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Highlights and questions from the Natural Products Expo West trade show
In March I attended the Natural Products Expo West, one of the largest trade shows for the natural products industry. Produced by New Hope Natural Media, the show had hundreds of exhibitors promoting their products — companies looking for new distribution,
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“A beautiful bowl of glory”: Rancho Gordo’s Steve Sando on beans, trade, and the tortilla project
Steve Sando (right) with Félix Martinez Gomez and his family, near Cuicatlan, Oaxaca. They grow chilhuacle chiles, essential to so many Oaxacan dishes but rare now thanks to several years of disturbed weather patterns. International trade can wreak havoc on small farmers and the global food culture:
Concentration in the food industry not a concern, says new GAO report
In recent years, farmers have received an ever-decreasing share of the retail dollar, even during recent spikes in food prices. Some have argued that concentration in the food industry — the increase in the economic
U.S. and Canada forge organic alliance
Good news, eh? Products meeting the Certified Organic standard in the United States can now be sold as organic in Canada, and vice versa, without additional certification work. Canada is the largest U.S. trade partner and largest estimated export market for U.S. organic products. (USDA
Germany’s list of farm subsidy recipients surprises many
Ich bin ein Parasit: On Tuesday the German Agricultural Ministry posted a list online disclosing the names of German recipients of 5.4 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in annual agricultural subsidies granted by the European Union, under pressure from the EU. (Germany was the last country to do so, and the
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Dispatch from NC: Notes on the food crisis
It's been a whirlwind few days on the campus of North Carolina State University, where I attended "The Politics of Food," a conference organized by the Environmental Leadership Program. There's lots to report on: Panels during the three-day event ranged in
WT… Oh, forget it
There was little commotion in the blogosphere as the WTO's Doha Round, which had been struggling to bail out its liberalization life raft for
The cost of being cool: Refrigeration energy in the food system
On my post about food miles vs. food choices, commenter Mike
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Brazil prepares to retaliate against U.S. cotton subsidies
The U.S. Farm Bill that was finally enacted into law last week did little to change farm subsidy policies, despite
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New European chemical safety regulations reach around the world
The European Union is changing the rules for chemicals, requiring that industry demonstrate that a chemical is safe before using it in consumer products such as cosmetics, food packaging, water bottles, and durable goods. This approach, sometimes called "the precautionary principle," is in stark contrast
The enemy of my enemy: Why a Bush veto of the Farm Bill is bad for the food movement (and the world)
My former boss in DC once said that if she ever found herself on the same side of an issue as the Bush Administration, it was time to go back and look more closely: there must be a hidden agenda. That was the thought that struck me as I contemplated the administration's Farm Bill veto threat on Friday.
