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sustainable agriculture

  •

    Interesting juxtaposition of stories

    Interesting juxtaposition of stories:

    First, an essay on what has become of organics, as it turns into what Fromartz calls "Organic, Inc."

    Then, Energy Bulletin links to a story suggesting that some Brits might deny the organic label to food flown in from abroad.

    And, of course, there's the post right here on Gristmill about labeling as an attempt to help consumers understand the effect of their purchases.

    The issue boils down to the fact that our prices don't help consumers understand anything about food; in our perverse system, the food that has traveled the furthest at the greatest energy expense may often be the cheapest. As a smart man put it:

    "Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth."

    -- Oystein Dahle, former vice president of Esso for Norway and the North Sea

    JMG Food

  • How to stop the agribiz giants from impeding the growth of local food.

    In today’s Victual Reality I discussed how a few companies dominate U.S. food production, and how their market girth weighs heavily on efforts to rebuild local-oriented, environmentally and socially responsible food networks. Now I’d like to add a few words on what might be done to remedy the situation. First of all, it’s important to […]

    Tom Philpott Technology

  • The perils of cooking with greenhouse gas.

    The BBC has issued a pretty clear-eyed report on food production and climate change, the podcast of which you can download here. The report makes no brief for sustainable ag, but it does cogently question industrial ag’s ability to “feed the world” as climate change saps water tables and population continues to grow.

    Tom Philpott Climate & Energy

  • Is humane meat better for the environment?

    According to this NYT article, one of the country's biggest restaurant moguls has decided that he will only sell humanely treated animals in all of his restaurants. This is, in one sense, a great victory.

    Jason D Scorse Culture

  • My address to the Southern Appalachian Youth on Food conference

    One crop to rule them all. Photo: USDA Tucked into the rolling hills of North Carolina’s Swannanoa Valley, Warren Wilson College is essentially surrounded by a farm. The school’s 800 students not only tend the 275-acre farm — which includes pastured livestock and vegetables — they also provide the labor to run the campus. They […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Reviving a much-cited, little-read sustainable-ag masterpiece

    The real Arsenal of Democracy is a fertile soil, the fresh produce of which is the birthright of nations.— Sir Albert Howard, The Soil and Health Sir Albert Howard. Around 1900, a 27-year-old British scientist named Albert Howard, a specialist in plant diseases, arrived in Barbados, then a province of the British Empire. His charge […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Bush’s farm bill “reform” proposal falls woefully short

    Note: This is the third of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first two columns are here and here. The author promises not to return to the topic for at least a few weeks — but will likely backslide from this pledge in his Gristmill blog posts. Can Bush point the way […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • It’s only natural

    grass fed beef

    About twice a day, an email from a mystery man/unflagging anti-ethanol crusader named Ray Wallace appears in my inbox, chock full of excerpts from the latest ethanol slams and, on lucky days, choice quotes from politicos and the like sounding less-than-smart about the whole business. I'm not sure how I got on his listserv, and I can't quite say how you can (but if you'd really like to, let me know and we can probably work something out).

    Anyhow (I'm getting to my point), I mention Ray so as to credit him for alerting me to this quote, contained in today's edition:

    Julia Olmstead Food

  • Thoughts from a small farm during the midwinter lull

    Before I became a farmer three growing seasons ago, I lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., and reveled in the array of top-flight local produce available from mid-spring to late fall. Long about January, though, a kind of local-food withdrawal would set in. Frosty, with a chance of failure. Photo: iStockphoto By this time of year, the […]

    Tom Philpott Food