Casa Festiva

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On tiny plots, a new generation of farmers emerges
--- USAToday (cf07/15/09)

Bread Basket Blues: Hidden Kitchens -- NPR
California's Central Valley produces many of the fruits and vegetables consumed in America. It is also one of the poorest areas of the country. There are high rates of malnutrition and obesity, and residents have little access to fresh produce themselves.
In Fresno, there was actually a zoning ordinance that prohibited the establishment of farmers markets!!!

updated 7/10/09

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How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains
When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full. -- NYTimes

updated 6/24/09

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Urban Farming, a Bit Closer to the Sun
Aeries are cropping up on America’s skylines, filled with the promise of juicy tomatoes, tiny Alpine strawberries and the heady perfume of basil and lavender. High above the noise and grime of urban streets, gardeners are raising fruits and vegetables.
-- NYTimes

updated 6/19/09

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updated 6/12/09

Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially buttered, nonorganic popcorn at the concession stand. That, at least, is one of the unappetizing lessons to draw from one of the scariest movies of the year, “Food, Inc.,”..." -- NYTimes

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updated 6/1/09

Celebrity restaurant Nobu tells diners not to eat its endangered tuna dish -- London Telegraph

85% of the World's Oyster Reefs Are Gone (and the Remaining 15% Are Imperiled)Like to dine on this superfood? Enjoy it while you still can. -- Daily Green

Both times Mrs. Obama missed a great opportunity to get people talking about a crucial yet neglected aspect of the food discussion: cooking. Because terrific local ingredients aren’t much use if people are cooking less and less; cooking is to gardening what parenting is to childbirth. -- NYTimes

DRINK ORGANIC!!!
Organic Dairies Watch the Good Times Turn Bad -- NYTimes

Maine has become the sixth US state to ban extreme confinement. Gestation crates for sows and crates for veal calves will be prohibited from January 2011. -- The PigSite News

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updated 5/23/09

(Artificial) Sweeteners Linger in Groundwater -- Discovery News

The current pandemic is linked to the way we produce food—in factory farms, via vertically integrated business. Experts say the global food industry, like the global banking industry, is too big and out of control. It needs to be fixed. -- Down to Earth Magazine

Author Michael Pollan's New Advice on Buying Food: "Don't Buy Any Food You've Ever Seen Advertised" He was recently a guest on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) today released its position paper on Genetically Modified foods stating that "GM foods pose a serious health risk" and calling for a moratorium on GM foods. Citing several animal studies, the AAEM concludes "there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects" and that "GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health."

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updated 5/13/09

WHEN Jessica Prentice, a food writer in the San Francisco Bay area, invented the term “locavore,” she didn’t have Lay’s potato chips in mind. -- NYTimes

If you eat like a vegan until dinnertime, you can protect your health and help save the planet; how we eat — and certainly what we eat — has a real impact on both our bodies and the Earth. -- Mark Bittman

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updated 5/6/09

Could Monsanto Be Responsible for One Indian Farmer's Death Every Thirty Minutes?
Over 1,500 farmers in the agricultural Indian state of Chattisgarh have committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure. The state was hit hard by falling water levels. Bharatendu Prakash, of the Organic Farming Association of India, said that, "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."

Local food is delicious, but the problem-and perhaps the solution-is global. -- Worldwatch Institute

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North Carolina Town Prints Own Currency to Support Local Business -- One North Carolina town is trying to become more self-sufficient by moving toward being able to feed, fuel and finance itself. The town of Pittsboro houses the nation’s largest biodiesel cooperative, a food co-op, a farmers’ market and, most recently, its own currency, the Pittsboro Plenty. Pittsboro is one of a number of communities across the country printing their own money in an attempt to support local business. -- DemocracyNow

Farm Workers’ Rights, 70 Years Overdue
The goal is to win basic rights that farm and domestic workers were denied more than 70 years ago, when the Roosevelt administration won major reforms protecting other workers in areas like overtime and disability pay, days of rest and union organizing.
That inequality is a perverse holdover from the Jim Crow era. Segregationist Southern Democrats in Congress could not abide giving African-Americans, who then made up most of the farm and domestic labor force, an equal footing in the workplace with whites. President Roosevelt’s compromise simply wrote workers in those industries out of the New Deal. -- NYTimes

