The Prairie Star reported yesterday that Congress is considering amending the Superfund Law to exclude livestock manure from being considered hazardous waste. Several politicians — including Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chair of the House agriculture committee — are quoted as bloviating about how if this doesn’t pass, small family farms could be put out […]

Horizon Organic (the largest organic milk producer in the U.S.) today announced it had published a new set of guidelines governing “Standards of Care” on its company-owned farms.
Under fire from the Cornucopia Institute, a family farm watchdog group, and others for keeping cows in feedlots — and even going so far as to fake their […]

There’s something seriously rotten in the state of the Food and Drug Administration.
Instead of concentrating on stopping food-borne illness by upping inspections at the largest culprits, it’s encouraging growers big and small to turn their fields into animal-free quarantine zones. Instead of antagonizing supermarket and restaurant chains by ID’ing where contaminated products were sold, the […]

Hoofbeats of the food apocalypse: A mysterious plague is killing off U.S. honeybees, threatening to disrupt pollination of a range of crops. Affected hives are often empty except for the queen and a few bees, with no sign as to what happened. Fact nugget: There are rent-a-bee services? Reuters
Norway to the rescue: Norway is building […]

Bird-flu vs. mad-cow trading: The U.S. might start importing cooked poultry products from China, which has had several deaths from avian flu; some think it’s a bid to get China to drop its ban on U.S. beef, in place since a 2003 case of mad-cow disease. Less than 1% of the chicken Americans eat comes […]

Roe, roe, roe your boats: The United Nations’ conservation panel announced it was lifting its export ban on three types of caviar, including beluga, saying Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Russia had improved their monitoring of the fisheries. Conservationists are not pleased. Toronto Star
Lobster reversal: Whole Foods doesn’t sell live lobsters anymore because of concerns about […]

Bird flu in Britain: The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu has hit Europe’s biggest turkey producer. Some 2,500 turkeys at the Bernard Matthews farm near Lowestoft in eastern England have died; the entire population of 159,000 will be “culled.” A 2-mile protection zone has been established around the farm, and some neighboring countries […]

Breathing space: Hog producer Maple Leaf Foods is following Smithfield’s lead and phasing out farrowing crates for sows. Not because the science behind them isn’t sound, of course, but because consumers are spooked. (CattleNetwork) Other producers are sticking to their crates, according to the Fresno Bee, saying that veterinarians have determined that they cause no […]

Meat monopoly busters: A new “packer ban” bill introduced by Senators Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin seeks to prohibit the large meatpackers from buying and raising their own livestock, which leads to price gouging and shutting out small farmers and ranchers. This is really big news, as it would basically force Tyson, Smithfield, etc to […]

Shocking good news: Smithfield Foods, the nation’s largest hog producer (aka The Death Star of Pork), is voluntarily phasing out the use of “farrowing crates,” the too-tiny cages for nursing sows that animal-welfare activists have been successfully banning through several state votes. However, it is only for facilities that Smithfield actually owns — like many […]

Farm Bill 101: Tom Philpott plans to analyze the political economy of farming and suggest a socially and environmentally sustainable farm policy. (Someone has to do it, and we’re glad he’s volunteered.) The 2007 Farm Bill will affect everybody who cares about what they eat, and/or about the environment, so if you’re unsure how agricultural […]

Fiber — like armor for your gut: Thought there was nothing new to say about last year’s E. coli outbreaks? Think again. This op-ed says the best defense against the bad bugs starts with your own stomach: eat more fiber, so your gut’s bacteria can fight off invaders. Recommended are onions, leeks, garlic, chicory and […]

Santa Cruz beats Marin: A new study found that California has about four times as many fast food restaurants and convenience stores as healthier alternatives. In Santa Cruz County, the ratio was fewer than two unhealthy options for every healthy one — the highest proportion of healthy food options like grocery stores, farmers markets […]

There’s a real feast o’ links today, so we’re putting the slightly less newsy ones after the jump.
Double half-caf, hold the rBGH: Starbucks has eliminated the use of milk containing rBGH in its stores in New England, on most of the West Coast, and part of the Rocky Mountain interior, with an ultimate goal of […]

We’re trying out a new format for the Digest’s news links, suggested by Dr. Vino. What do you think?
Pharm animals: The latest animals to be genetically engineered to produce medicines for humans are some 500 U.K. chickens, which now lay eggs high in therapeutic proteins. [BBC News]
Brazil beefing up, U.S. style: Brazil’s cattle industry is […]