GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update August 12, 2018

 

  • The Inspiring Women Reshaping the Food System (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OIdqPT                                                                                        From farmworkers and graziers to entrepreneurs and advocates, these women are leading the change for more just and sustainable food.
  • Meet the Once-Homeless Chef Using Food to Fight Poverty (Vice) https://bit.ly/2Oau3Cx                                                                            “You can’t do anything positive with your life unless you’re stabilized, and you can’t be stabilized on an empty stomach.”
  • What Are We Getting from Voluntary Sustainability Standards for Coffee? (Center for Global Development) https://bit.ly/2w1xMLx
  • LA’s Incentive for Urban Farming Fails to Take Root (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2AsNIvr                                                                                          Hardly any lots have received a tax break so far under the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones program.
  • Why Are So Many Migrants Leaving Guatemala? A Crisis in the Coffee Industry Is One Reason (Time) https://ti.me/2vbs74N
  • The Chinese Are Eating More Meat Than Ever Before and the Planet Can’t Keep p (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2vlZX8d              “In the end, per capita meat consumption in China is still half that of the United States.”
  • How Factory Farm Pollution Harms the Quality of Life in rural Communities (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2O8uMnL
  • Why the Midwest’s Food System is Failing (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OGRbcU                                                                                          The heavily agricultural states in the middle of the country aren’t actually feeding their people. But the 2018 Farm Bill offers an opportunity to change that.
  • Do Fair Trade Labels Actually Mean Anything? (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2M19niZ                                                                                        How to know if what you’re purchasing helps that poor person of color in the brand’s marketing.
  • How an Obsession with Fruit Took Me on the Adventure of a Lifetime (National Geographic) https://on.natgeo.com/2vjZVxF
    • This Adventurer Risked His Life to Discover Good Food (National Geographic) https://bit.ly/2GP8OTb                            David Fairchild brought lemons, Japanese cherry trees, and decent beer to the U.S.
  • 4 Environmental Activists Are Killed Every Week So We Can Have Snacks, Meat and Coffee (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Mt06gO                                                                                          “We don’t want to any more bloodshed,” said the child of one slain land defender.
  • How Brexit will kill the sandwich (Politico) https://politi.co/2vL1UKW                                                                                The UK imports a lot of meat, cheese and salad from Europe to satisfy its lunchtime cravings.
  • Not just a fad: the surprising, gut wrenching truth about gluten (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mqsujy                                                      While just 1% of the UK is allergic to the proteins that cause coeliac disease, many others suffer with gluten related digestive problems. Some researchers believe mass produced food is to blame
  • Study: Glyposate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance (US National Institute of Health) https://bit.ly/2jzDr82
  • Fertilizer destroys plant microbiome’s ability to protect against disease (UC Berkeley) https://bit.ly/2LEkDTi                            Nitrogen based fertilizer is synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen and natural gas which are poisons. We use nitrogen gas to preserve foods in Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP, think about that baby lettuce from Trader Joe’s that lasts so long) Which kills microorganisms. And we are all aware that petrochemicals are poisons…
  • ‘I Still Have Hope’ (Grub Street) https://grb.st/2njeb5m                    How one New York – trained chef is bouncing back – and helping Puerto Rico – after Hurricane Maria.

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • Venezuela’s Marching Campesinos Meet Maduro, Denounce Corruption & Revolutionary ‘Reversals’ (Venzuelanalysis) https://bit.ly/2n7HebW
  • American Farmers Want Trade Partners Not Handouts – An Agricultural Economist Explains (100 Days in Appalachia) https://bit.ly/2vflQ9c
  • Hawaii was once a local milk mecca. On Oahu, there’s just one dairy left (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2MjkxzF                      How Oahu’s last dairy, Naked Cow Dairy, beat the odds – one wheel of squid ink brie at a time.
  • In A Record Year, Almond Growers Are Nervous (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2M1OaGE
    • Almond Farmers Are Reeling From Chinese Tariffs (WSJ) https://on.wsj.com/2M3hdFJ                                                                    Prices for California almonds have fallen by more than 10% over past two months
  • Trump’s Tariffs Are Screwing Farmers. Many Still Won’t Blame Him. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KBcVnw                                “We’re just hoping this doesn’t last a long time.”

 

Seeds & Cultivars

 

Food and Culture

  • Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2OL88mP
  • Restoring culturally relevant food systems to Native American and Immigrant populations (UC Berkeley) https://bit.ly/2vsW815
  • For many Muslim grocery shoppers, a shifting definition of ‘halal’ (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2OIIT4t
  • In Oakland’s most exciting restaurants, incredible food and social activism go hand in hand (Mic) https://bit.ly/2KnHNHU
  • People Have Reacted Accordingly to Mayonnaise Flavored Ice Cream’s Debut (Time) https://ti.me/2mQLZGB

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Low – Income Americans on SNAP Still Can’t Afford to Eat Healthy (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2uTRAjT                                        Federal nutrition assistance only covers about half the amount it would cost a family to follow the federal guidelines for a healthy diet.
  • Food Aid Doesn’t Cover the Price of Food in Almost Every County in America (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2CI0mmr
  • How the Other Half Eats (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2Oz1gIW        SNAP benefits add up to $1.86 per person, per meal. Here’s what that looks like.
  • A Pioneering Massachusetts Program Helps Low Income Residents Eat Healthier and Supports Local Farmers (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2O3FAnb                                                                                        The Healthy Incentives Program connects SNAP to farmers’ markets and boosts the local economy.
  • New York State Reaches Agreement to Keep SNAP Benefits Working at Farmers Markets Nationwide (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2OOtoI5
    • Farmers’ Market SNAP Crisis Gets ‘Emergency Support,’ But No Long Term Fix (Grub Street) https://grb.st/2JLnbZX
  • How “Greens, Beets, and Tomatoes” Turned Around This Historically Black Church (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2OtwfoO  “I was frustrated with the dynamic of seeing the food that we needed and not being able to afford it.”
  • Reducing food insecurity among households with children is still a challenge for the United States (Brookings Institution) https://brook.gs/2OkSe1Z
  • How the Lack of Affordable Vegetables is Creating a Billion-Dollar Obesity Epidemic in South Africa (Inter Press Service) https://bit.ly/2OZ9biY
    • Report: At the Bottom Of The Food Chain: Small Operators Versus Multinational Corporations In The Food Systems Of Brazil, Mexico And South Africa (DST-NRF Center of Excellence in Food Security) https://bit.ly/2MGUWxT

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Hungry for change: urban foragers take the law into their own hands (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2vLfDRU                                Municipal parks are generally off limits to foragers, but in Seattle there’s a newfound hunger to maintain this tradition in cities
  • Only a third of plastic food packaging can be recycled, councils say (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2ADJKjZ                                              Scrap ‘smorgasbord’ of plastics used in packaging, town hall chiefs tell manufacturers

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • With Culinary Medicine, Doctors Are Finally Learning About Food (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LvF7JG                                            It picks up where basic (and brief) med school nutrition education leaves off, and it’s making doctors better at their jobs.
  • Chefs Serve Hospital Food That’s Better for Patients, Employees – and the Planet (Foodtank) https://bit.ly/2MC71nV
  • This Cheesecake Factory Burrito Is Equal To 7 Sausage McMuffins (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KGhAo0                              If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, this might just ruin your day.
  • Cattle operation may have caused #. Coli outbreak linked to romaine, FDA says (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2vuC0eZ    Monday’s announcement is the first indication that the agency suspects water contamination from animal agriculture may have been the outbreak’s original source.
  • Chicken’s Salmonella Problem Is Worse Than You Think (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2O9BPwD                                                                          And cooking the shit out of it won’t necessarily protect you.
  • Almost Every Kind of Wild Fish Is Infected with Worms (Vice) https://bit.ly/2OIeFyr                                                                                          Ever have a nice meal at a fancy restaurant, plop down $75 for a wild seafood dinner, then get home and open the container of leftovers to see worms wriggling out of your fillet? It may be better to go with farm-raised fish after all.
  • Live Worms Slither Out of Half Eaten Fish Dish, Restaurant Somehow Mad at Customer (Vice) https://bit.ly/2nc7vGk                    A Jersey Shore restaurant is upset with a diner for putting them on blast.
  • Even More Snacks Are Being Recalled Over the Salmonella Fears Affecting Goldfish and Ritz Crackers (Time) https://ti.me/2NTaDlE
  • Almond Milk Recalled For Possible Cow’s Milk Contamination (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2O8Rr3c                                                “Milk inadvertently was entered into the processing equipment for almond milk,” said a spokeswoman for HP Hood, maker of Blue Diamond Vanilla Breeze.
  • Premade Wraps and Salads Sold at Trader Joe’s, Walgreen’s, and Kroger Contaminated With Parasite (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2ARhZoa

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • Man sues McDonald’s, Coca-Cola over alleged spiking of drink with heroin replacement (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2LTUhfi
    • McDonald’s Apologizes to Woman For Serving Her Cleaning Solution Instead of Coffee (Time) https://ti.me/2Mefygl
  • Rogue Goats Take Over Idaho Neighborhood (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2O6ugqA                                                                                        These goats on the lam were supposed to be working when they were found eating up a quiet suburban street.

 

Education

  • Bring back home economics class because our kids lack basic life skills (Dallas Daily News) https://bit.ly/2nezftU

 

Children & School Food

  • Breastfeeding is about health; formula is about profits (Marin Independent Journal) https://bayareane.ws/2O7rzom                Health experts say toddler formula is unnecessary, and some argue it could be harmful to growing kids.
  • The Breastfeeding Boom, The Baby Formula Industry Is Turning To Toddlers (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2B0MkjY

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • The Supreme Court Just Helped Chipotle Boot 2, 814 Workers From a Wage Theft Lawsuit (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2B7XxQ6                                                                                            A judge’s order shows the real-world effects of the court’s decision to let employers force workers to give up their right to class-action lawsuits.
  • A Popeye’s worker says she was fired after she blew the whistle on unsanitary conditions (Yahoo) https://yhoo.it/2LTDCsi
  • Hotel Workers Back New Law (California) Ending Secrecy in Harassment Cases (Capitol & Main) https://bit.ly/2nfHiXc            Non-disclosure agreements have become targets for #MeToo advocates, since they bar women from discussing their stories of workplace sexual harassment. Proposed California legislation could change that.
  • People over profit: Famed Seattle fish market sold to longtime employees – instead of highest bidder (Daily Kos) https://bit.ly/2KkoUFz

 

Protests

  • Tomato Canning as Protest: How a Community Resisted Corporate Farming (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2OT2wXC                                    A Missouri town’s summer ritual brings much needed support to small family operations.

 

Animals

  • In Wisconsin and Minnesota, goats are used to combat invasive species (Wisconsin Gazette) https://bit.ly/2O2Gj8k

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Plant Based Food Sales Hit $3.3 Billion Last year – And Will Only Grow From Here (One Green Planet) https://bit.ly/2Ko1H5K
  • Smithfield Foods Ordered To pay Millions In Damages To Neighbors Of Hog Farms (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LQ7TJ3                                                                                            The North Carolina farms “generate many times more sewage than entire towns.”
  • Nestlé misled consumers about GMOs in its food products lawsuit alleges (Money Watch) https://cbsn.ws/2nmU06N      Nestlé is facing a federal class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging it sold products labeled as having “No GMO Ingredients” with genetically modified organisms.
  • Mission accomplished? Once scarce, the Impossible Burger has hit the mainstream (SF Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2AXd3hh
  • Chipotle Slapped With Lawsuits Following Ohio Foodborne Illness Outbreak (Eater) https://bit.ly/2LZ9X0C                              Nearly 400 people have reported falling ill
  • Robert Reich: Almost 80% of US workers live from paycheck to paycheck. Here’s why (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2LRC2Hq          America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a ‘good jobs’ crisis – where too much employment is insecure, and poorly paid
  • How Many Workers Must Live In Poverty For McDonald’s CEO To Make $21.8 Million? (Forbes) https://bit.ly/2vATYeZ
    • 52 Percent of Fast Food Workers Need Government Assistance to Make Ends Meet (Eater) https://bit.ly/2Mg0Gya
    • Why Companies Fear Disclosing CEO-to-Worker Pay (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2rwBRIf
    • (US) CEOs earn 361 times more than the average US worker – union report (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2vyygIE
    • European CEO pay ratios highest in UK, France and Germany (Board Agenda) https://bit.ly/2vfRumY                                                      CEO pay is 94 times in the UK, 91 times in France, 89 times in Germany, 71 times in the Netherlands, and 40 times in Sweden’s largest companies
  • As Workers’ Wages Continue to Fall Under Trump, Analysis Shows CEO Pay Is Way Higher Than Typically Reported (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2Kq1sXO                                            “The data is out: CEOs are cashing in their huge benefits from the [Trump tax cuts], meanwhile workers’ wages are declining and Americans are struggling to afford rising healthcare premiums.”

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Lawsuit Alleges that Canada Dry Ginger Ale Contains No Actual Ginger (Vice) https://bit.ly/2M11YAl                                                                  If the plaintiff’s claims are true, ‘high fructose corn syrup ale’ might be a more accurate name for the drink.

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Farmers are drawing groundwater from the giant Ogallala Aquifer faster than nature replaces it (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2OjBDL9
  • Fracking industry is cannibalizing its own production, increasing spill risks (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2KLGMJK                      How will this turn out? Don’t ask the industry experts because they admit they have no idea.
  • Reminder of ‘How Often Fracking Pipelines Blow Up’: 7 Hospitalized After Series of Explosions in Texas (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2AC6gcO                                                                      The incidents occurred in a region that “is crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines” and where fossil fuel production is “booming”
  • Here’s How Toxic Tap Water Can Send You Scrambling for Something Safe to Drink – and Why It Might Become the New Normal (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Mdnl2p                                              Toledo was the first large US city where toxic algae blooms made tap water unsafe to drink. But it may not be the last.
  • Fish Are Losing Their Sense of Smell (Nexus Media) https://bit.ly/2vkobj3                                                                                                  At stake? Their survival and the livelihoods that depend on them.

