GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update for January 31, 2019

 

  • Is Organic Food Over? (Eater) https://bit.ly/2Qu4zki                              As corporations rush in to make a buck, some farmers are pushing back – and fighting for the soul of organic food
  • The Dirty Truth About Oat Milk (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2sEe5bi                                                                                                    It could help save or soil.
  • How to save shelf-life: cutting down on food waste across its supply chain (Green Biz) https://bit.ly/2CXHrWX
  • Why Sustainable Agriculture Should Support a Green New Deal (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2DMRm2Y
  • Academics across the country say agribusiness has outsized influence on their research (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2sXrlrp

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • ‘No deal would be horrific’: Welsh farmers brace themselves for BREXIT (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2WgtQml
  • How Racism Has Shaped the American Farming Landscape (Eater) https://bit.ly/2CPGOOX                                                                          US agriculture is just as segregated as it was a century ago, with farmers of color at a significant disadvantage.
  • ‘It’s tough sleeping at night’: ranchers seek to protect herds as wolves move in (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Fks9hz
  • A new way to curb nitrogen pollution: Regulate fertilizer producers, not just farmers (GreenBiz) https://bit.ly/2ROhWkZ
  • One of the Nation’s Oldest Food Banks Adds Culinary Education to its Offerings (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2Td9c4l

 

Land and Soil

  • Quebec City’s Disappearing Agricultural Land (CityLab) https://bit.ly/2Mj5vry                                                                                              As agricultural areas are snatched up and transformed into new housing developments, one farmer keeps fighting.
  • ‘We’re black sheep’: the people who are fascinated by soil in cities (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2CofmHO

 

Climate

  • Global Commission Calls for a Food Revolution to Solve World’s Climate and Nutrition Problems (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2szvFgv
    • Scientists Call for ‘Global Agricultural Revolution’ and ‘Planetary Health Diet’ to Save Lives – and Earth (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2CwmYYG                                                                “The food we eat and how we produce it determines the health of people and the planet, and we are currently getting this seriously wrong.”
  • Industrial Agriculture, an Extraction Industry Like Fossil Fuels, a Growing Driver of Climate Change (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2TdraUs
  • Obesity, climate change and hunger must be fought as one, health experts declare (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2WvCsFK
  • Animals dying of thirst in central Australia may be culled as 2,500 camels shot in Western Australia (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Hvy2LJ
  • It’s ‘Going to End with Me’: The Fate of Gulf Fisheries in a Warming World (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2S9JAYZ
  • Load up on Tabasco Sauce Now, Because the Island It Comes From Is Sinking (Food and Wine) https://bit.ly/2WrmPPu

 

Plants, Seeds & Cultivars

  • The United Nations backs seed sovereignty in landmark small-scale farmers’ right declaration (GreenBiz) https://bit.ly/2RRSmvh
    • United Nations Declaration the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas https://bit.ly/2S8cp81

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Not a drop to drink (MacLeans) https://bit.ly/2CM3Fef              Member of the Neskantaga (Canada) First Nation are set to take their first sips of safe tap water in 25 years. Many refer to it as ‘the moment,’ and it’s a matter of life and death…
  • Warning: A ‘Shrinking Window’ of Usable Groundwater (The Revelator, Center for Biological Diversity) https://bit.ly/2RGxK8y
  • Coal Ash Is Contaminating Groundwater in at least 22 States, Utility Reports Show (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2TU0Uyu                                                                                                So far, utilities have acknowledged the presence of enough health-harming contaminants like arsenic to trigger cleanup rules at 70 coal-fired power plant sites.
  • Report: Power Plants are Leaking Cancer Causing Toxins into groundwater Across Texas (Texas Observer) https://bit.ly/2TWeGjU
  • Records Show 100 Percent of Texas Coal Power Plants Contaminating Groundwater (Earth Justice) https://bit.ly/2DiV58f
  • Trans Mountain pipeline work destroyed salmon habitat, scientists say (National Newswatch) https://bit.ly/2RQI6DL
  • Flint schools receive water stations, filtration systems from billionaire Elon Musk (ABC12) https://bit.ly/2FuqshC                          We should maintaining our infrastructure, not relying on billionaires to supply what they see fit…

 

Food Culture & History

  • Cooking Against Capitalism: Oaxaca’s Traditional Kitchens (Roar) https://bit.ly/2DdORq0                                                                                        After an earthquake in late 2017 destroyed their outdoor kitchens, Tehuantepec locals opted to rebuild themselves rather than relying on state support.
  • Stinking rich? Rare durian fruit go on sale for $1,000 each (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2ThRv3D                                                            (Durian) Variety called ‘J-Queen’ goes on sale in Indonesia and comes from trees it creator claims fruit once every three years
  • The Great Boston Molasses Flood: why the strange disaster matters today (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QH9qyF
  • California Archive Project Provides Access to Historic Ag & Community Records (UC Observer) https://bit.ly/2Fc0jFW

 

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

  • Shutdown’s Toll: For the First Time, “People Are Having to Stand in Line to Get a Hot Plate of Food (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2TdHSmL                                                                                              It’s like “something from the Great Depression, but the crisis inflicting this on them is entirely artificial.”
  • José Andrés Just Defended Furloughed Workers and Immigrants in One Swoop (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2QUz2YY
  • Chef José Andrés To Give Free Meals To Federal Workers Affected By Shutdown (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2QQFFvw                                                                                    The celebrity chef’s nonprofit World Central Kitchen usually brings free meals to disaster victims, as it did after the California wildfires and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
  • Jose Andres’s Nonprofit served 11,400 Meals to Furloughed Workers in One Day (Eater) https://bit.ly/2BbNXJl                            World Central Kitchen’s #ChefsForFeds initiative has expanded beyond the nation’s capital to 133 locations
  • Food Banks Usually Replenish Their Resources in January. This year, they Got the Shutdown Instead. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2RP9l1u                                                                                                   “If this goes on into March, it’s going to be extraordinarily difficult.”
  • City College of San Francisco free food market for students in need (San Francisco Examiner) https://bit.ly/2CXiB9t
  • Syrian refugee whose falafel shop was named the ‘Nicest Place in America’ feeds government workers during shutdown (ABC News) https://abcn.ws/2Ftd6mw

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • A coalition of giant brands is about to change how we shop forever, with a new zero-waste platform (Fast Company) https://bit.ly/2RT48FJ

 

Healthy Food & Food Safety

  • Lettuce Recalls: The Truth About Why They Keep Happening (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2VHLW08                                                Here’s why your salad seems susceptible to E. coli outbreaks than other foods you buy.

 

Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

  • The sugar Conspiracy (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/28PiU51             In 1972, a British scientist sounded the alarm that sugar – and not fat – was the greatest danger to our health. But his findings were ridiculed and his reputation ruined. How did the world’s top nutrition scientists get is so wrong for so long?
  • Sugar’s sick secrets: How industry forces have manipulated science to downplay the harm (University of California San Francisco) https://bit.ly/2FshRwA
  • EU approval of glyphosate based on review that plagiarized Monsanto studies (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2svc3Kg
    • Report: Detailed Expert Report on Plagiarism and superordinated Copy Paste in the Renewal Assessment Report (RAR) on Glyphosate (European Free Alliance) https://bit.ly/2VUqkhd

 

Training & Education

 

Labor, Unions & Coops

  • The Rise Of the 4-Day Week (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2FlNckK                                                                                  Companies around the world are cutting people’s workweek but not their wages in an effort to avoid burnout and improve wellbeing.
  • Mar-a-Lago Pastry Chef Claims He Was Fired in Retaliation for Uncovering Sexual Harassment (Eater) https://bit.ly/2Tfiqxi        Graham Randall is bringing a lawsuit against the Trump-owned property for violating Florida’s Civil Rights Act
  • In California, Wonderful Citrus strike exposes a murky world of unequal pay for farmworkers (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CTQfNk
  • Could California produce soon cost you more? Farms face labor shortages, immigration woes (USA Today) https://bit.ly/2B7HIX0
  • These Burgerville employees organized the first official fast-food labor union in the country (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2B40LRR                                                                                        Oregon fast-food workers did what many in the industry thought was impossible.
  • Our View: It’s time to think big in Maine agriculture (Press Herald) https://bit.ly/2SeTwAr                                                                        State policy can encourage cooperative to small farmers get more food to market.

 

Protests

  • Protesters Flip Script On Trump At Farmers Convention: ‘Lock Him Up’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2VRA0Ji

 

Pollinators & Insects

  • Bees face yet another lethal threat in dicamba, a drift prone pesticide (Reveal News) https://bit.ly/2Wfj2om

 

Animals, Fish & Seafood

  • Animals, Workers and Consumers Suffer Under USDA Slaughter Programs (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2UeHwwj
  • “Wild-caught,” “organic,” “grass-fed”: what do all these animal welfare labels actually mean? (Vox) https://bit.ly/2Ru3R7r                   A shopper’s guide to the labels on meat, dairy, and eggs.
  • Animal rights group accused of encouraging ‘illegal behavior’ with map of farms and abattoirs (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mq602M                                                                                    Aussie Farms says online map will allow consumers to make ‘informed choices’

 

  • The dying pig in the aisle: How McDonald’s came to transform animal welfare (Green Biz) https://bit.ly/2sOkuR6
  • ‘It’s medieval’: why some cows are living most of their lives tied up (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2SD41Kt

 

Business, Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • A serial entrepreneur is opening the only black-owned grocery store in Detroit (The Renewal Project) https://bit.ly/2TMGdV6
  • ‘It’s surreal’: Seattle’s Pike Place Fish market sold to fish-throwing employees (Seattle Times) https://bit.ly/2uDRUDr
    • People over profit: Famed Seattle fish market sold to longtime employees – instead of highest bidder (Daily Kos) https://bit.ly/2VY34Px
  • Who owns a pizza recipe? (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2TpUpDF                                                                                              This is a legal argument I have seen play out over decades as a chef. Time after time the courts have said that you can’t stop anyone from imitating what you are doing. If the recipe is published and under copyright, then you need to change the ingredients…
  • One of America’s biggest hospitals invests in the meal-delivery space (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2TpNz0S
    • Munchery: How a venture – backed startup swindled a group of women and minority owned companies out of over $50,000 and is getting away with it (Medium) https://bit.ly/2SnEite
  • McCain Foods closes the California facility responsible for 2018’s largest food safety recall (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CTViNL
  • How Driscoll’s Reinvented the Strawberry (The New Yorker) https://bit.ly/2TPRrIx                                                                                              The berry behemoth turned produce into a beauty contest, and won.
  • From field to fork; Tyson harnesses ag tech for sustainable food production (Green Biz) https://bit.ly/2sJvD5P                                Really?
  • With the end of 365 stores, Whole Foods cements its future as Amazon’s house brand (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Ww94iG
  • No Sweethearts candy this Valentine’s Day after company goes out of business (Cincinnati.com) https://bit.ly/2T6H1E9
    • New Report Traces Hidden Connections Between Food Loss, Hunger, Consumer Demand and Climate Change (World Economic Forum) https://bit.ly/2Tctv1R
    • Report: Innovation with a Purpose: Improving Traceability in Food Value Chains through Technology Innovations (World Economic Forum) https://bit.ly/2FFF2DO
  • Labor Market Is Doing Fine With Higher Minimum Wages (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2TcqTBm                                        Predictions of job losses and slower economic growth haven’t panned out.

