Articles by Tom Philpott
Tom Philpott was previously Grist's food writer. He now writes for Mother Jones.
All Articles
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As Midwest floods recede, what’s being washed into the groundwater?
Flooded road in eastern Iowa. Photo: Dan Patterson Things are grim in Iowa, arguably the epicenter of global industrial food production. If Iowa were a nation, it would be the globe’s second-largest corn producer, behind only China. The state leads the U.S. [PDF] in the production of corn, hogs, and eggs, and ranks number two […]
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The great Mark Bittman on how to push meat off the center of the plate
I’m no vegan. I believe that the only truly sustainable agriculture involves raising crops along with animals. I also adore the globe’s cooking traditions, most of which involve integrating meat and/or dairy products with vegetables, grains, and spices. And yet, I’m appalled by this fact, from the USDA: In 2005, total meat consumption (red meat, […]
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As corn and soy fields drown in rainwater, the food crisis deepens
A cornucopia of bad circumstances. Here in the United States, we grow 44 percent of the world’s corn crop, and 38 percent of its soy. For the great bulk of that massive harvest, we rely on a single region: the Midwestern farm belt. And over the past couple of weeks, torrential rains have hammered that […]
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PR firm Edleman launches charm offensive for the GMO giant
Not so long ago, I was an utterly obscure farmer-blogger dashing off indictments of industrial agriculture for some 30 loyal readers (many of them house-mates and relatives). And then, evidently by the miracle of the Google search, a functionary from Monsanto’s legal office discovered my blog and fired off a cease-and-desist letter. I published it, […]
