Digest: Farm Bill disgruntlement, sustainable labels, Wal-Mart greens its seafood buying

Grab an umbrella — it's Wednesday deluge time.

NEWS

The conservation conversation ends: There's big news on the Farm Bill today — the Conservation title will not include any money for new Conservation Security Program sign-ups for the next five years. Subsidies for corn, cotton, and other commodities seem safe, however. Apparently House Ag Chair Collin Peterson has pissed a lot of people off, including representatives on the ag committee itself. Reuters has the basics of the story, but Dan Owens breaks it down far better than we ever could, at the Blog for Rural America.

Mulch not feed: Distiller's dried grains — coproducts of converting corn into ethanol — are usually fed to livestock. But a new use could be on tap: fighting weeds and reducing herbicide use. (ScienceDaily)

Not sowing wild oats just yet: Whole Foods has delayed its offer to buy the Wild Oats chain after negative feedback from the Federal Trade Commission. Funny how these anti-trust concerns are scarce for mergers between oil companies, or telecommunication giants, or hog packing companies. (Austin Business Journal)

Shouldn't that be in your job decription, honey?: The U.S. is importing ever more organic food from China, which perhaps doesn't deserve the label, but how much is coming in? Says the USDA's National Organic Program spokeswoman: "Sorry, honey, but we just don't track that." (Business Week)

Tell us more!: Rep. Tim Holden of Pennsylvania made a surprise, unexplained announcement that "next year we plan to have a reorganization of USDA." (Brownfield Network)

A Canadian municipality wants to use only organic, free-range eggs in its city-run facilities (Globe and Mail)

Japan to maintain strict rules on U.S. beef imports (Reuters)

Elevated prices for milk could affect Big Food players like Hershey (Business Week)

FEATURES & COMMENTARY

You say sustainable, we say not so fast: The Los Angeles Times reports on Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sustainable Foods Institute last week, which gathered food writers and assorted retailers, farmers, academicians and scientists to discuss the state of the world's increasingly fragile food system, both terrestrial and aquatic. The goal was to increase awareness of the need for a sustainable food supply, but no one could agree on what "sustainable" means, either in theory or practice. Over at his Chews Wise blog, conference panelist Sam Fromartz has an unusually philosophical post about the phrases 'sustainable' or 'beyond organic.' We agree with him: we like to know what standards are being applied, and how.

Wal-Mart fishing for compliments: Carol Ness of the Chron goes to the same Monterey conference, but focuses on Wal-Mart's moves into supporting more sustainable seafood. The company is requiring Thai shrimp farms to change their aquaculture practices or lose the retailer's business. It is also turning more toward wild, domestic shrimp, even though it's more expensive. Wal-Mart sells more than 50 million pounds of shrimp a year. It's also buying Chilean seabass only from a certified sustainable fishery in the south Atlantic, as Whole Foods does. (San Francisco Chronicle)

The new food journalism: The Columbia Journalism Review looks at how ethics has become a staple of contemporary food writing, and whether the reporting epitomized by Michael Pollan is becoming mainstream or [sigh] just the province of "a tiny elite — grist for editors’ dinner parties but of tiny relevance to most consumers, who rush to the nearest market and grab what they need." Side note: In Europe, the phrase "eat your view" apparently refers to what's out your window, not your values. (Columbia Journalism Review)

Get fatty: The Economist takes aim at high fructose corn syrup and dares to suggest it is guiltier than sugar of making us fat. (The Economist)

A beef with the NY Times: This criminally lame story in the New York Times reports on the rising costs of producing cornfed beef and the supposed current drop in quality. Feedlot operators are competing with ethanol plants for corn, and gas prices are up for transport, which means producers are bringing their cattle to slaughter when they are younger and lighter — and therefore less marbled with cornfed fat, which is how the USDA defines quality in this country. The article fails to say that corn and distillers grains are a highly unnatural diet for cows, requiring antibiotics to tolerate, that quality could perhaps also be measured by flavor, or even that any alternatives to cornfed beef exist. At least today's Mark Bittman article about cooking burgers mentions in passing some problems associated with feedlot beef.

Veganism defended: Among the letter writers in response to Nina Planck's "veganism kills" column is one from the nutritionist who testified in trial about the baby's death. She says, "This poor infant was not killed by a vegan diet. He was starved to death by parents who did not give him … enough food of any kind." (New York Times)

We can think of several reasons: WashPo columnist Dan Froomkin wonders why President Bush isn't looking like the "educator in chief" on the immigration plan and barnstorming the nation to rally support. (White House Watch)

Warming's wild threat: Scientists at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) say climate change could wipe out wild varieties of peanut and potato, depriving plant breeders of a repository of genetic material. (Press release)

Whole hog: Buying a whole, half or quarter of an animal directly from ranchers is catching on for a variety of reasons. (Colorado Springs Gazette)

Organic growth: We're not entirely sure what to make of this, but a recent paper suggests that Bay Area urban planning could take a page from the Slow Food philosophy, in that "real culture is about developing taste rather than demeaning it." (San Francisco Chronicle — thanks Diane!)

A garden grows in Buffalo: A 2.5 acre site in the middle of a deteriorated urban landscape in eastern Buffalo, New York, could become a new community farm and educational center. (The Buffalo News)

True colors: The Post's food scientist, Robert Wolke, explains the relationship between meat spoilage and color, and discusses how some grocery stores use carbon monoxide to preserve the color of ground beef (but not the freshness), a practice that doesn't have to be labeled. (Washington Post)

Almond producer installs large solar "farm" (Reuters)

Iowa State University is suing Monsanto, claiming it is using a genetic blueprint developed and patented by ISU researchers for low-linoleic soybeans (Brownfield Network)

Wineries prefer to keep certain industrial techniques a secret from consumers (New York Times)

Bush choice to head Consumer Product Safety Commission withdraws over questions about career as a manufacturers' lobbyist (USA Today)

ON THE BLOGS, ETC.

Here comes the Big Green Stampede: A terrific report on PR Week's "Target Green: Making Sustainability Work" conference, which aimed to highlight how corporations are "making meaningful changes that benefit the company, and the planet, and how PR and marketing play a crucial role." Be afraid. Be very afraid. (WorldChanging)

First Pets: Spocko asks, What brand of pet food do President Bush's cat and dog eat? Have they eaten melamine-contaminated food? (Spocko's Brain)

Bag the bag talk: "Paper or plastic?" is the wrong question. Try instead: "What are you putting in it?" (Gristmill)

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