Dr. Anderson at first couldn’t figure out why he was seeing patient after patient with MRSA -- drug resistant staph infections -- in a small Indiana town. And then he began to wonder about all the hog farms outside of town. Could the pigs be incubating and spreading the disease? -- Nicholas Kristhof, NYTimes

At a time when diseases like mad cow and bird flu have made consumers worried about food safety, being able to quickly track down the cause of an outbreak seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, the plan, which is called the National Animal Identification System ... would end up rewarding the factory farms whose practices encourage disease while crippling small farms and the local food movement. -- NYTimes

It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer? -- NYTimes

The Food Lobby Goes to School -- ANP: Who decides what our children are eating? (Check out the identifying logos about 3 minutes in.)

The Curious Cook, Harold McGee
How Much Water Does Pasta Really Need?
By using less water, "My rough figuring indicates an energy savings at the stove top of several trillion B.T.U.s. At the power plant, that would mean saving 250,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil, or $10 million to $20 million at current prices. Significant numbers, though these days they sound like small drops in a very large pot." -- NYTimes

Mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to a new article published today in the scientific journal, Environmental Health

How Meat Contributes to Global Warming

California Organic Acreage Jumped In 2008 -- American Vegetable Grower

How much does it really cost to eat a healthy diet? -- NYTimes

Eat this with that: How food works in tandem to boost nutrition -- Chicago Tribune

A sustainable global food system in the 21st Century needs to be built on a series of "new fundamentals", according to a leading food expert.
Tim Lang warned that the current system, designed in the 1940s, was showing "structural failures", such as "astronomic" environmental costs.
-- BBC News

Dr. (David) Bronner: Comparing USDA & EU 'Organic', 'Made with Organic' & 'Natural' Standards on Body Care Products -- Organic Consumers' Union

Prince Charles warns GM crops risk causing the biggest-ever environmental disaster -- Telegraph

Let he (or she) who is without fat cast the first stone!
"Instead of blaming India and other developing nations for the rise in food prices, Americans should rethink their energy policy — and go on a diet. ... the money spent in the United States on liposuction to get rid of fat from excess consumption could be funneled to feed famine victims." -- NYTimes

Good reasons to support local farmers ... It's about transforming and democratizing the food system. It's about increasing access to high-quality, nutrient-rich food and making it available and affordable to all people. -- Seattle PI

Alternative Fuel Frenzy Leading to Extinction of Grassland Birds? -- The Daily Green

Consumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers’ markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect. -- NYTimes

Consumption of fish and meat is growing fast worldwide, but producing these in huge livestock-raising operations generates enormous health and environmental problems. Alternative ways of meeting demand for meat and fish can protect the environment and small farmers. -- WorldWatch Institute

Some corn seed produced by Dow AgroSciences and grown in Iowa has been contaminated with small amounts of an unapproved biotech variety since 2006, the company and government officials disclosed -- Des Moines Register

Michael Pollen speaks with Amy Goodman on DemocracyNow

The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II. When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Big Food Companies Fear Pressure and Criticism from Environmental Activists -- ENN News

As supplies dry up, growers pass on farming and sell water -- Press Enterprise

What Will We Eat as the Oil Runs Out? -- Richard Heinberg

The real beneficiaries of cloning are the nation’s large meatpacking companies — the kind that would like it best if chickens grew in the shape of nuggets. -- NYTimes editorial

Are you eating? Here's a few statistics to chew on: In the US, restaurants are the top electricity consumer among retail businesses. 33% of it. Each restaurant produces an average of 50,000 pounds of waste. Eat up, unless you want to add to that last figure. That is, unless you happen to be dining at a restaurant certified by the Green Restaurant Association, which aids member restaurants in achieving a near zero waste status.

