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Jimmy Stewart, cults, and a lot of broken glass: Remembering Straus Family Creamery’s opening day

By • on February 15, 2011

By Michael Straus Pictures from opening night at Straus Family Creamery, February 4, 1994. (That's me with the goatee.) Straus Family Creamery recently turned 17, and I started thinking back to those crazy times. In 1989, my older brother Albert, who’d been managing the farm and doing some pretty innovative things — including feeding our cows

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Meet Roll International, the biggest dastardly agribiz mega-corps you’ve never heard of

By • on December 1, 2010

Pom not-so-wonderful at all: John Gibler's epic, top-notch feature on Roll International – "or, as their website proclaims: 'the largest privately held company you’ve never heard of,' owner of Paramount Farming, the largest grower and processor of almonds and pistachios in the world; Paramount Citrus;

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The Marin Carbon Project studies carbon sequestration

By • on April 17, 2010

Soil carbon sequestration — the process of converting gaseous carbon dioxide into carbon in the soil — offers a promising (and possibly necessary) route to addressing climate change

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The water wars: California’s salmon vs. agribiz interests

By • on March 15, 2010

By Paul Johnson Chinook salmon fishing has been scaled way back in California. Photo: Zureks/Wikimedia I've been selling fish for 30 years, and I'm pleased that my store, the Monterey Fish Market, has a reputation for

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The little fish that we can: California’s sardine industry, now and then

By • on December 9, 2009

When the subject of Monterey, California, comes up, most people think of two things: the magnificent scenery and the peerless aquarium. I think of a third: sardines. Two days after Thanksgiving, I took a day trip to

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Citrus pest threatens California growing center

By • on October 30, 2009

Not the kind of greening you want: The Asian citrus psyllid, which has wreaked havoc in Florida as well as overseas, has been found in rural San Diego County. Northern San Diego County has about 2,500 acres of commercial citrus orchards and is home to the largest concentration of organic citrus farmers

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Big Meat has tantrum over Oct 15 Michael Pollan talk at CalPoly

By • on October 8, 2009

Harris Ranch feedlot photo from Mark Bittman's 2008 NY Times article, "Rethinking the Meat Guzzler" RIP, academic freedom: Writer Michael Pollan—aka "elitist," and apparently Agribiz Public Enemy No. 1—will now be part of a panel discussion at Cal Poly on Oct. 15 instead of giving a

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Meet your greens, part 2: Industry seeks to outfox FDA

By • on September 28, 2009

This is the second in a series of posts on my week in Monterey, CA, where I attended the first of seven USDA hearings around the country on an industry proposal to create a national

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Meet your greens: National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement hearings, Week 1

By • on September 25, 2009

This is the first in a short series on the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement hearings held September 22-24 in Monterey, CA. I packed a suit for three days of USDA hearings over an industry-proposed

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Farm Labor Experts: The Solution is Not For Sale

By • on September 16, 2009

Friend o' Ethicurean Twilight Greenaway writes about sustainable food for San Francisco's Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), which nourishes, inspires and educates SF residents and visitors by running the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and other

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Glean a little goodness: California groups forage for fresh food

By • on July 16, 2009

This piece about gleaning and foraging groups in California first appeared in the most recent e-newsletter from the Northern California chapter of Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign, a project of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. To sign up for the monthly e-newsletter, visit the Buy

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California to shut its Food and Ag Department?

By • on June 6, 2009

Now really doesn't seem like a good time: Amidst California’s scramble to close its $20 billion deficit, California Senator Dean Florez, chair of the California Senate’s Food and Agriculture Committee, is suggesting perhaps the state should shutter its Department of Food and Agriculture. On June

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Golden State’s blueberry production up, prices in the red

By • on May 28, 2009

Singing the blues: Through years of hard work, California farmers have dramatically increased their blueberry production, and the state is on track to become the third largest U.S. producer. Success took new, heat-tolerant varieties based on old tropical breeds, understanding the plants' soil and irrigation

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Inside David Mas Masumoto’s orchard

By • on May 20, 2009

Peach paranoia: Anxiety, fatigue, obsession. These are some of the feelings experienced by peach grower extraordinare David Mas Masumoto (and author of such books as Epitath for a Peach). He is plagued by questions: Did it rain too much?  Too little? Did the April heat wave damage the trees? Farming

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New outlets for farmers

By • on May 20, 2009

The prescription is fresh produce: Mary MacVean looks at some of the new ways small farms are reaching the public in the Los Angeles area, starting with Kaiser Permanente's establishment of farmers markets outside their medical centers (30 so far in four states) and purchase of  local produce for their

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