Section » Organic vs. industrial
Saving the songbirds (and ourselves)
Today's New York Times featured an op-ed by Bridget Stutchbury, a biology professor at the University of Toronto and author of Silence of the Songbirds.
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The blame frame, part 2.5: LA Times urges us to miss the point
A while back, I began a series of posts examining the infamous "farm lobby," that oft-mentioned force supposedly responsible for
Innovative process turns any vegetable organic in seconds
Special to The Ethicurean, by Barry Foy Agribusiness stocks rose sharply today, following the announcement this morning of a new process that transforms conventionally raised produce into organic, instantly and at almost
Digest – Features: Everybody (hearts) young farmers, meat graders, and organic charts
All hail the Greenhorns!: A Weekend Style feature celebrates the emerging movement of young back-to-the-landers, "creating small-scale farms near urban areas hungry for quality produce and willing to pay a premium," many of them being captured in a documentary by Friend o'Ethicurean Severine
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Digest – Blogs: Obama comes to black farmers’ defense
40 acres and a runaround: Last week, the USDA kicked out government auditors who came to check in on the government's settlement in a discrimination case brought by black farmers. This excellent Daily Yonder
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Why does Kaiser Permanente support both farmers markets and industrial “meal replacement systems”?
I stopped by Kaiser Permanente last Friday at the same time as its weekly farmers market, which the Oakland Medical Center hosts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in partnership with the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association. It was a pretty sparse
Pesticides, like the huddled masses, yearn to be free
The Farm Bill is back. (Admit it -- you'd been missing it.) House and Senate ag staffers have taken to lurking in each other's offices and furrowing their brows over what could be a protracted conflict between members of the conference committee, that group of reps and senators assigned to turn the meat
Bigger and badder: Prof. Phil Howard on consolidation in the organic industry
You've probably seen the work of Phil Howard, even if you don't know his name. He's the professor behind those massive colored charts that show how most organic brands — usually the ones with the bucolic farms on the
Digest – Commentary & Blogs: NYT discovers eating local isn’t always green, Alex Avery pretends feedlot beef is
It's about mindset, not just footprint: We recently called the New York Times main investigative food & ag reporter the "always-excellent" Andrew Martin, but after the Sunday installment of his column The Feed,
Digest – Commentary & Blogs: Scary new pesticide, folic acid solution, post-peak-oil soil
COMMENTARY Pedal to the methyl: Tom Philpott documents step by meticulous step the ill-advised, crony-capitalistic path taken to approve methyl iodide, a new, highly toxic fumigant favored by large-scale strawberry and other fruit growers - which might just be worse than the methyl bromide it's supposed
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USDA requests comments on leafy greens rulemaking
Following last fall's crisis over E. coli contamination of spinach, the growers, distributors and retailers of salad mix started talking about improving their safety practices. A fair amount of activity in this area has been happening in California, including some bills in the legislature and voluntary
Digest – Features: Methyl bromide alive and kicking in Cali, beyond-kosher movement
Do we need strawberries and tomatoes in winter that badly?: Methyl bromide, a common pesticide and fumigant, is not only toxic to humans but harms the ozone layer. So why is the U.S. still using it? And why does California, which has some of the toughest laws governing its use, spraying 6.5 million pounds
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A food-values pyramid for Ethicureans
A few weeks ago, after the announcement of the USDA's new standards for grass-fed meat, I came up with a lame little graphic to depict how I place different approaches to food production on a bummer-better-best continuum. I should
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Digest – News: New AgSec nominated, organic food is superior (duh), meat zombies
Due to a road trip to remote Oregon with non-Ethicurean parental units and deadline pressures, there has not been a full Digest for over a week. (Sorry.) Some of these links are thus a little moldy, but we need'em for the archives, so just hold your noses.
Living with Ed, maybe: President Bush
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