 

Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

  • The End of Plastic Cutlery, Plates and Straws: EU Market Says Goodbye To Single-Use Plastic Products (Forbes) https://bit.ly/2MtRt6v
  • Food in the nude – NZ ditching plastic packaging of fruit and vegetables in supermarkets (Mpumadlanga News) https://bit.ly/2DE8J6b
  • The White House quietly rolled back workplace safety rules during the shutdown (Vox) https://bit.ly/2UnhGpY                            Public health groups are suing the Trump administration for blocking a rule requiring employers to report details of workplace injuries.
  • ‘Absolutely Unconscionable’: Trump EPA Refuses to Limit Toxic Chemicals That Contaminate Drinking Water of Millions (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2RTeRjw
  • Farmers and ranchers lose vital support during shutdown (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2W2dgGr                                     The funding stalemate has halted Department of Agriculture programs that the rural West relies on.
  • Postcard from Iowa: How three farmers are coping with the government shutdown (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2UxdZOA
  • Meat packing giant JBS USA getting millions in subsidies meant for farmers impacted by trade war (The Tribune) https://bit.ly/2RUquWL
    • The EPA’s latest bad idea: Spraying streptomycin on our citrus fruits (Orland Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2FsYtji
    • Trump’s war on science: how the US is putting politics above evidence (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2FuqSFx                                Experts say the administration is blatantly dismantling proven programs, and the consequences could be dire
    • Craft Beer Taps Squeezed As Government Shutdown Delays New Releases (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2FyAxuO                                The government shutdown has prevented new breweries from opening.
    • Florida LOCALES Vote To Stop Using Prison Labor – And Others May Follow (The Appeal) https://bit.ly/2WqPDaY                                One commissioner wants the state Department of Corrections to show proof that his county isn’t just using prisoners as ‘slaves.’
    • Following Missouri’s lead, other states take on cell-cultured meat (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2G8zXU1
      • Beef-friendly Nebraska eyes regulations on the word ‘meat’ (Associated Press) https://bit.ly/2AKKZvn                                               … Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year to prevent companies that package and sell food from advertising plant-based, insect-based and lab-grown products as meat…
    • Coastal Maine tourist destination looks to ban fast food restaurants from its downtown (Bangor Daily News) https://bit.ly/2W3DtEB

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

     

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

    • In the Future, Your Food Will Be Sweetened With Protein (Medium) https://bit.ly/2TPUY9M                                                                  How a network of startups and scientists are moving to use cutting-edge tech to fight the obesity epidemic

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update for January 13, 2019

     

    • You Can Now Be Fined and Jailed for Calling This “Meat” (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2QohBQu                                                                       “No none who gets a veggie burger and bites into it is surprised when it’s not slaughtered animal meat.”
    • Build a $300 Underground Greenhouse for Year-round Fresh Food (Building Homes and Living) https://bit.ly/2Ssr7DP
    • For-Profit Chain (Le Cordon Bleu culinary schools) Cancels $494 Million in Student Debt to End State Investigations (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2Tt7I5U
    • Seth Holmes Discusses Migrant Workers, the US agricultural system, and Structural Inequality Exacerbated “through metaphors of ethnic difference” (Haas Institute for Fair and Inclusive Society) https://bit.ly/2AvYBKM
    • Working Paper: Power, Food and Agriculture: Implications for Farmers, Consumers and Communities (University of Missouri) https://bit.ly/2sciaTC
    • 4 Killed And Dozens Injured After Gas Explosion Rocks Bakery In Paris (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2smyZeL

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • Farmers at Gaza’s Edge Try to Make Ends Meet Between Economic Squeeze and Israeli Sniper Fire (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2EThqKR
    • Iowa soybean farmers on shutdown: “it’s not worth putting up the wall to put us in this situation” (CBS News) https://cbsn.ws/2RIi1pE
    • Millet anyone? Facing soil crisis, US farmers look beyond corn and soybeans (The Christian Science Monitor) https://bit.ly/2VwCRaC
    • Navajo Beef Brings Traditional Practices and Modern Business to Ranching (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2Vpg9RI

     

    Land and Soil

     

    Climate

    • Black truffles are in trouble (Popular Science) https://bit.ly/2TFcE82                                                                                              Climate change is threatening to muffle the truffle shuffle.
    • Oceans Heating Up 40 Percent Faster Than Thought, 2018 Expected To See Record Temperatures, Scientists Warn (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2smsDMt

     

    Plants, Seeds & Cultivars

    • Stuffed or Starved? Evolutionary Plant Breeding Might Have the Answer (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2HTvD8z
    • Plants Can Hear Animals Using Their Flowers (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2Ci2tyU                                                                                                  And they react to the buzzing of pollinators by sweetening their nectar.
    • The race to re-learn hemp farming (Salon) https://bit.ly/2FqawOq                                                                             Researchers have a lot to learn about the previously-banned crop before it flourishes on American farms

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • The Costly, Complicated Process of Cleaning Up a Toxic River (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2SNi0Oj                                                                In eastern Washington, a push to clean PCBs from the Spokane River faces a dirty legacy and global pollution problem.
    • Like Fruit, Vegetables, and Almonds? Scientists Have Bad News (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2F1y7UA                                                              A new study finds that the main source of water for our fresh produce could dry up within our lifetimes.
    • Study: The Change Character of the California Sierra Nevada as a Natural Reservoir (AGU100) https://bit.ly/2AsUwqr
    • Survey Finds Almost Half Of Private wells Tested In Southwest Wisconsin Are Contaminated (Wisconsin Public Radio) https://bit.ly/2GWMRXk                                                                                     Local official say more data is needed to understand source of harmful bacteria, nitrates

     

    Food Culture & History

    • The Life-Giving Properties of One of the World’s Oldest Cheeses (Gastro Obscura) https://bit.ly/2C0JA3A                                                          In Xinjiang, the living process dairy the way 4,000 year old mummies did.
    • Why an English Museum Has a Collection of Magic Potatoes (Gastro Obscura) https://bit.ly/2scAkVj                                                       Touch of the rheumatiz? Try carrying around a purloined spud.
    • A Living Fossil From the Deep Sea Was Discovered With Trash Crammed in its Stomach (The Inertia) https://bit.ly/2Ff3Pym

     

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

    • Millions of College Students Are Going Hungry (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2TC62ak                                                                                                   A new government report highlights just how pervasive the problem is.
    • Food Pantries Help Federal Workers, Coast Guard Amid Shutdown (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2QIR8wU                Furloughed and unpaid government employees are struggling to buy necessities amid the weeks long government shutdown.
    • Chicago: Food pantry offering free groceries to furloughed government workers (Chicago Sun Times) https://bit.ly/2TLPUD0
    • Canada’s New 2019 Food Guide Cuts Out Milk And Cheese Almost Entirely (Narcity) https://bit.ly/2VIgGyf                             Canada’s national food guide indicates that dairy is cut out almost entirely.
    • Blow to low carb diet as landmark study finds high fiber cuts heart disease risk (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2HfAxlg               Review commissioned by WHO says fiber in ‘good’ carbohydrates such as wholegrain bread and oats has protective effect

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • Does Your Box of “Ugly” Produce Really Help the Planet? Or Hurt it? (The New Republic) https://bit.ly/2QGf5VX
    • Dumping Rejected Food Shipments into Landfills, Truckers Are Donating Them to Local Charities (Good News Network) https://bit.ly/2AFUifS
    • 300,000+ Plastic Bottles Recycled in ‘Reverse Vending Machines’ Test Run in UK (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Tv9mnp
    • 5 everyday products contaminated with plastic (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2Awlxtb                                                                                It’s high time that corporations and governments step up to stem the tide of plastic, taking action to eliminate all but the most essential single-use plastic items.

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • How a 3.5 mile long irrigation canal used by 23 farms caused the E. coli outbreak linked to romaine (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Ay09DV                                                                                           FDA offers its first assessment of what happened in Yuma, Arizona.
    • The biggest food recall of 2018 is one you still haven’t heard about (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2s838OX
    • E. coli outbreak tied to Santa Barbara County; Monterey, San Benito counties not ruled out (The Californian) https://bit.ly/2RjflPy

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • Alabama sheriff personally kept $1.5 million that was supposed to feed ICE detainees (The Week) https://bit.ly/2LFr3hu
    • After A Run Of Tainted Food Scandals, Women In Japan Took Control Of The System (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2VDlViz
    • Woman Catches A ‘River Monster’ And Has The Footage To Prove It (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2GU3H95

     

    Children & School Food

    • Federally funded school lunches are about to get a lot less healthy (Vox) https://bit.ly/2FrgOMK                                                                                  By relaxing rules for school lunches, the Trump administration is doing the dairy industry a big favor at the expense of children’s health.
    • What the USDA’s New Nutrition Rules Mean for the 30 Million Children Eating School Lunches (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Rf9GKI                                                                                              We talked to school lunch expert Bettina Elias Siegel about what’s at stake.

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • The government shutdown spotlights a bigger issue: 78% of US workers live paycheck to paycheck (cnbc) https://cnb.cx/2VGeqrc

     

    Protests

     

    Pollinators & Insects

    • Puerto Rico May Hold the Answer to Saving the Bees (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2F0zNOC                                                                           The island’s special breed may help solve colony collapse disorder.

     

    Animals, Fish & Seafood

    • Billions Of Male Chicks Are Slaughtered Every Year – This New Technology Could Prevent That (IFL Science) https://bit.ly/2QjA0O4
    • Someone Bought This Dead Fish For $3 Million (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2SCNWVH                                                                                          The auctioned off Bluefin tuna weights 612 pounds.
    • Florida’s Answer to Invasive Lionfish? If You Can’t beat ‘Em, Eat ‘Em (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2Az4Xc9

     

    Business, Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • Supermarket Chains Ignored This Black Community, So Residents Opened a Co-Op (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2SFLfCQ                               The Renaissance Community Co-op is the first of its kind in the nation, opened after 20 years of failed attempts to woo chains to the neighborhood.
    • New Archive Reveals How the Food Industry Mimics Big Tobacco to Suppress Science, Shape Public Opinion (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2TMTVHC
    • McDonald’s Is Officially Banning Preservatives In Their Burgers At All Restaurants in Canada (narcity) https://bit.ly/2AHiTAS
    • Palm Oil Sourcing Should Be Disclosed to Consumers, Sustainability Study Recommends (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2AvL4CV
    • Shop Here, Not There: Science Says Reducing Inequality Is Almost That Simple (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2EYOnph                                  New research shows that shuttling even 5 percent of consumer transactions t poorer neighborhoods can reduce income inequality by up to 80 percent.
    • What Minimum-Wage Foes Got Wrong About Seattle (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2F26TxT                                                           An initial study said the increase to $15 would cost workers jobs and hours. That didn’t happen.
    • Minimum wage hikes in six cities: big impact on pay, none on jobs (UC Berkeley News) https://bit.ly/2RsujCf
    • Study: The New Wave of Local Minimum Wage Policies: Evidence from Six Cities (UC Berkeley) https://bit.ly/2CIMTQD
    • IKEA Just Released Free Plans For A Sustainable Garden That Can Feed A Neighborhood (True Activist) https://bit.ly/2F75chP

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • Hard-Pressed American Farmers Left Out In The Cold By New 11-Nation Trade Treaty (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Ak3dU8    Aussie, Canadian farmers celebrate treaty Trump nixed, while US wheat producers fear Japan market collapse.
    • Trump farm bailout money will go to Brazilian-owned meatpacking firm, USDA says (msn) https://bit.ly/2AD7YbC
    • How Trump’s Shutdown Forks Over Everyone Who Eats Food (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2M3Rr4N                                               Farmers, poor families, and inspectors are caught in the crosshairs.
    • Judge Strikes Down Iowa ‘Ag Gag’ Law That Choked Undercover Animal Abuse Reporting (Talking Points Memo) https://bit.ly/2H7anAQ
      • “Ag-gag laws” hide the cruelty of factory farms from the public. Courts are striking them down. (Vox) https://bit.ly/2D43Fry
    • Farm workers in California now eligible for overtime after 9.5 hours (KSBY6 Central Coast) https://bit.ly/2RmuNKN
    • Denver’s New Sales Tax is the Frist in the Nation to Benefit Kids’ Health (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2RjG2TN

