials, labor unions, and enviros. The approval of methyl iodide was to be the culmination of a nearly 15-year search for a substitute for ozone-depleting methyl bromide, which is banned internationally and being phased out. Yet rational people objected to the idea of shooting up strawberry fields with a carcinogen (so labeled by the state of California) that tends to evaporate and …

Last year, I tried to keep up with Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon and their campaign to follow a 100-mile diet. I failed, by only blogging about parts one through five. Since then, parts six through eleven have been published, which can now all be found on the 100-mile diet website: On the first day of spring 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon made a commitment to live for a full year on food and drink drawn from within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver, British Columbia. The 100-Mile Diet was born -- and response to the local-eating experiment …

In his review of Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, published in Sunday's NYT Book Review, David Kamp expresses a bit of received wisdom that needs rethinking. Kamp, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and GQ who himself is writing a book about food, generally approves of Pollan's well-documented indictment of the dominant U.S. food system and exploration of its alternatives (which I reviewed here). But to the big-picture problems presented by Pollan, Kamp demands big-picture solutions. And here is where I think Kamp, like many commentators on the vast-scale environmental troubles plaguing our culture, goes astray. Kamp takes Pollan to task …

Grub, as defined in the book of the same name by Anna Lappé and Bryant Terry: grub* (grəb), n. 1. Grub is organic and sustainably raised whole and locally grown foods; 2. Grub is produced with fairness from seed to table; 3. Grub is good for our bodies, our communities, and our environment. *Grub should be universal ... and it's delicious. Last night, I went with a cadre of social Gristers to a book reading and signing by Lappé and Terry at the Elliott Bay bookstore. Their book, Grub: ideas for an urban organic kitchen, is half scary facts and …

Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" traced back to farm subsidies You know that massive "dead zone" that shows up every year in the Gulf of Mexico? The oxygen-starved, life-free patch of water about the size of, oh, Connecticut? That's your tax dollars at work. The zone is caused largely by nitrogen-based fertilizers, which flow downriver from farms in a small set of counties in the Midwest -- farms the Department of Agriculture subsidized to the tune of some $30 billion between 1997 and 2002. In contrast, in that period conservation programs in those same counties received ... $75 million. Love …

According to the Current TV Studio blog, SOL, a viewer-contributed piece about a sustainable development project in Oakland, will be airing on TV. I think this is a good example of how people like you, armed with a camera and a passion, can produce a short film that could potentially reach 28 million homes (according to a company press release [PDF]). Here's the synopsis on Current: This is specifically a piece on an urban sustainable development project in Oakland that consists of 9 people working together to do community environment work. Amazing project that focuses on everything from compost and …

Christopher Cook has a piece in the American Prospect identifying my central concern about the ethanol boom. To wit, here are the sustainability advocates: An array of ideas are afloat to encourage a more sustainable biofuels expansion: a diversified renewable energy policy that, rather than expanding corn crops, promotes more wind power and cellulosic energy from switchgrass and crop residues (which may favor localized, small-scale production); a federal version of Minnesota's model, creating targeted incentives for farmer co-ops; and increased research spending by the USDA and Department of Energy to develop smaller-scale biofuels processing plants. Sounds great, huh? Here's the …