Food and Farming
Big Food’s Blame Game
Corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year marketing a dangerous product to America’s children.
Farm-to-School’s Teachable Moment
Schools throughout the country are shaking up the cafeteria through new initiatives to improve children’s health while giving a boost to local farmers. It’s time to give the mystery meat a break and bring out locally produced apples, squash, tomatoes, and chicken.
Slashing Food Stamps Makes No Sense
Yes, even as millions of Americans are stuck in long-term, relentless unemployment, thus increasing the urgent need for family assistance, our well-fed, big-butted Solons grabbed nearly $12 billion from the supplemental nutrition assistance program. This puts the “dumb” in dumbfounding.
Egg Recall Reveals our Broken Food System
This mind-boggling egg recall, involving half a billion eggs from Iowa, is no fluke. It’s just the latest example of how the consolidation of our nation’s food production puts consumers at risk. The recall involves 30 different brands but only two factory farms–Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Massive egg facilities on this scale are prone to frequent disease outbreaks.
Rotten Egg Farming
The vast Iowa egg recall is terrifying. So far, half a billion eggs are involved. Who knows how many we have already eaten? Our health authorities say about 1,300 Americans have gotten salmonella from them so far.
Shut Up and Eat Your Sugar
One, America has a rather huge child obesity problem. Two, major food corporations constantly pitch ads to children for such stuff as sugar-saturated breakfast cereals and fat-laden “Happy Meals.” So, how does fact No. 2 relate to fact No. 1? Yes, No. 2 is a cause of No. 1. It’s really not that hard to grasp, is it?
Sugary Foods Industry
The Problem with Genetically Engineered Alfalfa
Close observers agree that the Supreme Court’s Monsanto Company v. Geertson Seed Farms decision is a big deal, but many of us disagree about what it actually means. As a farmer and advocate, I view the ruling as a major victory because it helps determine who controls our seed supplies and our food sovereignty. This ruling, issued in June, declares that it’s still illegal to sell or plant Monsanto’s GM Roundup Ready alfalfa seed.
A Bitter Taste of Racial Discrimination
I don’t know how the corn is doing this year, but Washington is producing a bumper crop of irony for America’s black farmers.
Last Call for Ethanol
Like a sailor on a late night bender, corn ethanol boosters are trying to cajole another drink from the subsidy tap before the lights come on. Some members of Congress seem all too ready to give in, costing taxpayers billions in the process. But in light of the yawning budget deficit and the failed promise, ethanol should be forced to make its own way in the marketplace.
