A brazen move from an agency shot through with industry players.

Cows that feed solely on pasture perform a valuable service: they transform what's inedible to us -- grass -- into a rich source of protein and other nutrients. And when such cows are raised in moderate numbers, they can actually improve the health and biodiversity of grasslands. Moreover, cows evolved to eat grass, so the pasture model is clearly the most animal-friendly way to create beef.

To me, the grass-fed concept exemplifies responsible agrarianism: it's energy efficient (it relies on no vast, petroleum-guzzling corn fields), it enhances rather than degrades the ecosystems it relies on, and it forces us to eat mindfully and in season.

If we insisted on raising all of our beef on ample pasture, every American would be able to savor the privilege of eating beef only, say, every couple of weeks -- and less during the grazing season, when cows are fattening up.

Which sounds about right to me.

Leave it to the USDA -- that hothouse of food-industry flackery -- to attempt to screw it all up.

Can a mom in middle America survive a month without a car?

Not 20 minutes after the Amtrak clerk said our train would be at least an hour late — “probably much...

Ford Too Shall TerraPass

Ford teams up with TerraPass to help drivers offset emissions Like the man said, the times they are a-changin’. Slowly,...

A new reliance on coal could sap green cred from the ethanol industry

As ethanol boosterism spreads far and wide — from Bush’s bully pulpit to the New York Times to green-group press...

More details on the Ford/TerraPass partnership

Attentive Daily Grist readers already know that Ford Motor Co. and carbon-offset company TerraPass have formed a new partnership (the official announcement will come tomorrow, but there are details on the TerraPass blog).

The companies have set up a co-branded website where Ford owners can enter their make, model, year, and driving habits to find out exactly how much CO2 they produce in a year -- and buy carbon credits to offset it. Money from the partnership credits will go to the Ainsworth Wind Facility in Nebraska and the Haubenschild dairy farm, near Princeton, Minnesota (Ford chose those two products from TerraPass' portfolio, based on their marketability). Credits will come with a decal drivers can affix to their windshields.

Ford gets no money from the credit purchases; the partnership is part of a broader climate-change strategy for the company. While it has no plans for a broad advertising campaign, it will be giving educational brochures to dealers and linking to the site from several Ford product sites. TerraPass gets some money and promotion from Ford. The deal is exclusive for a short while (a matter of months), and after that TerraPass is free to make deals with other car companies; the contract itself is for a year.

I just got off the phone with Tom Arnold (sadly not the portly actor from Roseanne), the Chief Environmental Officer for TerraPass. The most startling thing he told me was that Ford approached TerraPass about this, not vice versa.

Tadpole Position

Real-world combos of pesticides highly lethal to frogs, study shows Frogs exposed to a pesticide mix similar to what’s found...

USDA ID-tag plan for farm animals has some small-scale farmers unhappy

If only Orwell could get a load of this. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is promoting a system that would...

An interview with Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican from Nebraska, on his new climate bills

A possible GOP presidential contender in 2008, Nebraskan Sen. Chuck Hagel has lately sprung to the public stage as one...

Bush taps Nebraska gov to head USDA

Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns (R) will replace Ann Veneman as secretary of agriculture, if Bush's nomination slithers through the Senate as expected. For those not intimately familiar with Johanns' record (who, me?), Bush provided this helpful tidbit: "He's a strong proponent of alternative energy sources such as ethanol and bio-diesel." A corn-belt governor who digs ethanol?  Who woulda thunk it?  

More on Johanns to come ...