industrial ag
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Why Monsanto is paying farmers to spray its rivals' herbicides
Monsanto's ongoing humiliation proceeds apace -- and no, we're not referring to the seed and chemical giant's triumph in our recent "Villains of Food" poll.
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Vote for your favorite villains of food
Grist is rooting out the companies and characters keeping America sick, fat and poisoned. Vote for your Public Food Enemy No 1, and help us take them on
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Purdue’s Gebisa Ejeta on the vexing task of feeding a growing population
Over the next several weeks, I'll be attending the University of Washington's food and environment lecture series and harvesting knowledge from a diverse array of food-system luminaries. Plant breeding expert Gebisa Ejeta of Purdue University opened the series -- and a pot of worms -- by talking up a new petrochemical-dependent "Green Revolution" in Africa and talking down the potential of organic farming in feeding the masses.
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What Monsanto’s fall from grace reveals about the GMO seed industry
Once the darling of Wall Street and the Darth Vader of the agribiz universe, Monsanto has fallen on hard times. The reason may have to do with the essentially over-hyped nature of GMO technology.
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Peak soil is no joke: Civilization's foundation is eroding
Sometime within the last century, soil erosion began to exceed new soil formation over large areas. Countries all over the world -- including the United States -- are now expanding cultivation onto marginal land, a move that historically ends in disaster.
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Corn subsidies make unhealthy food choices the rational ones
Deliberations have already begun over the Farm Bill, which comes up for debate again in 2012. The corn refiners' recent push to re-brand corn syrup is a clear response to growing consumer awareness that we need to reform which kind of agriculture -- and calories -- we support in this country.
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It's official: Jack DeCoster rules the U.S. egg roost
In my Monday post, I couldn't quite establish that "habitual violator" Jack DeCoster controls the largest U.S. egg conglomerate. But new information has emerged that allows DeCoster to be crowned definitively king.
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Ezra Klein makes lame case for industrial food
Are industrial farms the way forward? Washington Post pundit Ezra Klein thinks so. Shockingly, Tom Philpott disagrees.
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Ask Umbra on avoiding crude oil in vinegar
Ask Umbra uncaps the nuances of vinegar here in this white vinegar primer. Don't mix crude oil with your vinegar!