     

    • Street vending is legal in Los Angeles after a decade of organizing (Waging Nonviolence) https://bit.ly/2Fi5AuP

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

     

    Poisons

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update for December 30, 2018

     

    • Native Knowledge: What Ecologists Are Learning from Indigenous People (Yale e360) https://bit.ly/2QG1Wky                     From Alaska to Australia, scientists are turning to the knowledge of traditional people for a deeper understanding of the natural world. What they are learning is helping them discover ore about everything from melting Arctic ice, to protecting fish stocks, to controlling wildfires.
    • New Archive Reveals How the Food Industry Mimics Big Tobacco to Suppress Science, Shape Public Opinion (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2VgBlt2
    • The Food Sustainability Index is talking. Will America, and the world at large, listen? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2rZXezr
    • Unlike a globalized food system, local food won’t destroy the environment (Salon) https://bit.ly/2T13PEU                                               Our food system is linked to an economic system that is fundamentally biased in who it benefits
    • What needs to change in the quest for food sovereignty? This book looks for answers (Scroll.in) https://bit.ly/2CALr0r
    • One Weird Trick to Fix Farms Forever (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2GnWH4j                                                                                                This article is from 2013, it is a reminder of what we can be doing on a large scale…
    • Report: Troubling Waters: How Hydroponic Agribusiness and the USDA Diluted organics by Sanctioning Soil-less Growing (The Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2EscfBd                                                A report and buyer’s guide profiling illicit produce brands grown I liquid fertilizer rather than nutrient-rich soils Hydroponic Buyer’s Guide Full Report
    • ‘Freedom Farmers’ Tells the History of Black Farmers Uniting Against Racism (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2EBP3Az
    • The Future of Mountaintop Removal Is Lavender (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2BEVLCH                                                                                    In Appalachia, the coal mining process has stripped mountains to their cores, leaving little more than dirt and rocks. But one hardy plant seems to thrive in it.
    • Attempted Suicide in Wisconsin = Marketplace Fallout in Real Terms (Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2BC84Qs
    • An invasive, elusive 20-pound rodent threatens California agriculture (Food & Environment Reporting Network) https://bit.ly/2RzhSS2
    • The Gates Foundation’s Ceres2030 Plan Pushes Agenda of Agribusiness (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2GogDny

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • Stripes of wildflowers across farm fields could cut pesticide spraying (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QXuipR                                          The stripy fields have been planted across England as part of a trial to boost the natural predators of pests that attack cereal crops
    • Oregon hazelnut production has doubled in last decade, expected to double again by 2025 (Salem Statesman Journal) https://bit.ly/2UY5Tzm
    • Wisconsin Lost Record-Breaking Percent of Dairy Farms In 2018 (Wisconsin Public Radio) https://bit.ly/2UNCcB0
      • Former Dairy Farmer Jim Goodman: My Retirement was Mostly Voluntary (The Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2BLYVET
    • While small dairy farms shut down, this mega-dairy is shipping milk to China (Salon) https://bit.ly/2BApUmJ                                      Powdered milk production is being marketed as a boon for rural areas, but many people who live nearby disagree
    • Legal plastic content in animal feed could harm human health, experts warn (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2PXct5m                           Small bits of plastic packaging from waste food make their way into animal feed as part of the UK’s permitted recycling process

     

    Climate

    • Urban Tilth’s Doria Robinson on Richmond and Climate Adaption (Sierra) https://bit.ly/2EX64GG                                                                        The ag nonprofit is small scale, but its executive director has big ideas
    • Farmers Know Climate Change is Real. Will the Feds Help Them Adapt? (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2R2w8pi                                            While dismal farm economics – and shrinking conservation funds – make it hard to find the funds, a growing number of farmers are ready to make critical changes.
    • How the Farm Bureau’s Climate Agenda Is Failing Its Farmers (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2PLjLZS                                             That agenda has left farmers ill-prepared to cope with effects of climate change – droughts, heat and storms – while neglecting a key climate solution.
    • Why eating less meat is the best thing you can do for the planet in 2019 (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QVrgTx                                         Eating meat has a hefty impact on the environment from fueling climate change to polluting landscapes and waterways

     

    Plants, Seeds & Cultivars

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

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • Kansas farms are running out of water. Can they pull off an environmental miracle in Charles Koch’s home state? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2GBZoiK                                                                  Kansas producers say policy solutions aren’t necessary to save the Ogallala Aquifer, the state’s most economically important natural resource. That’s up for debate – but a Koch think tank may make regulation impossible anyway.
    • New Lawsuit Blames the Trump Administration for Ruining Oysters (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2zNQ8SR                                          By failing to document the effects of acidification in coastal waters

     

    Food Culture & History

    • These are the 64 races of corn in Mexico (Mad DeMx) https://bit.ly/2wqYxMS                                                                                              The greatest diversity of corn is Mexican, with 64 races in the country, of the 220 existing in Latin American.
    • Nut Milks Are Milk, Says Almost Every Culture Across the Globe (Smithsonian Magazine) https://bit.ly/2ONquT8                              Even though the dairy industry may not like it, labeling the juice from almonds and soy beans ‘milk’ follows centuries of history
    • Sorry New York, California Is Just Better Now (Eater) https://bit.ly/2RjboKa                                                                                   Synonymous with abundance and turbo-charged with chef creativity, the Golden State is setting the pace for how we eat across the country
    • A Culinary History of Panettone the Italian and South American Christmas Treat (Smithsonian Magazine) https://bit.ly/2s0IX5h
    • A History of Flavoring Food With Beaver Butt Juice (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2EPJ7F5                                                                                              No, castoreum is not a cheap substitute for strawberries; it’s luxe, artisanal sections from a beaver’ rear end.

     

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

    • Anti-immigrant rhetoric in the US has forced some families to choose between safety and food (Quartz) https://bit.ly/2Sgp5H0
    • Shutdown hits poor hardest: Food stamp office cut by 95 percent (Salon) https://bit.ly/2rWYW4x                                                             Department of Agriculture says the office that helps the neediest with food relief has been virtually shut down
    • What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutrition (Medium) https://bit.ly/2RhpxHu                                                                                       Obesity is the root cause of several diseases, yet medical schools don’t train doctors on nutrition and weight loss

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • Already a climate change leader, California takes on food waste (Salon) https://bit.ly/2BLLll9                                                                            The state’s programs and laws to tackle food waste and greenhouse gas emissions could be a template for the nation
    • 2019 Could Be The Year We stop Throwing Away Ridiculous Amounts Of Food (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2EK3vYj
    • As Anti-Plastic Movements Sweep The Globe Change Doesn’t Always Come Easy (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2T7KZMm      Australia could serve as a test case for the anti-plastic movement.
    • The Fight Against Food Waste Starts at Home (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Vas85c                                                                                     Decreasing the environmental footprint of food waste can save the planet and your wallet.

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • The year vegan junk food went mainstream (Vox) https://bit.ly/2ERtGML                                                                                              It isn’t particularly health. That’s the best part.
    • What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the US? (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2LIDOIo                                                                          The European Union prohibits many food additives and various drugs that are widely used in American food.
    • We Got a Scientist to Explain What You Knew in Your Heart of Hearts: The Five-Second Rule Is Gross (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2R354Go                                                                                            He also lab-tested double dipping, utensil sharing, and other questionable food behaviors.

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • The New York State Attorney General is investigating these five chains for seafood fraud (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2LxYkem                                                                                    Fishmongers are inflating the value of the fraudulent product and undercutting honest competitors at the same time.
    • Report: Fish Business: Seafood Fraud and Mislabeling in New York State Supermarkets (State of New York Attorney General) https://on.ny.gov/2EpQHFw
    • It’s very likely your supermarket fish isn’t what you think it is (Quartz) https://bit.ly/2RgKmms

     

    Children & School Food

    • Team Trump says it’s making school lunches ‘great again.’ It’s making them less healthy (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2Eqt8wf
    • What School Lunches Have to Do With Fixing Wealth Inequality (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2LzmBRp
      • Making Healthy School Lunches Free for All Should Be a National Priority (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2rBByJJ                               A professor argues we should destigmatize and better shape school meals to provide much needed support to children and their families.
    • Rhode Island School District Is Sending Debt Collectors After Families Over Unpaid Lunches (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2C2d9CW                                                                                    Debt can now impact the credit scores of parents who don’t pay, according to a local news report.

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • Progressive Labor Standards (Democracy) https://bit.ly/2T9UniQ                                                                           Dangerously high levels of market concentration demand a regulatory regime that holds large employers to higher standards.
    • What labor market changes have generated inequality and wage suppression? (Economic Policy Institute) https://bit.ly/2Q0eXQB  Employer power is significant but largely constant, whereas workers’ power has been eroded by policy actions
    • Teen quits Walmart job over the store’s intercom: ‘Attention all shoppers… nobody should work here – ever’ (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2Bpjirs
    • One Year After #MeToo, I Have No Regrets About Coming Forward (Eater) https://bit.ly/2RjkYN8                                                               I was terrified when I publicly accused the Spotted Pig restaurateur Ken Friedman of sexual misconduct, but it was the right decision
    • Every (NYC) Chef and Restaurant Owner Accused of Sexual Misconduct in the #MeToo Era (Grub Street) https://grb.st/2OQkokp
    • Health Care In Texas Is A Nightmare For Women Restaurant Workers (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Adt4x4                                    I worked in the restaurant and catering industry for 15 years in California and New York, I never had benefits of any kind. No medical insurance, no sick days, no vacation.
    • Chipotle’s Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Are Backfiring Spectacularly (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2T5ZWil                      The company is facing a flood of arbitration cases over alleged wage theft. A judge called the company’s efforts to black them “unseemly.”
    • Agricultural empire behind Halos and Wonderful pistachios raises minimum hourly wage to $15 (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2SmJhqs

     

    Protests

     

    Pollinators & Insects

    • Pesticides threaten all 4,000 bee species in North America. Why does research focus on saving just one? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2PWckzf                                                                                                In a new series of studies, scientists acknowledge that we don’t know nearly enough about the thousands of wild bee species agricultural producers depend on.

     

    Animals, Fish & Seafood

    • World’s first no-kill eggs go on sale in Berlin (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2rNfZ8Y                                                                                     Scientists can now quickly determine a chick’s gender before it hatches, potentially ending the need to cull billions of male chicks worldwide.
    • Factory Farms No Longer Have to Report Their Air Emissions. That’s Dangerous for Their Neighbors (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2T1Ct1y                                                                                            And bad news for the climate.
    • Livestock farms no longer report their air emissions. Now the Neighbors don’t know what they’re inhaling (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2T64Rzv
    • The Real Hamburger Problem (Democracy) https://bit.ly/2GFeKmy                                                                                       Factory farming is bad for the environment, nearby humans, and yes, the animals.
    • Chickens freezing to death and boiled alive: failing in US slaughterhouses exposed (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2EnftGl         An investigation finds hundreds of shocking welfare incidents, fueling concerns about standards in a post-Brexit trade deal
    • Microplastics accumulate in bodies of shellfish within hours, new study reveals (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2s1HDPT         Understanding whether plastic particles are absorbed across biological membranes and accumulate within internal organs is critical for assessing the risk these particles pose to both organism and human health.

