Climate Food and Agriculture
All Stories
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GOP's tiny cuts wound small farmers
A $2 million cut to the USDA's budget by the GOP-controlled House makes little difference to the nation's bottom line. But it brings big hurt to small farmers by undercutting efforts to reform the meatpacking industry.
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Is the 'Clean 15' just as toxic as the 'Dirty Dozen'?
Is the Environmental Working Group's Clean 15 list of low-pesticide produce as toxic as its Dirty Dozen? For farm workers, the answer is often yes.
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Why the Senate ethanol vote doesn't matter much
Even if the Senate's ethanol vote makes it through the White House, it won't stem the flow of corn from Midwest farms to distillers to gas tanks.
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First-graders and Big Ag agree: More chocolate milk!
D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown says he's in possession of "research" conducted by a first-grade pupil that convinces him schools in the nation's capital should bring back chocolate milk.
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Ed Glaeser: Locally grown produce can shove it
Ed Glaeser, everyone's favorite urban economist, loves density and (he says) local, seasonal oysters. But he also says that, as a rule, locally grown produce can shove it, because in all cases density > any other public policy goal.
Glaeser argues that urban farms will lead to less dense cities, which will increase the world's carbon emissions. Here's his math: -
Salmon surprise: House opposes FDA Frankenfish approval
The FDA is currently deliberating on whether to green-light genetically modified salmon and is widely expected to do just that sometime this year.
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The indignity of industrial tomatoes
Tasteless, indestructible, and picked by literal slaves, tomatoes have become a national shame, writes Barry Estabrook.
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Will the EPA help farmers fight pesticide poisoning?
USDA may force chem companies to help doctors diagnose pesticides.
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Could eating poo-burgers save the Earth?
Eat sh*t, cattle farming industry! No, literally, eat sh*t. Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda has developed a way to make meat substitute out of "sewage mud," which is exactly what it sounds like. He extracts (bacterial) protein from what is essentially a soup of human feces, then blends it with soy protein and steak sauce to form a sort of poop patty. According to initial tests, the stuff actually tastes like beef, which raises the question: WHO THE HELL DID THEY GET TO DO THESE TESTS?
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Rebuilding New Orleans with urban farms and hot jazz [VIDEO]
This video tells the story of New Orleans residents who returned after Hurricane Katrina to rebuild the city and started growing food in abandoned lots