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • Which retailers profit from food stamps? Journalists have been asking for years – and we may never know (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2M8I3Ad
  • US government failing millions by paying below $15 an hour, study finds (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MCD0nZ
  • Court Orders EPA To Ban Chlorpyrifos, A Pesticide Linked To Brain Damage In Kids (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2AXun5X      Pediatricians warned that keeping it on the market put “all children at risk.”
  • Court bans popular farm pesticide defended by Trump. What it means for farms, workers, kids (Sacramento Bee) https://bit.ly/2vtJL4X
  • The Zombie Guest Worker Bill (Capitol & Main) https://bit.ly/2m2l4ax                                                                              Republican immigration reform proposals may be dead, but Republican guest worker proposals live on.
  • Growing Pains: Guest Farm Workers Face Exploitation, Dangerous Conditions – Part I (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2vtMUS3                                                                                        Many migrant workers in California on H-2A temporary agricultural visas are forced to contend with unsafe working conditions, wage theft and other labor law violations.
  • Growing Pains: Guest Farm Workers Face Exploitation, Dangerous Conditions – Part II (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2vtNn6L                                                                                              The influx of migrant agricultural workers brought to the US on temporary visas means increased competition for resident laborers – and less bargaining power.
  • Trump Administration Lifts Ban On GMOs, Bee Killing Chemicals In Wildlife Refuges (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2OHAy0S      The Defenders of Wildlife CEO called the decision to scrap the Obama-era policy “an insult to our national wildlife refuges and the wildlife that rely on them.”
  • Trump administration lifts ban on pesticides linked to declining bee numbers (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2n9KDqE        Environmentalists say lifting the restriction poses a grave threat to pollinating insects
  • House Farm Bill Would Increase Food Insecurity and Hardship (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) https://bit.ly/2O2mFcj
    • Paul Ryan Is Holding the Farm Bill Hostage Over Food Stamps (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2n2NQby                                                The House will only approve a farm bill that squeezes SNAP recipients; the Senate won’t let that happen
  • In Latest Attempt to Harm Struggling Families, Trump Urges Lawmakers to Push One Million Americans Off Food Stamp Program (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2OGjQyM                          “So weird the Trump administration isn’t putting work requirements on its capital gains tax cut.”
  • A Closer Look at Who Benefits from SNAP: State by State Fact Sheets (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) https://bit.ly/2z0bA8m
  • Survey: Nearly Tow-Thirds of Americans Oppose Cuts to SNAP Program (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) https://bit.ly/2M07TCj                                                                                Majorities also support investing resources in new farmers
  • Why punitive work-hours tests in SNAP and Medicaid would harm workers and do nothing to raise employment (Economic Policy Institute) https://bit.ly/2LTQgYd
  • Trump’s ag relief program will benefit factory farms, not family farmers (Wisconsin Gazette) https://bit.ly/2AHsxpU

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Despite Ban and New Labels, Study Reveals ‘Large-Scale Illegal Presence’ of GMOs in India’s Food Supply (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2vCRfBM                                                                                        “We were shocked to know the scale in which GM foods have penetrated the Indian market.”
  • Selective fertilization with phosphite allows unhindered growth of cotton plants expressing ptxD gene while suppressing weeds (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2nb04im

 

Technology/Food Technology/Nanotechnology

  • How scientists are hijacking plant skeletons to make lab-grown steaks (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NZDwwu
  • Growers Are Beaming Over The Success Of Lasers To Stave Off Thieving Birds (NPR) https://n.pr/2Ot0wUQ

 

Poisons

  • Wind-Blown Pesticides An Issue In Courtrooms, Communities Across US (Harvest Public Media) https://bit.ly/2nue1Ik
  • Federal Suit Alleges Companies Knew Dicamba Would Drift, Monsanto Created monopoly (Harvest Public Media) https://bit.ly/2vZjxXw
    • Drift damage from dicamba estimated on more than a million acres this year (Wisconsin Gazette) https://bit.ly/2LTPvOF
  • Monsanto ordered to pay $289m as jury rules weedkiller caused man’s cancer (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MbCJvO
    • Monsanto ‘bullied scientists’ and hid weedkiller cancer risk, lawyer tells court (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zn8f4j
    • First trial alleging Monsanto’s Roundup causes cancer goes to jury (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2nmiUDl
    • Doe Monsanto’s Roundup cause cancer? Trial highlights the difficulty of proving a link (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2LTjBD2

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update August 1, 2018

 

  • Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America’s groceries (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2KpWsTg                                                      Food justice activist Karen Washington wants to us to move away from the term ‘food desert’, which doesn’t take into account the systemic racism permeating America’s food system
  • What’s Worse Than Palm Oil for the Environment? Other Vegetable Oils, IUCN Study Finds (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2NvaS6V
  • Rural Americans’ struggles against factory farm pollution find traction in court (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2MID5pP
  • UK imports salad from US, Spain and Poland as heat wave hits crops (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2uxxTgQ                                Wholesale prices soar by more than 30% and farmers have to renegotiate with supermarkets
  • Foreign beef can legally be labeled “{Product of U.S.A.” It’s killing America’s grass fed industry. (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NVqyAz
  • Crops Are Dying. Forests Are Burning. This Summer’s Heat Wave Has Fueled Natural Disasters Around the World. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2uXvHjK
  • Trump’s USDA announces $12 billion in farmer relief from his tariffs. But What are we going to do with all these soybeans? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2K34DUX
  • What’s in America’s freezer? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Lqx5Wm                                                                                  America has millions of pounds of frozen meat and produce in cold storage. As tariffs threaten to curb international trade, those coffers are about to get a lot more crowded. Here’s a look at what they hold right now.

 

Farming, Farmers, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • The Farm Group that’s Part of Rural America’s Crisis (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2L8Ah86                                                                                        With a massive budget from its insurance activities and its policy emphasis on industrial-scale farming, the Iowa Farm Bureau isn’t helping rural communities.
  • Struggling Farmers Turn Excess Milk Into Cheese And Yogurt For the Hungry (NPR) https://n.pr/2NRK8wK
  • Farmers hit hard by Trump’s policies on trade, immigration (CBS News) https://cbsn.ws/2AdmTeL
    • Want to understand the border crisis? Look to American corn policy (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2v5s0YC
    • Trump’s EU Deal Wont Do a Thing to Help Soybean Farmers (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Lt6TKF                                                The union represents a relatively tiny market for our soy. And that’s not all.
  • Skyscrapers Full of Lettuce Promise an Eco-Friendly Alternative to Outdoor Farming. There’s Just One Problem. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2mBOSLq

 

Seeds & Cultivars

  • Squash Is a Mediocre Vegetable. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2vawkpv                                                      Meet the chef whose recipe starts with a seed.
  • A Brief History of the Feral Blackberry (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Lvsy59                                                                                           The Himalayan blackberry was introduced to North America as a food crop. Like a Gremlin doused with water, it escaped its confinement and became almost impossible to eradicate.

 

Food and Culture

  • 14,000 – Year – Old Piece of Bread Rewrites the History Of Baking and Farming (NPR) https://n.pr/2Ah0MUW
    • Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) https://bit.ly/2LqQVg6
  • Dara Cooper Is Reclaiming Black Foodways (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2IWvu4s                                                                                            The co-founder of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance seeks community based solutions to address racial equity, food sovereignty, and land injustice.
  • Organic reach: Food sovereignty moves to the web (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2rHFR6L                                                                    Colonial contact brought foreign food and disease to tribal nations. Now, a digital generation is reconnecting with tradition.
  • A Community of Slave Descendants Is Protecting Unique Food Traditions from Rising Seas (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Ojl034                      One chef is raising the profile of Gullah/Geechee cuisine to help maintain the Nation’s cultural identity.

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Hundreds of Farmers Markets May Stop Accepting Food Stamps (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NfPqln                                                       An administrative screw-up could keep thousands of low-income Americans from buying healthy food with WNAP benefits.
  • Disaster SNAP: Food Stamp Program Has Special Role After Fires, Floods (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2mOWNoE                    The nutrition program that has been a contentious part of this year’s farm bill isn’t just for low-income Americans. It also kicks in when families housing, jobs or possessions during natural disasters.
  • In Alaska, Changes to SNAP Could Spell Disaster (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2uukw1Z                                                                                                In a state where 14 percent of the population rely on food stamps, it’s cheaper for a family to buy a 12-pack of soda than a gallon of milk.
  • Thirteen years after Katrina, one year after the flood, New Orleans’s food pantries struggle to stay afloat (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2vcsHzz

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • How Luxury Hotels and Restaurants in Developing Countries Fight Food Waste (NPR) https://n.pr/2O7ramL
  • More Recycling Won’t Solve Plastic Pollution (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2u7hBeD                                                                      It’s a lie that wasteful consumers cause the problem and changing our individual habit can fix it.

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • Not Just An Apple A Day: California Doctors Start Prescribing Medically Tailored Meals (WBUR) https://wbur.fm/2KWJP6T
    • With Culinary Medicine, Doctors Are Finally Learning About Food (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LvF7JG                                      It picks up where basic (and brief) med school nutrition education leaves off, and it’s making doctors better at their jobs.
  • Conceptual Change Model(ing) the way for future food safety education (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2udR0NS
  • At Least 4 More States Report Infections Linked to Tainted McDonald’s Salads (NTDTV) https://bit.ly/2uyzXVX
  • Dozens of Salads And Wraps May Contain A Fecal Parasite, USDA Warns (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2vaYwcy                        The beef, pork, and poultry items were recently sold at stores like Kroger, Trader Joe’s, and Walgreens.
  • Put The Honey Smacks Down, CDC Warns After Salmonella Outbreak (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LbvZgc                              100 people have fallen ill after eating the popular Kellogg’s cereal.
  • Ritz and Goldfish Crackers Recalled Due to Possibly Contaminated Whey Powder (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2OoVv0q

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • What Can We Do About Fish Fraud? (Medium) https://bit.ly/2lYDV6n                                                                                    Greed and laziness got us here – there’s a better way forward
  • Former Starkist SVP Stephen Hodge pleads guilty to price-fixing charge (Under Current News) https://bit.ly/2uonsgz
  • Three chicken producers that control 90 percent of the market are accused of price-fixing – again (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CWN31w

 

Children & School Food

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • While Richest Enjoy ‘Yachts That Have Tiny Yachts Inside,’ Estimated 400,000 People in US Suffering Under ‘Modern Slavery’ (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2mzCUBT                          “This is truly staggering statistic and demonstrates just how substantial this issue is globally.”
  • Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2u7aJxI                                                                As unions warn of serious injuries, plans to take speed limits off the lines at pig plants are causing anxiety
  • I’ve Worked for Tips for 60 Years. DC Council Should Listen to the Voters Who Want to Raise My Wages (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2NzsNsB                                                                                            Even with tips, a minimum wage of $3.89 isn’t enough to live on.

 

Pollinators

  • Honeybees Finding It Harder to Eat At America’s Bee Hot Spot (NTDTV) https://bit.ly/2KYrLth
    • Study: Past role and future outlook of the Conservation Reserve Program for supporting honey bees in the Great Pains (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2KGlQYS

 

Animals

  • As Milk Production Cools in Summer, Farmers Try to Help Cows Take the Heat (NPR) https://n.pr/2K46wRk
    • Sunscreen for cows: UK farmers struggle to cope with heat wave (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Nab9LA                        Traditional farming shows its benefits as stone barns and hedgerows provide cattle with relief from the heat

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • WeWork will no longer serve meat at events or expense meal with it (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2um5ScU                                          The workspace company gave environmental reasons for banning meat from all budgets, including their upcoming festival
  • Emissions Impossible: How Big Meat and Dairy Are Heating Up the Planet (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2LDCqsV              Together, the world’s top five meat and dairy corporations are now responsible for more annual greenhouse gas emissions than Exxon, Shell or BP
  • Report: Emissions impossible: How big meat and dairy are heating up the planet (GRAIN) https://bit.ly/2NruOac
  • Walmart to sell Japanese supermarket unit Seiyu (Nikkei Asian Review) https://s.nikkei.com/2N96t8L                                                            US giant reviews global strategy as it takes on Amazon
  • Why Is Ice Cream So Expensive? Here’s What the Artisanal Kind Requires. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2L9OpOx
    • Living lean on premium ice cream (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NPBKi4                                                                                  How Van Leeuwen built a mini-empire on self-indulgence and self-restraint
  • Chicken mega-farms are how we’ll feed the UK, says poultry industry head (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2tMGsVF                    British consumers eat chicken twice a week. Are large farms the only way forward?
  • Aviva Paley is Cooking Up Second Chances with Kitchens for Good (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2J1Nnz0                                                    This changemaker oversees job training, hunger relief, and food recue programs for a social enterprise kitchen that teaches everything from ‘knife skills to life skills.’
  • SNAP is a Boon to Urban and Rural Economies. Proposed Farm Bill Changes Could Cripple Them. (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2KyU7tD                                                                                Changes to the SNAP program in the House version of the farm bill could lead to a crippling economic domino effect that often starts at the local grocery store.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Flint’s Water-Related Death Toll Keeps Rising (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2LEAgJj
    • Watchdog (Inspector General) Blasts EPA’s Response to Flint Water Crisis in Blistering Report (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2vezDfA
    • Report: Management Weaknesses Delayed Response to Flint Water Crisis (EPA Inspector General) https://bit.ly/2uWNXKe  Supervisors in the Region 5 office are singled out for their inaction.
  • This Blue Collar Hamptons Town Has Dealt With 4 Tainted Water Crises In 2 Years (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2mLFJjo                    A toxic chemical tainted one water well. Then another. Then another. Now black sediment spews from the taps.
  • Don’t Drink the Water: DC Warns Thousands of Contamination Risk (NBC Washington) https://bit.ly/2JjMSR9                                    The advisory sparked fear and confusion among some city residents, who asked why they learned of the problem on social media and from news reports rather than from DC Water or the city government
  • The amazing return of the starfish: species triumphs over melting disease (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2tu7TU0                                      After a mysterious ‘mass mortality event’ turned ochre stars to goo, experts say rapid evolution may have saved the creatures.
  • Researchers Mapped “Marine Wilderness” for the First Time Ever – And the Outcome Is Bleak (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Lw1r9Z                                                                                        Only 13 percent of the ocean, at the most, can be considered “wilderness.”

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • White House Threatened to Economically Cripple Ecuador for Promoting Breastfeeding (Vanity Fair) https://bit.ly/2ztpHUR        Mustn’t upset Big Baby Food!
  • Infant Formula Makers Sweetened Mother’s Milk Of Politics With $60 Million In Lobbying Funds (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2zV1jvz
  • Trump Puts Corporate Profits Over Babies’ Health (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2AmtCD0
  • Trump’s “Plan” to Appease Farmers With $12 Billion Amounts to “Gold Crutches” (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2K1FZUE      According to many GOP legislators, farmers, and farm groups.
  • USDA Rolls Out Trade Aid (Progressive Farmer) https://bit.ly/2uVmkBl                                                                                    Trump Administration details one time aid programs to help farmers facing tariff pains
  • Trump’s $12 Billion Bailout Is a “Very Pricey Bandage Over a Deeper Wound” (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2va6Toc
  • Trump Boasted To Farers He Opened European Market. Europe: No, He Didn’t (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LSHTJ4                Other than soybeans, agricultural products are off the table, the European Commission says.
  • FDA Is About To Ban Almond Milk From Being Called ‘Milk’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2JGq4Lr
    • Sorry, Scott Gottlieb: FDA shouldn’t be allowed to redefine “milk,” no matter what the dairy lobby wants (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2OpzLkO                                                          The FDA chief knows consumers can tell cow’s milk from soymilk. A look at agency history suggests the new on words is about catering to industry interests.
  • Cow or Cashew? (Progressive Farmer) https://bit.ly/2LXV23w      FDA Commissioner details agency’s plans for labeling dairy, plant based foods
  • Trump’s new plan to consolidate federal food safety efforts won’t work. Here’s why (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2tteCh2
  • CDC Just Retracted Its Farmer Suicide Data. That Could Be Terrible News for Farmers. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2lZukfC  The numbers “might be inaccurate” as a result of coding errors.
  • Trump’s USDA Is Killing Rules That Organic Food Makers Want (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2ucD6LP                                                  The organic industry has sought out government oversight to reassure consumers. Now some worry that deregulation could chip away at that confidence.
  • House Republicans Pass Hostile ‘Empty Oceans Act’ (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2L8pXwR                                                                                         For the last 40 years, the Magnuson-Stevens Act has been our nation’s primary defense against overfishing.
  • House Republicans Vote To Gut Lauded Law That Saved America’s Fisheries (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Nb8jpF        Meanwhile the Trump administration is eyeing whether to open marine national monuments to commercial fishing.
  • How Big Soda Strong-Armed California Into Banning Soda Taxes (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2udMga3                                                        The beverage industry forced the state assembly into a “last-minute, quid pro quo deal.”
  • Mandatory labels with simple disclosures reduced fears of GE foods in Vermont (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2MSUj3N
  • Welcome to Tampa, Where Feral Chickens Are High on the Pecking Order (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2JMGe5Q                        A city ordinance protects the free-ranging fowl – for better or worse.
  • A Texas lawsuit hinges on this question: What, exactly, are “pickles”? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2vdq0O7
  • Feds get a little queasy over new Seattle policy to disclose active investigations (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2KRL0V5
  • Young and Beginning Farmers: Don’t Abandon Us in the Farm Bill (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2zhDDRtAs Congress seeks to pass a unified version of the farm bill, some programs that support new farmers are at risk.
  • This farm bill deregulates the rich and policies the poor (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2mPX6ji

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Organic Consumers Association: Whole Foods Fails Consumers Again by Delaying GMO Labeling (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2OkyRGl                                                                                          The company’s GMO labeling promise is more about saving face than about real transparency.
  • Impossible Burger and the Road to Consumer Distrust (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2KRHmtG                                                              For anyone who wonders why consumers aren’t inspired to trust the GMO industry, consider the bizarre statement from Impossible Food Chief Communications Officer…

 

Poisons

  • Opening arguments begin in lawsuit over Roundup weed killer (abc7) https://abc7ne.ws/2uiNbXv                                                          Opening statements began in superior court in San Francisco on Monday in the trial for the first of thousands of lawsuits against Monsanto alleging its weed killer product Roundup causes cancer.
  • Organic Consumers Association: Landmark New Study Is Best Hope for Ridding World of Monsato’s Dangerous Weedkiller (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2AiABNy                                                                        A major study has found that the EPA’s ‘safe’ levels of Roundup weedkiller is food aren’t so safe after all.
  • Bayer Bought Monsanto and Is Now Stuck With Its Biggest Headache (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Mzdnnw                                    A blockbuster herbicide (dicamba) is still causing trouble across farm country.
  • New Dicamba Drift Estimate: 1.1 Million Acres Damaged Already in 2018 (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2uVvkGj
    • Reports From Dicamba’s Drift Across America (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2Oog4Kd
    • When Drift Hits Home (Progressive Farmer) https://bit.ly/2mxfBsJ                                                                              Dicamba moves beyond bean fields and into the public eye
  • Is The ‘Dirty Dozen’ Food List Really So Dirty After All? (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2L2gwyZ
    • Study: Dietary Exposure to Pesticide Residues from Commodities Alleged to Contain the Highest Contamination Levels (Journal of Toxicology) https://bit.ly/2dPn31g
    • USDA Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) Database https://bit.ly/2N5iaNC
  • Where have all our insects gone? (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2KnDr4x                                                                                          There is a crisis in the countryside – and a massive decline in insect numbers could have significant consequences for the environment

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Volunteer Orientation Summary

The August 3rd Event is this Friday and we will be hosting 900 Youth on our Farm. 

The location of this event is at the Grow Calgary Farm: 10319 West valley Road SW.

Please ensure that you can get to this location at 11 am and be prepared to stay there until 4pm. Bring your own snack, drinking water and hat to cover from the sun for the day! Also make sure to not wear T-shirts with any offensive language or logos. 

Volunteers will assist during rotation times (every 45min-1 hour) so groups can transition easily. 

August 3rd Itinerary

-Arrive at 11am 

-In the 1-hour frame we will designate station rotation points to volunteers. A physical print out of the map will be provided to you. The different stations are marked by number signs for you to orient the youth to the correct spot. 

-Students will arrive at 12pm. Each bus contains appx 10 youth with 4 church leaders

-Some Volunteers will assist near the parking lot with sign-in once the groups arrive. The sheet with each group and their group leaders should be provided to you (volunteers) by our Farm Operations Manager the day of. 

-Volunteers will go to their designated spots after sign in to guide groups with station rotation. Each station will have a farm manager to guide students with tasks for the stations. Volunteers can assist with that in between rotation if they desire. 

-Rotate groups until 1.30pm. Head to the area between 9 and 10 labelled on the map at 1.30pm for a big group picture with the 900 youth, staff, and other volunteers during the event. After the picture and video we will head back to the designated spots.

-Around 3 to 3.30pm, volunteers and farm managers will escort the youth to the buses at our parking lot for departure. We will do this 6 groups at a time, as there are 17 groups of roughly 40 youth during the event.

-By 4pm we wrap up everything and you are ready to leave.  

***Lunch/Break time TBA: During the break time you are allowed to snack and take a washroom break, as we have portable washrooms on the farm. The Youth will head out the farm property for a pizza break. IMG_0828.PNG

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Grow Calgary + Microhome Design / Build Competition

Grow Calgary is an NPO that operates an urban community farm located south of the TransCanada Highway, 1 km West of Canada Olympic Park. 2018 is the 70th Anniversary of the United Nation’s Human Rights Declaration, and we supportthe fundamental principles of Article 25:  the universal right to food and shelter, or what we like to call “Snack in the Shack”. Grow Calgary supports local charities and food security initiatives by donating 100% of the fresh produce we harvestto social agencies that have food access programs for their clients. Additionally, we provide educational opportunities to youth and low-income families on how to grow and cultivate food. Over 22,000 volunteers have contributed energy to the farm and over 10,000 youth (K-12) have accessed Grow Calgary’s free programming. 

 Addressing the enormous demand for affordable housing, we support and develop sustainable, affordable, and compassionate housing initiatives. This summer we are hosting Canada’s 1st Microhome Design/Build Competition in an effort to bring applied research, attention, visibility and engagement to good design around affordable, energy and resource efficient, aesthetically pleasing microhomes and to create an opportunity for designers to feature their microhome design concepts. 

 A microhome is a small dwelling typically between 100 SF to 500 SF The microhome movement is a commitment to minimalistic, sustainable, and affordable living. Traditional housing is excessive in its nature and the utilization of space tends to reflect the desire of materialistic possession, rather than nurture an efficient living environment. When downsizing to a microhome, the excessive non-essential aspects of traditional dwellings are cut out, which reduces theenvironmental footprint of the dwellings construction and operation. Building on to the benefits, a smaller house is significantly more affordable and the financial investment to own a microhome is comparable to buying a car. 

 Unfortunately, microhomes do not have a place within the provincial building code and local zoning bylaws. Through Grow Calgary’s competition we want to showcase the viability of a microhome as a sustainable, affordable, comfortable, compassionate living space and to make a case for a re-evaluation of how microhomes fit within the local and provincial regulatory framework.

 On the 15th of September, Grow Calgary is hosting an open exhibition to showcase Microhomes that have been constructed by our committed teams as part of Canada’s 1st Microhome Design/Build Competition. There will be over 10 unique homes, each with a different take on the optimal utilization of 100 SF of living space.

All members of trade associations, the housing construction sector, developers, social agencies that deal directly with homeless populations, affordable housing advocates, the general public and the media are welcome to attend, free of charge.

The Competition

We’ve put out a challenge to builders and designers around the province to create a microhome that is innovative, transportable, replicable, and most importantly livable. There are three classes of competition, the micro, the tiny, and the design class.

• Micro Class​– submit a temporary structure under 100 SF, to be built entirely on site
• Tiny Class​– submit a temporary structure between under 400 SF, can be built off site
• Design Class​– submit the conceptual plans and design drawings for a microhome

 

Right now we have 10 teams from around Alberta, each working to develop a unique microhome. All of the microhomes will be on display to the public on the 15th of September on our farm. There will be a celebrity judging panel critiquing the homes and selecting a champion for each class.

Call for Competitors

We’re still accepting new competitors and if you feel you’re able to design and put together a microhome in two months you’re more than welcome to join the competition. We are able to provide manpower as we have a number of “free-agent” volunteers waiting to get involved.

Call for Sponsors

In an effort to be sustainable and cost effective, the majority of our teams are building their homes mostly out of repurposed material. Any organization or individual who is willing to donate building material will be recognized as a sponsor to the competition. We are also on the lookout for financial sponsors. Organizations are able to sponsor the competition as a whole or sponsor one of our individual teams. Sponsors will be recognized with a permanent name plate on the sponsored microhome(s), logo/name included on competition related promotional material, and will be given the opportunityto present promotional material on the day of the exhibition.

Contact Information

For more information on how to get involved email microhome@growcalgary.ca and visit www.growcalgary.ca.

C6D65147-BFB7-419D-9E28-B7A051C05CA1

Summer 2018, Volunteer

Summer Excitement!

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There’s so many awesome things happening on the farm right now, it’s hard to stay up to date! We’re about to break it down for you in this post!

Events & Volunteer Opportunities:

Grow Calgary is integrating itself heavily in events this summer! We have just completed an event packed stampede week, and we’re looking forward to what the rest of summer has in store for the Grow Team! More details about any of these events listed below can be found on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter Pages!

Every Saturday & Sunday: Family Open Farm Days, Microhome Construction, and Open Volunteer Hours, all happening at 1pm-4pm at the Grow Calgary farm site!

Sundays: Bee Hive Tours – We have partnered with ABC Bees to have hives on our farm to promote the health of bees as a species, and to aid us in successful crops! Come visit us on our farm site at 1-2pm, and 2-3pm for an exclusive bee tour!

If you wish to visit us at another time outside the allotted 1pm-4pm on Saturday or Sunday, please message us on any social media platform or email us at least 24 hours prior to your expected arrival! This allows for us to meet any required accommodations you may have, and ensure our amazing staff are expecting you on the farm!

Tuesday July 17th: YYC Free Market Event – We’re going to be boothing at this event, make sure you come on down and say hi to us! The project promotes accessible materials and sustainability! Hosted in Kensington, Calgary.

Saturday July 21st: Yoga at the Farm – Grow Calgary is hosting this event with the help of the wonderful yoga instructor, Candice Archer! It is going to be a morning of yoga, relaxation, farm learning, and community bonding! Event is on our farm from 9am-1pm, bring your own yoga mat, lunch, and family and/or friends!

August 3rd: Grow Calgary’s Biggest Event Ever! – We’re calling volunteers! If you are available from 11am-4pm on August 3rd and would like sign up information please fill out this google form! We are also hosting a volunteer orientation on July 29th in preparation for the event, which will include an exclusive farm tour! Google Form Link Here!

There will be another post with job opportunities coming soon! As well as updates on new and longstanding partnerships, microhome competition information, and first hand views at the farm lifestyle from our very own farm managers!

Earth Ship

GrowCalgary Blog Posts, Jenny's Food and Ag Update

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update July 6, 2018

 

  • Brining Farming Back to Nature (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2tuyi3V
    • Agroecology Knowledge Hub (FAO) https://bit.ly/2fSvrIs
    • Agro-Ecological Transition Support Project in West Africa is now a reality (Economic Community of West African States) https://bit.ly/2HU1kmY
    • Jornadas Agroecologicas: On the Agroecology Trail in Ecuador (Food First) https://bit.ly/2NtvHQ9                                                            In 2009 Ecuador adopted food sovereignty into their constitution…
  • Food hub could make locally sourced food more accessible to Edmontonians (CBC) https://bit.ly/2JPWGTO                              Proposed project could help farmers and other producers sell their food directly to local consumers
  • A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved Its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2Ko1PmV
  • Pioneering Leader in Organic Food Production Resigns from Industry Lobby Group (The Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2IWtJnS                                                                                      Nature’s Path’s move “protests” betrayals by the Organic Trade Association”                                                                                                                      Here is some background:
  • Monsanto And The Organics Industry Pay To Train Journalists: What Could Go Wrong? (Forbes) https://bit.ly/2u7zycQ
  • Who should feed the world: real people or faceless multinationals? (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Hiojml                          The merger of corporate giants Monsanto and Bayer begs a vital question – what kind of agriculture do we really want?
  • Is The Produce At The Farmers Market Local? Turns Out, Not Always (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2IyCNiM                                States have different rules for what can be sold at farmers markets, and some states have no rules at all.
  • Tampa Bay farmers markets are lacking in just one thing: Local farmers (Tampa Bay Times) https://bit.ly/23xJaMf
  • Our Beef Addiction Has Contributed To Shocking New Deforestation Figures (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2yQ0bZr      Efforts to deal with the crisis are like “trying to put out a house fire with a teaspoon.”

 

Farming, Farmers, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • 5 ways Indigenous groups are fighting back against land seizures (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2yyVpiH                                              While no measure can guarantee land security, these actions have helped communities protect their homes.
  • Black Farmers Are Being Forced Off Their Land by Longstanding Government Discrimination (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2KxKZBP    “The unfair treatment of black farmers went under the radar for many, many years. It was not taken up by the civil rights movement, and it should have been front and center.”
  • The Push to Turn Church Land into Farmland (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2MIRbHs                                                                                      Faith leaders, conservation experts, and food advocates are joining forces to connect young farmers to the vast quantity of land owned by churches.
  • Produce is less healthy than it was 70 years ago. These farmers are trying to change that (USA Today) https://usat.ly/2zhHQoq
    • Why It’s Time to Stop Punishing Our Soils with Fertilizers (Yale Environment 360) https://bit.ly/2pOl6pO
    • Study: Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999 (Save Our Soils) https://bit.ly/2rcAigB
  • Immigrant Farmers Revive Dormant Greenhouse to Grow Food From Home (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2NauT2s                                                   At a small farmers market south of Seattle, you’ll find varieties of ethnic vegetables unlikely sold in your typical supermarket.
  • How a simple error inflated the farmer suicide crisis story – and let to a rash of inaccurate reporting (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2twHFQ0
  • Helping plants remove natural toxins could boost crop yields by 47 percent (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2KzWnAo
  • What Canada Can Teach Trump About Milk (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2ylyB5W                                                                                        Our northern neighbor didn’t cause our dairy crisis, but mimicking its policy might get us out of it.
  • Protecting Crops With Predators Instead of Poisons (Ensia) https://bit.ly/2Mildlm                                                                                              By luring predatory birds to farms, farmers can reduce the need to use poisons to keep insects, rodents and other pests in check
  • Small strips of prairie hold big hope for helping cure a multitude of environmental ills (Ensia) https://bit.ly/2K2texX

 

Seeds & Cultivars

  • Stuffed or Starved? Evolutionary Plant Breeding Might Have the Answer (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2HTvD8z

 

Food and Culture

  • To Native Culture, the Salmon Decision Means More Than a Treaty Rights Win (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2LTq8sG                                   How indigenous food is tied to important sacred stories.
  • How Native American Food is Tied to Important Sacred Stories (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Ndej1R                                               A new Supreme Court case coincides with a resurgence of interest among a new generation of scholars and activists who are learning about and reviving indigenous food systems.
  • Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2lKKB8g                                                                                  Preparing food – and letting others in our communities cook for us – is how we become good citizens who engage with the communities around us.
  • How Posts and Pans Turned Us Into Creative Cooks (The Atlantic) https://theatln.tc/2KeSQ6Q                                                        After harnessing fire, kitchenware is the most important invention to food as we know it.