Wildlife Numbers Decline as Desperate Refugees Seek Meat -- ENN News

Europe’s Appetite for Seafood Propels Illegal Trade -- NYTimes

Food and Fuel Compete for Land -- NYTimes

"So Little Time, So Many Charities to Feed" -- NYTimes

"Food Pantries Struggling With Shortages." -- USNews via NewsVine

"Market leading pork producer Smithfield Foods, says it will not produce or use pork from cloned animals. It says the technology is, as yet, unproven and requires further investigation." -- PigSite News

"Abundant Evidence to Warn People Against GE Crops" -- ENN News

"Farmers in developing world hurt by 'eat local' philosophy in U.S." -- SF Chronicle

"Proposed Ban on Genetically Modified Corn in Europe." -- NYTimes

"A look at how federal subsidies cause a salad to cost more than a Big Mac." -- Good Medicine Magazine

"Agricultural Antibiotics May Be The Cause Of Super-Bugs." -- NewsTarget.com

"Germ Fighters May Lead to Hardier Germs" -- NYTimes
Here are a number of all-purpose cleaners that are gentler on human health and the environment -- The Green Guide

"Sugar’s Sweetheart Deal" -- NYTimes

"Very soon, a farmer and his son will come to the farm to kill our two pigs. If that sentence bothers you, you should probably stop reading now — and you should probably also stop eating pork." -- NYTimes

"Adult Weight Gain Raises Breast Cancer Risk" -- ENN

"Obesity becoming a global problem" -- ENN

"The Globalization of Hunger" -- Madre

"But do food miles -- the distance edibles travel from farm to plate -- give an accurate gauge of environmental impact, especially where greenhouse gas emissions are concerned?" -- Reuters via ENN

"Corporations are rushing to meet the demand for food products that meet social and environmental standards." -- NYTimes

"The Blessings of Dirty Work" -- Barbara Kingsolver, Washington Post

"... an unimpeachably neutral group has joined the ranks of those who prefer organic foods over foods produced with the help of synthetic chemicals. That group is 40 Swiss rats." - Harold McGee, NYTimes

"Help Wanted: Young Farmers" -- Edible Nation

"A PB&J will slow global warming. Next time you have one you'll reduce your carbon footprint by saving the equivalent of 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over an average animal-based lunch like a hamburger, a tuna sandwich, grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets." -- The PBJ Campaign

"Can vegetarianism prevent bird flu?" -- Worldwatch Institute

"The trouble with factory farms is that they are raising more than pigs. They are raising drug-resistant bugs as well." -- NYTimes

"Despite the fact that, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, at least one breed of livestock has become extinct every month for the last seven years, most burger-eating, milk-drinking consumers in the U.S. and Europe haven’t taken notice." -- WorldWatch via ENN News

"Common food additives and colorings can increase hyperactive behavior in a broad range of children, a study being released today found." -- NYTimes

"Farmers today can grow two to three times as much grain, fruit, and vegetables on a plot of land as they could 50 years ago, but the nutritional quality of many crops has declined." -- Worldwatch Institute

"Activists continue to apply increased pressure on antibiotic use in food-producing animals, and activists’ messages are being more than heard." -- The Fish Site

"Biofuel experts are already looking beyond grains for cheaper feedstocks such as straw or corn stover. But there is a price to be paid when you remove biomass that normally goes back to the soil." -- New Farm

" ... only 3.5 cents of every dollar goes to the farmer when food is purchased at the grocery store, according to the Sustain AgriFood Network [pdf] versus the 80 to 90 cents on the dollar that goes to the farmer when food is purchased at a farmer's market."

"Raising poultry the new-old way." It's more work than you think! -- SF Chronicle

"Eating Local Isn’t Always the Greenest Option" -- The Texas Observer

"Sometimes buying local food helps in the battle against climate change. Sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes, it's just too confusing to decide." -- Boston Globe

"China to use more non-grain biofuels to replace oil" -- Reuters via ENN

"Why imported produce may be better for the earth than local." -- NYTimes
"The recent New York Times op-ed suggesting that local food isn’t the be-all and end-all of sustainability generated quite a bit of discussion around the Worldwatch office. Many of us who are committed to eating local food agreed with the author, James McWilliams—himself an admitted locavore—on many points." -- WorldWatch Institute

"Local food networks reflect progress and potential." -- New Farm/Rodale Institute

"America's top pork producer churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history. Welcome to the dark side of the other white meat." -- Rolling Stone

"One day, we may be using cellulosic ethanol, the kind derived from grasses. For now, the ethanol boom is all about corn. And the real question is whether that will finally kill American farming as we know it." -- NYTimes

"Skyrocketing farmland prices are stirring optimism, but for young and small-scale farmers, the news is grim." -- NYTimes

