agriculture
-
![]()
![]()
USDA pushes veggies, but subsidizes meat
The Washington Post reports that the USDA's nutrition guidelines are seriously out of step with food subsidies. The government recommends people eat fruits and veggies as nearly half their daily intake, and protein as less than a quarter — but they subsidize meat in totally different proportions. We whipped up this little graphic to compare […]
-
![]()
![]()
This is where your plants will come from after the Ecopocalypse
Wired has posted a series of photos of seed vaults, storage units that bank tens of thousands of seeds in an attempt to preserve biodiversity against threats of extinction and climate change, and we can safely say they're the creepiest way of ensuring that species survive. This is some mad-science stuff!
-
![]()
![]()
Labor pains on the farm
Farmers hoping to battle the Great Recession by hiring out-of-work locals in lieu of legal migrants struggle to keep them on the farm. Americans may have gone "soft," but rural depopulation is the root of the problem.
-
![]()
![]()
Without GMO labels, we all eat in the dark [VIDEO]
Two new campaigns suggest that eaters are ready for a more transparent food system.
-
![]()
![]()
Water for crops, but farmworkers go thirsty
The water in California's Central Valley is so contaminated with nitrates from fertilizer runoff that the U.N. has placed it on a global list of places with "social problems linked to a lack of access to clean water" alongside Bangladesh, Uruguay, and Namibia.
-
![]()
![]()
USDA offers help to beginning farmers. Will it be enough?
A new round of grants for beginning farmers worth $18 million promotes sustainable changes. But it's a just drop in the bucket compared to what we need.
-
![]()
![]()
U.S. government gives food speculators the thumbs up
Since the housing crash, food prices have been at the center of Wall Street speculator's games. Can government regulation make a difference?
-
![]()
![]()
Is my apple farmer shining me on? Ask Umbra on pesticides
A grower minimizes spraying fruit. Is that good enough? Umbra bites in.
-
![]()
![]()
Chicago hearts urban agriculture [VIDEO]
With new laws on the books and an airport garden in the works, Chicago is embracing its leafy greens.