     

    Business, Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • How funding black businesses can help bridge the racial wealth gap (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2CjIu4f                                        The Runway Project is making entrepreneurship more accessible to Black communities.
    • Tech Is Killing Street Food (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2PYCbGE    The wealthy hubs of the United States and India are embracing informal gastronomy, but not the people who have traditionally provided it.
    • Restaurants to eaters: Please for the love of god, stop using Seamless (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Aezuf9
    • Kellogg Leads the Charge to Exploit Supreme Court Arbitration Victory (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2BAlzQu                                        By targeting former employees for defying agreements, the cereal giant lays down a warning: Forget about suing us.
    • Packaging producers to pay full recycling costs under waste scheme (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2EBHAlc                    Government strategy to make ‘polluter pay’, with penalties for difficult to recycle items
    • Big Business Wants You To Think It’s Fixing The Plastic Crisis. Don’t Buy It. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2SgI3NE                    Here’s what corporations don’t want you to know.
    • Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling urban Neighborhoods and Small towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back (Institute for Local Self-Reliance) https://bit.ly/2R4aIIg
      • Dollar General Hits a Gold Mine in Rural America (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2kDk66E                                                                            In the poorest towns, where even Wal-Mart failed, the little-box player is turning a profit.
    • Democrats Can Win Back Rural America, But First They Need To Understand What Bled It Dry (BuzzFeed) https://bit.ly/2S5r9By    At the root of rural America’s angst are small towns where economies have been taken over by a handful of predatory multinationals.
    • Report: The New Map of Economic Growth and Recovery (Economic Innovation Group) https://bit.ly/2EBIf6K                           The 2010s recovery was marked by a collapse in new business formation

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • ‘Significant First Blow to Plastic Pollution Monster’ as EU Reaches Landmark Deal on Single-Use Products (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2PL9aOV
    • How France and Germany Are Ousting Glyphosate In A Search For Healthy Soils and Pesticide-Free Crops (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2rQG72D
      • Germany introduces new restrictions on herbicide use, seeks “end date” for glyphosate (IEG Policy) https://bit.ly/2Bym9ye
    • Kyrgyzstan Parliament Orders 100% Organic Agriculture Within 10 Years (Sustainable Pulse) https://bit.ly/2RbE6wf               Remember, Bhutan made their declaration to transform their agricultural system to 100% organic in 2014 with the transformation to be completed by 2022
    • Bhutan could be world’s first wholly organic nation within a decade (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2AdKSYS                               Political parties in the Himalayan kingdom unite to eradicate chemical fertilizers and pesticides as part of its Gross National Happiness program.
    • Japan To Launch Commercial Whaling Again After Withdrawing from Treaty (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2GI06uN
    • Atlantic Seismic Survey permits Granted After Surge in Lobbying (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2PTpQUw
      • Marine Mammals incidental to Specified Activities: Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys in Atlantic Ocean (Federal Register) https://bit.ly/2QKIW3m
    • House Democrats try to block Trump’s USDA from relocating its independent research agency (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CteaEb
    • Bailing out a Chinese owned, US located hog corporation subsidiary (Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy) https://bit.ly/2rVfR7i
    • Factory farms slip environmental review for USDA loans (Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy) https://bit.ly/2rolDOw
    • USDA’s claim food in the US ‘among safest in world’ based on latest pesticide tests (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2R75AU1
    • FEMA sells more than 34,000 unused meals in Puerto Rico instead of giving them to people in need (Daily Kos) https://bit.ly/2Sf9Lud
    • FDA names first source in ongoing investigation of romaine lettuce outbreak (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2EACXse         A Santa Maria, California farm – run by a county supervisor – is the first to be identified as a source of E coli contamination.
    • Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, on the current romaine lettuce E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak investigation (US FDA) https://bit.ly/2zyJ6Bb
    • NY governor vetoes bill allowing paid bereavement leave (WGRZ) https://on.wgrz.com/2RmWUbX                                                The bill’s memo notes that employers provide an average of four days of bereavement leave for the death of a souse or child.
    • Tennessee becomes the fourth state to restrict the use of Monsanto herbicide (dicamba) (Newstarget) https://bit.ly/2EPlSep
    • Georgia cut food stamps for thousands with new system tracking recipients (Atlanta Journal – Constitution) https://on-ajc.com/2AgOjOz
    • Update: Trump Just Found Yet Another Way to Kick Poor Families Off Food Stamps (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2QMR58x                                                                                       Foiled by the farm bill, the administration is using executive power to tighten work requirements.
    • Trump signs farm bill, directs USDA to expand work requirements on food stamps (ABC News) https://abcn.ws/2Cqhro0
    • ‘Mass Starvation Plan’: Trump USDA to Push Work Requirements for Food Stamps That Congress Left Off Farm Bill (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2T2yqSF
    • Food stamp cut will hit Trump’s single white male base hardest (Quartz) https://bit.ly/2LwaggM
    • Hemp Is Officially Going Legal Nationwide (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2BxScOV                                                                                      Trump signed a new farm bill into law that will legalize hemp, a non-intoxicating form of cannabis, in all 50 states.
    • President Trump signs the Farm Bill making dog and cat meat illegal in the United States (wrdw12) https://bit.ly/2rQThgi
    • Rural broadband is about to get $600 million funding – but there’s a catch (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2BBBZIh
    • The 2018 farm bill breaks new ground for conservation and resilience (Environmental Defense Fund) https://bit.ly/2Rc2I8o

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

    • Here’s a first look at the label that must appear on all GMO foods by 2022 (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2V6syJP
      • Even major food companies hate the new US rules for GMO food labeling (Quartz) https://bit.ly/2EFZYJv
      • Final GMO labeling rule does not require labeling of highly refined ingredients from GM crops, if o modified genetic material is detectable (Food Navigator) https://bit.ly/2EIuZNX
    • Ex-Cabinet secretary ‘regrets’ ever introducing GM cotton in India (The Economic Times) https://bit.ly/2EJRPF3

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

    • Gene-edited farm animals are coming. Will we eat them? (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2GsEdj4                                          Cutting edge lab techniques could improve animal breeding, but society may not be ready                                                                                             And there are unintended consequences…
    • Big Tongues and Extra Vertebrae: The Unintended Consequences of Animal Gene Editing (The Wall Street Journal) https://on.wsj.com/2SSK5U5
    • A simple guide to CRISPR, one of the biggest science stories of the decade (Vox) https://bit.ly/2LN2lLA                                                          It could revolutionize everything from medicine to agriculture.

     

    Poisons

    • How France and Germany Are Ousting Glyphosate In a Search For Healthy Soils and Pesticide-Free Crops (Independent Science News) https://bit.ly/2rQG72D

     

    Education & Training

    • ‘Adulting Day’: High schoolers learn how to cook, change tires, pay bills (KRON4) https://bit.ly/2EpJdlT

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update, December 16, 2018

     

    • Feeding the Whole City: Atlanta, Georgia (Politico) https://politi.co/2rw9Pd8                                                                                  The young food workers of this bustling New South metropolis use food to achieve social equity.
    • In Milwaukee’s poorest zip code, fruits and vegetables become powerful weapons for saving young boys (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2UNnaLJ
    • ‘Our Food Systems Are Failing Us’: 100+ Academies Call for Overhaul of Food Production (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2QCxjvC
    • More trouble for embattled farmers in the Midwest (Star Tribune) http://strib.mn/2QaR8KL                                                        Family operations are hurt by glut of some crops as well as trump’s tariffs.
    • 127 countries are now working to ban single-use plastic (Fast Company) https://bit.ly/2zLUcmu                                                    Countries are making good progress on regulating plastic bags and bottles – but need to do some serious work to address the more invisible plastic particles in cleaning products and cosmetics.
    • French Food Actually Sucks Now, Says Head of French Tourism Council (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2rqUgni                                          French ambassador and tourism council head Philippe Faure says food in the provinces is “lamentable” and “not good.” How the mighty have fallen.                                                                                                                                      I would agree, last time I was in France I found the food in restaurant, cafés and bistros in the Loire Valley were awful, good food could be found in expensive places, and the old style shops had good food…
    • How Atlanta Is Turning Ex-Cons Into Urban Farmers (Politico) https://politi.co/2SwzttP                                                                                      An ambitious activist is using the local food movement to help break the cycle of incarceration.
    • Should Vegans Have the Same Protections as Religious People? A ‘Landmark’ Case Will Decide (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2E9Owpf  In the UK, it is unlawful for an employer to fire and employee based on their religion or belief. By the same toke, is it ok for an employer to fire an employee if they are ethical vegans?

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • Indiana group is suing USDA over the way it gives money farms with thousands of animals (IndyStar) https://bit.ly/2CazFty

     

    Land and Soil

     

    Climate

    • The Meat Heavy Menu At The UN’s Climate Conference Show Shocking Hypocrisy (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PxqZkb

     

    • Ravenous for Meat, China Faces a Climate Quandary (undark) https://bit.ly/2mWHn1X                                                                                      On the whole, the country consumes 28 percent of the world’s meat – twice as much as the United States. An that figure is only set to increase.
    • As the Glaciers Melt, These Farmers Have A Plan To Save Their Vulnerable Land (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2QrtObM  Herders in one of the most biodiverse place on earth are reviving ancient traditions to cope with climate change.
    • Soil and Seaweed: Farming Our Way to a Climate Solution (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2DUvnaZ                                          We can sequester carbon and improve our nutrition through regenerative farming of land and sea
    • Climate change is making soils saltier, forcing many farmers to find new livelihoods (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2rjQlIw
    • Not So Sweet: Climate Change Means Slow-Growing Sugar Maples, Study Finds (NPR) https://n.pr/2QGEti7
    • Americans have planted so much corn that it’s changing the weather (grist) https://bit.ly/2Upo9lb
      • Research: Twentieth Century Regional Climate Change During the Summer in the Central United States Attributed to Agricultural Intensification (AGU100) https://bit.ly/2Elwn8S

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • It’s Official: Injection of Fracking Wastewater Caused Kansas’ Biggest Earthquake (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2RqaZCm
    • This town is like thousands that are vulnerable to contaminated water, with no fix in sight (CNN) https://cnn.it/2UeOlyP
    • Journalism Project Shines Light On Why So Many Lack Water Service In Central Appalachia (Daily Yonder) https://bit.ly/2PAJTqA
      • Stirring the Waters: Investigating why many in Appalachia lack reliable, clean water (Lexington Herald Leader) https://bit.ly/2UJJKVE
    • A New Lawsuit Blames the Trump Administration for Ruining Oysters (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2zNQ8SR                                              By failing to document the effects of acidification in coastal waters

     

    • Even corals deep down on the ocean floor can’t escape humanity’s impact (Salon) https://bit.ly/2QnIglm                        Climate change, industrial fishing, offshore drilling and deep sea mining are all threats to the ocean floor.

     

    Food Culture & History

    • The explosive dominance of soy over a century went unnoticed by most Americans – except for those growing it. (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2SCLttG
    • Battling the Scourge of ‘Embalmed Milk’ (undark) https://bit.ly/2CdUPqH                                                                                          How an obscure Indiana public health official pioneered the campaign against tainted dairy products at the turn of the 20th century.

     

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

    • There’s a Hunger Crisis in north Carolina (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2QUNrbK
      • Report: Many North Carolinians continue to struggle to afford enough food, especially in households with children (NC Policy Watch) https://bit.ly/2CcVk48
    • Living Homeless in California: The University of Hunger (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2PCkblh                                                                            A January study found that 11 percent of students on the California State University’s 23-campuses reported being homeless during the past year. At Humboldt State nearly a fifth said they’d been homeless at one point during 2017.

