industrial ag
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Flies and cockroaches carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria from factory farms, study finds
A fly’s paradise: Near a giant hog factory in North Carolina, downed pigs fester while sprayers spread untreated manure onto fields. Photo: Steve WingWhat sort of antibiotic-resistant pathogens are growing on factory farms, along with all the cheap pork chops and chicken wings? And what level of threat do they pose to our health? Well, […]
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Male-dominated Big Ag woos women with paternalistic marketing blitz
Marketing campaigns aside, the face of industrial-scale farming is male. Big Ag is big business — and big profits. And when anyone raises questions about the billions of tax dollars lavished on the largest industrial growers of corn, soybeans, and other commodity crops or points out the harm that these perverse incentives do to the […]
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White House pressured Vilsack to approve GMO alfalfa, media reports suggest
According to reports from Wall Street Journal ag-policy reporters and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, the USDA's recent decision to green-light GMO alfalfa was based on political pressure from the White House. Brings back memories of the Clinton and Bush administrations, when ag policy toed the the agrichemical industry line.
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Where Westlands water flows, California’s agriculture follows
What's happening in California's Westlands Water District provides a sneak peek at the problems that farmers all over the world will soon confront.
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Monsanto's latest farmwashing ad campaign debuts
We have two agricultural systems in this country, both claiming to be good for farmers and both claiming to be sustainable, says Marion Nestle. But only one has millions of dollars' worth of ads selling its version of reality.
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Why the banana crisis doesn't make me stop worrying and love GMOs
The banana export market is dominated by a single variety that's being stalked by a ruinous blight, as a recent New Yorker article chronicles -- and even some sustainable-food folks think maybe a little genetic engineering is OK in this case. I take a look.
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The ‘food bubble’ is bursting, says Lester Brown, and biotech won’t save us
As food prices spike anew, the pioneering environmentalist has a chilling report about the global "food bubble." I asked him whether policymakers and biotech execs are right that genetically modified seeds are the answer to "feeding the world." His answer? No.
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Industrial ag once again demanding free pass to crap in your backyard
What do vast polluting chicken factories on the Chesapeake Bay and genetically modified alfalfa have in common? In both cases, industrial agriculture is freely admitting that it needs to trash its neighbors and surrounding ecosystems to thrive.
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Why Mexico is such a mess
Tufts researcher Tim Wise argues that U.S. involvement in the Mexico meltdown goes beyond our role as ultimate consumer of its drugs -- basically, NAFTA plus corn dumping equals an economic void filled by the narco trade.