industrial agriculture

Antibiotic use went up last year. Should we be freaking out?

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are also on the rise, explains Chicken Little.

Should you care about how much water it takes to make your favorite foods?

Grist’s science editor Amelia Urry appeared on MSNBC’s Greenhouse to talk about how our water usage has more to do with food than what comes out of our faucets.

Increasing Pollution, Dwindling Options

The Food and Environmental Reporting Network released a striking report this week (Sept. 18) describing how industrial agriculture and climate change are fueling massive blooms of toxic algae: Blooms have closed lake beaches or led to swimming advisories from Vermont’s Lake Champlain to Dorena Reservoir in Oregon and from Florida’s Caloosahatchee River to Wisconsin’s Lake Menomin. In addition to […]

‘Ag-gag’ rules choke off supply of livestock snuff films

Rather than deal with the inhumane, superbug-spawning conditions in factory farms, the Iowa state legislature would prefer to stifle one of activists' primary weapons of dissent.

Critical List: Australia floods break records; industrial agriculture is booming

Floods in Australia are rising to record levels. We told you Australia is screwed. Guys. GUYS! Mitt Romney also gave out renewable energy loans as governor of Massachusetts OMG WTF SOLYNDRA BRAIN EXPLODES. San Francisco is working to integrate electric bicycles into its car share service. Russian scientists have drilled a hole through two miles […]

No, that’s not snow: Pesticides coat California’s Central Valley

Take a photo journey through America's fruit basket, where excess nitrates and pesticides contaminate drinking water and showering with tap water can lead to rashes.

The next generation of GMOs could be especially dangerous

The next wave of genetic engineering uses microRNA to control pests on industrial farms. But new research out of China shows it could have adverse health effects for human digestion.

Potato chip advertising is a perfect metaphor for income inequality, says science

A study just published in Gastronomica proves that appealing to our tribal identifications is hardly the sole domain of liquor and cigarettes. The authors use "the language of food to examine the representation of socioeconomic class identity in contemporary America by comparing the advertising language on expensive bags of potato chips with that on inexpensive […]

Don’t drink the weed killer: Atrazine taints rural groundwater

Photo: T.P. MartinsIf you want to understand all that is wrong with our government’s environmental safety priorities, you need only look at the sad story of the weed killer atrazine. Despite the fact that study after study has demonstrated its dangers, it remains one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S. — to […]