     

    • Kentucky congressman questions food stamps: ‘If healthcare is a right, is food as well?’ (Market Watch) https://on.mktw.net/2Stcksc
    • The world’s most nutritious foods (BBC) https://bbc.in/2GtsIUu  After analyzing more than 1,000 raw foods, researchers ranked the ingredients that provide the best balance of your daily nutritional requirements – and they found a few surprises.

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • The United States has an Epidemic of Processed Food – and it’s Killing Us (Medium) https://bit.ly/2S288zO
    • The US Appetite for Sugar Has Skyrocketed (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2RCsP5i                                                                              Americans are eating too much of the sweet stuff, and a staggering portion of it is coming from drinks like soda.
    • What Do Americans Think About Food Additives and GMOs? (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2Qg4C81                                    About half think they’re unhealthy; the other half aren’t especially concerned
    • 12 Million Pounds Of Beef Now Under Recall Over Salmonella Risk (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2BQPoxM                                Nearly 250 people in 26 states have contracted salmonella poisoning, the USDA says.

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • Restaurant Owner Says Photos of Opossums Running Around the Kitchen Are No Bid Deal (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2Pp0Xzy  My noodle & Bar’s owner acknowledged that there had been an opossum in his restaurant, but said that it was “like three months ago.”
    • Why Are Arsonists Targeting Montreal Pizzerias? (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2QD127w                                                                                  Three recent Molotov cocktail attacks have local restaurant owners shaken.

     

    Training & Education

     

    Children & School Food

    • Shelby County bus driver goes the extra mile after weather cancels breakfast (abc3340) https://bit.ly/2Em18d5
    • Preschoolers Served Pine-Sol Instead Of Apple Juice In Snack Mix-Up (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Ub8SEn
    • Waste not, want not (grist) https://bit.ly/2SiMirA                      Schools waste $5 million a day in uneaten food. Here’s how Oakland is reinventing the cafeteria
    • Town hires debt collector to get families to pay for school lunches (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2EiKv1Z                                              School officials in Carnston, Rhode Island are getting aggressive in seeking payment from parents in arrears for their kids’ meals.

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • Michigan Is the Latest Example of the Restaurant Lobby Subverting Democracy (Talk Poverty) https://bit.ly/2GaYU2L

    Minimum wage increases are popular, but lawmakers keep overturning them.

     

    • Marriott Hotel Strike Ends With San Francisco Workers Winning Better Pay (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2rkP0kN          Thousands of workers reached an agreement with the nation’s largest hotel chain after a multi-city, non week strike for better pay and protections.
    • Amazon workers in New York just announced their plan to unionize (Vox) https://bit.ly/2Eh6NkO                                                        “We are not robots, we are human beings.”

     

    Pollinators & Insects

    • Butterfly sanctuary expected to be plowed over for Trump’s border wall (CBS News) https://cbsn.ws/2BXVhcq
      • Most Diverse Butterfly Center in the US to be Bulldozed for Trump’s Border Wall (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2S3yd1r

     

    Animals, Fish & Seafood

    • Waterkeeper Alliance and EWG Hurricane Florence Flooded Poultry Operations Housing 1.8 Million Birds, Investigation Finds (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2Pg6acM
    • Scary Map Shows Where Animal Poop Is Turning into Deadly Ammonia Pollution (Live Science) https://bit.ly/2B0sUIH
    • Without drastic changes, Idaho’s wild steelhead are on a path to extinction (Idaho Statesman) https://bit.ly/2QE0nCZ

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • The Trouble With Tuna: ‘A Lot of Millennials Don’t Even Own Can Openers’ (The Wall Street Journal) https://on.wsj.com/2FWkXdB  StarKist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea deal with Slumping market amid competition from fresher options.
    • Tuan Fish Is Struggling Because ‘Millennials Don’t Even Own Can Openers’ (Food & Wine) https://bit.ly/2PkSVYJ
    • PR company accused of using ‘tobacco lobbyist tactics’ to promote weedkiller linked to cancer (Independent) https://ind.pn/2QIclLT                                                                              Roundup maker Monsanto reportedly funded campaign to defend chemical
    • See How Well the GOP Tax Scam Is Creating Jobs? Walmart Announces Plans for 360 Robot Janitors (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2QyMGVL                                                                                      The company still faces calls to raise its minimum hourly pay, but machines don’t ask for a living wage
    • Dollar stores are feeding more Americans than Whole Foods, and it’s leading some communities into crisis (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2A29pQr
      • Dollar Tree is one of the only chains that Amazon can’t beat – and it runs the most appalling store we’ve ever seen (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2M1PgOA
    • The Hard Truths of Trying to ‘Save’ the Rural Economy (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2zYmVVq
      • Report: 2018 Distressed Communities Index: From Great Recession to Great Reshuffling (Economic Innovation Group) https://bit.ly/2ElMbJz
      • Report: Countering the geography of discontent: Strategies for left-behind places (Brookings Institute) https://brook.gs/2RSdfC4
      • Saving the heartland: Place-based policies in 21st Century America (Brookings Institute) https://brook.gs/2Gl3AmN

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • Trump administration finalizes rollback of school lunch regulations championed by Michelle Obama (Yahoo! News) https://yhoo.it/2QGRs3z
    • Justice Department urges Supreme Court against hearing cage-free egg lawsuit (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2E0ES8z  … Should the Supreme Court take the DOJ’s lead, it would effectively validate and uphold California’s first-of-its-kind legislation, which bans the sale of eggs laid by hens in confinement…
    • EPA’s New Water Rule Will Gut The Clean Water Act (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2UqHMsQ
      • EPA’s Own Data Refutes Justification For Clean Water Act Rollback (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2S04IgR
      • Government Agencies Make Waves With New Definition for Waters of the United States (WOTUS) (Growing Produce) https://bit.ly/2S0LBU8
      • The EPA’s new Dirty Water Rule risks millions of people’s drinking water supply (NRDC) https://on.nrdc.org/2RYbnIz
      • Trump administration poised to strip protections from up to two-thirds of California streams and millions of acres nationwide (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2S3UYCy
    • Clean Up 14-Year Oil Spill or Face $40K Daily Fine, Feds Tell Taylor Entergy (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2PTdkci
    • Buried in Wisconsin Republican’s lame-duck legislation: Drug-testing requirement for food stamp applicants (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Eo5npi
    • Outgoing Michigan GOP Governor Signs Bills Gutting Minimum Wage Hike, Paid Sick Leave (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Gk0ZK1
    • Missouri voters said no to ‘right to work.’ Republican lawmakers want it anyway. (St. Louis Dispatch) https://bit.ly/2zNnBNj
    • “Natural” chicken can’t be given antibiotics, or confined indoors, says California judge (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2QUuPsF                                                                                      That might sound obvious. But in the absence of strong regulations, a raft of lawsuits are trying to change the fact that “all-natural” can mean, well, almost anything.
    • The Art of the Farm-Bill Deal (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2LfTlPC  The $867 billion legislation doesn’t include stringent new work requirements for food-stamp recipients long sought by conservatives.
    • A Boost for Farmers Who Aren’t Old and White (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2A0xebA                                                                                          The farm bill on Trump’s desk funds programs that help make farming more accessible
    • The Farm Bill Ignores the Real Troubles of US Agriculture (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2UJM7aZ                                                                                  True farming reform means adjusting the system to support small and midsize producers and cultivating a more sustainable system of agriculture.
    • The Farm Bill’s Winners And Losers (Forbes) https://bit.ly/2QFL5xu
    • How Paul Ryan is selling his food stamp loss (Politico) https://politi.co/2BiBWku                                                                                  The compromise farm bill is stripped of every controversial proposal the House GOP wanted on food stamps.
    • Farm Bill Receives Mixed Response From Rural Advocates (Daily Yonder) https://bit.ly/2rBXsMU                                                                      The farm bill passed – and in today’s Congress, that’s news. But advocates say the bill could have done much more to improve the position of small farms versus corporate interest. And in a light but direct rebuke of the Trump administration, Congress will require the Department of Agriculture to reinstate the position of Undersecretary of Rural Development.

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

    • Big Tongues, and Extra Vertebrae: The Unintended Consequences of Animal gene Editing (The Wall Street Journal) https://on.wsj.com/2SSK5U5                                                          Unintended consequences have included enlarged rabbit Tongues and extra pig vertebrae, as bioethicists warn of hubris

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

     

    Poisons

    • A Killing Season (The New Republic) https://bit.ly/2PEjB6E    Monsanto’s new herbicide was supposed to save US farmers from financial ruin. Instead, it upended the agriculture industry, pitting neighbor against neighbor in a struggle for survival.

     

    Education & Training

    • How Atlanta Is Turning Ex-Cons into Urban Farmers (Politico) https://politi.co/2SwzttP                                                                                      An ambitious young activist is using the local food movement to help break the cycle of incarceration.
    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update for December 2, 2018

     

    • Unlike a Globalized Food System, Local Food Won’t Destroy the Environment (Turthout) https://bit.ly/2PdX7sT
    • José Andrés is nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, congressman confirms (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2reQoFT                                                                      Sometimes the greatest act of peace is to feed another human being.
    • Doria Robinson on how urban agriculture can heal a community’s imagination (Rob Hopkins) https://bit.ly/2P5tYjQ
    • This Veteran Learned the Value of American Wool in the Army. Now He’s Raising His Own Sheep. (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2S8d71r
    • The Gates Foundation’s Ceres2030 Plan Pushes Agenda of Agribusiness (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2SeRwER                                  The new Gates Foundation endeavor aims to infiltrate scientific literature in order to push the agenda of agribusiness.
    • There’s a New Hazelnut Spread in Town and It Wants to Take On Nutella (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2BtO8Ad                                            The Barilla Group is set to launch the palm oil-free Crema Pan di Stelle in January of next year.
    • Dominique Crenn Becomes First Woman In the United States To Earn 3 Michelin Stars (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2BKKORD    The stars, award to Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, mark a milestone for female chefs in America.
    • San Francisco Chef Becomes First Woman in US to Receive 3 Michelin Stars (NBC Bay Area) https://bit.ly/2Q7Rm5q

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • New CDC Data Shows That Farmers Don’t Have America’s Highest Suicide Rate (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2r5WDeW          But the problem hasn’t gone away.
    • ‘Farming While Black’: A Guide To Finding Power And Dignity Through Food (NPR) https://n.pr/2PB3Ke1
    • The Cow-Milking Robots Keeping Small Farmers in Business (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2P4RnGc                                                            Around the country, dairy farms are struggling to stay open, embracing technology may be one way to make them more efficient.
    • Wisconsin dairy farmers barely hanging on as crisis deepens with no end in sight (Journal Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2r5DSs9
    • Illinois Farmers Put Rare Pig Back On Dinner Table To Save It From Extinction (NPR) https://n.pr/2PBU95P
    • Strict Amazon protections made Brazilian farmers more productive, new research shows (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2PimRtm
    • Are artisanal foodie brands ruining a California national park? (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2yVNutN                                                    Herds of cows provide meat and airy for influential purveyors, but environmentalists’ say they despoil the landscape                                            I grew up not far from these farms on what is now the Point Reyes National Seashore, and watched the transition to the National Seashore.