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • High Schoolers Bring Their Love of Culinary Arts to Feed Local Homeless (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2JVp626                                                          It wasn’t enough for a group of students to provide free meals. They’re looking to tackle systemic problems.
  • Food Aid To Puerto Rico Is Salty, Sugary, And Unbalanced, Researcher Says (NPR) https://n.pr/2K20R3d
  • In Some States, Drug Felons Still Face Lifetime Ban On SNAP Benefits (NPR) https://n.pr/2tlNBf8                                                              Only West Virginia, South Carolina, and Mississippi – still enforce a lifetime ban on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…
  • Toronto’s Pay-What-You-Can Grocery Store Feeds the Hungry, Not the Landfill (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2yS0jYp
  • How Land Under Solar Panels Can Contribute to Food Security (Ensia) https://bit.ly/2sHHXUp                                                                Beneath some solar arrays, pollinator-friendly plants, fruits, vegetables and forage are cropping up in place of turfgrass or gravel

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • A pay-what-you-can grocery store is opening its doors in the Junction neighborhood (CBC) https://bit.ly/2MveLs5                Toronto chef Jagger Gordon wants to see the provincial government make it mandatory for grocery stores and restaurants to donate food approaching its exiry date to food banks and shelters, instead of throwing it in the trash.
  • For-Profit and Nonprofit Firms Devise Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste (Nonprofit Quarterly) https://bit.ly/2tuqe2m
  • Food waste is going to take over the fashion industry (Fast Company) https://bit.ly/2JOKJOr                                                                    The startup Circular Systems is pioneering new tech to convert food crop waste – like banana peels and hemp stalks – into wearable fibers.

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • Rotten and Rat – Infested: The Appalling Food and Health Care Conditions Facing US Prisoners (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2ygItOF
  • Superbugs Found in Nearly 80 Percent of US Supermarket Meat (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2yUFWK4
    • Supermarket Meat Still Superbugged, Federal Data Show (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2KfoTHS
    • Study Shows Most People Are Spreading Dangerous Bacteria Around the Kitchen and Don’t Even Realize It (USDA) https://bit.ly/2lKF6Xb
    • Study Executive Summary: Food Safety Consumer Research Project: Meal Preparation Experiment Related to Thermometer Use (USDA) https://bit.ly/2MyXL3r
  • Trump slams Red Hen for being ‘filthy.’ Inspectors found no violations but Mar-a-Lago was cited 78 times in three years (CNBC) https://cnb.cx/2KnBN2y

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • Your sustainable scallops might have been caught with the help of shady labor practices (grist) https://bit.ly/2KjhZh2
  • Halo Top ‘Dramatically’ Under-fills its Pints, Lawsuit Alleges (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2lEXgJJ                                                               Fewer calories might just mean less ice cream.
  • Halo Top routinely under-fills its pints, alleges lawsuit, ‘dramatically so, at times…’ (Food Navigator) https://bit.ly/2yCUXjO
  • Today Is National Catfish Day. But Where Do All These Weird Holidays Come From, Anyway? (Observer) https://bit.ly/2KA7MA3
  • Vancouver festivalgoers invited to enjoy a cool class of… hot dog water? (Global News Canada) https://bit.ly/2MPHw34

 

Children & School Food

  • Teens fought back to improve cafeteria food… and won (CBC) https://bit.ly/2MvI0ep                                                                                          The students said Chartwells has been very open and receptive to the changes they’ve requested

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • Forced Labor Remains Common in Tea and Cocoa Industries, Despite Certification Programs (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2KePy3P
  • Waiting Tables or Harvesting Food, Why Fair Labor Is Still About Civil Rights (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2GXI0EQ                                                    For too many women, deciding whether to stand up to harassment at work is a choice between earning enough tips to put food on their tables or not.
  • Amid immigration crackdown, this avocado farmer is struggling to find workers (CNN) https://cnnmon.ie/2JSu8cc
    • Vineyard Workers Already Face Long Hours, Low Pay, and Harsh Conditions. Then Came Trump’s Immigration Crackdown (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2u2MXCQ                    “Are we fearful in Sonoma Valley? Of course.”
  • Female farmers struggle to work and take care of children. And no one’s really talking about it. (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2lsuMmc
  • Snacks, slouching, stagnant wages: the office is making us miserable (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2JGBZ0C                      Research has found we’re consuming 1,300 calories in office snacks per week. But it’s not just the treats that are bad for us
  • Nonprofits and Governments Pursue Food Incubators for Refugee Resettlement (Nonprofit Quarterly) https://bit.ly/2MJPz1g
  • A Cooperative Farm for Refugees Joins the New Nonprofit Economy (Nonprofit Quarterly) https://bit.ly/2KLWDfz

 

Protests

  • From Barricades to Courtrooms: The Fight Against a Fracked Gas Future in New York State (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2Myr5Yz

 

Pollinators

  • In defense of wasps: why squashing them comes with a sting in the tale (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2auNtB4

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Six things to know about Creator, San Francisco’s new burger robot restaurant (SF Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2Kf08eZ
  • Best advice to US dairy farmers? ‘Sell out fast as you can’ (NBC News) https://nbcnews.to/2z3p5VM                                                        Small-dairy farmers are getting squeezed out by corporate agriculture “That is not what America is about,” a struggling farmer said.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • 9,000 barrels of bourbon crash to ground after collapse at Kentucky distillery (NBC5) https://bit.ly/2K4mwHS

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • This Farmer Turns Manure Into Clean Water and It May Be the Future of Farming (Thrillist) https://bit.ly/2JMLydC
  • The Creative, Climate-Saving Magic of Beavers (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2KMi7ch                                                                                    Beavers are ecological Swiss Army knives, capable of tackling water quality, flooding, and climate change.
  • Medicine Residue Is Everywhere in Our Rivers and Lakes – and Fish Are Behaving Strangely (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Ln9zFb      We have a new major environmental problem on our hands.
  • Fatberg ‘autopsy’ reveals growing health threat to Londoners (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2qWtnqn                                           Potentially deadly bacteria thriving in huge clots of waste in sewers, Channel 4 study shows… The forensic analysis revealed that cooking fat is the biggest contributor to the crisis, making up nearly 90% of the sample.
  • ‘We’ve Made History’: Ireland Joins France, Germany and Bulgaria in Banning Fracking (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2tuWchn
  • ‘We Don’t Know… How Bad It Is’: 31 Car Oil Train Derails Into Iowa Floodwaters (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2MhVyJn        Amid worries of drinking water contamination, tankers looked as if they had been “thrown around like Legos”
  • Settlement Ends Nestlé’s Expired ‘Zombie’ Permit to Siphon Water from San Bernardino National Forest (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Khbv5j                                                                                                  I guess not…
  • US Allows Nestlé to Keep Piping Water From Drought-Ridden Southern California (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2lMvvPy
  • The Mysterious Microbes in the Sky (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2NdbEVV                                                                                Scientists are just beginning to understand how microscopic organisms that rise out of the ocean can help manage global temperatures.
  • Area of Global Dead Zones Doubling Every 10 Years (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2tGrH6x
    • Iowa nitrogen pollution in the water is getting worse, despite hundreds of millions of dollars in spending, study shows (Des Moines Register) https://dmreg.co/2KqgRIb
  • Virginia Beach’s once-endangered oysters are thriving again – and so is its culinary scene (Mic) https://bit.ly/2tNjEnI
  • Deepwater Horizon disaster altered building blocks of ocean life (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2tC7ZsO                                                           Oil spill disaster reduced biodiversity in sites closest to spill, report finds, as White House rolls back conservation measures
  • Study: The impact of the Deepwater Horizon blowout on historic shipwreck-associated sediment microbiomes in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Nature) https://go.nature.com/2Km01yr
  • This Mine Threatens America’s Largest Wild Salmon Run (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2KwWvNu
    • 5 Reasons Salmon Are an Environmental Justice Solution (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2KUpJpM                                                                        We need wild salmon – and not just because they’re tasty. They are indicator of ecosystem health.

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • The white House Tried to Suppress a (EPA water) Bombshell Study Because They Were Afraid of the PR (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2yxmlQb
    • Suppressed Study: The EPA Underestimated Dangers of Widespread Chemicals (ProPublica) https://bit.ly/2tofS4c        The CDC has quietly published a controversial review of perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that indicates more people are at risk of drinking contaminated water than previously thought.
  • White House, EPA headed off chemical pollution study (Politico) https://politi.co/2jTtaBg                                                                                     The intervention by Scott Pruitt’s aides came after one White House official warned the findings would cause a ‘public relations nightmare.’
  • FDA Takes First steps to Regulating lab-Grown Meat (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2K4BFcf
    • Is It Too Early for Fake Meat? (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2ySsGWv                                                                            An environmental group warns of insufficient research, regulation and labeling in the realm of “food technology.”
  • How Trump’s Dangerous and Misguided Trade War Could Reshape the American Diet (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2KaEbtk
    • As Trump’s China Tariffs Kick In, US Farmers Watch Prices Slide (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2ziozTM                              Growers in corn and soybean country face billions of dollars in losses.
  • Tariffs on US soybeans could cost Iowa farmers up to $624 million (Des Moines Register) https://dmreg.co/2LZmxJU
  • We are the casualty: ‘US pig farmers brace for second round of pork tariffs from China, Mexico (CNBC) https://cnb.cx/2ubwMUa
    • Trade war: Mexico pork tariff threatens to push Iowa losses to $560 million (Des Moines Register) https://dmreg.co/2LhCvyz
  • China Buys Record Amount of Russian Soy as It Shuns US Growers (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2IQGxk0
  • Trump’s Trade Ware Is Hurting Red-State Farmers – and Ripping Their GOP Senators Apart (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2lEbdYw   Lawmakers disagree about using government subsidies to quell tariff woes.
  • Trump Trade War Spoiling Export Market for American Cheese Makers (Grub Street) https://grb.st/2Khrpxj
  • As Trade Ware Begins, Feds Eye $30 Billion Bailout Fund For Farmers Facing Losses (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KTtvD9
  • House approves five-year farm bill (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2ytvzgd
    • House Passes Symbolic Food Stamp Cuts (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Mdj2PY                                                                    Democrats still have a say in the Senate, and they’re not OK with cutting benefits.
  • “Slap in the Face” to Poor Americans: House GOP Passes Farm Bill Attacking Nation’s Hungriest Families (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2Ih6wfW                                                                                          “This is just another attempt by Paul Ryan to pretend that the biggest problem with the federal deficit is lazy poor people, not the $1.5 trillion tax cut he and his colleagues just gave to the richest people in the country.”
  • Patriotic millionaire Slams House Farm Bill: “A Slap in the Face to Poor Americans” (Patriotic Millionaires) https://bit.ly/2yzhMVs
  • House Republicans Pass Bill Requiring Millions to Work for Food Stamps (New Civil Rights Movement) https://bit.ly/2MduTO8
  • Farm Bill With Huge Giveaways to Pesticide Industry Passes House (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2IjWhaO
  • House supplemental budget bill would create statewide ‘tip credit’ in Minnesota (MinnPost) https://bit.ly/2MTtspd
  • Initiative 77 passed, and now DC may become the first East Coast city where servers make minimum wage (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2tmIqf6                                                                                              It’s not surprising that battles over the tip credit turn out to hinge on issues of race.
  • California Reluctantly Bans New Soda Taxes In Face Of Industry Threat (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2z0aFpi                              Beverage lobbyists have successfully maneuvered a 12-year block on the health effort.
  • California, of All Places, Has Banned Soda Taxes. How a New Industry Strategy Is Succeeding. (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2ItStDX      The bill to pre-empt taxes is part of a wider industry effort to skip cities and go straight to the states.

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Mandatory Labels With Simple Disclosures Reduced Fears of GE Foods in Vermont (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2N9ATZq
  • Canada finds unapproved GMO wheat in Alberta (Reuters) https://bit.ly/2K0Izyn
    • Japan blocks Canadian wheat after unapproved GMO plants found in Alberta (CBC) https://bit.ly/2t1LfSK                                  Food inspection agency says small amount of wheat with genetically modified trait found last summer

 

Technology/Food Technology/Nanotechnology

 

Poisons

  • Investigations of 2,4-D and Multiple Herbicide Resistance in a Missouri Waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) Population (Weed Science Society of America) https://bit.ly/2yft94y
  • Plaintiff goes to trial against Monsanto claiming RoundUp to blame for terminal cancer (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2lrhJSb                                                                                            With thousands of cases being brought against Monsanto, the company’s infamous weed-killer, RoundUp, it to blame by many cancer sufferers.
  • Monsanto faces its first trial over allegations Roundup ingredient causes cancer (CBS News) https://cbsn.ws/2K64hxA
  • Weedkiller found in granola and crackers, internal FDA emails show (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2jh7KO4                                            The FDA has been testing food samples for traces of glyphosate for two years, but the agency has not yet released any official results

 

Education & Training

  • Historically Black land-grant universities are severely underfunded compared to their white counterparts. Hemp could change that (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2twLe8F               The Industrial Hemp Program outlined in the current Senate Farm Bill could upend the separate-but-unequal funding model of the past. But only if legislators make it so
GrowCalgary Blog Posts, Jenny's Food and Ag Update

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update June 15, 2018

 

  • Blacksmiths Turn Unwanted Guns Into Garden Tools (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2LnNHcP                                                                            Shotguns often become hand spades, and a weapon like the AR-15 that was used in recent mass shootings has a thicker barrel that suits an afterlife as a mattock.
  • Wisconsin’s agriculture agent shortage heralds the end of an era for rural America (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2JmlGFn
  • To Upend Failed Paradigm, Hundreds of Experts Converge in EU to Forge Blueprint for Sustainable Food System (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2JmYIho                                                                      “We need a fundamental transition to sustainable food and farming systems,” says Oliver De Schutter
  • Puerto Rico’s Push For Food Independence Intertwined With Statehood Debate (NPR) https://n.pr/2HjApvI
  • Inside the Push to Bring Racial Equity to Land Grant Universities (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2kEMeUp                                                    Academics and food systems advocates are working from within public universities to acknowledge and address 150 years of structural racism.
  • ‘No Such Thing as Cheap Meat’: New Global Index Shows Industry’s Failure to Combat Climate Crisis, Antibiotic Resistance (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2kC8fmF                                            Index gauges how 60 suppliers, worth a combined $300 billion, are managing sustainability risks based on nine criteria
  • The Organic Coating that Gives Produce a New Life – and Opens New Markets for Farmers (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2LplEdV      Avocados, mangoes, and cassava are the first corps that Apeel is targeting with their edible coating, approved for use on organic foods, that can prevent food waste and grow farm ecibinues.
  • What Fossil Fuels and Factory Farms Have in Common (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Hb2IMU                                                                                      Hint: They’re both issues of environmental injustice.
  • The Beef Of The Future Is Here, And It’s Not Mad Of Meat (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2t8NPWf                                    Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat could give our planet the break it needs from meat. Even White Castle agrees.
  • Cow’s Milk Or Almond Milk? Ethical Food Choices Are Not As Simple As You Think (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LmJFl0        It’s not just about cutting out certain foods.
  • A Vet Turns to Farming to Heal His Wounds (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2LPnWmW                                                                                    Alex carries the weight of chronic PTSD. Raising animals helps him keep the demons at bay.
  • In Less Than One Generation, We’ve Lost More Than 10 Million Acres of the Best US Farmland (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2tczWqd
  • An Agricultural Movement for People-to-People Reparations Puts Itself on the Map (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2IoClnY
  • Jillian Hishaw wants to help black farmers stay on their land (Salon) https://bit.ly/2JlAAeM                                                                        This farmers’ rights advocate is fighting for today’s farmers as well as the next generation
  • For these pro bono lawyers, “Know you farmer” takes on new meaning (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2JBMzWK
  • Before “Silent Spring” Debuted in 1962, Ag Pilots on the Great Plains Questioned Pesticide Safety (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2LWlPNr

