Climate Food and Agriculture

Israel trades irrigation technology for access to India’s ag-gene bank

Israel is seeking to invest in Indian agriculture, according to this article in the India Times. The two powers signed a bilateral agricultural agreement a couple years ago; in the pact, India agreed to trade information on "genetic resources" from their crops in exchange for Israel's dryland farming expertise. As part of the agreement, Israel would share its expertise on water recycling and irrigation. It would also help India "intensify" its agricultural production, share greenhouse farming techniques and "livestocks feed, dairy equipment, and technology," according to the article. Israel's biggest dairy producer, TNUVA, is also interested in India's dairy industry.

Will this be a good thing for Indian farmers or the environment? I have my doubts.

Biofuels not helpful in climate-change fight, new studies say

Photo: doskophoto Two new studies published in the journal Science conclude that growing and burning biofuels actually increases net greenhouse-gas emissions and exacerbates climate change. The new research questions the assumptions of earlier studies, making sure to incorporate the effects of land-use changes into emissions calculations. When land-use changes are taken into account, turns out […]

A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz

Industrial agriculture lost one of its greatest champions last week: Earl “Rusty” Butz, secretary of the USDA under Nixon. Blustering, boisterous, and often vulgar, Butz lorded over the U.S. farm scene at a key period. He plunged a pitchfork into New Deal agricultural policies that sought to protect farmers from the big agribusiness companies whose […]

New NYT pundit bravely defends GMOs, cloning

Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web. The New York Times op-ed page appears to be grooming James E. McWilliams, a professor of history at Texas State University, as a rising pundit on food-politics issues. In August, The Times ran a McWilliams piece worrying that growing consumer […]

Drug cultivation in Northern California is a bad trip

Terrain magazine shows how the cozy-sounding northern California agriculture scene is drying up watersheds and poisoning the landscape, all to bring people their drug of choice. Installment one on the boom in illegal water rustling for wineries starts like this:

After one of the rainiest years on record -- when parts of the valley had been flooded -- Anderson Creek, a tributary of the Navarro River, was dry. "It was as if we were in a drought year," says Hall, a member of Friends of the Navarro River ... But it was no drought. Hall says he observed trucks filling up water from along the creek at Golden Eye and taking it into the town of Philo and other areas where Anderson Valley's growing population of vintners cultivate their grapes.

Worse, lots of these trucks have no legal right to take that water, but enforcement is proving very problematic.

As unkind as this is to the critters who live in the region's rivers, witness the landscape-wide destruction being wrought in rural areas by the illegal cultivation of marijuana, California's largest cash crop:

The quest for the Perfect Late-Evening Repast is over; I win

You only have so many peak experiences in one lifetime, so it seems worth sharing the good news that I have found the perfect late evening repast. As with all the best snacks, this one begins at Trader Joe’s. In the North Seattle branch, they are featuring, and I quote, "dark chocolate almonds, made with […]

Organic produce reduces kids’ exposure to pesticides, says study

Pesticide-free produce leads to pesticide-free kids, says a new study published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Young research subjects who ate conventional produce were found to have organophosphate residue in their bodily fluids, while kids who ate organic produce did not. Will wonders never cease.

Blue Bottle generates more than just a caffeine buzz, but what does it mean?

In “Mad Flavor,” I describe exceptional culinary experiences from small artisan producers. Mad Flavor is currently reporting from the San Francisco Bay Area. Now these guys obsess over coffee. I say that with affection. For years, I home-roasted my own green beans. I once owned a vacuum pot, and used it lovingly until it shattered. […]

Organic food reduces organophosphate exposure in children

By now, I think most people understand that organic food is supposed to be healthier for you. But I think there are still some people who feel that the health benefits are a just a bunch of marketing hype.

Well, this new study suggests that it ain't just hype -- organic produce really does reduce kids' exposure to some potentially risky pesticides. From the Seattle P-I:

The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II.

When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found.

In case you’d forgotten, industrial meat is a friggin’ nightmare

It’s a little weird that no one on Gristmill has yet pointed to Mark Bittman’s stellar NYT piece on the environmental ravages of industrial meat. Philpott, where you at? Anyway, it’s amazing. Go read it. Here’s a taste (ha ha): Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word "raising" when applied to animals in factory […]