     

    Land and Soil

    • For a New Generation of Farmers, Accessing Land is the First Step Toward Tackling Consolidation (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2S9DTqy
    • Eliot Coleman: Organic is a System of Agriculture That Acknowledges the Pre-Eminence of Soil Life (The Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2SctESd

     

    Climate

    • Global food system is broken, say world’s science academies (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QrU8BT                                                          Radical overhaul in farming and consumption, with less meat eating, needed to avoid hunger and climate catastrophe
    • If We Want To Transform the Food System, We Must First Transform Ourselves (Eva Perroni) https://bit.ly/2AIMSIb
    • Study suggest meat and dairy industry on track to surpass oil companies as biggest greenhouse gas emitters (PHYS.org) https://bit.ly/2QxZ9Jk
    • Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Instead it Unleashed a Catastrophe. (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2Tt2SGx                  A decade ago, the US mandated the use of vegetable oil in biofuels, leading to industrial-scale deforestation – and a huge spike in carbon emissions.
    • Oregon and California crabbers sue fossil fuel companies (Oregon Live) https://bit.ly/2E7xQzN
      • West Coast crab fishers file ‘industry against industry’ climate change lawsuit (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2OQyKla            The suit opens up a new frontier in climate change litigation.

     

    Plants, Seeds & Cultivars

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • Is a New Toxic Danger Threatening California? (Capital and Main) https://bit.ly/2Tuxho8                                                                                        PFAS compounds are found in clothing, carpeting, furniture, food packaging, non-stick cooking products and fire-fighting foams. They’ve been lined in humans to cancers and hormonal disruptions, as well ad developmental, reproductive, and immune system problems.
    • History and Use of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) (Interstate Technology Regulatory Council) https://bit.ly/2DQjCSN
    • Page 8 has a list of consumer products containing PFAS, it is everywhere, that said the fact that is also found in food packaging, medical products, and personal care products is unbelievable.
    • Too soon for Hudson River (PCB) dredging to be deemed complete, Dutchess (County) Exec Molinaro says (Daily Freeman) https://bit.ly/2r5Wnws

    Food Culture & History

    • Why Most of America Is Terrible at Making Biscuits (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2DSf4w8                                                                                  There’s a scientific reason that no one outside the South can nail the iconic baked good.
    • The Thanksgiving Tale We Tell Is a Harmful Lie. As a Native American, I’ve Found a Better Way to Celebrate the Holiday (Time) https://bit.ly/2zn8IRy

     

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

    • Hidden Hunger: A Bay Area Paradox (San Francisco Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2BD2DBQ                                                                                  While the Bay Area booms, more than 870,000 people remain food insecure. That’s more than the entire population of San Francisco. How did this happen?
    • Overview: How families slip through https://bit.ly/2ArDk3R    On in 10 Bay Area residents earns too little to cover the cost of living; of those, 62 percent earn too much to qualify for food stamps
    • The Mother: Two meals a day https://bit.ly/2E3R8pr                       A San Francisco family tries to get by on two meals a day, and a higher paying job might make the problem even worse
    • The Pastor: Tending the hungry https://bit.ly/2RjOZsL                     In San Jose, a pastor feeds an immigrant community that avoids food banks
    • The retired teacher: Dire straits in Marin https://bit.ly/2E4IQxM                                                                                        A former Mill Valley teacher who never thought she’d need the food bank faces a hardscrabble retirement
    • The Seniors: In Facebook’s shadow https://bit.ly/2TW4I3c        Low-income seniors in East Palo Alto support each other through meals and laughter
    • The Doctor: The quest to provide healthy solutions https://bit.ly/2FLVWBv                                                                                  Meet the UC San Francisco professor who is fighting food insecurity and drawing attention to the links between poor health and a poor diet
    • In Trump’s America, Immigrants Are Afraid to Apply for Food Stamps (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2DJR5OU                                        A new study shows SNAP participation rates dropped 10 percent this year – after a decade of steady increase.

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • Enormous amounts of food are wasted during manufacturing – here’s where it occurs (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2oNeRke
    • One in six points of milk thrown away each year, study shows (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QmoqWQ                                            Analysis suggests 116 million tonnes of dairy products are wasted globally, with almost half lost before they ever reach a store

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • It’s still not safe to eat romaine lettuce (Vox) https://bit.ly/2P3yLCk                                                                                            But investigators are getting closer to the source of the outbreak. Keep holding off on those Caesar salads.
    • Avoid all romaine lettuce, CDC warns amid E. coli outbreak (Dallas News) https://bit.ly/2DR3Yat                                                          Here we go again, this is the second outbreak in 2018
    • What To Know About The Romaine E. coli Outbreak Ahead of Thanksgiving (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2R0ZpgY
    • In Throes of Turkey Salmonella Outbreak, Don’t Invite Illness to Your Table (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2P21wzm

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • The Great Virginia Grape Heist (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2Ua4t4C                                                                                          And other tales of agricultural banditry
    • Jell-O Is Jumping in o the Internet’s Weird Slime Obsession with Its Edible Ooze (Munchies) https://bit.ly/2FF20Mg                  Personally not that interested in eating muck that’s been kneaded with craon particles and carpet fibers, but maybe you are!
    • Pet Peacock Runs Away from Home And Takes Up With Wild Turkeys (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Bu9n4U                                     A Vermont couple is trying to recapture Pea, who has been on the run for around 6 weeks.

     

    Children & School Food

    • A Local Foundation Seeks to Revolutionize School Lunch Programs Across the County (303 Magazine) https://bit.ly/2PZb4An

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • US retail workers face long hours, poor pay and ‘anxiety through the roof’ on Black Friday (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2BsuQeG
    • There’s a (UK) Christmas crisis going on: no one wants to kill your dinner (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2TJYgvO                                    People don’t want to work in abattoirs (slaughterhouse) any more.
    • Population Growth Doesn’t Equal Wage Growth in These Cities (Pew Charitable Trusts) https://bit.ly/2PRHP2l
    • Workers Battle Trump Appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (The Progressive) https://bit.ly/2QM0FUX  Rather than encouraging collective bargaining and protecting workers’ freedom of association, the new leadership is making racial changes to Board policies, paving the way for corporate interests to dismantle unions.
    • The Gender Wage Gap Is Even Worse Than You Thought (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2TTAfCR
      • Report: Still a Man’s Labor Market: The Slowly Narrowing Gender Pay Gap (Institute For Women’s Policy Research) https://bit.ly/2P9oiFw
    • America’s wealthiest family owns Walmart. They can afford to pay workers $15 an hour. (USA Today) https://bit.ly/2Aokf2O
    • One Restaurant’s Simple, Remarkably Effective Way to Shield Servers from Sexual Harassment (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2KAWdX3                                                                                        “No one starts by reaching their hand down someone’s shirt.”
    • Many California Farmworkers Forced to Stay Behind During the Wildfires (NPR) https://n.pr/2DLTett
      • California’s farmworkers are still working despite deadly wildfires (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2DYO9Pk                      Some of the state’s most vulnerable communities are bearing the brunt of climate change.
    • During California wildfires, farmworkers say they felt pressure to keep working or lose their jobs (The Wall Street Journal) https://wapo.st/2Dz5Zam
    • Months After Hurricane Florence, Undocumented Farmworkers Still Struggle to Recover (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2S2tj4g
    • One of America’s Poorest Cities Has A Radical Plan To Remake Itself (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2TMPmhn                                  “We’re creating pathways into the economy for people who’ve been shut out,” says Cleveland’s evergreen Cooperative.

     

    Pollinators

    • Mexico’s Endangered Stingless Bees Mysteriously Find A Sweeter Home In Cuba (NPR) https://n.pr/2RVIaO5                              A combination of hurricanes, pesticides and logging is leading to the decline of these unique bees, called Melipona beecheii…. The native peoples of the Yucatan practiced bee husbandry for thousands of years…
    • Cuba’s organic revolution (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2FHjJ5S                                                                                      The collapse of the Soviet Union forced Cuba to become self reliant in its agricultural production…
    • Scientist unveils blueprint to save bees and enrich farmers (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QgjToN                                                              Urgent planting of wildflowers will attract pollinators and boost farmers’ food crop, expert to tell UN. It is not just bees that are disappearing, but all of our insects.
    • The Insect Apocalypse Is Here (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2rcwNGe                                                                            What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?

     

    Animals, Fish & Seafood

    • In a rate wildlife success story, the wild turkey population is exploding in California (Salon) https://bit.ly/2R6smrS                      They are everywhere, I first had them come into my front garden back in Oakland, CA 2007
    • Why the biggest Thanksgiving lie may be the turkey on your table (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2znjvee
      • Moneyball for Turkeys (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2DVEUiO      After decades of making turkeys bigger, breeders are hoping new technologies can make them better.
    • Tossing a Bird That Does Not Fly Out of Plane (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2zheRi4                                                                                                  A Thanksgiving story about the limits of human empathy
    • ‘We’ve bred them to their limit’: death rates surge for female pigs in the US (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2DHdqyc                            With sows producing 23 piglets a year on average, intensive farming is called into question over rise in animals suffering prolapse
    • Abuse of animals rife on farms across Europe, auditors warn (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2QLLGdT                                                              Europe-side investigation says intensive farming systems increase the risks of poor animal welfare
    • Activists condemn ‘disgusting attacks’ on pigs as two men convicted of cruelty (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2DIJ78p        Prosecution based on secret footage obtained by rights charity Animal Equality at Fir Tree farm in Lincolnshire
    • ‘Desperate need’ for better farm antibiotic use data (BBC) https://bbc.in/2PZY0e6                                                                                    Sheep and cattle farmers in Wales have been urged to record what antibiotics they are using on their animals.
    • The return of the giant cutthroat trout (Al Jazeera) https://bit.ly/2zrJHV8                                                                                        Anglers and conservationists celebrate as Nevada’s state fish returns to ancients spawning ground

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • Tesco and WWF bid to ‘halve environmental impact’ of UK groceries (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2RROuGe                            UK’s largest retailer falls short of removing palm oil from own brand foods in sustainability drive
    • New Archive Reveals How the Food Industry Mimics Big Tobacco to Suppress Science, Shape Public Opinion (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2Au5hrW
    • Marion Nestle: Superfoods Are a Marketing Ploy (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2yyywcU                                                                            Blueberries and macadamia nuts aren’t that good for you.
    • The Organic Food Industry Forges Its Own Path to Expand Growth (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2qZm3uv                                          Should organic farmers and processors pool their money to create their own “checkoff” program used for industry-wide research and marketing match like other food industries do?
    • Bison bars were supposed to restore Native communities and grass-based ranches. Then came Epic Provisions (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2BGiKyB
    • A New Economic Model for the South: Ditch Corporate Welfare and Fund Agricultural Co-ops (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2FxhtxJ
      • Report: Agricultural Cooperatives: Opportunities and Challenges for African American Women in the South (Institute for Policy Studies) https://bit.ly/2KuI65q
    • America’s monopoly problem, in one chart (Vox) https://bit.ly/2SgToNm                                                                                      From cell phone providers to beer to cat food, consumers have a lot fewer choices when it comes to buying – even if they don’t know it.
    • Report: American’s Concentration Crisis (Open Markets Institute) https://bit.ly/2ShvykF
    • More and more companies have monopoly power over workers’ wages. That’s killing the economy (Vox) https://bit.ly/2qdVWzp    The trend can explain slow growth, “missing” workers, and stagnant salaries.
    • The Supreme Court just quietly gutted antitrust law (Vox) https://bit.ly/2wppcXE                                                                                              A decision in favor of American Express will make it easier for big tech to pressure workers, suppliers, and customers.
    • Farm bankruptcies have doubled under Trump – and the worst is yet to come (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Sje3Ap                                          We all knew this was coming.

