Big Ag
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Pollan shoots down organic myths at Grist event
Michael Pollan (left) and Tom Philpott talk food.Celebrated food and ag author Michael Pollan debunked some myths about organic agriculture Tuesday night at a Grist event in San Francisco, in a conversation with Grist food writer Tom Philpott and the audience. In response to a question about whether we can really feed the world without […]
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War is peace; chemical ag is sustainable ag
“… I will mention that I support organic and sustainable agriculture. In fact, Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and from my home state of Iowa, is credited for creating a sustainable agriculture system decades ago.” — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa), in a blustery, error-laden attack on Bryan Walsh’s Time Magazine article “The Real […]
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Why are (some) farmers afraid of Michael Pollan?
Author Michael Pollan is no stranger to controversy. He has broadened the discussion of what we eat, where and how it is grown, big vs. small, organic farming vs. conventional. When he speaks some in the audience will love him, some will not. Advocates of large scale agriculture see Pollan as the enemy, they believe […]
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Another Monsanto man in a key USDA post? Obama’s ag policy’s giving me whiplash
Like a tractor driven by a drunk, the Obama administration keeps zigzagging on food/ag policy–sometimes veering in the direction of progressive change, other times whipping back toward the agrichemical status quo. In the last couple of days, there’s been a sharp turn toward the status quo. As I reported yesterday, Obama plucked Islam “Isi” Siddiqui […]
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Big Ag places a foot soldier at the U.S. Trade Office–but loses a GMO court battle
Agribiz: flying high … or coming down? If you run a globe-spanning, U.S.-centered agribusiness firm, you’re probably not sure whether to cry in your Krug or toast with it this week.* The bad news for the GMO/fertilizer/pesticide set: A federal court in San Francisco rebuked the USDA for greenlighting genetically modified sugar beets without rigorous […]
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JBS: industrial meat’s new heavyweight champ
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. —— • Remember two weeks ago, when I warned that if JBS snapped up Pilgrim’s Pride, four transnational giants would dominate the U.S. meat market? (I hope you noted the fancy graphic. What, you didn’t? I’m reprinting it to the […]
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If JBS-Pilgrim’s deal goes through, four mega-firms will dominate the meat landscape
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. —— Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Brazilian firm JBS–the globe’s largest beef processor–was on the verge of buying U.S. chicken giant Pilgrim’s Pride. Although the companies have since remained mum on the tie-up, rumors of […]
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Pollan says health-care reform will fail unless we change the way we eat
Michael PollanNPR’s Guy Raz: What if health care is overhauled and it doesn’t change the American diet in any way? Michael Pollan: We’ll go broke. If we don’t get a handle on these health care costs, the new system or the old system, we’ll go broke. And that’s why I think that really food is […]
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When lobbyists cheer, the news can’t be good
As suspected, agribusiness is indeed turning cartwheels over the news that Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln is now chairman of the Senate Ag Committee. The public policy director for the retrograde American Farm Bureau told The Hill, “We couldn’t have handpicked a chairman better than this.” The giant sucking sound you’re hearing is agricultural reform rushing […]
