Archive for February, 2009
Digest – News: Vilsack’s singing our song, but he ain’t our valentine yet
Yeah OK, we're listening: The WashPo's Jane Black interviews new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who says that being an overweight kid has given him insight into childhood nutrition problems, that in an ideal world all food would be purchased locally, and that the USDA needs to help build the infrastructure to make that possible. (Washington
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Digest – Features: Urban farmer, Brody on HFCS, swill shill
"If your goat is giving birth, it’s not like you can go to work": Friend o'Ethicurean Twilight Greenaway interviews Novella Carpenter, Oakland's most fearless backyard farmer and soon-to-be-author. (Culinate.com) E
Digest – Blogs: Cali drought, Rebecca takes on “Judy,” Dear Mom-in-Chief
Canary in the empty reservoir: How the nation responds to the drought in California will offer us a template of how to respond to global climate change, opine former Calif. AgSec Richard Rominger and Roots of Change President Michael R. Dimock. (San
Technical difficulties
Update 2:15 pm PST: due to site maintenance and um, a mad scramble to troubleshoot the WP system, comments and other features will be unavailable for a few hours. Due to my foot-dragging, our blog host decided to upgrade up us to WordPress 2.7.1 without saving any of our jury-rigged templates. Please
Edible San Francisco’s Meat Issue
The latest Edible San Francisco (of which I am deputy editor) is the Meat Issue and has several articles available online that I think will also be of interest to Ethicurean readers. Head over to ESF's website to read them (and
Sustainable Pork Smackdown, Pt. 1: Why Bay Area residents should choose Midwestern pork
By Samin Nosrat | Illustration by Marcos Sorenson Read Pt. 2: Why Bay Area residents should choose local pork Before Edible San Francisco readers start lobbing flaming Molotov pigtails at me,
Sustainable Pork Smackdown, Pt. 2: Why Bay Area residents should choose local pork
By Bonnie Azab Powell | Illustration by Marcos Sorenson Read Pt. 1: Why Bay Area residents should choose Midwestern pork I have to confess something: I have a hog in this race. In addition
Buzzkill: Can native bees do the job?
With the health of honey bee colonies in dramatic decline, can farmers rely on native bees to pollinate their crops? On the right kind of farm — one with nearby natural habitat and organic management
Digest – News: Pharm goats OK’d, farm profits dwindle, and peanuts throw dirt on the FDA
Brave new world: FDA approves the first pharm-animal drug, a blood thinner made from the milk of bioengineered goats. Critics nail FDA for its shoddy approval process and worry about what could happen if the animals escape from the lab and mate with unsuspecting non-GM cohorts. (
Digest – Blogs and opinion: Food pound-gallons (?), friending the FDA, another list for Vilsack
Measuring up: We've all heard the average number of miles that industrial food travels from farm to fork (1500), but is that the best way to weigh the environmental impact of our consumption choices? NY farmer Bob Comis proposes a conceptual shift to "pound-gallons," a clunky-sounding idea that might
Beer me: Trolling for craft brews in an ocean of Bud
Out of fairness, I should begin this post by admitting that I do not actually like beer. Never a big drinker, when the urge hits, my tastes veer toward wine and, OK, a nip of whiskey. But just as I appreciate (and, in fact,
Digest: Vilsack’s tightrope, the urban bounty, and a new era for “micro-farms”
Music to our ears: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who some in the good-food movement have blasted for his ties to agribusiness, sounds a sweet note by calling for a "new day" for the agency in which it serves both farmers and the nation's 300 million eaters. Is it all talk, or will we see some action? (
Well worth the wheat: Gene Logsdon’s “Small-Scale Grain Raising”
As the price of flour and other grain-based foods has risen, creative-minded people have begun to consider growing their own wheat, corn, rye, and other grains. Groovy
Ready, set, go change the food system, part 2: More USDA action items
On Friday we published the first half of a list of specific actions the new USDA could undertake in its first six months that could significantly change the food system. After polling a cross-section of groups and individuals, we cherry-picked
Digest – News: Peanut crime spree, spinach gets zapped, lonely locusts
Busting a nut: With the list of recalled peanut products topping 400, the Department of Justice begins a criminal investigation of the processing company behind it. The Food and Drug Act prohibits companies from knowingly transporting contaminated products across state lines, something the Peanut Corporation
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