Must-reads:
USA Today: USA Today’s editors take the USDA to task for cutting back Mad Cow (BSE) testing. (Man of La Muncha editorializes: USA Today rightly invokes the possible economic effects of BSE on the U.S. beef industry. In addition to economic losses, Britain lost faith in the government and scientific communities over mishandling of BSE.)
The Center for Food Safety: A friendly reminder. Today is California’s Statewide Day of Action to protest a bill that takes away local government authority over seeds. Have you called your state Senate and House Assembly members yet?
Grist magazine’s Gristmill blog: Excellent illumination of the debate over agriculture subsidies. Some call farmers “welfare queens on tractors,” but just 10% of U.S. farms grab 72% of subsidies. Meanwhile, giant agribusiness can sell corn and cotton well below cost, an unfair edge against global competitors. What’s the solution? Grist’s Tom Philpott, who is also a farmer, promises to show us in the weeks to come.
UC San Francisco feature: Why juice is just as bad for kids as soda. (Dairy Queen: There’s some interesting science in here I didn’t know. Turns out fructose, whether natural or corn-derived, doesn’t suppress the hunger hormone that’s produced in the stomach, so you can drink juice or a soda and still feel “hungry” soon after. It also damages the liver.)
Southeast Farm Press: The USDA claims that the rate at which U.S. farms go out of business, or “exit farming,” is about 9 or 10% each year, which is comparable to exit rates for non-farm small businesses in the U.S. This editorial says that the rate is a lot more worrying than that.
Lighter fare:
NPR.org: Radio segment explores what’s at stake when choosing between local and organic.
LAist.com: Whole Foods axes paper bags. Guess what? Among other things, paper sacks generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags. This post is the third in an LAist series about “you and your grocery shopping experience in reference to bags.”
The Naperville Sun: Chicago-area residents and visitors can tour an organic vegetable farm on Wednesday, August 9. The tours are sponsored by the University of Illinois.
Washington State University: Washington State University is hosting a harvest farm tour of King County and Vashon Island farms. The tours take place on Saturday, October 7.
Guardian Unlimited (UK): Details the trials and tribulations of farmer’s markets in modern Britain, as well as their burgeoning success. The writer bemoans, “Shoppers drawn, as if by hypnotism, away from the messy, busy life of markets and local shops, into the spaceship environment of … cheaper and quicker,” yet celebrates what she sees as the main advantage of farmer’s markets: added value, tasty food, and the farmers themselves, who are often “chatty, knowledgeable, [and] flirtatious.”
Food, Farming, & Food Politics events calendar
Humor:
