Section » Dairy
Dairy runoff in our tap water
Big dairies, big problems: Reporter Charles Duhigg of the New York Times has been on the rampage these past few weeks with a series of great articles highlighting the need for better government regulation, oversight and enforcement of clean water laws. The latest installment covers the dairy industry
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Senator plans hearing on dairy crisis
Milking dairy farms for profit: The price that dairy farmers receive for their milk has been in free-fall — from $21.70 per hundred pounds in 2007 to just $12 in recent days — while production costs are holding steady or rising. The hundred pounds of milk that earns about $12 costs a few dollars
NY Senator Schumer calls for clamp down on sketchy milk protein concentrates
Putting the squeeze on MPCs: We missed this a few days ago, but New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced a bill that would levy higher tariffs on imports of milk protein concentrates, or MPCs. (Little
Running dry: Time to save our nation’s dairy farmers
Did you see that movie "Flash of Genius"? It follows the unlucky Robert Kearns, played by Greg Kinnear, as he spends his life (and his savings) perfecting the intermittent windshield wiper, only to have his idea snared and used without credit by the Ford Motor Company. He pursues lawsuits against Ford
It’s about volume, not price: How Straus Family Creamery is weathering the organic dairy storm
U.S. dairy farmers are in a fight for their lives. Things are really bad, particularly in California, where there have already been two suicides, reports the LA Times. Conventional wisdom
Organic milk producers hit hard by economy
Someone needs to play dairy godmother: A NY Times "Most Emailed" (and heavily Tweeted) article about how organic dairy producers are in crisis makes some assumptions that could use some more explanation. The article refers several times to the "crushing debt resulting from the cost of turning organic,
Kansas Senate leaves rBST milk labels on ag committee floor
No crying over milk labeling: The Kansas Senate apparently won't even attempt to override former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's veto of legislation (as described in the Lawrence Journal-World) bearing
Take the Raw Milk Consumer Survey
As many as 3% of consumers may prefer their milk unpasteurized, a growing trend that has spurred federal legislation to allow raw milk to cross state lines. As demand grows, we have
Digest: Times et al on food movement’s “arrival,” dairy drama, Murphy profiled
Busy days; we're playing catch-up on news this week. Send URLs we shouldn't miss to digest@ethicurean.com. The dietgeist “love fest”: Everyone's talking about Andrew Martin's sweeping, chockablock New
No comment, no say: lend your voice to shaping four big food & ag policies
Photo from Iowa, courtesy of factoryfarm.org. It's easy to get cynical about our ability to influence policy or policymakers - especially when we don't have lots of money or a well-dressed K St. lobby firm to throw around. But I'd venture to say that with all the change-making, democracy-taking action
Not milk: The ingredient behind the dairy crisis
I have no idea what it would feel like to be a dairy farmer. I don't run a business that was started by my father or mother or grandparents, or that I built myself; I don't own and manage land that has been in my family for generations. Come to think of it, I've never really had to make a major business
Digest - News: Label libel, Chiquita goes bananas, and another reason to stay off soda
We digest the news for you twice a week. Read something great? Send it our way at digest@ethicurean.com. Take it to the limit: Many consumers who buy organic food assume it is safer than conventional food. Some conflate the word with local, with humane treatment of livestock, and with fair pay for workers.
Digest - News: Dairy cows on the moove, Big Corn throwdown, a locavore loses it
Industry pail-out: California's dairy industry announces a plan to cull 300,000 dairy cows, or roughly 1/6th of the state's herd, in an attempt to raise market prices for milk from the $0.97/gallon producers have received recently. Mass sell-offs have happened before, but often the cows were bought by
Digest - News: Peanut crime spree, spinach gets zapped, lonely locusts
Busting a nut: With the list of recalled peanut products topping 400, the Department of Justice begins a criminal investigation of the processing company behind it. The Food and Drug Act prohibits companies from knowingly transporting contaminated products across state lines, something the Peanut Corporation
Taxing cows to curb climate change
When you fill your car's tank, you pay a gas tax. Someday, when you fill your belly with cheese, milk, or steak, you might have to pay another type of gas tax — one levied on the methane and nitrous oxide emitted by the cows that produced or became your food. Bacteria in a cow's gut help digest what