"Microwaves may be to blame for kick-starting the obesity epidemic, a UK scientist suggests. " -- BBC

"The U.S. government has shortchanged minority farmers, providing them with a fraction of the aid given to their white counterparts, Oxfam said in a report on Thursday, as the aid and advocacy group pushed Congress to craft legislation reversing decades of exclusion." -- Reuters

"Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming in developing countries, and holds its own against standard methods in rich countries." -- Organic Consumers Association

"38 Non-Organic Ingredients Found In ‘USDA Organic’ Foods: What They Are, How They’re Used, And Why They Made The List" ALSO -- perhaps more interesting and surprising -- who is petitioning! -- The Daily Green

"Shoppers are in the dark about where much of their food comes from despite a five-year-old law requiring meat and other products to carry labels with their country of origin ... The Agriculture Department never put in place the labeling requirement because then-majority Republicans repeatedly delayed it, most recently to 2008." -- AP via SacBee

"A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home." -- New Scientist

"Indiana study shows correlation between ag chemicals and fetal impacts, from pre-term births to children's school performance." -- New Farm

"For reasons that we don't understand, the prevalence of food allergies has doubled in the last 15 years." -- Washington Post

"Solar ovens utilize nature's rays for energy-efficient, everyday cooking -- even in foggy San Francisco" -- SF Chronicle

"The Two Americas of Food: Reflections on the 2007 Farm Bill" -- Anna Lappé on The Huffington Post

"Urban Farming: Why It’s Not an Oxymoron" -- Growers & Grocers

"Genetically modified food sold in the U.S. is not currently required to sport GMO labels. Which means that most Americans are eating GM food, without knowing it, every day." -- Culinate

"The numbers are in, and as predicted back during spring's corn-planting frenzy, it seems that the ethanol boom has been a boon for genetically engineered corn. " -- Chewise

"The Dark Side of Soy: Is America's favorite health food making us sick?" -- Utne Reader

"Nutrition education fails test: Dozens of studies show federal programs don't influence kids' food choices." -- AP via Monterey Herald

"How is it, then, that this pink, gelatinous throwback to the 1930s (SPAM) has sold more than 6 billion cans — and is still selling strongly in the United States and abroad? Who is still eating this canned good that detractors have dubbed "Something Posing As Meat" or "Special Parts After Mutilation"? -- NPR

"Did you know that genetically modified, or 'transgenic' crops are now commonplace on North American farms?" -- David Suzuki

"America's rice farmers didn't want to grow a genetically engineered crop. Their customers in Europe did not want to buy it. So how did it end up in our food?" -- Fortune

"In addition to falling grain supplies, global fisheries are faltering.  Reports in respected journals Science and Nature state that 1/3 of ocean fisheries are in collapse, 2/3 will be in collapse by 2025, and our ocean fisheries may be virtually gone by 2048.  Aquatic food systems are collapsing, and terrestrial food systems are under tremendous stress." -- RCE Saskatchewan

"A new breed of genetically modifed crops could provide cheap drugs and vaccines for the developing world. Only one problem: what if they get into the food chain?" -- The Guardian

"Pumped-Up Poultry Not ‘Natural,’ Says CSPI" -- The Poultry Site

"Picking out a chicken at the supermarket is a guessing game, according to the professionals at Cook’s Illustrated. The terms fresh, organic, free-range, all natural and lean rarely indicate good flavor or texture, or good price. Instead, they’re just confusing." -- Cooks Illustrated via The Poultry Site

"The latest battle over what can be called organic involves beer and gelatin, food colorings and casings for sausage. The Department of Agriculture, the final arbiter of all things organic, is poised to approve a list of nonorganic ingredients that can be used in food stamped with its green-and-white organic seal." -- NYTimes

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"(Shrimp is) America's favorite seafood, but at what cost to the environment?" -- SF Chronicle

To be filed under dare we hope ... "(WalMart) is requiring shrimp farms that have been ravaging the coast of Thailand to change their aquaculture practices or lose the retailer's business." -- SF Chronicle

"While the frozen fish imported from China was labeled monkfish, the company said it is concerned that it may be pufferfish because this toxin is usually associated with certain types of pufferfish." -- AP via Newsvine

"The ground beef in my new burgers had been through a process known as 'modified atmosphere packing.' " -- Chicago Tribune

Richard Bernstein, chief investment strategist for Merrill Lynch, has introduced a new term -- agflation --to describe the rising food prices facing America today thanks to increasing food supply constraints, a shift in food demand, and new energy technology that relies on agricultural commodities.

