Wall Street Journal By Scott Kilman Rising prices and surging demand for the crops that supply half of the world’s calories are producing the biggest changes in global food markets in 30 years, altering the economic landscape for everyone from consumers and farmers to corporate giants and the world’s poor. “The days of cheap grain… Read more »
Coastal Farmer Gives a Big Raspberry to ‘Chemical Strawberries’
San Francisco Chronicle – Washington Bureau Carolyn Lochhead Davenport, Santa Cruz County — A cell of an insurgency operates from an idyllic little berry farm perched on the coastal terraces north of Santa Cruz. “Chemical strawberries” are doomed, and so is the industrial agriculture model and the politicians who sustain it, warns Jim Cochran, owner… Read more »
On Food: The Big Question: Where Are Your Veggies From?
Seattle Post Intelligencer By Rebekah Denn P-I Restaurant Critic Am I eating a dose of xenophobia and myopia with my edamame tonight, or just a garnish of common sense? My break-time snack this week comes from Willie Greens Organic Farm of Monroe, retailing for $5.50 a pound at the Lake City Farmers Market. I started… Read more »
A Change in the Air
Organic farmers fear spread of genetically altered alfalfa Milwaukee Journal Sentinel By Rick Barrett [email protected] Wisconsin is a long way from the Pacific Northwest, but Coon Valley farmer Jim Munsch worries that genetically engineered alfalfa grown there could contaminate his farm and harm his organic beef business. Alfalfa is used for livestock feed. Almost all… Read more »
Food Additives May Make Kids Hyper
Artificial Colors, Additives Boost Hyperactive Behavior in Toddlers and Children, Study Shows WebMD Medical News By Kathleen Doheny Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Artificial coloring and preservatives in food can increase hyperactivity in kids, a new British study shows. Researchers from the University of Southampton in the U.K. evaluated the effects of drinks containing artificial… Read more »
Organic Almond Supporters Roast Pasteurization Plan
San Francisco Chronicle George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer A new food regulation that mandates the pasteurization of California almonds leaves a bad taste in the mouth of Jesse Schwartz, a purveyor of raw organic almond butter and other natural foods in Berkeley. For 25 years, as president of Living Tree Community Foods, he has done… Read more »
Organic Soybean Shortage Squeezes U.S. Producers
Food companies, livestock industry look to other nations to supply needs The Des Moines Register (link no longer available) By Paula LaVigne, Staff Writer Before harvest, New Hampton organic farmer Tom Frantzen will cultivate and till his organic soybean acres at least four times to prevent weeds because he can’t use chemicals to keep his rows… Read more »
Stalking a Killer in Our Greens
Earthbound Farm grew the tainted spinach that left three dead last year. The firm is on a safety crusade but knows that threats always lurk. Los Angeles Times By Marla Cone, Staff Writer SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, CALIF. – On a hot, bone-dry afternoon — not unlike the one last summer when something went horribly wrong… Read more »
Premature Births May be Linked to Seasonal Levels of Pesticides and Nitrates in Surface Water
Indiana University School of Medicine INDIANAPOLIS – The growing premature birth rate in the United States appears to be strongly associated with increased use of pesticides and nitrates, according to work conducted by Paul Winchester, M.D., professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He reported his findings in May at the… Read more »
A Shorter Link Between the Farm And Dinner Plate
Some Restaurants, Grocers Prefer Food Grown Locally Washington Post By Alejandro Lazo American Flatbread in Ashburn sits a few turns off the Dulles Greenway on the cusp of burgeoning suburbia. Parked in a strip shopping center behind a McDonald’s and sharing a wall with a Glory Days Grill, this is an unlikely place to find… Read more »