     

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • South Korea closes dog slaughterhouse amid activist pressure (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Q1wmgR                                                Animal rights groups hope closure of complex will lead to ban on dog meat consumption
    • French Government Starts Phase-Out of Glyphosate With Online Farmer Platform and Herbicide Tax (Sustainable Pulse) https://bit.ly/2QsAmq6
    • Hemp Is Finally About To Go Fully Legit In The US (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2AGClwT                                                                                  For almost 50 years, hemp has been considered a schedule I substance alongside more potent strains of marijuana. Congress is finally set to change that.
    • The First-Ever National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Was Just Unveiled – And It’s a Game Changer (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2Q83R12
    • GIPSA is Dead; the Fight for Producer Protections Continues (Organization for Competitive Markets) https://bit.ly/2E5zP7D      In a move designed to take a thorn out of the side of the world’s largest meatpackers, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue put the final nail in the coffin of the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA)…
    • A New EPA Rule Would Allow Factory Farms to Avoid Reporting Air Pollution (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2DBZ806
      • Trump’s EPA concludes communities don’t have the right to know about potentially toxic emissions (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2P2NamR                                                                        Industry supporters describe potentially toxic emissions as “normal odors” from animal waste.
    • Trump farm bailout checks coming to Wisconsin vary from thousands to a few dollars (Journal Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2DS5Ija
      • Dozens of Iowa farmers get lass than $25 from Trump tariff assistance, data show (Des Moines Register) https://bit.ly/2QlNU6t
      • A $12 Billion Program to Help Farmers Stung by Trump’s Trade War Has Aided Few (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2AnlfUL
      • Lost jobs, shrinking growth, and rotting crops – here are the ways Trump’s trade war is hurting America (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2KIj4Qv
    • US trade deal would flood Britain with ‘cheap, inhumanely produced’ bacon (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Kudm4s            Trade deal would open door to meat containing banned growth promoters, from pigs kept in conditions banned in UK, industry leaders warn
    • City Not for Sale: Baltimore Voters Push Back on Privatization (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2AHckxE                                           Measure to keep water works public passing by wide margin
    • Huge (Sacramento – San Joaquin River) Delta water deal backed by Dianne Feinstein, Jerry Brown, Kevin McCarthy (Sacramento Bee) https://bit.ly/2SllxTt                                                                                    The politics of water in California have been debated and fought over since before California became a state in 1850.                  Understanding that the California Central Valley consisted of approximately 5 million acres of permanent, seasonal and tidal wetlands, these wetlands have now been reduced by 90%. These wetlands were primarily fed by the Delta and (US Fish & Service) https://bit.ly/2PeiyKD                                                                            Additionally, approximately 1/3 of the San Francisco Bay and estuary has been filled in between 1850 and 1980, when the City of Berkeley was stopped from filling in a large portion of their shoreline. The SF Bay is currently 550 square miles. (Save the Bay) https://bit.ly/2RnSn5P

    What does this have to do with the Delta? The Delta is what feeds the remaining wetlands of the northern Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay. (Save the Bay) https://bit.ly/2fCxkZy

    All of this before we even talk about saving the salmon (at least 3 species), Delta Smelt (at least 3 species,) sturgeon, and 48 other species, some of which are non-native, like Stripped Bass. (UC Davis) https://bit.ly/2Qt7Moo

    • California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Bill to End Use of Drift Gillnets (PEW Charitable Trusts) https://bit.ly/2Pgr1hi            Congress should take similar action to protect marine life
    • (MI) Senate Republicans vote to scale back Michigan minimum wage, paid sick leave laws (The Detroit News) https://bit.ly/2r9FIs1
      • Background: Michigan GOP lawmakers adopt minimum wage, sick leave plans with aim to amend (The Detroit News) https://bit.ly/2BEOrbq                                                                          Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday approved citizen-initiated legislation raising the state’s minimum wage to $12 per hour and requiring paid sick leave, a move designed to make the proposals easier to change.
    • Mind The Junk Food: London To Ban Ads For Unhealthy Eats On Public Transportation (NPR) https://n.pr/2DNFDSb
    • After years of debate, LA legalizes sidewalk vending: ‘This means freedom’ (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2E3M9oJ

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

    • Tanzania orders destruction of Monsanto/Gates’ GM trials due to illegal use for pro-GM propaganda (African Centre For Biodiversity) https://bit.ly/2PPkONn

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update November 20, 2018

     

    • Alexandria Oasio-Cortez Learned Her Most Important Lessons from Restaurants (Bon Appétit) https://bit.ly/2AWnxvn
    • ‘Farming saved my life.’ Veteran turns to the land for PTSD therapy and a new beginning. (The News and Observer) https://bit.ly/2zVYE1a
    • Taquero Drives Out To Wildfire Evacuation Camp, Feeds Hundreds Left Homeless By Blaze (Latin Live) https://bit.ly/2TnWnEQ
    • How A Ragtag Group Of Oregon Locals Took On The Biggest Chemical Companies In The World – And Won (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2OelaM4
    • Catch me if you can: How the paiche plague in Bolivia’s Amazon is making its way onto menus (Independent) https://ind.pn/2RVwHhw
    • China Plows Ahead With Modern Farming as American Tariffs Drive Up crop Costs (Wall Street Journal) https://on.wsj.com/2qUnqdW                                                                         The trade fight gives Beijing fresh incentive to beef up a sector dominated by small farms with low crop yields

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • What’s Behind the Crippling Dairy Crisis? Family Farmers Speak Out. (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2Ddcfog                                                          In the Northeast, the dairy crisis is shuttering generations-old diaries. Can the crisis become a rallying political issue?
    • What’s the Big Problem With Paper Pots? (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2FvHyx8                                                                                           An efficient Japanese potting system has come under minor fire in the past year. What’s the deal?

     

    Land and Soil

    • Rare microbes lead scientists to discover new branch on the tree of life (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) https://bit.ly/2Pzzj7Q                                                                Hemimastigotes are more different from all other living things than animals are from fungi

     

    Climate

    • Natural Climate Solutions Could Cancel Out a Fifth of US Emissions, Study Finds (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2qQhfHY                                                                                      Low-tech, time-tested forest, farm and land management techniques are effective, cheap and carry benefits well beyond tackling climate change.
    • Crab Fishers Sue Fossil Fuel Industry Over Climate Change Damage (Inside Climate News) https://bit.ly/2PBnuy3                   The lawsuit by the largest West Coast commercial fishing association seeks to hold 30 companies accountable for harming shellfish and livelihoods as the ocean warms.

     

    Plants, Seeds & Cultivars

    • The Last Tree Standing (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2DMYI7L  For thousands of years, breadfruit grew in the Pacific Islands, where it was a staple in locals’ diets. It’s time to give it another look.

     

    Food Culture & History

    • Decolonizing Cuisine with Mak-‘amham (KCET) https://bit.ly/2KblG93                                                                                              … two Ohlone chefs are revitalizing Ohlone language, food practices and adapting them for a modernist palate.
    • Young Women are Reviving Indigenous Food Traditions Online (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2PkBJXS                                                                     A new generation of Native Americans is celebrating its food culture and promoting food health – with the help of social media and YouTube-friendly videos.
    • Black Migrants: Photographs of California’s Forgotten agricultural Past (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2BcxDIS
    • A Bronze Age tomb in Israel reveals the earliest known use of vanilla (Science News) https://bit.ly/2Q7ODYW                               Jugs that date to about 3,600 years ago hold traces of the aromatic substance

     

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

    • This misinterpreted Bible verse is behind Republican efforts to deny food to poor people (Raw Story) https://bit.ly/2A2LKP8
    • This Community is Addressing Food Insecurity, One Grocery Store at a Time (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2SKEDmX
    • How Nutritious Is That Fish? To Find Out, Ask Its Relatives (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Pw1wfR                                                            Eels and anchovies don’t look or act much alike. One is sinuous and shy, the other is a bright flash of silver in a school of thousands…

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • France’s war on waste makes it the world’s most sustainable country (World Economic Forum) https://bit.ly/2ydEcc2
    • The Biggest Source of Plastic Trash You’ve Never Heard of (ensia) https://bit.ly/2PGxKoU                                                                                    From acres of sheeting to miles of twine, farms use billions of pounds of plastic each year. What can we do to reduce the impact?
    • The Problems With Bioplastics (Eastbay Express) https://bit.ly/2Qb1VUN                                                                               People mistakenly try to recycle them, thereby contaminating the waste stream. Plus, they’re not really compostable.

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • India is awash in palm oil, and health takes a hit (Food & Environmental Reporting Network) https://bit.ly/2B0pIyl        From traditional snacks to fast food, the cheap oil is everywhere. Rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease – already high – are rising.
    • Watch The Iceland Christmas Ad Which Will Never Be Shown After Authorities Banned It (LBC UK) https://bit.ly/2Pq8KlD
    • Food Stamps For Soda: Time To End Billion-Dollar Subsidy For Sugary Drinks? (NPR) https://n.pr/2OEDTg3

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • Australian Police Arrest 50 Year Old Woman After Needles Found In Strawberries (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PPzzz6   Police have said that the accused worked as a supervisor at a strawberry farm in Queensland.

     

    Children & School Food

    • France’s Crisis Epidemic of Limbless Babies (Daily Beast) https://thebea.st/2QJWOru                                                                    Doctors are confounded on why kids from two rural French towns were born without parts of their arms and hands between 2012 and 2013.
    • What School Lunches Have to Do With Fixing Wealth Inequality (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2QE3TKg                                                        Dismantling a capitalist food system could begin with schools, which nationwide spend about $3 billion on food contracts.

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • Your Halloween Candy’s Hidden Ingredient: Child Slave Labor (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2DdIjYS                                          Chocolate makers say they’re tackling the problem, but progress is scant.
    • Arkansas and Missouri Approve Minimum Wage Increases (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2SX5vA7
      • The Fairness Project https://bit.ly/2RJ3QwB                              Also: Massachusetts Passed $15 minimum wage            Michigan passed Paid Sick Leave                                                            San Antonio, TX passed Paid Sick Leave
    • Dozens of Farmers Continue to Harvest Despite Proximity of (California) Fires (NBC Los Angeles) https://bit.ly/2Q0xkZH
    • New Department of Labor Numbers Show Farmers Are Increasingly Turning to this Controversial Visa Program (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2zChOJm                                                             Positions certified for the H-2A visa are up 21 percent over last year.

