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Articles by Tom Philpott

Tom Philpott was previously Grist's food writer. He now writes for Mother Jones.

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  • McCain’s ‘Farm and Ranch Team’ is chock full of agribiz heavies

    In a recent Victual Reality column, I gave John McCain his due for holding fast to his positions against crop and biofuel subsidies — even if his overall farm policies generally suck. In an attempt to boost his flailing campaign and shore up support in the Farm Belt, the self-declared maverick may be abandoning those […]

  • One way to get the economy moving

    “They have a whole range of new tools from … all sorts of technical terms that I do not know. But they’re working very hard. And [former Goldman Sachs banker, now Treasury official] Neel Kashkari will be in charge of that. He’s setting up shop and trying to hire as many people as possible.” — […]

  • Michael Pollan lays out a national food agenda

    Food policy hasn’t exactly been a hot-button issue in the presidential election. And it’s not going to be. We’re sure to hear more about a vague acquaintance of Barack Obama, or a bush-league politician’s fantasy-world twaddle about energy independence, than farm subsidies or school-lunch policy. Knowing that full well, Michael Pollan has published a serious […]

  • Tough times for agribiz giants — and likely soon for farmers

    A few months ago, the "smart money" was pouring into all things agricultural. Corn was flirting with $8/bushel (up from less than $2 as recently as 2005), hedge funds were snapping up farmland everywhere from the Midwest to Africa, and that weird guy who babbles and blusters about stocks on cable TV — Jim Cramer […]