Archive for the ‘food policy’ Category
Food for Thought
Food Crisis Quote of the Week
“The essential purpose of food, which is to nourish people, has been subordinated to the economic aims of a handful of multinational corporations that monopolize all aspects of food production, from seeds to major distribution chains, and they have been the prime beneficiaries of the world crisis,” H. E. M. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, President of the General Assembly of the UN.
Large Reductions in Usage of Agrichemicals May Not Impact Yield
“The results suggest that large reductions in agrichemical use can be compatible with high crop yields and profits,” says Dr. Matt Liebman, an agronomy professor at Iowa State University. Read the rest of this entry »
An Eat The View Update
Guest contributor Pamela Price is the founder of Red, White & Grew, a blog devoted to “Promoting the Victory Garden Revival and other simple, earth-friendly endeavors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.”
If you’re a regular Eat.Drink.Better. reader, then you’re probably familiar with the clever, non-partisan Eat The View initiative to put vegetable gardens in high profile places like the White House lawn.
With the economy and the forthcoming presidential election top-of-mind, a status report seemed in order. After all, we will very soon have an answer to just who may receive the petition to restore the White House victory garden at the very moment in which tens of millions of people may be thinking about gardening as a means of survival.
In short, we Americans need Eat The View to succeed! Read the rest of this entry »
Dead Zones - The Fisherman’s Perspective
With apologies to both Stephen King and Verizon Wireless, the “real” Dead Zones we need to talk about are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world’s water systems that can no longer support aquatic life. As Joshua Hill, over at Plantsave has eloquently said,
Dead zones are created, in the beginning, by nitrogen (among other things). Nitrogen is the byproduct (in this instance) of natural gas transformed in to ammonia fertilizer, which is then spread across the agricultural landscape of many western and emerging nations.
From there the runoff makes its way to streams, then rivers and finally the oceans. It is at this stage upon reaching the ocean that the real trouble begins. The increase of nitrogen in the waters fuels the increase of algae which subsequently absorbs exorbitant amounts of oxygen, making life unbearable for most creatures…
Is that a Worm in Your School Lunch? Oh, No, It’s Just a Porkchop.
Goats with spider genes. Pigs with worm genes. Genetically-engineered animals cross the lines of phyla and even kingdom with plants containing animal genes and vice versa. It’s no longer a question of can we do that. It’s crossed over the line of should we do that. And if we do, should we sell it for food? Without a label?
If it had a label, would you eat it? If it’s considered safe, then, why wouldn’t they label it? We have a right to know what kind of meat(s) we are eating, after all.
The answer for most of is no, we won’t eat it, which is why there likely won’t be a label required, according to the new FDA plan, unless the game of gene mix-n-match alters the nutritional content of the food. The FDA has a similar no label approach for cloned meats that are designated for human consumption. Read the rest of this entry »
Food Labels: Organic? Fair Trade? Certified Humane? What Does it All Mean?
Fair Trade Coffee. Certified Humane Raised and Handled Chicken. Organic everything.
Anyone not living under a rock in a remote, sandy location for the last five years has seen the prodigious rise to prominence of eco-labels at their local grocery store. You may not pay these little badges much attention, or if you do, you may be wondering what the heck they mean.
Read them or not, the badges of virtue on everything from cereal to chicken to laundry detergent are bound to get more prevalent, and represent an attempt by many companies to find a niche in an ever-expanding food and food products market. Join me for a stroll down the aisles as we try to decipher what these insistent insignias truly stand for.
Let’s start with an easy one (please note the sarcasm, as it is surely merited) after the jump:
Step Up to the Plate: Four steps for women to cook up a new food system
Published on September 17th, 2008
Posted in Eat.Drink.Better, agriculture, business, food policy, local food, nutrition and health, organics
Someone needs to review first grade math. Talk about an unequal equation: Women make eighty-five percent of household food purchase decisions and own fifty-percent of our nation’s farmland. Women, particularly those over 55, add up to the largest and fastest growing group buying new farms today. So why then have women, historically, been so underrepresented in agriculture policy and national farming agendas?
Ask Iowa farmer, Denise O’Brien. But she’s not trying to teach the old farm dogs new math – she’s advocating for women to organize and reinvent the system.
For the past twenty years, O’Brien has led the charge of organizing and promoting the voice and face of women in agriculture and is founder of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. “Finally, the tides are starting to turn for women farmers as policies just start to change,” explains O’Brien. “But it should have happened a long time ago and there’s still much we as women, from growers to grocery shoppers, can do to create a healthy food system for future generations.”
O’Brien racks up a history of seeing opportunity in crisis. Read the rest of this entry »
Where Do You Draw the Line?
Published on September 15th, 2008
Ethos is indirectly the origin of the modern English word ethics and the definition of ethics (from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is:
a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values
The New Internationalist Magazine (NI) June 2008 issue brought to light “Bullshit in a Bottle”. Just so happens, Ethos has a new definition. It’s the name of a bottled water company with a slick website and “is a profit-making enterprise disguised as humanitarian relief”.
Sustainable Cuisine Greenwashing - Again
Recently, I wrote a piece for Eat.Drink.Better about culinary greenwashing, titled Just Add Eco-Friendly Detergent and Rinse. Just when you thought it was safe to good back in the water again, I’ve found another prime example of a local, independent restaurant with the nerve to manipulate us.
Reflecting on the Importance of a Victory Gardener’s Personal Style
Guest contributor Pamela Price is the founder of Red, White & Grew, a blog devoted to “Promoting the Victory Garden Revival and other simple, earth-friendly endeavors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.”
Rummaging through old WWII-era Victory Garden pamphlets online earlier this week, I was struck again by how dry and formulaic the advice was. Often, gardeners of the day were told to create a space of a certain size and plant a specific combination of plants.
Granted, there was a sense of urgency that left little room for error: a national food shortage was a very real possibility. Homegrown produce was needed to supplement rations, so it was not an ideal time for experimenting with novelty produce items or unfamiliar techniques.
Meanwhile, a great number of people–many of whom had never gardened previously–needed quick, efficient solutions in order to participate fully in the national Victory Garden initiative. Read the rest of this entry »
