Climate Food and Agriculture

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  • Learning on the half-shell

    Photo: Gwendolyn MeyerLuc Chamberland thinks oyster farming is often misunderstood. That’s why the aquaculturist wants to educate the public about the benefits of cultivating bivalves in Tomales Bay, a pristine estuary in West Marin, Calif. A recent, high-profile controversy surrounding a commercial oyster farm in the area has focused on the potentially negative environmental impacts […]

    Sarah Henry Food

  • Eat leftovers, save the world

    Photo: Patrick Gage KelleyAs if turkey pot pie and turkey a la king aren’t enticing enough on their own, here’s another reason to eat leftovers this holiday season: About 1 million tons of CO2, 95 billion gallons of water, and $275 million will be thrown away this Thanksgiving in the form of leftover turkey. The USDA […]

    Dana Gunders Food

  • Friend of a farmer: Why small-scale ag needs community

    Photo courtesy of the USDA archivesTucked into the end of a recent New York Times article about young farmers were two frank paragraphs about a quiet reality many of us face: Ms. Oakley said young farmers rarely discussed that lack of community, adding that she had seen the isolation break up marriages. At their Three […]

    Steph Larsen Food

  • Don’t look now, but some turkey has antibiotic-resistant superbugs

    Not to put a damper on your Thanksgiving or anything, but there are two new studies showing that drug-resistant bugs like MRSA are showing up in farmed meat, including turkey. Farm animals get fed a cocktail of antibiotics, which can create resistant strains of bacteria. It's been hard (though not impossible) to determine whether that's […]

    Jess Zimmerman Food

  • Turkeyless interlude [VIDEO]

    Turkey gets a lot of airtime this week. There a million recipes to brine, baste, smoke, and stuff the bird as well as a plethora of ways to make mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato pie. So I decided to do a little twist on our traditional Thanksgiving meal and take a “road less […]

    Daniel Klein Food

  • Pepper spray is also a vegetable now, according to Fox News

    In the grand tradition of Michele Bachmann's "carbon dioxide is a product of nature" tactic, Fox News is now calling pepper spray a "food product." Man, first pizza is a vegetable, now this. Pepper spray is "a derivative of actual pepper … a food product, essentially," said Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Seriously guys, it's […]

    Jess Zimmerman Food

  • McDonald’s appears to have at least one scruple about farming practices

    If you thought it was impossible to get McDonald's to take abusive and unsafe farm practices seriously, prepare to be proved wrong! Turns out, all it takes for McDonald's to break ranks with a supplier is 13 violations of salmonella-prevention regulations, an FDA citation for "significant … and serious violations," and undercover video showing unsanitary […]

    Jess Zimmerman Agriculture

  • No Secret Farm Bill and other things to be thankful for

    Mark Bittman has provided the ultimate Thanksgiving guide for anyone interested in making our broken food system work again. His exhaustive list of the 25 people or groups for which he is most thankful is a must-read.* It starts with nutritionist and food system reform pioneer Marion Nestle and ends with “anyone who’s started a […]

    Tom Laskawy Food

  • Mic checking Big Food

    The Occupy Big Food rally at Zuccotti Park on Saturday.“Whose food? Our food!” This was the rallying cry at the first Occupy Big Food event on Saturday in Zuccotti Park. The rally, which I led with Erika Lade, a graduate student in NYU’s Food Studies program, gathered about 100 people with the goal of connecting […]

    Kristin Wartman Food

  • How extreme weather almost aborted this year’s Thanksgiving meal

    It’s a miracle Thanksgiving is happening this year at all, given all the extreme weather we’ve had. If you’re wondering when climate change will start affecting us in ways that are heartbreaking as well as economically painful, here’s how this year’s feast almost didn’t happen.

    Christopher Mims Food