Climate Food and Agriculture
All Stories
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Michael Pollan on the affordability of good, local, organic food
I don’t think our goal should be to make all food in America as cheap as cheap food is now. … If the goal is cheap food, we’re going to hurt our farmers, we’re going to hurt the environment, we’re going to hurt the public health. The goal should be to give people the money […]
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As MRSA gets worse, the FDA discovers antibiotic abuse on factory farms [UPDATED]
Incubating chickens–and what else? FarmSanctuary.org In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages of the meat and livestock industries. UPDATE below. ————————– A bill now circulating in the House, sponsored by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D.-NY), would limit the amount of antibiotics that can be used on factory animal farms. There’s good news and bad […]
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With a gust of wind, an Iowa crop duster can squash an organic farm
A crop duster in action.Photo: Roger Smith via FlickrGrinnell Heritage Farm is 152 years old. Andrew Dunham is the fifth generation of his family to work this land about 50 miles east of Des Moines. He is a direct descendant of Josiah Grinnell, founder of the town and the man Horace Greeley once famously quoted […]
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Taras Grescoe on factory salmon farming
An endangered chum salmon attempts to jump a small dam on the Deschutes River in Washington. While researching my post on Cheesecake Factory, I came upon contradictory information on how many pounds of wild fish it takes to create a pound of farmed salmon. Industry sources like this one paint a (relatively) rosy picture: […]
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Why the Cheesecake Factory really is gross
Down on the farm: most salmon consumed in the U.S. comes from aquacultureIn a post on his group blog, the Internet Food Association, Washington Post blogger and food-politics columnist Ezra Klein poses the philosophical question, “Is the Cheesecake Factory Gross?” The context is a bet involving the highly regarded cookbook writer Michael Ruhlman, who recently […]
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E. coli and Campylobacteriosis: Why Obama’s USDA food-safety pick is so important
Side of E. coli with that burger?In Meat Wagon, we look at the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. —————————– As I reported Friday, a man with a Big Ag background has emerged as the frontrunner for a still-empty USDA post called “undersecretary of food safety.” The holder of this position oversees the […]
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Privatize the seas? If only solving overfishing were so easy
School of hard knocksIn this month’s Atlantic, Gregg Easterbrook writes that privatizing the seas through use of individualized transferrable quotas (ITQs) is the solution to the grave problem of overfishing. Recently, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco came out strongly (PDF) in favor of ITQs (which the agency is calling “catch shares”), and has committed her agency […]
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Worldwatch gets $1.3 million Gates grant to look at sustainable ag in Africa
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been roundly criticized in sustainable-ag circles for throwing its considerable girth behind a “New Green Revolution for Africa.” According to critics (including me), the “green revolution” approach promotes high-tech, expensive solutions to Africa’s agriculture woes — ones more suited to the interests of a few agribusiness giants than […]
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Urban Gardens
San Francisco to get more urban gardens. Thanks, Gavin. And here’s a how-to that I look forward to reading.
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Cobbling together a delicious and easy summer dessert
Life’s a big container of cherries.All photos by April McGreger I’m bored by chocoholics. Don’t get me wrong; I very much appreciate good chocolate. But after attending four cookouts in the past month without a fruit-based dessert in sight I have had enough. Had the scent of perfectly ripe peaches somehow escaped my hosts? Are […]
