Section » Farm Bill
Calling your senators about the Farm Bill can have unexpected results
From our previous contributor Janet Majure, who lives in Kansas and blogs regularly at Foodperson.com. A funny thing happened when I called my senators this week to ask their support of the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment,
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“King Corn” preview and discussion in Berkeley draws crowd
Michael Pollan with "King Corn" stars Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, and director Aaron Woolf, along with a corny hat that Pollan had in his backpack. As expected, Tuesday night's special event for "King Corn," featuring Michael Pollan and the
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Digest – Food and Farm Bill special
For some pre-Halloween thrills and chills, this digest is all about that zombie-, vampire- and Frankenstein-filled piece of legislation called the Food and Farm Bill. Late last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee completed its work on the bill and sent it to the full Senate, where it will be debated
Sugar policy makes my head buzz
Not the sugar buzz I was hoping for Sometimes the twists and turns of farm and trade policy makes me dizzy. Today's example: sugar. To explain this properly, I'd probably need the creators of the Meatrix to make a short animation, but I'll give
Digest – News: Two meat-industry reforms may survive Farm Bill grinder, broccoli as sunblock
One small bright spot in Farm Bill haggling: A compromise may have been reached that would allow small state-inspected meat processors (with less than 25 employees) to start selling products across state lines. (Des
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Digest – Commentary: Corn regicide, Farm Bill op-eds preaching to deaf ears
So which part isn't true?: Gary Truitt, president and founder of Hoosier Ag Today, says he no likey "King Corn" — that "politically motivated slander film." Kurt Michael
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Digest – Features: Harkin in harness, bittersweet symphonies, kid-food no-no’s
Sitting in the kiddie chair: How would-be Farm Bill reformer Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has been thwarted by members of his own committee, all of whom represent farm states. New
Digest – News: Farm Bill “compromise,” mystery spray clouds, John Edwards gets rural
Not bloody likely: What's up with the Farm Bill? Carolyn Lochhead has a clear, concise summary of all the back-room wheeling and dealing that's been going on. The story's (mis) lead says there's been a "breakthrough," thanks to a couple billion "found" for California fruit and vegetable
Digest – Commentary: Gray Lady trusts in Bush, some advice for Iowa and Africa
Bush to the country's rescue: The Senate hasn't improved on the House version of the Food and Farm Bill, and unless something huge changes when the bill arrives on the floor, then the Gray Lady actually hopes President Bush, "who has generally been on the right side of the farm issue," will
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Digest – Commentary: Farm Bill compromise derided, vets and neighbors hate CAFOs, Kleckner op-ed
"A Deal With the Devil": The Center for Rural Affairs staff have been practically live-blogging the Senate Farm Bill fight all day long on their Blog for Rural America. They decided to call Reform's time of death at about 4:30 p.m. with this blistering
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Call or fax your congressperson today. No, really. Do it.
I know, I know, even we Ethicureans have Farm Bill fatigue, from following the various funding flip-flops and internecine struggles. It doesn't make it any easier when even sustainable agriculture groups we respect disagree on arcane points. But encouraging conservation is one topic that everyone is
Digest – News: GM corn could harm river ecosystems, microwaveable food safety, conservation coalition
Whoopsy, guess we forgot to test for that: An Indiana University study suggests that Bt corn, the widely planted genetically engineered corn, could harm aquatic ecosystems by killing insects that fish commonly feed on. The study also shows that parts of Bt corn can travel as far as 2,000 meters away
Digest Farm & Rural: Farm Bill ad, organic dairy roundabout
This Digest is contributed by our friends at the Center for Rural Affairs. Farm Bill TV: Oxfam and coalition partners have released a "Farm Bill Reform" television ad in which the hero of the 30-second piece is the American family farmer.
Getting to the heart of state meat inspection law
OK, I admit that I was just looking for an animal body part reference for that title. I am under no illusions that this post will get to the heart of much of anything. I am not an expert on state-inspected meat processing (though if it gives me any leverage, I have been inside a number of state-inspected
Digest – News: Farm Bill languishing, we have a beef with Boxer, more Aurora
Farm Bill delayed, again: Even though we're currently Farm Bill-less — the 2002 one effectively ended Sunday — the Senate mark-up of the 2007 bill is being pushed back once again. Why? They want the Finance Committee to go first, so they know how much money they have to work with. Um, shouldn't
