Archive for May, 2010
EPA to increase oversight over CAFO manure
Thanks in part to a lawsuit from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and Waterkeeper Alliance, the EPA has agreed to increase its oversight of manure discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)*. The EPA estimates that CAFOs in the U.S.generate three times more bodily waste than humans do, yet CAFOs have virtually
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Two recipes – and lots of opinions – from ‘Farmers Market Desserts’ author Jennie Schacht
Summer fruits from the farmers market are the supermodels of the produce world. Just like Heidi Klum doesn't need makeup
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Researchers trace corn’s ancient history
Children of the teosinte: Even though maize (Zea mays) is perhaps the most important crop in the Americas (for better or worse), until recently, we didn't know where it came from and when it was domesticated. Research by botanists, geneticists and archeologists has finally found the answers in a grass
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Industrial ag can’t get enough federal bucks?
Snow us the money! David Goldstein, Washington correspondent for McClatchy newspapers, reports that three senators are standing up for the poor, neglected industrial agriculture industry against the wicked Know
Students slice and dice for a better future in ‘Pressure Cooker’ documentary
With a supervisor who doesn't mince words and likes to yell, men and women battling over hot stoves for their big chance, and a ticking clock and other on-camera conventions, Pressure Cooker could be mistaken for a
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Michael Pollan on the rise of the food movement(s)
Pollan nation: In what is ostensibly a five-book review for the June 10 New York Review of Books, journalist Michael Pollan has an epic essay charting the emergence and character of the food movement. Or, as he puts
Ethicurean’s Marc interviewed on Berkeleyside
Marc my words: Ethicurean co-editor Marc Rumminger talks about which cookbook authors and local-food purveyors he admires for an interview on Berkeley Bites. His personal blog, Mental Masala, was recently named a blog
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Target, Wegman’s top Greenpeace’s report card for seafood sales
If we're going to have anything approaching a sustainable seafood system, we need to combine personal adherence to seafood lists with moves up the supply chain to the big buyers, the wholesalers, and supermarkets that sell the bulk of the seafood. Whereas wholesalers primarily work in the background,
Giving everyone a Grand (Opening, at Local Roots)
One year ago, the twelve of us who formed the steering committee of the Wooster Local Food Cooperative, Inc., held a public meeting at the Wayne County Public Library to share our ideas for a year-round local food market in downtown
Buyer beware this butcher’s bullshit
It's a sad and telling sign of the SOLE food movement's popularity, when people use the movement's principles to market their beef and hide the bullshit behind the counter. As Matthew Richter writes in "Mystery
Dairy cows’ feed exacerbates air pollution in central California
Although it has a relatively low population density, California's San Joaquin Valley has some of the worst air pollution in the nation, especially when it comes to ozone (O3), a gas that can cause respiratory and cardiac problems. To
Green acreage: A farm by any other name
The full spread (Steph Larsen photos) Editor's note: In a new series called Green Acreage, Steph Larsen chronicles the sprouting of a small but sustainable Nebraska property. --------------------------------- Last December,
Russ Parsons looks beyond the farmers market
In an adaptation of his keynote address at the Small Farms Conference, Russ Parsons praises the farmers market — an institution that has had a "revolutionary effect" — but also calls it "one of the most inefficient business plans ever devised." He notes some of the flaws: they are only open a few
The Edible Schoolyard brings learning to life
The cover story of this week's East Bay Express has a provocative teaser: "Berkeley's Edible