 

Farming, Farmers, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  •  Farming as Resistance (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2HX79va           Threatened by a mining company, indigenous women in the remote highlands of Guatemala are marching, increasing productivity, and planting trees.
  • Guatemalan farmers occupy plantation formerly owned by drug traffickers (Waging Nonviolence) https://bit.ly/2swBPgO
  • Farmers Switched to Organic After Pesticides Made Them or their Families Sick (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2xzk32s
  • In Historic First, Nebraska Farmer Returns Land to Ponca Tribe Along “Trail of Tears” (Bold Nebraska) https://bit.ly/2JDU2Vi
    • 350.org on Nebraska Farmer Repatriating Land to Ponca Tribe in Keystone XL’s Path (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2JHgPQ7
  • On East Coast Oyster Farms, ‘Women Are Rising Up From The Bay In A Big Way’ (NPR) https://n.pr/2Im5wMt

 

Seeds & Cultivars

 

Food and Culture

  • From Collards To Maple Syrup, How Your Identity Impacts The Food You Like (NPR) https://n.pr/2k3ligI
  • Don’t Eat Before Reading This (The New Yorker) https://bit.ly/2zLHO3K                                                                                              I rarely speak of my over 35 years in professional kitchens, but the passing of Anthony Bourdain, and his reality check of living and working in restaurant kitchens has always rung true with my experience.

When Kitchen Confidential was published in 2000 I gave a copy            to my mother, she said she didn’t want to read it, she had heard it         all from me… the times I have been told “We do not speak                         women,” or “Get down on you knees,” in this context it does not             mean to beg for work, but suck the appendage of the speaker,                 when I was looking for work. I have asked male chefs why they               have no women in their kitchens “I can’t find any women who can         cut it.” You mean they won’t cut the harassment and degradation         of our work kitchens, are for the most part, a male world.

Thank you Anthony for the support, and acknowledgement that           women in professional kitchens have a tough row to hoe.

  • Tongue and cheeks: Eating the once discarded parts of Newfoundland’s number one fish (Salon) https://bit.ly/2JwviKs      Newfoundland’s cod are finally coming back – just in time for foreigners to develop a taste for their tongues.

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • For the Homeless, There’s More to Eating than Food (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2ssPyW4                                                                                        Food safety, security, and storage are three problems that influence the meal choices of people living without the other conveniences of shelter.
  • The Food Stamp Work Requirement Is a Scheme to Punish Hungry Americans (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2t6Ra9h
  • The SNAP Challenge: Communicating food security capabilities through anti-hunger advocacy (Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development) https://bit.ly/2IZz9mY

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Salvaging food losses from Vermont farms (Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development) https://bit.ly/2LPGB22
  • Zero-waste stores ask shoppers to bring their own everything (Salon) https://bit.ly/2Mc8lxT                                                                              As record amounts of plastic waste pollutes the planet, some grocers are helping shoppers do without
  • Last Straw For Plastic Straws? Cities, Restaurants Move To Toss These Sippers (NPR) https://n.pr/2J4Bh8W

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • To Rinse Or Not To Rinse: How Washing Some Foods Can Help You Avoid Illness (NPR) https://n.pr/2MxcFbk
    • Study: Cross-contamination of fresh-cut lettuce after a short-term exposure during subsequent washing with chlorine dioxide or sodium hpochlorite (Science Direct) https://bit.ly/2t1twdW
    • Why Are Salad Greens Always Labeled “Triple-Washed”? (Slate) https://slate.me/2JT5k4c
    • Recommendations for Handling Fresh-cut Leafy Green Salads by Consumers and Retail Food service Operators (UC Davis) https://bit.ly/2HRESGb
  • We still don’t know the cause of 32 state E. coli outbreak – the only solution is more science (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2skFr5w

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Organic Food Fraud Is a Big Problem – Here’s What the Government Plans to Do About It (Food & Wine) https://bit.ly/2xC4ffi                                                                                                    Is your organic produce really organic? The USDA has a plat to make sure it is.
  • The labels said ‘organic.’ But these massive imports of corn and soybeans weren’t (Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2soTSq8
  • How 36 Million Pounds of Fake Organic Food Ended Up in the US (Food & Wine) https://bit.ly/2JoqeuE
  • AP Investigation: Fish billed as local isn’t always local (Associated Press) https://bit.ly/2LTMvy7
    • Supposedly Sustainable Seafood Company Accused of Fraud (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2ylQNMK                                            Sea to Table, a company that delivers seafood billed as sustainable and domestic, is the subject of an Associated Press report that indicates its products not always be either.
  • Mario Batali under criminal investigation, NYPD confirms (Salon) https://bit.ly/2xzF3WQ                                                                                        The celebrity chef has been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault

 

Education

  • Despite A Revamped Focus On Real-Life Skills, ‘Home Ec’ Classes Fade Away (NPR) https://n.pr/2HMA3xZ

 

Children & School Food

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • For Big Corporations Like Walmart, Wage Theft Penalties Are Just the Price of Doing Business (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2JIqgyA
    • Report: Wage Theft is Pervasive in Corporate America; Big Banks, Insurers are Among Most-Penalized Firms (Good Jobs First) https://bit.ly/2Jx7XeX
    • Report: Grand Theft Paycheck: The Large Corporations Shortchanging Their Workers’ Wages (Good Jobs First) https://bit.ly/2sSMhAf
  • California cites seven Bay Area restaurants for $10 million wage theft (SF Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2yfhvqz
    • Wage theft costs low-paid California workers $2 billion per year (SF Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2tcVvGX
    • An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a Year (2014) (Economic Policy Institute) https://bit.ly/2MuCokK
  • Why Gabrielle Hamilton Broke My Heart This Week (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2HTU5q7                                                                            This week, the chef partnered up with a restaurateur who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.
  • Want Better Working Conditions in Restaurants? Build a Co-op (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HaovE5                                                              When employees make decisions and advocate for themselves, good things happen.

 

Protests

  • UK: Young people are leading a growing movement against low pay and precarious work (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2syHcft
  • Native American water protector becomes first to be sentenced to time in federal prison for DAPL protests (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2JXC7Zb                                                                                      Seven Native Americans face felony charges, while hundreds of others still face lesser charges for their role in the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline.

 

Pollinators

  • Honeybees Are Very Smart (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2JU5zfm
      • Honeybees zero in on nothing (EurekAlert!) https://bit.ly/2JNSNPd                                                          Scientists discover bees understand the concept of zero, a surprise finding that opens possibilities for new, simpler approaches to developing AI

Animals

  • Humanity Has Killed 83% of All Wild Mammals and Half of All Plants: Study (Global Citizen) https://glblctzn.me/2LS41Ut              Of all the birds left in the world, 70% are poultry chickens and other farmed birds.

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Major companies announce their commitment to eliminate single-use plastic (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2JQKXI5        SeaWorld Parks, American Express, Royal Caribbean, IKEA A&@ Canada, and Burger King UK have all announced their effort to eliminate items like plastic drinking straws, stirrers, lids and bags.
  • Starbucks Urged to Cut Ties With Hong Kong Chain that Still Serves Shark Fin (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2MtCs46
  • How A Tiny Coffee Company Is Taking on The Homelessness Crisis (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2yegOOg                                    The London based startup has its sights on the US And Will.i.am is going to help.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Capilano Revives Allowerie Brand to Sell Cheap Imported Chinese Hone in Coles Supermarkets (Tasty Honey) https://bit.ly/2sSvpsu
    • Australia’s Capilano Honey Admit Selling Toxic and Poisonous Hone to Consumers (Kangaroo Court of Australia) https://bit.ly/2fcPre0
    • Study: Development of a fast isocratic LC-MS/MS method for the high-throughput analysis of pyrrolized alkaloids in Australian honey (Food Additive & Contaminants) https://bit.ly/2sHBdpv

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Bottled Water, Brought to You by Fracking (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2pamnGz                                                                                        The link between fracking and bottled water industry is one more reason to take back the tap.
  • Beyond Flint: Contaminated Drinking Water is Everywhere in America (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2HeBGUP                          Agricultural runoff is poorly regulated and turning many waterways across the country into dangerous cesspools
  • Citizen-scientists in Minnesota and Wisconsin demand action after finding E. coli in their water (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2JV7jbl                                                                                              But don’t blame farmers. Pressured to expand, they’re in an unenviable bind: Scale and risk polluting local waterways – or resist and risk their livelihoods.
  • Plastic killed most sperm whales found dead in Greek waters since 2001 (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2kGf0E5                      “The evidence is starting to mount rapidly that we just cannot throw away plastic as we have been.”
  • Reef Madness: The Trump Administration’s Plan To Hand a Coral Ecosystem to the Fishing Industry (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2JSUKd9

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • India’s decision to eliminate single-use plastic bags by 2022 is ‘game-changing’ (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2JP45mg              “It is the duty of each one of us, to ensure that the quest for material prosperity does not compromise our environment.”
  • AGs sue EPA over delay of requirement to protect farmworkers (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2srX3MK                                                                  The attorney general (AG) from three states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to enforce a requirement meant in part to protect farm workers from pesticides.
  • The CDC Is Investigating Salmonella Outbreaks From Backyard Chickens (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2sZ7Uza                                  It makes sense to think that chickens you raise yourself, with room to move around, a good diet and minimal stress, would be safer than dreaded industrial birds.
  • Sweet Talk: FDA’s ‘Added Sugar’ Label Hits Sour Note With Maple Syrup Makers (NPR) https://n.pr/2Jocehm                                          Maple syrup producers take pride in their pure, natural product. So when the US Food and Drug Administration proposed new labels to say maple syrup contains “added sugar,” producers fought back.
  • Trump Administration’s New Orwellian GMO Labels Won’t Actually Say ‘GMO’ (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2LRvy7v                      The proposed labels are a loss for consumer transparency.
  • Trump’s Trade Ware Is Already Affecting Farmers (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2yfGKcl
    • My crops gained $45K in value since Trump delayed China trade war – but it’s not a done deal (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2J3A6Kb
    • The Trade Ware Continues: Mexico Imposes $3 Billion Tariff on US Goods (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2LVbyAX
  • What the Failure of the House Farm Bill Means for Good Food Advocates (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2s6lPSy                                            Last week’s collapse of the bill surprised many, but it’s too soon to declare it a win.
  • Hawaii Becomes First State To Ban Widely-Used Pesticide Found To Be Harmful To Kids (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MrZf0j        “Hawaii is showing the Trump administration that the states will stand up for our kids, even when Washington will not.”
  • After Flint Crisis, Michigan Sets a New Standard for Lead in Drinking Water (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2JQAix3
    • Michigan Not Waiting Around For EPA To Fix Weak Rules On Lead In Drinking Water (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LUWmUu                                                                                The Flint water crisis exposed glaring problems with federal regulations and the EPA is dragging feet on a fix.
  • EPA Moves To Replace Obama-Era Rule Protecting Drinking Water For 117 Million (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LW7L6G    Scott Pruitt revoked the Clean Water Rule, which clarified what bodies of water could be federally protected, last year.
  • Vancouver becomes first city in world to approve zero waste strategic plan (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2H9TyQr                “It’s a coastal city, with the plastic items having a significant impact on the environment, we feel it’s important to take action.”
  • The Senate Is About to Vote on Its Farm Bill. What the Hell Is the Farm Bill, Anyway? (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2JGyVSo            And why should I care?

 

Poisons

  • Common Antimicrobial in Toothpaste Linked to Inflammation and Cancer in the Gut (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2thZTET
  • As Trump EPA Attacks Workers and Environment, Trio of Lawsuits Takes Aim at “outrageous” Pro-Pesticide Agenda (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2IZe8sA                                                 The suits, filed Wednesday, target the Trump administration’s efforts to block federal rules on poisonous chemicals
  • Glyphosate detected in granola and crackers, FDA emails show (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2tcnerp
    • Children May Be Eating Cereal Laced With Monsanto’s Toxic Weed Killer (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2y0N7QD                              The probable carcinogen glyphosate has been detected in popular cereals, but the EPA is ready to approve its use for 15 more years.

 

Education & Training

  • University of California Cooperative Extension                      Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program  Pastured/Free-Range Poultry Training                https://bit.ly/2kC3auB
  • July 12, 2018, UC Davis
  • August 15 – 16, 2018, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts, Jenny's Food and Ag Update

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update May 31, 2018

 

  • Study Uncovers Surprising New Reason to Go Local (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2KWMt8v
    • Study: Imported food damages domestic environment: Evidence from global soybean trade (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2KVjWQu
  • 6 Labels That Let You Know You’re Buying Good Food (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2kCBDJt                                                                                            As the Trump administration rolls back the USDA’s Animal welfare standards, the private and nonprofit sectors are stepping up to the ethical plate.
  • ‘Farm To Table’ Shouldn’t Only Be For Rich White People (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2IxYgco
    • Study: Who Owns the Land” Agricultural Land Ownership By Race/Ethnicity (Rural America)                                                                      Of all private US agricultural land, Whites account for 96 percent of the owners, 97 percent of the value, and 98 percent of the acres. Nonetheless, four minority groups, Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics, own over 25 million acres of agricultural land…
    • #BlackWealth Matters: The 5 Largest Landowners Own More Land Than All of Black America Combined (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KCQezI
      • Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook: Agricultural Workers, 2017: Median Pay $23,730, $11.40 per hour (US Labor Dpt.)
  • Are Avocados Toast? (Grist) https://bit.ly/2IGpSMo                      Climate change will have huge impacts on tree crops like lemons and avocados.                                                                                                                    What will we eat in 2050? California farmers are placing bets.
  • 17 Organizations Feeding and Healing the World Through Regenerative Agriculture (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2GAOXXk
  • Ticking Meatmares (Grist) https://bit.ly/2joThja                                  Lone star ticks hunt in packs and spread an allergy to beef and pork. Thanks to climate change they’re spreading.
  • Agroecology Is Becoming A Global Movement. But Where Doe the US Fit In? (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2wA6m2z                                                  If there’s one thing the American food movement could learn from the global movement for agroecology, it’s the movements move government policy, not the other way around.
  • Deforestation in the US South Is Four Times Greater Than Logging in South American Rainforests (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2s8E8aA
  • Back To The Garden: How Green Thumbs Help With Addiction Recovery (100 Days in Appalachia) https://bit.ly/2Jd3BcV

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • How Cuba’s Women Farmers Kept Everyone Fed (Yes!)                         “I wake up early, I spend all day on the farm, working hard, managing the workers, planting, harvesting, selling, teaching – I do all of this out of love.”
  • Why merely owning land isn’t enough to empower Africa’s women farmers (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2KZjQXV
  • Ninety-nine percent of America’s farms are family-owned. But only half are family-farmed. (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2INn6Fg                                                                                              As land is passed on to kids and grandkids, millions of acres across the country end up being owned by people who are no longer farmers, and increasingly, never were.
  • Farmers Are Struggling to Make Ends Meet. This Controversial Policy Could Help. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2KVgu8i            “Don’t raise more than what we can be consumed.”
  • Kansas Rancher Explains How Trump Has ‘Betrayed’ US Farmers: He ‘Won’t Fight For Us’ (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2kFwzUN                                                                                Mike Callicrate explains that the consolidation of power among big agribusiness companies is the single biggest problem facing American farers – and he says Trump’s administration has only made things worse.
  • Homes and Gardens: The Best Thing to Ever Happen to a Prison Site (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Lw5LlR                                                                      New plans for the former correctional center include a permaculture farm, a recording studio, and housing for homeless veterans.

