Big Ag
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Dow Agrosciences: farm like there’s no tomorrow!
“If you’re going to farm a piece of land, you ought to farm it for all its worth.”–Tim Hassinger, commercial vice president at Dow AgroSciences, quoted in an AP story called “Chemical makers go on the offensive in agriculture.”
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USDA study finds that climate bill will benefit farmers
Photo: Dog CompanyThe climate and energy legislation that the House passed in June would increase revenues for farmers, according to a preliminary analysis released by the United States Department of Agriculture on Wednesday. The study contradicts claims from some major agriculture groups that the bill would be economically catastrophic for farmers. Instead, the study predicts […]
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As farmers battle weeds ‘conventionally,’ the chemical treadmill speeds up [UPDATED]
The never-ending war on weeds. UPDATE at bottom of post. ————————————– I’m an ag nerd, so sometimes you’ll catch me reading stuff like Delta Farm Press–a trade publication for large-scale farmers in the deep south. I find the damnedest things on those reading jags. Here’s one: farmers down there–which is cotton, soy, and corn country–are […]
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New book looks at economic devastation in an Iowa meat-packing town
An Iowa house, no longer neededPhoto: McMorrIt’s become axiomatic that to peer deep into our reliance on fossil energy is to gaze upon human wreckage: bombed-out Baghdad slums, desolated Nigerian townships, or Appalachian communities eviscerated by the removal of mountaintops. The food system has its own war zones, its own spaces of suffering and despair. […]
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Farm lobby: Shoot the climate bill, but keep the Peterson goodies
Give me the loot–then I’ll shoot! I got mugged in Mexico City once. Guy whirled me around and pointed a gun at me. He had a crazed look in his eye–like he might be on familiar terms with a crack pipe or a glue tube. He demanded my wallet with a grunted threat to shoot. […]
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How bad is the Peterson-Waxman deal on climate legislation?
Big Ag gets its way. [See update below.] Surprising no one–but disappointing many–House energy chief Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has caved in to the demands of the the agribusiness industry over the climate bill. In reality, he had little choice if he wanted his legislation to get through the House. For more than a month, House […]
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Big Ag aims its pitchfork at historic climate legislation
Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / GristLike a tractor inching through a wet field, the Waxman-Markey climate legislation slowed to a crawl last week, on the verge of getting stuck. The bill’s authors still have to deal with plenty of mud, but it’s now looking like they will get a vote by Friday of this […]
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In first week of wide release, ‘Food Inc.’ gets boost from NYT pundit
Amid Food Inc.’s first weekend in nationwide release, the hard-hitting food-system exposé got a boost from NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof. (I’ll be reviewing the film later this week.) Declared the pundit in his widely read Sunday column: A terrific new documentary, “Food, Inc.,” playing in cinemas nationwide, offers a powerful and largely persuasive diagnosis of […]
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Climate bill negotiations stall in House
What’s up with the climate bill? You know, the one that’s supposed to be voted on in the House next week? We’re wondering too! A report from one Capitol Hill newspaper suggests that negotiations have bogged down over the legislation’s provisions on agriculture, raising the question of whether the bill will actually get to the […]
