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  • Girl Scouts censor Facebook criticism of palm oil in cookies

    Critter-killing cookies?Photo: Laura TaylorLooking for a lesson of how not to respond to green consumer demand in the internet age? Check out Girl Scouts USA. The Scouts’ CEO Kathy Cloninger has for several years rebuffed polite requests from individual scouts, major environmental organizations, and others that they make their famous Girl Scout cookies rainforest friendly. […]

    Glenn Hurowitz Agriculture

  • Bad seeds: A plan to phase out the $5 billion in ‘direct payment’ agricultural subsidies

    Let’s phase out wasteful subsidies.Photo: Earl WilkersonCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. Agriculture and the family farm are the foundation of strong and healthy rural communities, and a critical engine of U.S. economic growth. Regrettably, a key aspect of U.S. agricultural policy does not meaningfully contribute to the success of U.S. farmers: Most federal […]

    Jake Caldwell Agriculture

  • Will the real food movement please stand up?

    Image: Will Etling’s “Sustain,” originally for GOOD magazine and contributed to Green Patriot Posters. Farmer Bob Comis recently suggested that the food movement is suffering from “multiple personality disorder.” He argued that several vocal factions — foodies, locavores, and “smallists” — tend to dominate the food movement discussion, unrealistically distracting us from our ultimate objective: […]

    Woody Tasch Agriculture

  • Monsanto-tied scientist abruptly quits key USDA research post

    Roger Beachy: back from whence he came. On a slow Friday afternoon, a surprising bit of news came down the pike: Roger Beachy, head of  National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the main research arm of the USDA, has officially resigned his post, effective May 20. Who is Beachy? When Obama hired Beachy in […]

    Tom Philpott Agriculture

  • Coca-Cola adds BPA to list of ways it doesn’t care about your health

    Did you hear? The science around BPA — a substance that the government of Canada has declared "toxic" and has banned in baby bottles — "just isn't there," according to the CEO of Coca-Cola. If this kind of through-the-looking glass denial of science sounds familiar, it's because it's happened before, with tobacco and climate change […]

    Christopher Mims Agriculture

  • Is Walmart our best hope for food policy reform?

    Photo: Code PoetTwo years into the Obama administration, most of the energy around food-policy reform resides in the East Wing, in the form of the first lady’s Let’s Move! campaign. So far, Let’s Move has been about Michelle Obama pursuing what I have called a “soft power” campaign — that is, using her stature to […]

    Tom Philpott Agriculture

  • Government-backed corn ethanol lurches on, paving a road to nowhere

    During the Bush II administration, I used to groan that the closest thing we had to a concerted policy response to climate change was the federal government’s slew of goodies for corn-based ethanol. It was a monumentally depressing situation, because propping up corn-derived fuel is expensive and (despite industry hype) doesn’t actually do much, if […]

    Tom Philpott Agriculture

  • Little piggies, crawling in the dirt: Minnesota reps behind ag-gag bill have factory-farm ties

    Now that The New York Times editorial page has come out against what are now known as “Ag-gag” laws (thanks, Mark Bittman!), I think we can say this story has truly gone national. These laws, on the books in a few states already and quickly moving through legislatures in Florida, Iowa, and Minnesota, would attempt […]

    Tom Laskawy Agriculture

  • Give a cluck: Ask Umbra on secret backyard chickens

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Have you heard of the underground backyard chicken movement, and would you recommend it for people who want chickens, regardless of city ordinances? DenineWestminster (no state specified, maybe to protect innocent chickens) Some chickens have to keep a low profile.Photo: Taber Andrew BainA. Dearest Denine, Don your […]

    Ask Umbra® Agriculture

  • Are you enjoying your daily chemical cocktail?

    A 1970s-era Monsanto ad.Photo: Christian MontoneChemicals and additives found in the food supply and other consumer products are making headlines regularly as more and more groups raise concern over the safety of these substances. In a statement released this week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked for reform to the Toxic Substances Control Act […]

    Kristin Wartman Agriculture