Climate Food and Agriculture

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  • Dear Obamas: Let’s move … on food policy reform

    Gardening is great, but food policy reform is even better.Photo: The White HouseMichelle Obama recently celebrated the first anniversary of her Let’s Move campaign to inspire healthier eating. But as the popular face of the Obama administration’s advocacy for healthy, nutritious food, the first lady has conveniently side-stepped several critical consumer food issues like organics, genetically […]

    Wenonah Hauter Food

  • Still drinking diet soda? Don’t be a fashion victim!

    Skinny Diet Pepsi: the latest fashion faux pas.At the just-launched Fashion Week in Manhattan, supermodels won’t just be sashaying down runways in mind-boggling frocks. They’ll also be accessorized with a new invention from Pepsi Co. — the “skinny can,” pictured at right, which (according to a press release) will “make its debut” in the cool […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Keeping farm animals alive in a freezing Nebraska winter

    Don’t let the Arctic look fool you — Thistle Root Farm is a beehive of activity. Photo: Steph LarsenSparkling snow blankets a dormant pasture, and a red barn stands out starkly against a sea of white. Winter is a beautiful season on the prairie. Everything looks quiet and peaceful, but there’s still a lot of […]

    Steph Larsen Agriculture

  • How to milk goats in freezing weather — and make chevre [VIDEO]

    On the coldest day of the year (-25 degrees F), I went milking goats with my friend Lisa Ringer from Two Pony Gardens. The milk froze to the side of the pail in an instant, but the rest came inside for cheese making. Milking on that cold morning, I never thought that holding the warm […]

    Daniel Klein Food

  • Ask Umbra Book Club: Did Paleolithic hunter-gatherers eat healthier than we do today?

    Corn of plenty? Maybe not so much.Photo: Big Grey MareDearest readers, Welcome to the second day of our conversation of At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. You can catch up on yesterday’s chat here. If you have yet to get a copy of the book, jump in anyway. As a […]

    Ask Umbra® Agriculture

  • Bad food makes kids dumber, study says

    Look, ma! No nutrients!Photo: Amanda WestmontA new study says 3-year-olds who mostly eat processed foods have lower IQs five years later. (So Pop-Tarts and Sunny-D are why we’re “falling behind” China in math and science?) The study, cited in The Guardian, examined the diets of 14,000 wee Britlets, based on what their parents reported feeding […]

    Holly Richmond Food

  • On eco-architecture and urban farming: Are you kidding me with your f-ing farm skyscraper?

    Find a place, do some work, grow some stuff: it ain’t rocket science.Photo: Tracie LeeJust last summer, Broke-Ass was invited to speak on a panel at the New York Horticultural Society with such luminaries of the environmental architectural movement as Amale Andraos and Dan Wood of WORK Architecture Co.; Fritz Haeg, artist, Edible Estates; and […]

    Broke-Ass Grouch Agriculture

  • Time to retire the USDA’s dietary guidelines?

    Once every five years, the federal government goes to great lengths to update its recommendations for how Americans should eat. In fact, Congress mandates that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) be based on the most current science available. Yet over the years, the DGA process has been wrought with politics, which should come as […]

    Michele Simon Food

  • Four things you can do to defend organic against the GMO alfalfa threat

    Members of the sustainable food movement are furious and, frankly, we have a right to be. Last month’s decision by the USDA to fully deregulate GE alfalfa isn’t just a minor skirmish in a long and exhausting battle. It threatens the existence of organic farming and organic food, and flies in the face of USDA’s […]

    Robynn Shrader Food

  • Mark Bittman’s new gig, struggling small farms, and more

    When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web. The Minimalist no more For 20 years or so, Mark Bittman has been one of the nation’s most important and prodigious food writers. In his extensive list of cookbooks and in his much-loved weekly Minimalist column, Bittman’s […]

    Tom Philpott Food