 

Seeds & Cultivars

  • Syrian seeds and the future of wheat (Food & Environment Reporting Network) https://bit.ly/2IQgt9v                                        Engulfed by war, Syria’s seed bank still provided the genetic resources for a new generation of climate-resilient wheat varieties
  • In Wisconsin, hemp farmers clash with the state Department of Justice over CBD oil (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2scCSDn   There’s a lot of enthusiasm for hemp in farm country. But its hazy legal status means there’s a lot of confusion, too.                              Update, May 11, 10:37am, EST: The Wisconsin Department of Justice has announced the hemp farers will not be prosecuted for producing CBD oil.

 

Food and Culture

  • Discover the Secret Birthplace of Wine (National Geographic) https://on.natgeo.com/2JbOXT1                                                        Georgian winemaking traditions date back to 6,000BC.
  • Steak a Claim (Grist) https://bit.ly/2qY0M47                                      France declares that ‘vegan bacon’ is not a thing.
  • Sugar Shacks and Maple-Glazed Rabbit: Appalachian Cuisine Beyond the Stereotypes (100 Days in Appalachia) https://bit.ly/2krtpUv

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • A healthy diet isn’t always possible for low-income Americans, even when they get SNAP benefits (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2KJaQWM
    • Will requiring food stamp retailers to sell more healthy food make it easier for SNAP recipients to eat better? (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2kwsHVP
  • Changes to SNAP Threaten Food Security in Western North Carolina – ‘What Happened to That American Dream Again?’ (100 Days in Appalachia) https://bit.ly/2LyZVjF

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • UK’s Largest Grocer Takes on Food and Plastic Waste (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2krzcte                                                                                                It’s been a green week for Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket.
    • Tesco removes ‘best before’ dates on some fruit and veg (BBC News) https://bbc.in/2xeJdmR
    • Tesco to ban non-recyclable plastic packaging by 2019 (The Independent) https://ind.pn/2knBnxU                                              Target ‘raises the bar’ for fight against pollution, but campaigners there is a need for the supermarket giant to make a firm commitment on reducing its volume of packaging

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • High CO2 Levels Make Rice Less Nutritious, Study Finds (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2IMUv2K
    • Study: Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels this century will alter protein, micronutrients, and vitamin content with potential health consequences for the poorest rice dependent countries (Science Advances) https://bit.ly/2LnKk6I
  • We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What About Us? (National Geographic) https://on.natgeo.com/2rR8Nbn                There often are tiny bits of plastic in the fish and shellfish we eat. Scientists are racing to figure out what that that means for our health.
    • Scientists Launch Groundbreaking Study on Health Risks of Microplastics in Seafood (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2koXynm
  • Hormel Recalls 228,000 Pounds Of Spam (Hufington Post) https://bit.ly/2sfXZoj                                                                                                The canned pork and chicken products were produced in February and distributed across the country.
  • E. coli outbreak spreads to 19 states, prompting 42 hospitalizations (Yahoo) https://yhoo.it/2F6yABf                              With 121 cases total

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Mario Batali Under Criminal Investigation For Sexual Misconduct: NYPD (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2GzJikx        Police confirm they’re investigating the disgraced celebrity chef.
  • Charcoal-activated vegan croissant just might be the world’s most unphotogenic pastry (Yahoo) https://yhoo.it/2KzQFvr

 

Education

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • Massive Minimum Wage Study Finds Significant Gains for Low-Income Workers and Few Downsides (minimum wage increase) (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Erfd5y                                                                  This research builds on previous studies that have chipped away at opposition to the policy (minimum wage increase)
    • Study: The Distribution Effects of Minimum Wages: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data (US Census) https://bit.ly/2xpueqn
  • Detailing CEO-Worker Pay Gaps as High as 5,000 to 1, It’s Clear Why Corporate Execs Didn’t Want This Report Released (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2INL4V5                                                  CEO to median worker pay ratios: McDonald’s 3,101 to 1; Yum China Holdings 2,818 to 1; Yum Brands 1,358 to 1
  • ‘Terrible News for Workers’ as Supreme Court Makes It Harder for Them to Fight Back When ‘Screwed’ by Employer (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2xfSB9z                                                                  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says decision allowing forced arbitration clauses is ‘egregiously wrong’
  • Women of Color Demand Federal Investigation of Sexual Harassment at McDonald’s (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2sfXObR        Cooks and cashiers from McDonald’s franchises in nine major cities have filed 10 charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…
  • Marriott Workers Confront Shareholders About Workplace Harassment (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2ktM0zi                                            … eight workers attended the shareholders’ meeting to raise concerns about sexual harassment at work
  • With its food workers on strike, how is the University of California feeding students? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2ILxd1f                                                                                              Using student volunteers and other stand-ins. Don’t be surprised: Colleges have been weakening unions since the ‘70s.
  • Crab crisis: Maryland seafood industry loses 40 percent of work force in visa lottery (Baltimore Sun) https://bsun.md/2FCv2XC
  • The average American worker takes less vacation time than a medieval peasant (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2rwM2KC
  • With its Way Of Life At Risk, This Remote Oyster-Growing Region Called In Robots (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KTo8Af  The revolution is coming to rural New Brunswick.

 

Pollinators

  • Beyond honey bees: Wild bees are also key pollinators, and some species are disappearing (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2IMQWxB

 

Animals

  • The Surprising Origin of Chicken as a Dietary Staple (National Geographic) https://bit.ly/2JMTI1Q                                                            Before 1948, chicken wasn’t a mainstay of the dinner table. A contest to breed a bigger, better bird changed that.
  • I Know Just How Incredible Chickens Are: I’ve Spent More Than Thirty Years Getting to Know Them (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2smFBtZ

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Table-to-Farm-to-Table: Startup Grows Food for Restaurants With Kitchen Leftovers (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2LxnPMw
  • Monsanto And Bayer Are Set To Merge. Here’s Why You Should Care. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2scdFYR                                “Together they will influence markets all over the world on a scale we’ve never seen before.”
  • Child labour, poverty and terrible working conditions lie behind the sugar you eat (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2s9pzDx
  • Saved In The CECCO Time! Bankrupt Candy Company Sold At Federal Auction (NPR) https://n.pr/2sbhOMU
  • Here’s How the Burger Is Being Reinvented and Changing the Way America Eats (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2LzmLIa                            The success of America’s first-ever plant-based burger joint is no accident.
  • Florida brewery unveils six-pack rings that feed sea turtles rather than kill them (The Time Picayune) https://bit.ly/2Lwet3z\

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Homeless Man Jailed After Being Falsely Accused of Using Counterfeit Cash Is Suing Burger King (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2KAMxKJ

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Fish Market Buys Freedom For Fred The 70-Pound Octopus (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2xdyPeP
    • The owner of a SLO County fish market bought a 70-pound octopus – but not to sell it (San Luis Obispo Tribune) https://bit.ly/2KTkmqG
  • How Science-Based Policy and International Cooperation Can Protect Marine Ecosystems – and the Human Food Supply (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2svQ8lO                                                                      The precipitous decline – and steady recovery – of jack mackerel has become a parable of global cooperation. World leaders, take note.

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • EU Wants American Cheesemakers to Stop Using Names Like Gorgonzola, Feta, and Parmesan (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2LpMcMh
  • Justice Department approves Bayer-Monsanto merger in landmark settlement (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2symRXY
  • The USDA’s Proposal For GMO Labels Is Here, And It’s Wacky (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2I3opn6                                                      After months of waiting, the USDA’s proposal for the labels to signify that food has been genetically modified is here.
  • Now Trump Is Coming For Your Beer (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2INJIW9                                                                                          The president’s aluminum tariffs will squeeze small producers.
  • USDA Study Shows We’re Losing A Concerning Amount of Trees In Cities (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2jVEiOb                                        A recent study from the USDA’s Forest Service used aerial imagery to take a look at the change in tree cover in the US’s cities and towns over a five-year period, from 2009 to 2014. What they found is staggering: each year over that period, non-rural areas lost 36 millions trees.
  • Missouri Passes Bill Defining ‘Meat’ to Exclude Plant Based and Lab Grown Foods (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2rYhoKp                  Missouri state lawmakers passed an omnibus agriculture bill on Thursday that includes a provision prohibiting plant-based products from being labeled as “meat.”
    • Missouri Is Making It Illegal To Call This “Meat” (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2KEwX0Q                                                                    The beef lobby is going to war against veggie burgers.
  • The House Farm Bill Just Failed (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2rLOv3Q                                                                                            Let us count the ways it would have screwed rural America.
    • Farm Bill Goes Down in Flames, but It Isn’t Dead Yet (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2s8FWQP
    • The 2018 Farm Bill Battle Lines Have Been Drawn: Here’s What You Can Do (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2J6A3NS
    • House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill Would Increase Food Insecurity and Hardship (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) https://bit.ly/2rIWcIh
    • GOP’s poor arguments for doubling down on SNAP’s work requirements (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2ILE2Qs
    • On eve of farm bill vote, Staten Island religious leaders went hungry to advocate for food stamps users (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2LwJh4x
  • Does a California Supreme Court Decision Really Mark the End of the Gig Economy? (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2INdfTZ

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology/Nanotechnology

 

Poisons

  • Farmers and cropdusting pilots on the Great Plains worried about pesticide risks before ‘Silent Spring’ (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2JadIip
  • As Landmark Glyphosate Case Moves to Trial, Man Dying of Cancer to Have Day in Court With Monsanto (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2GUL9QP
  • We’re asking the wrong questions about glyphosate (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2KQ6sFQ                                                                  It’s not enough to talk about how safe glyphosate is. We need to consider what “safe” actually means – and who gets to define it.

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts, Jenny's Food and Ag Update

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update May 4, 2018

  • In the Desert, Tucson Models Affordable Food Access (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HEVYLc
  • Can Organics Help Rural America Rebound? (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HGtcYr                                                                                      Some see organic farming a sure-fire way to improve struggling farm communities. Others say it will take a lot more than higher premiums to make a lasting economic difference.
  • Here’s Even More Evidence That Hand Dryers Are Pretty Disgusting (Vice) https://bit.ly/2HxLV8h                                                          A new study found that they’re actually blowing bacteria onto your hands.                                                                                                                                    If hand dryers are not sanitized, as an ice machine must be, they will encourage bacterial growth, the temperatures are perfect, 50°F – 176°F (10°C – 80°C), dependent on the type of bacteria, water activity, and pH… (Brooklyn CUNY) https://bit.ly/2Go0Rrp
  • Napa County Measure C proponents say ag preservation needs oak woodlands protection (North Bay Business Journal) https://bit.ly/2IWasDs
  • Last year’s devastating wildfires left behind an unexpected bounty: morel mushrooms (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2HvA7CQ                                                                          Unexpected to some…
  • On The Hunt For The Elusive Morel Mushroom In Ohio’s Appalachian Country (NPR) https://n.pr/2FlM7Ff

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • Two Years Ago, I Was a College Student – Now I’m a Farmers and It’s Completely Changed My World (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2r65ePa                                                                                                The work of farming itself is remaking and shifting the way that I approach the world.
  • The Women Reviving Heirloom Grains and Flour (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HtMWyf                                                                                    Female grain growers, millers, and artisan bread bakers are collaborating to lift women’s role in bread into the spotlight.
  • Stressed, Struggling, and Suicidal: America’s Farmers Are Begging or Mental Health Services (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2HoZCWY                                                                                Trump’s trade war promises even more uncertainty.
  • Suicide Rates Among Farmers are Alarmingly High. Can Federal Legislation Help? (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2vnfPtx                              The STRESS Act would provide support, but some farmers say it’s little more than a band-aid and real policy changes are needed.
  • Rural Kansas is dying. I drove 1,800 miles to find out why (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2r3YjoG                                                            A native Kansan returns home to find that the broken promises of commodity agriculture have destroyed a way of life.
  • The future of seafood is bait-to-plate transparency on blockchain (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2HwvbkY                              Sometime soon, American eaters may be able to purchase tuna labeled with a QR code that can be scanned to reveal when and where the fish was caught, and by whom…

 

Food and Culture

  • An Indigenous Corn Makes a Comeback (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HFZCVc                                                                                              In New York, the Iroquois White Corn Project is riving an ancient and sacred variety of white corn in hopes of improving Native nutrition and health.
  • Don’t Mess With The Sweet Potato Pie: A Museum Wrestles With ‘Authentic’ Black Menu (NPR) https://n.pr/2IOWpQm
  • Ouch, No! Some Scots Cry As Their Beloved Soda Gets A Less Sugary Revamp (NPR) https://n.pr/2HuAth7
  • When Did Food Network Change Its Diet? (BuzzFeed) https://bzfd.it/2vPuZIf                                                                                        Food Network once taught us the difference between kale and chard. Why did it pivot to brioche French toast topped with pulled pork?

