Food and Farming
Occupy the Food System
Farmers have been through this before — our lives and livelihoods falling under corporate control. It has been an ongoing process: consolidation of markets; consolidation of seed companies; an ever-widening gap between our costs of production and the prices we receive. Some of us are catching on, getting the picture of the real enemy.
Catering to the Frozen Pizza Lobby
How small-minded is Congress? How tangled-up in a right-wing ideological knot is it? How subservient to corporate lobbyists is it? The answers to these three questions are: pizza, tomato paste, and spuds.
Vegan Misgivings
Thanksgiving is upon us. I once loved this holiday above all others — but no more.
The Skinny on Farm Subsidies and Obesity
The nation’s increasingly poor diet, packed with processed and fast foods, is driving the obesity epidemic. This is leading many media commentators to blame government subsidy payments to farmers who grow crops like corn and soybeans. But this just isn’t true.
Food System Pays Dearly as Wall Street Occupies Washington
Despite the Occupy Wall Street movement’s now month-long direct challenge to corporate and financial industry power, the machine keeps rolling along.
Manliness in a Can
If you worry that American corporations have lost the innovative, can-do edge necessary to compete in today’s global economy, you need to spend some time with Dr Pepper.
New Rules will Support Farmers and Jobs
Several lawmakers are proposing a time-out on new regulations to supposedly generate a more job-friendly environment. To some that might sound reasonable given the nation’s entrenched unemployment, but there’s one set of new rules in particular that should not be blocked.
Wendy’s ‘Improved’ Burger
At first blush, you might think that “Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy” is the title of a pornographic movie. Actually, it’s only a hamburger.
Big Agriculture’s Latin American Exploits
You may wonder why President Barack Obama is so intent on passing a free trade agreement with Colombia. One answer is simple enough: Big Agriculture.
DuPont’s Herbicide Goes Rogue
In the corporate world’s tortured language, workers are no longer fired. They just experience an “employment adjustment.” But the most twisted euphemism I’ved heard in a long time comes from DuPont: “We are investigating the reports of these unfavorable tree symptoms,” the pesticide maker recently stated.