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The following are some quotes from the recent "Earth Friendly Cuisine: The Farmer, Chef, and You!" event at Santa Barbara City College ...

"Why does good change always take so long?"
-- Greg Brown (ok, this was just a line from a song I heard on my way to SBCC, but still relevant.)

"Good food is an opportunity for happiness three times a day."
-- Laurence Hauben, SB Slow Food Convivium Leader"

" 'Sustainability' for me is having a connection between the farmer and the community."
-- Tom Shepherd, Shepherd Farms

"The intention of what organic 'is' has become quite distorted."
-- Sam Edelman, manager of SB Certified Markets

"Every school needs a kitchen."
-- Laurel Lyle, chef at Peabody School"

It ought to seem risky to eat fruit from countries where you wouldn't drink the water."
-- Joan Gussow, as shared by Ann Cooper, nutrition director for Berkeley Unified School District

Notable statistics from Cooper's presentation ...
-- Agriculture is responsible for 10% of the US oil consumption
-- 10 companies control 90% of our food supply
-- In one year, food giant Unilever bought both SlimFast AND Ben & Jerry's.
-- 70% of all the antibiotics in the US are used in the practice of animal husbandry
-- We now have more prisoners in this country than farmers.
-- Forget Generation X, we are raising Generation XXL. 50 % of all school children will be clinically obese by the year 2010 ... just 36 months away.
-- and, fyi ... "cold pasteurized" = irradiated

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"Pork Held In Melamine Scare Will Go To Market" ... feel free to pig out? -- The Daily Green

Who's Watching What We Eat? -- NYTimes

"Judge Breyer Orders Complete Environmental Review of Monsanto's Gene-Altered Alfalfa" -- Center for Food Safety

"U.S. proposal to allow chicken imports from China raises health concerns." ... ya think? -- International Herald Tribune

"Mexican farmers have signed an agreement with biotechnology giant Monsanto to buy and plant genetically modified (GM) maize." -- SciDev Net

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. -- a $7 billion global business with broad brand recognition and a 59 percent market share -- is suing TerraCycle Inc. -- a fledging startup with $1.5 million in annual sales and an infinitesimal share of the market Scott's is accusing TerraCycle of copying its look and falsely claiming that its organic products are better than synthetic ones like Miracle-Gro. -- ENN News
Here's the TerraCycle website & where you can contribute to their legal defense fund

"Scottish farmers are being forced to use pesticide-free animal feed from Ukraine and Kazahkstan to keep up with the demand for organic meat." -- The Scotsman

"Researchers are taking an active interest in how genes and diet influence our susceptibility to obesity and diseases like diabetes and cancer. Eating a diet that is right for an individual's genetic heritage can be healthier, they are finding." -- National Geographic Green Guide

"Shousun C. Szu, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, says the best way to prevent people from being poisoned by deadly E. coli would be to vaccinate all infants against the bacteria." -- NY Times
OR ... maybe we could drastically change our food delivery mechanisms???!!!

"Like most of the orange juice it produces, the U.S. food system is highly concentrated. ... Throughout most of the nation, local-food infrastructure has withered away, and the few remaining small farmers aren't making enough spare cash to make the necessary investments." -- The Grist

"There isn’t a guarantee that buying locally grown food will prevent any food safety issues. However, shopping lower on the food chain (i.e., buying locally) does allow you to at least get to know your farmer (or food producer) and their operation." -- OrganicSchmorganic

"FDA Was Aware of Dangers of Food. Outbreaks Were Not Preventative, Officials Say." -- Washington Post 

"Genetically engineered, pharmaceutical rice is not a safe or cost-effective solution for infants suffering from diarrhea, concludes an exhaustive report released today by the Center for Food Safety, as the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) considers whether to allow planting of the rice in Kansas this spring." -- Center for Food Safety

"Preserving Fossil Fuels and Nearby Farmland by Eating Locally" -- NYTimes

"Green has not yet replaced red or white or even pink as the most important color in deciding which wines to buy, but people have started to think about it." - NYTimes

Monsanto's at it again -- this time trying to punish milk producers that label their milk rBGH-free. -- Organic Consumer's Organization
Perhaps because ... "Eighty percent of consumers want milk produced without the hormone rBGH to be labeled as such, according to a poll released today by Food & Water Watch."