 

Seeds & Cultivars

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • The food industry’s food stamp problem (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2K47JsX                                                                                              We recently obtained data on SNAP employers from six states and found that thousands of people who work in fast-food and retail jobs don’t make enough money to buy groceries.
  • Amazon gets huge subsidies to provide good jobs – but it’s a top employer of SNAP recipients in a least five state (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2F2HpMr                                                                  One third of Amazon employees in Arizona need food stamps to feed themselves.
  • Photos: Who Actually Benefits From Meals on Wheels (The Nation) https://bit.ly/2Gs0NIh                                                                       And why did the Trump administration think it was a good idea to cut funding for these vital programs?
  • Brining meals to people with food insecurity may deliver savings to the healthcare system (Los Angeles Times) https://lat.ms/2IrqNQf                                                                                        The research I conducted back in 2008 to justify transforming Oakland California’s Meals on Wheels and Congregate meals programs to local and sustainable foods showed that good nutrition does indeed reduce hospital admissions and length of hospital stays… The data is out there.
  • Can the Recovery Quench America’s Food Desserts? (US News & World Report) https://bit.ly/2qZMnVf                                                              In a time of seeming prosperity, millions of Americans struggle with food access and security.
  • Perpetuating the Cycle of Poverty (The New Republic) https://bit.ly/2HuaDJf                                                                                          How the Republican Party’s proposals to reform the food stamp program will keep people down
  • Republicans Propose Strict Work Requirements for Food Stamp Recipients (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2HjovGf                                  “This bill attempts to change SNAP from a feeding program to a work program.”
  • Study: From Welfare To A Workbased Safety Net: An Incomplete Transition (University of Michigan School of Social Work) https://bit.ly/2H1TMtO                                                                                      The reform and related policies did increase the economic well-being of working poor families with children. But given the economic conditions in the last 15 years, TANF has decreased the economic well-being of the nonworking, nondisabled poor, as evidenced by the increased number of disconnected and extremely poor families.
  • Recent Welfare Reform Research Findings (2004) (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) https://bit.ly/2veOee0          Implications for TANF Reauthorization and State TANF Policies
  • The Trouble With Medicaid Work Requirements (The Atlantic) https://theatln.tc/2nefXUo
    • Research Report: Work Requirements in Social Safety Net Programs (Urban Institute) https://urbn.is/2E326aW                      A Status Report of Work Requirements in TANF, SNAP, Housing Assistance, and Medicaid

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Americans Waste 150,000 Tons of Food every Day – That’s a Pound Per Person (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2vy4N4I
    • A New Study Shows the Stunning Amount of Food People Toss in the Garbage Every Day (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2HgIbvc                                                                                         And it’s people eating the healthiest who are throwing away the most food.
    • Study: Relationship between food waste, diet quality, and environmental sustainability (PlosOne) https://bit.ly/2vurSoV
  • The food that goes bad in your fridge amounts to trillions of gallons of wasted water (Sacramento Bee) https://bit.ly/2JcrQnK
  • For One Fine-Dining Chef, Cutting Food Waste Saves The Planet And The Bottom Line (NPR) https://n.pr/2K1Dsv3

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • National E. coli Outbreak Is Worsening, a Ban On Romaine Lettuce Is Recommended (MSN) https://bit.ly/2HzZabf
    • CDC Warns People To Steer Clear Of Romaine As E. Coli Outbreak Spreads (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2HlleCS          So far 53 people in 16 states have been infected
      • Toss the romaine lettuce now – or risk getting E. coli illness, health officials warn (Helena Independent Record) https://bit.ly/2qMq0mM
      • A surprising clue in the E. coli investigation: Sick inmates in an Alaska Prison (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2I1nhxg                                                                                The outbreak that originated with Yuma, Arizona-grown romaine lettuce has taught us one thing so far: that it’s much easier to spot a pattern when everyone’s eating the same thing.
  • Here’s what it costs restaurants when a foodborne illness outbreak occurs (CNBC) https://cnb.cx/2Hvn8Ez
    • A new study puts a price on the cost of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, which can range from a couple thousand dollars to millions
    • A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health simulated a number of different types of outbreaks using common causes like norovirus, E. coli, and salmonella.
    • Panera Bread is the most recent restaurant to be linked to a foodborne illness outbreak.
  • Study Warns Eating Out Can Increase Phthalates, Lead To Disease (International Business Times) https://bit.ly/2qM8Sxx

 

Education

  • Launching the Next Generation of Latinx Farmers in Washington’s Skagit Valley (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2r3LWK5    The region is home to a handful of training programs helping to support new farmers and local food producers.

 

Children & School Food

  • School Garden Apprenticeship – Teen Summer Jobs Available (Cropmobster Community Exchange, SF Bay) https://bit.ly/2qPLlL9

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • The Restaurant Industry Ran a Private Poll on the Minimum Wage. It Did Not Go Well For Them. (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2EXwgMH
    • The restaurant industry is struggling to convince eaters that workers don’t deserve minimum wage (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2HkJtW8                                                                                      A leaked poll conducted by the industry lobby found that diners don’t mind higher prices if they raise worker wages.
  • Fast food chains like In-N-Out are quickly becoming jobs people want to have (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2JBIOfD
  • “He Grabbed My Butt. I Dumped an Entire Tray With 10 Glasses of Red Wine on Him.” (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GYWiVJ
  • Migrant Dreams: Canada’s Broken Promise (Al Jazeera) https://bit.ly/2HWCvXG                                                               What happens when Indonesian migrant workers trapped in debt-bondage in Canada decide to fight back?
  • Farmworkers Are Living 20 to a House in California’s Bountiful Salinas Valley (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2HWoRQT                  “They can’t get people to move here, or stay here, because there’s nowhere for them to live.”                                                                            Welcome to California’s housing crisis…
  • In the American West, Arbitrary Poverty Designations Are Shortchanging the Rural Poor (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2HpzOt3
  • Immigrant Detainees Forced To Work For $1 A Day: Lawsuit (International Business Times) https://bit.ly/2qRoBvg
  • Why We Have to Go Back to a 40-Hour Work Week to Keep Our Sanity (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2JtIDmk                                                    One hundred fifty years of research proves that shorter work hours actually raise productivity and profits – and overtime destroys them. So why do we still do this?
  • Reversing Past Oppression, Cooperation Jackson Builds a Better Future (Counter Punch) https://bit.ly/2K3frDH

 

Protests

  • Animal Rights Activists Target Slaughterhouses as Worldwide Movement Grows (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2v80HA3                  Animal rights activists launch a “war of ethics and morals.”
  • What’s Really in McDonald’s Happy Meals? Here’s the Awful Truth (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2HBUT7W                                                The fast-food chain is misleading the public by claiming to care about the millions of animals killed for its menu.
    • McDonald’s Sells More Chicken Than Beef. This Campaign Demands it Treat Birds Better (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HgpTdm                                                                            Animal welfare groups are tackling the welfare of chickens destined for McNuggets and McChickens. But past victories don’t guarantee a success.

 

Pollinators

  • Honeybees Are Struggling to Get Enough Good Bacteria (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2qNsEIM
    • Study: Bacterial communities associated with honeybee food stores are correlated with land use (Ecology and Evolution) https://bit.ly/2HkEJeI

 

 

Animals

  • If You’re Like Most Americans, You Think Farmed Animals Are Treated Well: That’s Simply Not True (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2r7o1cV                                                                                          Katie Cantrell wants to educate people about what really happens on factory farms.
  • Jury awards hog farm neighbors $50 million (Raleigh News & Observer) https://bit.ly/2KiRBEd                                                              Could the tide be turning on Confined Animal Feeding Operations?

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • The Bayer-Monsato Merger is Bad News for the Planet (Web of Debt) https://bit.ly/2r1taTF
    • Here’s Why US Farmers Overwhelmingly Oppose Monsanto-Bayer Merger – and So Should You (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2q4Yeke                                                                                    The proposed merger is bad for everyone – except Bayer and Monsanto.
  • African American owned coffee shop looks to become next Starbucks with a different philosophy (KTVU 2) https://bit.ly/2qKoykN
  • Big food companies are trying to use free trade agreements to kill health warning labels (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2ERskNs
  • Yosemite’s secretive Starbucks: café opens in park, to delight and dismay (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2GzzWsX                                            A new Starbucks provides convenience and caffeine to visitors, but to many it represents a trend of commercialism and 25,000 people petitioned to stop it from opening
  • On-third of American households have struggled to afford either food, shelter or medical care (Market Watch) https://on.mktw.net/2I43pfn

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • The South Texas Fajita Bandit Has Been Sentenced to Fifty Years in Prison (Texas Monthly) https://bit.ly/2Fk70QM                              The nine-year meat hustle has caught up with the former Cameron County Juvenile Detention Center worker.

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Flint Residents Pay to Drink Polluted Water While Nestle Pumps Great Lakes for Profit (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2HwRVgV
    • Michigan is practically giving away clean water – but not to Flint (Popular Science) https://bit.ly/2HfuCb4
  • Thousands of Poor Detroiters Are About to Get Their Water Cut Off (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2F3dwM1                                            The city prepares for its fifth annual water shutoff.
  • There Is an Area of Plastic in the Ocean That’s Three Times the Size of France. This 23 Year Old Thinks He Can Clean It Up. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2JcRWXQ
  • The Arctic faces record levels of pollution from microplastics (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2JxwWLF                                           Scientists trace the plastics back to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, fishing nets, and cigarettes.
    • ‘Nowhere is immune:’ Researchers find record levels of microplastics in Artic Sea ice (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2Kez77I
  • Iceland sets target of 191 kills as country resumes whaling (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Hb6cE1                                                        Authorities grant whalers a quota to hunt the endangered fin whale this summer after a two-year pause

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • India: Monsanto Loses Right to Patent Seeds (Daily Pioneer India) https://bit.ly/2rh89EV                                                                                            Delhi high Court’s ruling which forbids Monsanto from stopping supplies to seed companies is a boost to domestic seed companies, and will cub the ability of multinationals to establish seed monopoly.
  • In ‘Huge Win for Pollinators, People, and the Planet,’ EU Bans Bee-Killing Pesticides (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2vWAkNW                                                                      “Authorizing neonicotinoids during a quarter of a century was a mistake and led to an environmental disaster. Today’s vote is historic.”
  • Taiwan Announces Ban on All Plastic Bags, Straws, and Utensils (Global Citizen) https://glblctzn.me/2CRjezn                                            All single-use plastic must be phased out by 2030.
  • ‘A Scourge on Our Seas’: UK Government Takes Aim at Single Use Plastics (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2vrNhis
  • French MPs force vegetarian food producers to mince their words (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2HhGGsJ                                  Makers of ‘vegetarian sausages’ and similar items will no longer be able to use meat-related terms after new ruling
  • Wins For Sustainable agriculture in FY 2018 Omnibus (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) https://bit.ly/2HBAeh0
  • Kirsten Gillibrand Takes Aim at ICE After an Arrest at a New York Dairy Farm (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2F56eXM                    “Officers should not be allowed to raid private property without a warrant.”
  • Trump Just Gave Factory Farms a Huge Break (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2FrvgAC                                                                                          This harmful industry doesn’t deserve support from the federal government.
  • Pesticide Executives Are Running Ag Policy for Donald Trump (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2qPL3E3                                                          The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service is the “eyes, ears, and voice for US agriculture around the world.”
  • US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services becomes multi million-dollar federal wildlife-killing program (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2FkmUuH                                                                                        “The Department of Agriculture needs to get out of the wildlife-slaughter business.”
  • Trade war backfire: Steel tariff shrapnel hits US farmers (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2vam4Rz
    • Trade War Hits Another Red State (MSN) https://bit.ly/2qQOP0Z
    • Trade War Is About to Screw Over California’s Remaining Republicans (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2qAabyz              China’s tariffs will hard in the Golden State’s farm country.                In California the Central Valley is the heart of the Republicans strong hold…
  • Trump administration approves oil drilling, pipeline in Carrizo Plain (San Luis Obispo County, CA) National Monument (The Tribune, San Luis Obispo) https://bit.ly/2r1uV2E
  • Why Is Trump Trying to Kill Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling? (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2r7p2lf                                                        Prohibiting warning labels would be a huge win for the food industry and a big loss for consumers.
  • Everything you need to know about New York’s proposal to eliminate the tip credit (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2HhvwE4
  • State (California) can label widely used herbicide (Roundup) as possible carcinogen (SF Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2Ja0y1c
  • Philadelphians Drink Less Sugary Soda, More Water, After Tax (NPR) https://n.pr/2HlfYlT
    • Consumption of sugary drinks plummeted after Philadelphia passed the country’s highest soda tax (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2HbmatH
  • Tulsa says no more Dollar General, curbing exploitation of black neighborhoods (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2qMFWW2
  • Chellie Pingree: Get Ready for the 2018 Farm Bill Fiasco (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2HahSGQ
    • The House Farm Bill Ignores What Farmers Want (and Farm Groups Call BS) (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2HTzsOY
    • Opinion: The Republican Farm Bill is as Broken as our food System (foodtank) https://bit.ly/2HLVQqX
    • The 2018 Farm Bill’s Hidden Agenda to Push Millions to Push Millions off Food Stamps (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2HbvgXm
    • Republican Farm Bill Calls On Many SNAP Recipients To Work Or Go To School (NPR) https://n.pr/2EJz5RA
    • GOP House’s Farm Bill Would Gut a Key Conservation Program (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2HeU8Bq                          Some see organic farming as a sure-fire way to improve struggling farm communities. Others say it will take a lot more than higher premiums to make a lasting economic difference.
  • Why the GOP food stamp overhaul might not work (Politico) https://politi.co/2Hu4M7z                                                                            There’s little evidence that SNAP job training works, let alone that it can be scaled up quickly for millions more people.
  • ‘Sick Joke’: House Agriculture Committee Advances Farm Bill Attacking Environment, Endangered Species (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2He5wxj

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology/Nanotechnology

  • Should Farm Animals Be Genetically Modified to Remove Their Capacity to Feel Pain? (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Hxvf0D          Creating a “brainless chicken” opens up serious ethical questions.

 

Technology

  • The Secret Truth Behind Food Flavorings (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2vXHv8N                                                                              Processed food contains some surprising additives to create specific flavors.

 

Poisons

  • Lawmakers want the EPA to ignore impacts of pesticides on endangered species (Environmental Health News) https://bit.ly/2qN5wJL                                                                                              It would be hard to overstate the dangers of this Farm Bill rider
  • Environmentalists and Farmers Seek Court Decision Halting Use o Dow’s ‘Agent Orange Pesticide (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2qM7Otp
  • Monsanto bullies EPA on Glyphosate ruling (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2KfITXk                                                                                Monsanto has launched a campaign to pressure the EPA into declaring glyphosate safe.
  • A Cancer on Society: Monsanto Claims Right Not to Speak About Roundup (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2qSEbWK            Monsanto doesn’t want the world to know their product is labeled a “problem carcinogen.”
GrowCalgary Blog Posts, Jenny's Food and Ag Update

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update April 14, 2018

 

  • 20% of US Diets Responsible for Almost Half of Country’s Food_Related Emissions, Study Finds (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2FQt0Ih
    • Study: Greenhouse gas emissions and energy use associated with production of individual self-selected US diet (IOP Science) https://bit.ly/2DS3j48
  • ‘Dangerous’ Decline in Biodiversity Threatening Humanity’s Wellbeing Worldwide (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2uglHnT
  • Has #MeToo Changed Your Relationship With Restaurants? (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GjuaLU                                                        We want to hear from you.
  • Researchers Just Found a Hidden Cause of California’s Smog Problem (Climate Desk) https://bit.ly/2GlzdIn                                Fertilized soils may be contributing up to 40 percent of the state’s nitrogen oxides emissions.
  • Residents Near Hog Farms Just Got Much, Much Worse (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2J5JV7B                                                                                  It just became much easier for large livestock operations to pollute near people’s homes.
  • ‘Buy local’ food programs deceive consumers and are rarely enforced, a USA today Network investigation finds (az central) https://bit.ly/2GurzMY                                                                                            In just one example, peanuts are trucked into Oklahoma. But that doesn’t stop a manufacturer from getting a “Made In Oklahoma” brand…
  • Behind the Rise and Fall of Growing Power (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2FCRpRp                                                                                            The urban farming powerhouse had global reputation. Then, it collapsed last year under mounting debt, prompting big questions about what happened and what comes next.
  • Scientists examine threat to food security if we meet the Paris climate targets (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2ImkEoH                        Even with aggressive climate policies to limit global warming, food security in some areas will be threatened
  • Half a Degree of Warming Makes a Big Difference to Global Food Security, Study Finds (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2JlhzGS
  • Study: Changes in extremes, fresh water availability and vulnerability to food insecurity projected at 1.5°C and 2°C global warming with a higher-resolution global climate model (The Royal Society Publishing) https://bit.ly/2GrdcvQ
  • Climate Change Threatens US Culinary Traditions, From Maple Syrup to Hot Sauce (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Gyl4Yx
    • Study: Managing for delicious ecosystem service under climate change: can United States sugar maple (Acer saccharum) syrup production be maintained in a warming climate? (International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management) https://bit.ly/2HbmSb6
  • Six “Organic” Dairies in Texas Outproduce 453 Organic Dairies in Wisconsin (The Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2H0PLci

Breathe easier under a plan to cut airborne dust and manure at cattle feedlot (Tri-City Herald) https://bit.ly/2HjJ56E

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • Sorry, pretty much everyone: young farmers are the least diverse – and smallest – group of farmers in the country (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2GmRFVg
  • Female Farmers in the (San Francisco) East Bay Cultivate a Sense of Community (East Bay Express) https://bit.ly/2E4JtD3

Facing the most severe economic drought in recent history, New York’s dairy farmers are battling economic and emotional distress.

