Nose-to-tail tale: Whole-animal eating is making a comeback as part of the larger “food sourcing” trend, and Toronto’s Healthy Butcher shop is responding by offering evening classes in butchering and sausage making. We applaud them for having the, um, guts to run such a bloody large image in the print edition. The Globe and Mail
Super Unsize Me: A biz-section feature focuses on chain restaurants like TGI Fridays tiptoeing into the era of portion control. They know they should reduce portion sizes, but they argue that when they have, Americans haven’t ordered off the slimmer menu. It also costs them just pennies to offer ever-more-giant plates of food. New York Times
Chasing the bug: The Herald digests the FDA’s 50-page report on the E. coli outbreak in spinach, and shares a few interesting nuggets, such as that Natural Selection Foods had neglected to follow some of its own safety procedures. Sanitation-verification tests, which procedures called for being performed five times a day at random sites, were done only once Aug. 14 to Aug. 19, during a particularly busy packing period, and not again until Aug. 26. The bad spinach was all packed on Aug. 15. Monterey Herald
Crappy business model: A look at the ins and outs of a local manure-composting organization also explores the growing appeal of the natural stuff. Conventional growers are increasing their use of composted manure thanks to both a growing awareness of the benefits to the land and of the long-term costs of relying only on chemical fertilizers. San Francisco Chronicle A related story by the same author details why synthetic fertilizer is inferior to the animal-produced kind — and why “green” manure isn’t as good, either.
Cruelty-free movement burgeoning: The P-I’s editorial board speaks in favor of more humane treatment of farm animals raised for meat. Seattle P-I
Trust us, enough development: A bill has been introduced in the California legislature that would permanently extend an important tax incentive for farmers and ranchers who donate their land’s development rights to local land trusts, creating a conservation easement. Western Farm Press
Tap dance: Chez Panisse’s general manager, Mike Kossa-Rienzi, explains why the restaurant decided to stop offering bottled water. NPR
Growing steady: Youth Organics, a six-week leadership and gardening-skills program for young people in Albany, has gotten kids excited about veggies. Times-Albany
High prices challenge conservation: Increases in corn and soybean prices are pushing up rental rates for land, which requires higher payments to farmers involved in USDA conservation programs. Des Moines Register
Sweet profits: Nearly 60 percent of the world’s strawberries come from University of California breeding and licensing laboratories — strawberry royalties were the UC system’s fifth largest revenue generator. Santa Cruz Sentinel
California from the outside: A Midwesterner visits farms in California and reviews technology, labor, water, and development pressures. High Plains Journal
Step up your thinking: An inspiring hour of discussion with environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben, author of “Deep Economy” and the force behind Step It Up 2007, a mass call for action on climate change on April 14. KQED Forum
Smoke on the water: A new report by the International Council on Clean Transportation reveals that ocean-going ships are a major source of pollutants. Emission limits for international ships are set in treaties, which tend to be far looser than, say, Europe, Japan, or California would like. Also, the engines in ocean-going ships last for decades, and so even if new standards are created, it will be a long time before cleaner engines are in wide use. Los Angeles Times
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