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SupportVilsack.com: Wethinks they doth profess too much
A very odd site mysteriously popped up last week, with a banner headlined "Support Tom Vilsack for Secretary of Agriculture" and featuring both smiley and serious-but-loving shots of the former Iowa governor, as if he were
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For healthy food and soil, we need affordable health care for farmers
By Steph Larsen When we talk about local food, it means more than just proximity to a farm. We associate supporting "local food" with supporting specific values — such as family ownership, local control, small scale, environmental stewardship, community, and ecological diversity. These values are
Local food safety cop?: In which Bill Marler is compared to John Travolta, Ally McBeal, Julia Roberts, and 80s pop star Tiffany, all in one place
Earlier this week, Bill Marler, the attorney who’s earned oodles suing food companies for selling products contaminated with E. coli and other pathogens (his wife's car even
Let’s cure Absencia Grassosis! Weigh in on organic pasture rule by Dec. 23
We've reported before on a disturbing disease that's been plaguing large-scale organic dairies: Absencia Grassosis. Sounds pretty nasty, doesn't it? Loosely
Gearing up to reform the Child Nutrition Act
By Debra Eschmeyer Barack Obama can affect whether a child's life is shortened prematurely by 15 years. The oft-quoted statistic that one in three children born in 2000 will be diabetic in their lifetime demonstrates we are at a tipping point, both figuratively and literally…on the scales. According
Sign this Ag Sec petition: It’s worth a shot
Updated Dec. 12: Nicholas Kristof mentioned this in his NY Times column yesterday, and the number of signers is now over 36,000! If we can get it
How to change the USDA: Look beyond the Secretary of Agriculture
By Steph Larsen In my last post for the Ethicurean, I discussed likely candidates for Secretary of Agriculture in the Obama Administration and encouraged you to voice your support or dislike of the names being floated to Obama’s transition
Friday musical interlude: Obama, Wilco at Farm Aid 2005
Here's something to start the weekend off pleasantly: soon-to-be-Ethicurean Debra Eschmeyer posted this Farm Aid 2005 video on Facebook, with Barack Obama first talking about family farmers then introducing the band Wilco — three things
Opening up: Notes from the Northeast Ohio Food Congress
When I hear or read comments that dismiss local foods as something only folks in California can do, I'm puzzled. Everywhere I go in northeast Ohio, I see farms and markets that have locally grown and produced foods for sale.
What does an Obama win mean for the U.S. food supply?
We heard plenty of talk about Wall Street and Main Street. We heard about $150,000 wardrobes, Joe the Plumber, Bill Ayers, socialism, and cynicism. But one thing we didn’t hear much about in this election season was food and farms. According to Speech Wars,
Dispatch from APHA: Seeding local food in schools
As I write this, the day's far from over at the American Public Health Association's annual conference "Public Health Without Borders," but my brainpower is fading fast.
Celebrating food independence: A review of “Depletion and Abundance”
OK, quick check: everyone who is concerned about the economic crisis turning into a depression and causing food and fuel prices to rise and pockets to empty — whether for yourself, your parents, your children,
Oprah show torpedos CAFOs, gives props to Prop. 2
As just about everyone probably knows, most of Oprah's Tuesday show was devoted to reporter Lisa Ling's "How We Treat the Animals We Eat" investigation. I don't have cable, and thought I could watch the episode one way or another
Wear the Sun-Food Agenda on your chest
Ethicurean reader Erica Nofi was so moved by Michael Pollan's "Farmer in Chief" policy manifesto in last week's New York Times Magazine food
Food politics gets a prestigious platform, with Michael Pollan’s manifesto in this Sunday’s NYT Magazine
Michael Pollan — the closest thing the sustainable food movement has to a leader, even if he insists on pretending he remains just a journalist — wants the next president of the United States to pull weeds from the organically managed South Lawn Victory Garden; donate its surplus tons of food to