 

Food and Culture

  • After Years Of Violence, Chef Offers Colombian Farmers Pride And Profit (NPR) https://n.pr/2G4YWEP
  • Food Historian Reckons With the Black Roots of Southern Food (Smithsonian Magazine) https://bit.ly/2IkOOZA                                        … Michael Twitty shares the contributions that enslaved African-Americans and their descendants have made to southern cuisine
  • The Long Run Home (Earth Island Journal) https://bit.ly/2EkF4ff  A vanishing tribe, a critically-endangered fish, and the race to pull them back from the brink.

 

Seeds & Cultivars

  • The Red Delicious is an apple atrocity. Why are we growing billions of pounds of them each year? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2DsRVvq                                                                                            As tastier breeds like Honeycrisp and Gala edge the Red Delicious out of grocery stores, what happens to the forgotten fruit?

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Republicans in Congress Are So Eager to Slash Food Stamps, They’re About to Make a Big Mistake (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GJhoGA                                                                                            A battle over SNAP work requirements
  • Spring Break Leaves Some College Students Looking For Their Next Meal (Wisconsin Public Radio) https://bit.ly/2pZHIlq  Experts say hunger on campuses is all too common
  • Food, Housing Insecurity May Be Keeping College Students From Graduating (NPR) https://n.pr/2uLh19Z
  • Only 30 percent of American food aid pays for actual food (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2GHZm7K                                                    The next farm bill may change that. If the Food for Peace Modernization Act passes, it would mark the most radical – and progressive – change to America’s food-aid commitments in sixty years.

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Turning (EU) food waste into animal feed could take a chunk out of livestock emissions (Horizon Magazine) https://bit.ly/2Ivr4BM
  • Instead of reshaping domestic waste management, US asks China to lift its scrap waste ban (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2GEhHT5
  • Trashed: Inside the Deadly World of Private Garbage Collection (ProPublica) https://bit.ly/2EWuOvr                                                        Waste removal is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. On the darkened streets of New York City, it’s a race for survival.

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • The Coca-Cola Invasion Is Causing Mexico’s Slow Death by Junk Food (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2H6NnOU                                          Mexico’s traditional diet of beans and corn has been replaced with pizza and hamburgers.
  • FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb want to define “healthy” and “natural” (New Food economy) https://bit.ly/2GmsL44                    And maybe take the dairy out of yogurt, too.
  • Here’s the Federal Government’s Big Chance to Improve Public Health and Reduce Animal Suffering – at the Same Time (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Ia8uiw                                                                   The USDA must make plant-based eating priority in the 2020-2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
  • The Science About Eating out That Will Scare You Into Cooking Your Own Dinner (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2pUqWVV                A new study links restaurant meals with higher levels of plastic-based chemicals in the body.
  • Would You Like Some Phthalates With Your Sandwich? (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2GqmsMG
  • Study: Dietary sources of cumulative phthalates exposure among the US general population NHANES 2005-2014 (Environmental International)
  • Study: Phage particles harboring antibiotic resistance genes in fresh-cut vegetables and agricultural soil (Environment International) https://bit.ly/2GXiLPN

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • What turns some law-abiding Canadians into smugglers? The high price of imported cheese (PRI) https://bit.ly/2FejxWP

 

Children & School Food

  • What Children Understand About Food Insecurity (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2GnGBTK                                                                          Researchers have begun asking children about their households’ lack of food – and making surprising discoveries.

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • Waiting Tables or Harvesting Food, Why Fair Labor Is Still About Civil Rights (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2GXI0EQ                                                   For too many women, deciding whether to stand up to harassment at work is a choice between earning a enough tips to put foo on their tables or not.
  • Tennessee ICE Raid Signals Return to Large-Scale Workplace Raids (Southern Poverty Law Center) https://bit.ly/2EqzxDT
  • Five days in pictures: Farmworkers fast for freedom from sexual violence in the fields (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2GjI5S7
  • Union Behind The ‘Fight For $15’ Cuts Funding For Fast Food Campaign (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2JasuD5                                In the Trump era, the Service Employees International Union is pumping less money into organizing McDonald’s workers, filings show.
  • A Heimlich Maneuver for Stopping Harassers (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GIR6Bj                                                                                              And four more ideas on how to clean up restaurant culture.

 

Protests

  • Calling Out Trudeau ‘Betrayal, Water Defenders Mobilize Against Kinder Morgan Pipeline (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2IOIZED

 

Pollinators

  • Flying insects tell tales of long distance migrations (Science News) https://bit.ly/2EtUeif                                                                                Well timed travel ensures food and breeding opportunities
  • How honeybees’ royal jelly might be a baby glue, too (Science News) https://bit.ly/2GZGzox                                                                                A last minute pH shift turns goo sticky and keeps queen larvae from falling out of the cells.
  • Jeff Bezos and Amazon Can Help Save the Bees – So What Are They Waiting For? (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2GBLewI                    Several major retailers have committed to stop selling harmful neonic pesticides to protect bees. Not Amazon.

 

Animals

  • Large-Scale Animal Agriculture Is Threatening Rural Communities. Congress Is About to Make It Worse. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2DRD4et                                                                    Missouri communities fend off a rise in feedlots.

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • The death of the “Big Food” era is imminent after the industry’s biggest lobbying group crumbles (Quartz) https://bit.ly/2oUpJwc
  • Bills to Ban Local Soda Taxes Are Moving In the States, Coke and Pepsi Borrow from the Tobacco Playbook (The Center For Media And Democracy) https://bit.ly/2JfwKRQ
    • Foodwatch Germany slams Coca-Cola’s denial of health threat (Deutsche Welle) https://bit.ly/2GK9DNx                                            The German consumer watchdog Foodwatch accused Coca-Cola of denying the obvious health damage caused by its soft drinks. But the government has no plans for a UK-style sugar tax.
  • Edibles Market Is Exploding. You Can Bet Big Corporations Are Watching. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GJ4b0J                                “They recognize the writing on the wall.”
  • A UK Grocery Chain Banned Palm Oil. Here’s Why That’s Not Enough. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2qoZNKY
  • How Three Black Women Use Food as Tools for Resistance (East Bay Express) https://bit.ly/2GkWLkE                                                        Away from the confines of restaurants, Monifa Dayo, Hella Black Brunch, and Soul Oakland create meals to spark change.
  • Why Is China Treating North Carolina Like the Developing World? (Rolling Stone) https://rol.st/2G7U992                                    How lax regulations made it cheaper for China to outsource pork production – and all of its environmental and human costs – to the US.
  • With its purchase of Whole Foods, is Amazon’s goal to revolutionize food distribution? (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2pTy6Zq
  • NECCO Wagers: Fans Stock Up As America’s Oldest Candy Company Faces Closure (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2JMxZYU
  • Popular B.C. chefs ask provincial government not to renew salmon farm licenses (National Observer) https://bit.ly/2q9Dh8F
  • Don’t Call It Pot: My Dinner With San Francisco’s Cannabis Gourmets (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2umkP1g                                    A new group of elite entrepreneurs are trading in marijuana-infused luxury foods.
  • In Oaxaca, Mexico, A Locally Made Soda Takes Aim At Coca-Cola’s Supremacy (NPR) https://n.pr/2pDlq9Z
  • Why is farmers’ market bread so ridiculously expensive? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2IiiV3P                                                          Don’t blame growers and bakers for the $10 heirloom loaf. Blame American farm policy.
  • As Vermont’s Milk Industry Continues To Free-Fall, Canadian Dairies Are Thriving (NPR) https://n.pr/2uVM3fs

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • This is What a West Without Water Will Look Like (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2tPliZp                                                                                    A huge swath of the US is facing massive droughts. It’s only going to get worse.
  • Is Coal Waste Leaching Into America’s Drinking Water? (The New Republic) https://bit.ly/2pRM9j1                                                                          Coal ash ponds are contaminating ground water across the country, but the consequences are unclear because the government doesn’t monitor them.
  • From ‘Sea to Shining Sea,’ Industrial Ag Fouls America’s Waterways (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2ud1bok                   Given agriculture’s role in destroying our most precious natural resource, you’d think the US Congress would do everything in its power to protect your water.
  • The Great Lakes Are Filling Up With Giant Green Blobs (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2q2lak2                                                                Industrial agriculture fuels them, and new science shows that they emit way more greenhouse gas than previously thought.
  • Oysters could clean up the New York harbor. But regulators worry people will eat them (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2EdaWm0
  • The Trouble With Tuna Poke Bowls (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2uk9EWN                                                                                        The Hawaiian dish is all the rage – but the oceans are paying the price.

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • Alarm Sounds After EU Regulators Greenlight Bayer-Monsanto #MergerFromHell (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2FT4Flj  Critics of the deal warn the decision will allow the companies, “together with BASF, to become data giants in agriculture – the ‘Facebooks of farming’ – with all the pitfalls that entails.”
  • Are White South African Farmers Facing “Genocide”? Why These Claims Illustrate Australia’s Discriminatory Refugee Policy (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2GY1BSb
  • ICE arrests farmworkers, sparking fears in the Central Valley over immigrants and the economy (Los Angeles Times) https://lat.ms/2JaXbIb
  • Strict Work Requirements to Get Food Stamps, But Not Farm Subsidies (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2Ef5cbg
    • New USDA Subsidy Program Will Send Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to Cotton Farmers (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2Eew1N0
    • The Market’s Advice: Plan, Plant, Plant (Cotton Grower) https://bit.ly/2GOtEpf
  • USDA secretary accused of siding with industry over science in new report (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2H2iqOe                                  A Union of Concerned Scientists report said Sonny Perdue was ‘sidelining science’ and called for congressional scrutiny of the agency
  • After Supreme Court ruling, Flint residents will finally see officials in court (grist) https://bit.ly/2DQn0cP
  • The EPA edited out farmworker concerns about pesticides (grist) https://bit.ly/2GIrHLe
    • EPA reportedly ‘distorted’ meeting notes and workers could be more vulnerable to pesticide exposure (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2IjlItn
    • Trump saved a pesticide Obama wanted banned. Then, it poisoned several farmworkers. (grist) https://bit.ly/2IipVxg
  • FDA Issues Mandatory Recall For Kratom Products Over Salmonella Risks (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2GygzwV          The order targets products distributed y Triangle Pharmanaturals, which refused a voluntary recall request.
  • NLRB Just Dealt a Major Blow to the Fight for $15. Now’s the Time to Take Stock of the Campaign. (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2E2fkUJ
  • Trump signs bill that kills Obama-era rule targeting wag theft, unsafe working conditions (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2pqGvUL
  • Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Fix EQIP, a Broken Farm Conservation Program (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2GFXah3
  • Farmers Are Collateral Damage in Trump’s Trade War (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GiAEuq
    • China Joins the Fray, Reacts to US Tariffs With Huge Tariffs of Their Own (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2J0FHOG
    • “Farmers for Free Trade” Runs Ad During, “Fox and Friends” To Get Trump’s Attention (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2pRCr0a
    • What Chinese Tariffs Targeting American Crops Will Mean For Farmers (NPR) https://n.pr/2GuVKqf
    • US Farmers Likely To Be Among Hardest Hit By Chinese Tariffs (NPR) https://n.pr/2GF25eV
    • The First American Casualties of Trump’s Trade War With China (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GzVuqb                                Tariffs on pork and soybeans reverberate through the Heartland.
  • Trump Want to Ban Health Warnings on His Favorite Food (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2u6f4UY                                                        He’s using the NAFTA renegotiations as a tool in the effort.
  • No More Bottled Water For Flint, As Michigan Declares Taps ‘Restored’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2H7f1h5                            The whistleblower who exposed elevated blood lead levels in Flint children says the decision is premature.
  • Flint Residents Chocked By State’s Decision To End Bottled Water Delivery (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2GK3rZL
  • Kansas Governor Signs “Tyson Bill,” Despite Protests (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2GmJIey                                                                  Kansas governor Jeff Colyer just signed a bill that, on the surface, looks like a minor change in poultry production legislation – that is until you talk to the people who have been protesting for the past six months.
  • How a Kansas Town Held off a Tyson Plant (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2pTilll                                                                                    Tonganoxie residents are the latest in a wave of rural communities standing up to Big Ag.
  • Michigan OKs Nestlé Water Extraction, Despite 80K+ Public Comments Against It (NPR) https://n.pr/2GZTnLw
    • Despite Overwhelming Opposition From Residents, Michigan Permits Nestlé to Draw More Groundwater for Bottling (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2JlEPEj                                                              Out of 81, 862 comments filed, only 75 were reportedly in favor of granting the permit.
  • LaPage (Maine Governor) looks to override local pesticide rules in 30 municipalities. But why? (Portland Press Herald) https://bit.ly/2Eb9Rey                                                                                      More communities are developing ordinances meant to protect residents from toxic chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects.

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology/Nanotechnology

 

Technology

  • Robots Are Trying To Pick Strawberries. So Far, They’re Not Very Good At It (NPR) https://n.pr/2IEswmr

 

Poisons

  • Researchers Link Glyphosate to Shorter Pregnancies (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2q4HVoo
    • Study: Glyphosate exposure in pregnancy and shortened gestation length: a prospective Indiana birth cohort study (Environmental Health) https://bit.ly/2FNG14C
  • Popular Beer and Wine Brands Contaminated With Monsanto’s Weedkiller, Test Reveal (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2G80gLc          Some brewers and vintners are taking steps to avoid contamination from glyphosate.
  • Thanks to Scott Pruitt, 30 Million Pounds of Brain Damaging Pesticide Will Be Sprayed on Corps in Next 5 Years (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2pVcVab                  The EPA’s own calculations suggest that babies, children and pregant women all eat much more chlorpyrifos than is safe.