Dear Umbra, I finally went vegetarian several months ago, and one of my main reasons was the environmental impact of meat production. The other day, however, a friend pointed out that soy foods take a great deal of energy to produce too. So is there really that big of an environmental difference between TVP [textured vegetable protein] and free-range beef? And how does dairy compare? Should I just try to stick to nuts and beans? Sarah AmandesBrooklyn, N.Y. Dearest Sarah, Have you ever wondered whether TVP might be the hot dog of soy products? All the soy boogers and intestines, …

Organic farmers in U.S. losing business to foreign growers Organic is seen as a niche that helps smaller American farmers endure, but a sizeable chunk of the organic foods sold in the U.S. are being sourced from overseas suppliers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that as much as $1.5 billion of organic food was imported in 2002, while perhaps $125 million worth was exported. Some food producers say they shop abroad for organics because the domestic supply is inadequate, but also because imports can be a lot cheaper. The U.S. currently offers few subsidies or financial incentives to farmers …

Long the bane of environmentalists and sustainable-agriculture proponents, the U.S. agriculture-subsidy system has drawn some unlikely new critics: top Bush administration officials. Speaking before a food-industry trade group last week, USDA chief Mike Johanns, the reliably pro-Big Ag former governer of subsidy-rich Nebraska, complained that in fiscal year 2005: 92 percent of commodity program spending was paid on five crops -- corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice. The farmers who raise other crops -- two thirds of all farmers -- received little support from current farm programs. Later, he deplored what he called "trade-distorting subsidies. " And Monday, U.S. Trade …

Ten years after sustainable-food doyenne Alice Waters launched her innovative Edible Schoolyard program in Berkeley, U.S. school lunches remain abysmal. In cafeteria kitchens throughout the land, de-skilled workers busy themselves opening cans and zapping pre-made meals in giant microwaves. Out on the floor, kids swill soda and dig their little hands into bags of fried stuff that may have, somewhere far way, once resembled food. Waters' effort remains laudable, but it's limited to one school. No public figure, no celebrity chef riding the waves of a Food Network show and the opening of an eponymous restaurant in Vegas, has bothered …

What do xanthan gum, an artificial thickener, ammonium bicarbonate, a synthetic leavening agent, and ethylene, a chemical that accelerates the ripening of fruit, have in common? These and other synthetic additives commonly lurk behind that "USDA Organic" stamp of approval you see on the organic products increasingly crowding the shelves of big-box stores and boutique food shops alike. Controversy over the use of these artificial substances in certified-organic products has been simmering within the organics community for at least three years, since the feds put national organic standards into effect in 2002, and now it's finally coming to a boil. …

France contending with bovine-source greenhouse gases France's 20 million cows account for 6.5 percent of the country's greenhouse-gas emissions. Researcher Benoit Leguet of the Climate Mission of Caisse des Depots, a state-owned French bank, contends that bovine belches produce about 28.6 million tons of globe-warming gases annually, primarily methane and nitrous oxide. Cow poop (or as the French say, dejection bovine) accounts for another roughly 13 million tons -- but, sadly for humor writers, cow flatulence is a negligible contribution. By comparison, French oil refineries emit about 13 million tons of greenhouse gases a year -- although cows must burp …

When I wrote about robots months ago, it didn't occur to me that robots could be used to grow our food. And if it had, I probably wouldn't have thought they would be doing it so soon. Ah, but they are! I guess Todd is right: the future is now. Thanks to Wired, I give you OrganiTech: Tens of thousands of empty storage containers are stacked in towers along I-95 across from the harbor in Newark, New Jersey. They're heaped there in perpetuity, too cheap to be shipped back to Asia but too expensive to melt down. Where many might …

Regular web searching was not enough. Neither were searches for images, news stories, and things for sale. Our own computers were becoming a web of their own, so there is desktop search to help keep us organized. And who can keep up with the ever-evolving blogosphere? But don't worry, there is now a search for that too. And the world is apparently not enough for Google. In addition to niche searches, Google also provides a number of services, such as email, photo management, text and voice messaging, and web page translation. And there is even a rumor that Google wants …

Demand growing for naturally raised meats Americans are increasingly willing to fork over a little extra for free range, organic, and natural meats. And although these still comprise a tiny percentage of the total U.S. market, the food industry is starting to notice. In just one sign of a shift, about 450 growers operating under the aegis of San Francisco-based natural meats supplier Niman Ranch are finding a market for their products from the Chipotle Mexican Grill chain, a subsidiary of McDonald's. Chipotle often buys all the pork Niman can supply; it's added naturally raised chicken to the menu, with …

Indiana burg to become "BioTown" The small farming community of Reynolds, Ind., is gearing up to take advantage of its ripest renewable resource: vast amounts of stinky hog poop. Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) and the Indiana Department of Agriculture have designated the one-traffic-light burg as the world's first "BioTown." The plan is for its homes and businesses to run on electricity generated by the burning of methane released from hog waste. "The goal is to create a new use for the manure that's surrounding the town -- as a biofuel," says Deborah Abbott of the state Ag Department. Methane from …