Climate Food and Agriculture

We need more markets — and veggie eaters

Rural residents tend to eat fewer fruits and veggies than their urban counterparts, despite living right next to the fields where produce is grown.

Waters runs deep: Chez Panisse at 40

Can slow-food pioneer and trailblazing chef Alice Waters transcend white-tablecloth exclusivity to change the way Americans eat?

Whole Foods will tell you how to eat healthy, for a price

Unable to tell shiitake from Shinola? Don't know sea bass from a hole in the ground? Don't worry -- as long as you're willing to pay a giant wad of cash every month, you never have to be confused about what a "vegetable" is again. For a mere $49 a month -- only like a quarter of the average person's food budget! -- Whole Foods will hold your hand while you purchase their exorbitantly-priced groceries. In other words, if you're rich enough to eat healthy, you can spend more money to be assured you're eating healthy.

European farmers spend millions on knock-off pesticides

Buying a knock-off Louis Vuitton bag is one thing, but in Europe, farmers are buying knock-off pesticides. Counterfeit pesticides have become a multimillion industry over there, and if that sounds like bad news, it is: According to the Wall Street Journal, these knock-offs contain a solvent that the European Union banned because it's a huge problem for pregnant women.

The WSJ's article also makes the E.U.'s efforts to deal with the problem sound like a giant clusterf*ck.  There are loopholes in counterfeiting laws that mean customs can't seize the fake pesticides. The company that's been ripped off has to deal with the goods and try to recoup costs from counterfeiters, who are obviously the sort of people who'll say, "Whoops, you found me! Here are the millions of euros I made selling nasty, dangerous goods under your name!" (Or, as the WSJ puts it: "[P]ractically this can prove complicated and even impossible, as many of these companies are beyond EU jurisdiction or completely bogus.")

Teen acres [VIDEO]

Here's a Portland project that enables kids to actually get paid to farm -- further proof that the city is on the cutting edge of farms and food.

Forget potatoes: Idaho now grows CAFOs

Idaho rolls out the red carpet for industrial egg producers fleeing California's laws against confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Will they welcome the environmental disasters that come with them?

ConAgra sued over 'natural' GMO cooking oils

The class-action lawsuit could have far-ranging implications for the multitude of GMO products creeping onto supermarket shelves while claiming to be "natural."

Does this wind turbine make McDonald's ass look green?

If you saw this on top of your local McDonald's, would it make you more likely to pull over for a burger and fries? I have to admit that it would work on me.

Too many markets or not enough farmers?

Is the growth of farmers markets around the U.S. too much of a good thing? Or do we need to grow more farmers and more infrastructure to meet demand?

As Obama pushes for rural jobs, his regulators obliterate them

FDA crackdowns on food clubs across the country intimidate producers at a time when our country can least afford to be trashing jobs and opportunity.