"How to Confine the Plants of the Future? A new generation of genetically engineered crops that produce drugs and chemicals is fast approaching the market — bringing with it a new wave of concerns about the safety of the global food and feed supply." -- NYTimes

"One in Three US Children Born in 2000 Will Develop Diabetes." -- JAMA via WorldHealth.net

"Sons born to women who ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a 25 percent below-normal sperm count and three times the normal risk of fertility problems, researchers reported ..." -- SF Chronicle

Immigration reform may just yield the better peach -- thoughtful commentary from a farmer in the Contra Costa Times

Flying fish? When pigs fly? WIll the cow be able to jump over the moon? "A team of NCSU scientists and engineers says it has developed a biofuels technology capable of converting animal fats - including lipids from dead chickens, hogs and cattle - into fuel for commercial airliners and fighter jets. " -- thePigSite.com

"... a Federal Court has ruled, for the first time ever, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to abide by federal environmental laws when it approved a genetically engineered crop without conducting a full Environment Impact Statement (EIS)." -- Center for Food Safety
But, too early to celebrate? "Monsanto Co. has asked a San Francisco federal court to allow it to continue selling its genetically modified Roundup Ready Alfalfa while the USDA conducts a court-ordered environmental impact study." -- Washington Post

"Research conducted by the Institute for Food and Development Policy, or Food First, has found that throughout the world smaller, diversified farming systems are upwards of 1000% more productive in terms of the overall amount of food produced than large scale industrial farms." -- CommonDreams.org

"While to some it may seem like voodoo viticulture or marketing gimmickry, others find that biodynamics not not only has changed the way they grow grapes but the way they live their lives." -- Seattle Post Intelligencer

"A group representing more than 200 Sacramento Valley rice farmers is warning that any outdoor planting of genetically modified rice could jeopardize the state's $400 million rice industry.
The group, the Rice Producers of California, released a report Tuesday that said exports to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey and other countries could be put at risk if so-called transgenic rice contaminates the state's crops."
-- from AP reports

"Stepping into the middle of a growing debate, a freshman assemblyman has introduced legislation that would make companies developing genetically engineered crops liable for damages if their work results in contamination of other fields." -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"It’s shocking that the average European cow receives more in government subsidies every day than half the world’s population earns in wages." -- Common Ground

"A recent bold statement by UK supermarket Tesco ushering in "carbon friendly" measures has had environmentalists dancing in the fresh produce aisles, but has left African horticulturists confused and concerned ... For Kenya, horticulture is the country's second biggest foreign exchange earner after tourism." -- BBC News

"The real problem with corn-based ethanol ... If you plant a field of transgenic corn destined solely for ethanol production, that corn will interbreed with other fields of corn. Barring further advances in gene containment technology that have yet to be perfected, energy crop corn will get into the food supply. This is not alarmist anti-GMO propaganda. It is fact. Everyone involved with the production and regulation of transgenic corn is well aware of this." -- Salon.com

"Recently, scientists from the United States, Canada, and northern Europe warned about the impact of livestock operations on human health. One key finding, among six reports published by the National Institutes of Health in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, was that the routine use of antibiotics in livestock production contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant germs in human medicine.
By one credible estimate, 70 percent of all the antibiotics used in the United States are used as feed additives for chicken, hogs, and beef cattle. "
-- Boston Globe

"A federal judge ruled yesterday (2/13/07) that the Agriculture Department violated the law by failing to adequately assess possible environmental impacts before approving Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa." -- NY Times

BUY WILD SALMON! "In 1980, 1 percent of the world salmon supply was farm raised. The share of farmraised salmon produced worldwide rose to 32 percent by 1992 and exceeded 60 percent in 2002." -- TheFishSite.com

"Shrimp harvest shows possibilities of aquaculture in Missouri" -- SE Missourian

"Fish farming in the desert may at first sound like an anomaly, but in Israel over the last decade a scientific hunch has turned into a bustling business." -- International Herald Tribune

Greener Eggs and Ham: The Benefits of Pasture-Raised Swine, Poultry, and Egg Production -- Union of Concerned Scientists

"It’s not so easy for small farmers to get their animals slaughtered." -- Chowhound.com

"Humane treatment of animals is the new frontier in American meat and poultry. At least four competing labels now tout humane treatment -- but they all hold meat producers to different standards." -- SF Chronicle

Now for some good news ... "Tomales Farm & Dairy is an exciting new agricultural collaboration between Ted Hall of Long Meadow Ranch and John Williams of Frog’s Leap Winery. The project will include a new dairy and creamery for the production of artisan cheeses."

