Western Sahara [1], a sparsely populated slice of desert on Africa’s northwestern coast, doesn’t get much ink as a potential crisis point in the global food system. You’ve probably never heard of the long-standing independence movement in the Morocco-controlled territory—or that the area harbors vast stores of an element critical to …
Back in early 2012, the US Department of Agriculture seemed on the verge of approving new genetically modified crops from agrichemical giants Monsanto and Dow. The two agrichemical giants were pushing new corn and soy varieties that would respond to the ever-expanding problem of herbicide-tolerant superweeds [1] by bringing more-toxic herbicides into the …
The assumption is that a global scientific consensus has formed around the value of patent-protected transgenic crops, analogous to the general agreement around human-induced climate change. Yet that is clearly false. Let’s start by looking at the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development (IAASTD), a three-year …
Right-wing critics like to denounce President Obama’s supposed penchant for “job-killing regulations [1].” Just last month, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus complained [2] on the conservative blog Red State that “instead of pursuing policies that would help job creators put Americans back to work, he’s burdened them with ObamaCare, …
Sunday’s New York Times piece on the corporatization of organics got me to thinking: What are the weirdest additives the USDA allows in food labeled organic? Here are five. 1. Carrageenan Made from seaweed and used as a thickener and stabilizer for certain dairy products like cottage cheese and yogurt, …
Back in 2006, a team of scientists from Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Panama published a landmark report [1]in the prestigious journal Science on the state of the oceans. The researchers highlighted what they called an “ongoing erosion of diversity” in sea-life that, if left unchecked, would lead to the “collapse of …
In November, California voters will decide on a ballot initiative that would require labeling of all foods containing ingredients from genetically modified crops. The initiative made it to the ballot after almost 1 million Californians signed a petition in favor of it—nearly double the 504,760 signatures needed under the state’s proposition …
I’ve made a career of sorts writing about the “big six” agrochemical companies—Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, DuPont, Syngenta, and BASF—that produce the great bulk of the world’s pesticides and, increasingly, seeds. [1] But last week, I did something different. Rather than investigate and critique these companies in print, I broke bread with some of …
Last week, the University of Illinois’ College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) in Champaign-Urbana made a momentous announcement: it has accepted a $250,000 grant from genetically modified seed/agrichemical giant Monsanto to create an endowed chair for the “Agricultural Communications Program” it runs with the College of Communications. The …
Move along, nothing to see here. That sums up the USDA’s public reaction to news that a downed California dairy cow was discovered to have contracted bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease. The cow had an “atypical” case of BSE, one that likely doesn’t come from BSE-infected …
The farm bill—that vast, byzantine, twice-a-decade plan for federal food, ag, and hunger policy—expires on Sept. 30, just weeks before what promises to be an epically contested presidential election. Under normal circumstances, getting Congress to agree on such complex and expensive legislation at a politically charged juncture would be daunting. …