Big Ag

Monsanto purchased a Brazilian sugarcane ethanol company for $290 million

At a time when many people were questioning causes of the recent food crisis, many more were investigating how our food systems can move forward to sustainably feed the increasing world population. Recently, the U.N. Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development released a report touting the noteworthy yields and economic benefits of organic agriculture […]

Will a new administration give us the ‘safest food supply in the world’?

How many times have we been told we have the safest food supply in the world? Do we really? I suppose it depends on the comparison. Somalia? Kenya ? Eritrea? In developing countries, close to two million children die every year from contaminated food and water. These countries don’t have much of a food supply, […]

Sugar from GM sugar beets will soon be unlabeled and widespread

The scariest thing next Halloween might not be the monsters, zombies or witches trolling our streets — it might be the candy. Those colorful, tin-foil-wrapped Hershey’s kisses and dark chocolate pumpkins could contain sugar extracted and processed from the roots of genetically modified sugar beets. Sugar in Halloween candy comes from several sources, including sugar […]

Distributing industrial-ag commodities vs. reviving local-food economies

Across the globe in various ways, people are observing the U.N.’s "World Food Day." (Over on the Washington Post, Kim O’Donnel has a pointed "by the numbers" take on the event.) I’d like to compare two World Food day ceremonies, one in Des Moines, the other in Mozambique. In Des Moines, former U.S. Senators Bob […]

Non-GM seed and feed make a comeback

I recently met with members of Japan’s Seikatsu Club Consumers’ Cooperative (SCCC) in my office in San Francisco to discuss how to overcome the difficulties of obtaining certain non-GM products for its 1 million members. The 14-person delegation — comprised of pig, chicken, cattle, and dairy producers for the co-op — came to the U.S. […]

TV queen shows 10 million viewers the dark side of Chicken McNuggets

The chicken industry has had a rough year, its wings clipped by pricey feed, reduced demand, and financial trouble. Even after a recent rally, Pilgrim’s Pride — which slaughters and packs 24 percent of U.S. chicken — has seen its share price plunge nearly 90 percent. As if the industry didn’t have enough to squawk […]

McCain’s ‘Farm and Ranch Team’ is chock full of agribiz heavies

In a recent Victual Reality column, I gave John McCain his due for holding fast to his positions against crop and biofuel subsidies — even if his overall farm policies generally suck. In an attempt to boost his flailing campaign and shore up support in the Farm Belt, the self-declared maverick may be abandoning those […]

With little oversight, BP, Chevron, ADM, and Cargill cook up next-gen biofuels

Synthetic biologists, a brave new breed of science entrepreneurs who engineer life-forms from scratch, are holding their largest-ever global gathering in Hong Kong this week, known as “Synthetic Biology 4.0.” Although most people have never heard of synthetic biology, it’s moving full speed ahead fueled by giant agribusiness, energy and chemical corporations with little debate […]

Tough times for agribiz giants — and likely soon for farmers

A few months ago, the "smart money" was pouring into all things agricultural. Corn was flirting with $8/bushel (up from less than $2 as recently as 2005), hedge funds were snapping up farmland everywhere from the Midwest to Africa, and that weird guy who babbles and blusters about stocks on cable TV — Jim Cramer […]