Caveat emptor -- "Buy a greenwashed product and you’re buying a specific set of healthy environmental and socially correct values. If the package does its work, then the food inside doesn’t actually have to be organic, only organic-ish." -- NY Times

"According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation." -- Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN

"As discomforting as most Americans find the idea, the Food and Drug Administration's tentative approval for allowing the sale of cloned meat and milk makes a certain kind of sense. The plan is a logical extension of an industrialized food system that treats plants, animals and nature with an often-reckless disregard."

"A new study supports what sustainable agriculture advocates have been saying for years: small-scale livestock operations are healthier."

"Over the past 40 years, the industrialization and centralization of our food system has greatly magnified the potential for big outbreaks. Today only 13 slaughterhouses process the majority of the beef consumed by 300 million Americans" … Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) does it again!

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the genetically engineered rice variety that illegally contaminated the U.S. food supply and shipments to export customers."

Curing meats a lost – and now illegal – culinary art.

"Now, in an ironic twist, new cutting-edge technologies have made gene splicing and transgenic crops obsolete and a serious impediment to scientific progress. The new frontier is called genomics and the new agricultural technology is called marker-assisted selection (MAS). The new technology offers a sophisticated method to greatly accelerate classical breeding. A growing number of scientists believe MAS - which is already being introduced into the market - will eventually replace GM food. Moreover, environmental organisations that oppose GM crops are guardedly supportive of MAS technology."

Shrooms to the rescue!: Among the social-justice warriors and world-changers of the global environmental movement, Paul Stamets is a rock star.
“We all know that the earth is in trouble,” he proceeds. “We know we’re in the sixth major extinction. The rivets on the airplane are popping, and we’re headed toward catastrophic failure.”
And what can save us?
“Mushrooms,” says Stamets. “Vast networks of mycelium. Fungi.”

Michael Pollen on E. coli: "We need to remember that E. coli, 0157:H7 is a pollutant spawned by industrial agriculture, by keeping animals on feedlots. Eighty percent of feedlot cattle are thought to carry this bug. So if you put that much of it in the environment--think of all that manure--you've got a real problem for all kinds of agriculture."

About the recent E. coli: "Where does this particularly virulent strain come from? It’s not found in the intestinal tracts of cattle raised on their natural diet of grass, hay and other fibrous forage. No, O157 thrives in a new — that is, recent in the history of animal diets — biological niche: the unnaturally acidic stomachs of beef and dairy cattle fed on grain, the typical ration on most industrial farms. It’s the infected manure from these grain-fed cattle that contaminates the groundwater and spreads the bacteria to produce, like spinach, growing on neighboring farms".

"For most gardeners, spending a gorgeous Saturday morning harvesting basil and organic heirloom tomatoes is a life-enhancing experience. But for green thumbs at one particular garden — an innovative addition to a food bank for people with H.I.V. and AIDS — the life-embracing quality of a bountiful harvest is quite literal."

"Just 1.3 percent of imported fish, vegetables, fruit and other foods are inspected yet those government inspections regularly reveal food unfit for human consumption." -- ABC News

From Michael Pollens' recent piece in the NYTimes re: the current Farm Bill:
" ... but a school lunch lady trying to prepare healthful fresh food is apt to get dinged by U.S.D.A. inspectors for failing to serve enough calories; if she dishes up a lunch that includes chicken nuggets and Tater Tots, however, the inspector smiles and the reimbursements flow. The farm bill essentially treats our children as a human Disposall for all the unhealthful calories that the farm bill has encouraged American farmers to overproduce."

"Iowa imports 80 percent of its food." -- Omnivore's Dilemma

"75% of American adults eat dinner at home, but only 32% of their meals are made from scratch." -- Gourmet, June 2006.

 

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