| Oct 28, 2015 | Food / FarmingWhen I first began researching agriculture, I had no idea how organic farming worked. I saw it as a somewhat backward yet non-toxic and desirable way to grow food. Organic farmers didn’t use fertilizer, I figured, so maybe the plants would be smaller. And they didn’t...
| Oct 21, 2015 | Food / FarmingPumpkin fever is back. The latest bout of this seasonal disorder has infected Hostess Twinkies and moved Starbucks to put a smidge of real pumpkin in its pumpkin spice lattes. Previously, the ubiquitous coffee purveyor used a common ploy: It evoked agrarian and...
| | Food / FarmingWhen it comes to predatory marketing to children, nobody’s lovin’ it like McDonald’s. In addition to selling unhealthy food, the chain lures kids in with toys and a playground — and its spokesperson is a clown. But it’s the fast food...
| | Food / FarmingNinety-nine bottles of beer on the wall/ 99 bottles of beer/ Take one down, pass it around… only one bottle of beer on the wall. Most people never sang that old song all the way to the end. But one multinational brewing corporation is finally ready to belt out the...
| Oct 14, 2015 | Food / FarmingIf you drink Mug Root Beer or the apple-flavored Manzanita Sol soda, you might unwittingly become one of the first people to try a brand new artificial sweetener. The new product is called Sweetmyx 617, and PepsiCo is blending it with high fructose corn syrup to...
| Sep 23, 2015 | Food / FarmingWhen I began writing about agriculture nearly a decade ago, I learned quickly that people generally believed that Roundup, the best-selling weed killer made by Monsanto, was relatively harmless. Roundup breaks down quickly, everyone said — and into non-toxic...