     

    Pollinators

    • Hemp fields offer a late-season pollen source for stressed bees (Science News) https://bit.ly/2A8iuGA                                                   Low-THC cannabis attracts a wide range of bee species collecting for larvae

     

    Animals

    • Meet Winston: America’s First Certified Therapeutic Rooster (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2FtHRsg                                               From the moment he dons his red bandana, he’s ready to comfort people in pain. Just how good is Winston? Good Enough to have earned a testimonial letter from the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic.
    • Three month after jury awarded millions in hog-waste lawsuit, trial begins in another case (The News and Observer) https://bit.ly/2PuDS3m
      • Odor, flies and noise. Hog farming goes on trial again with high-stakes federal lawsuit. (The News and Observer) https://bit.ly/2PWwe1a                                                                                    A high-stakes, month-long trail against the world’s largest pork producer () began in Raleigh…
    • As cruel industrial pig farming persists in the EU, one million citizens demand change (Euractiv) https://bit.ly/2zQygH8

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • From field to city: Are direct deliveries a viable business model for farmers? (Euractiv) https://bit.ly/2QDD3C3
    • The Beverage Industry Has Figured Out a Legal End Run Around Soda Taxes (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2qAaz0B                                 It worked in the state o Washington on Tuesday.
    • Chocolate giant Cadbury ‘still pushing orangutans towards extinction by wrecking habitat for palm oil’ (Independent) https://ind.pn/2zRhAOI
      • These everyday household products all contain unsustainable palm oil (Hastings & St. Leonards Observer) https://bit.ly/2qRJmq6
    • Why Co-ops and Community Farms Can’t Close the Racial Wealth Gap (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2DeV31w                              Circulating local dollars can’t create wealth when there’s not enough to begin with.
    • Trump’s tax cuts will help the Walton family more than Walmart workers (Market Watch) https://on.mktw.net/2PtdHdq                     A study suggests there’s a world of difference between the tax benefits enjoy by these workers and their employers
    • Walton Wealth: An Analysis of the Last 16 Years of Corporate Dividend Tax Breaks for the Riches Family in the US (Making Change At Walmart, UFCW) https://bit.ly/2PqrjGl
    • 1,100 economists warn that Trump is repeating one of the biggest mistakes of the Great Depression (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2Kgk79W

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • Fifty Towns in Connecticut Have Now Banned Fracking Waste (Food and Water Watch) https://bit.ly/2JZORvM                           More wins for an inspiring grassroots movement to protect community health
    • US shale firms offer $100 million to aid Texas, New Mexico (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2Dvviub                                                               And what of the environmental damage?
    • Hormone-Disrupting Weed Killer Taints Tap Water for Millions in Corn Belt (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2KhRVn0
      • A Valuable Reputation (The New Yorker) https://bit.ly/2QWq7aj                                                                              After Tyrone Hayes said that a chemical was harmful, its marker pursued him.
    • Breathing Toxins For My Birthday (Food and Water Watch) https://bit.ly/2DABgKZ                                                                                       Red tide has been impacting the Western coast of Florida or months in horrifying ways

     

     

     

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • Trump has only distributed a fraction of promised bailout funds for farmers hurt by tariffs (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2Bk8bBm                                                                                      Less than $900 million of $12 billion bailout program has actually been given to US producers.
    • Chinese – owned pork producer to get money from (US tariff) bailout program spurred by China’s tariffs (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2AVhCGT
    • Scientists warned this weed killer (Dicamba) would destroy crops. EPA approved it anyway (Reveal News) https://bit.ly/2Q1Vq6q
    • EPA Plans to Allow Unlimited Dumping of Fracking Wastewater in the Gulf of Mexico (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2QQCd4j
    • USDA won’t name turkey plants, despite 164 illnesses and 1 death (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2DCV00J                                 It appears that the USDA has finally released the source organizations…
    • Almost 46 tons of raw ground turkey recalled for link to Salmonella Reading outbreak (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2DJBX4H
    • Report: EPA Unable to Assess the Impact of Hundreds of Unregulated Pollutants in Land Applied Biosolids on Human Health and the Environment (EPA) https://bit.ly/2QdwMA4
      • EPA Watchdog Questions Safety of Sewage Used as Fertilizer (Bloomberg) https://bit.ly/2zjko7Q                                                     This issue is still not settled after the San Francisco Organic Biosolids fiasco in 2010?
    • USDA sued for not requiring verification for ‘humane’ labeling (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2DoKMjn
    • California is banning the sale of eggs from caged hens (World economic Forum) https://bit.ly/2qCmqLl
      • California Votes To Ban Cages For Hens, Give Farm Animals More Room (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PIaia0   Proposition 12 may change the way farms nationwide treat their chickens, pigs and calves.
    • California pesticide regulators recommend new chlorpyrifos restrictions (The Californian) https://bit.ly/2Dxpv76
    • Republicans Are Making A Deal On Food Stamps And Farm Subsidies (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2DJ4QhB                      With Democrats taking over the House, Republicans are eager to pass the farm bill.

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

    • Genetically Engineered American Chestnut Tree Called ‘Trojan Horse’ at Opening Door to Commercialize GE Trees (Stop GE Trees) https://bit.ly/2KbPWAw
    • Is The Pentagon Modifying Viruses To Save Crops – Or To Wage Biological Warfare? (NPR) https://n.pr/2zC2610

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

     

    Poisons

    • Industry studies show evidence of bias and misleading conclusions on widely used insecticide: Scientists (Environmental Health News) https://bit.ly/2zlfSWl                                                          Data just doesn’t add up behind industry conclusions on chlorpyfrifos – a controversial insecticide linked to brain impacts for children.

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update November 4, 2018

     

    • How activists forced FDA to blacklist “carcinogenic” flavor chemicals the agency says are safe (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2J9s0NS
    • ‘’It’s not fair, not right’: how America treats its black farmers (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2P5ZmU2                                                  Sugarcane farmers can’t survive without large crop loans. For the Provosts, who say they suffered decades of discrimination, this could be the end of the line
    • Lab-Grown Meat Debate Overlooks Cows’ Range of Use Worldwide (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2qlbXEh                                          A battle royale is brewing over what to call animal cells grown in cell culture for food. Should it be in-vitro meat, cellular meat, cultured meat or fermented meat?
    • Mystic Cheese: Modular Shipping Containers Are Being Repurposed for Food Production (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2ENIigL
    • Soy destruction in Argentina leads straight to our dinner plates (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2DcZ9Is                                        Argentina’s Gran Chaco forest is being razed for soya, ending up in Europe as animal feed, and on our plates. It’s the backbone of Argentina’s fragile economy, but has come at a price for the indigenous people who live there
    • Bring the wild back into farmlands to protect diversity,, researchers say (UC Berkeley News) https://bit.ly/2DlJ1nP

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • Planning for the Future (Alta) https://bit.ly/2JgmRDS                      The pioneers of the organic farming movement are aging out. What will happen to their lovingly tended farms?
    • Fewer consumers opting for that weekly box of veggies, so local farmers are struggling to survive Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2EVknMn
    • (Canadian) MPs who farm: How a committee’s mental-health study is hitting close to home (iPolitics) https://bit.ly/2zc5D60
    • ‘We’ll have space bots with lasers, killing plants’: the rise of the robot farmer (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2R5ZlvN
    • Caught Between Trump’s Tariffs and Tax Changes, Soybean Farmers Face Uncertain Future (NPR) https://n.pr/2Da4y2G
    • We Feed the World: Meet the Australian farmer who created the pasture cropping movement (Independent) https://ind.pn/2CtSMiJ                                                                                     After a brushfire devastated 2,000 acres of his land, Colin Seis was forced to rethink how he farmed. What he came up with radicalized farming techniques for the better.

     

    Climate

    • Politicians say nothing, but US farmers are increasingly terrified by it – climate change (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2P81E4
    • The unseen driver behind the migrant caravan: climate change (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2OVu5mG
      • ‘Every Day You Become More Desperate’ (Food & Environment Reporting Network) https://bit.ly/2Px9PXY    Extreme weather in Central America’s Dry Corridor is forcing farmers to make the hardest decision
    • How Will California’s Climate Ambitions Reshape Food and Agriculture? (Civic Eats) https://bit.ly/2EaQ584                                  Some experts say Governor Jerry Brown’s pledge for a zero-emissions state by 2045 won’t be possible without rethinking the entire industry.
    • Insect collapse study ‘one of the most disturbing articles I have ever read,’ expert warns (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2PbEdqO  Just 3.6% warming has wiped out up to 98% of rainforest insects.
    • Study: Climate-drive declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) https://bit.ly/2NJAZ91

     

    Food Culture & History

    • Gentrification, vegans, and the death of historic London pie shops (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2OPB3Zy

     

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

    • Yemen facing the ‘world’s worst famine in 100 years’ if fighting does not stop, warns the UN (Independent) https://ind.pn/2EEJqn1                                                                                        The UN’s coordinator for Yemen warns 13 million people could die from starvation if fighting continues in the country, where a famine is likely to be officially declared in weeks
    • Study: Weeds Growing in Poor, Inner City Neighborhoods are More Nutritious than Store-Bought Produce (Return to Now) https://bit.ly/2Akuje3
      • Study: Open-Source Food: Nutrition, Toxicology, and Availability of Wild Edible Greens in the East Bay (bioRXiv) https://bit.ly/2ynM8rm
    • Vegetables Lose Up to Half Their Nutrients By the Time They’re Shipped to the store: Another Reason to Grow Your Own (Return to Now) https://bit.ly/2OHd4wu
      • Review: Nutritional comparison of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables II. Vitamin A and carotenoids, vitamin E minerals and fiber (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture) https://bit.ly/2yXc8cM
      • Storage time and temperature effects nutrients in spinach (Penn State) https://bit.ly/2JdpsOT
    • Not Enough Fruits, Vegetables Grown to Feed the Planet, University of Guelph Study Reveals (University of Guelph) https://bit.ly/2AKAUin
      • Study: When too much isn’t enough: Does current food production meet global nutritional needs? (Plos) https://bit.ly/2CEaEHy

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • A Billion Pounds of Pumpkins End Up In Landfills Each Year, Here’s How to Make Halloween More Eco-Friendly (Return To Now) https://bit.ly/2pUSsCa                                                                              My pumpkins go to a friend with chickens…

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • A new study says organic food cuts cancer risk by 25 percent. Take that with a massive grain of salt (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2PRmxOh
    • How A Michelin-Caliber Chef Is Reinventing Hospital Food (The Independent) https://ind.pn/2CxCRQf                                                          In a hospital kitchen in Berlin, chef Patrick Wodni has been overhauling its supply chain, from making his own cheese to sourcing great local producers, all with the goal of making nutritious food for patients
    • Tests Reveal More Weed Killer Than Some Vitamins in Kids’ Cereals (Environmental Working Group) https://bit.ly/2JCv2ul
    • Recall hits millions of pounds of food from Harris Teeter, 7-Eleven, Kroger and more (USA Today) https://bit.ly/2EMQT3c
      • Massive Nationwide Food Recall Could Affect ‘Tens of Thousands of People” (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2q9Bpwi

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • Plight of the Honeybees: Almond growers in the Central Valley have a problem: Crooks keep purloining their pollinators (Alta) https://bit.ly/2q7GXYg
    • Nebraska Farmers Caught, as Part of a Wider Conspiracy, Selling GMO Grain as Organic (The Cornucopia Institute) https://bit.ly/2z7V7wo
    • Restaurant Owner Murders Man, Serves His Remains to Vegetarian Diners, Get Instantly Found Out (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2JuxBhM
    • Food Fight! Why Punk Bands Are Rallying to Save a Grocery Store (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2D42V6L                                                            A DC neighborhood is trying to save a small grocery store and stop a rumored CVS takeover, in a very DC way.

     

    Children & School Food

    • What Domino’s Pizza in the Cafeteria Says About the State of School Food Reform (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OhgKos      Advocates say reformulated junk foods confuse children, but when margins are slim, administrators rely on the income.

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • The Modern Slavery Bill is a start, but it won’t guarantee us sweeter chocolate (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2P9hOdP
    • Edinburgh Michelin Star Chef Introduces Four-Day Week To ‘Fuel the team’s creative flare’ (Independent) https://ind.pn/2R3K2DM
    • Our food system is built on exploitation. Now farmworkers are saying “no more” (Salon) https://bit.ly/2RiocwG              Undocumented farmworkers in Washington have won historic labor victories in recent years
    • Brining in backpackers is not the right way to get more workers on to farms (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2NRoPLt
    • US prisoners’ strike is reminder how commonplace inmate labor is – and that it may run afoul of the law (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2CW71hc
    • Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MPcxD9                                                        As unions warn of serious injuries, plans to take speed limits off the line at pig plants are causing anxiety

     

    Animals

    • Despite what you might think, chickens are not stupid (BBC) https://bbc.in/2yt7BiQ                                                                                Chickens have a reputation for being profoundly dumb, but in fact they are remarkably intelligent and may even be empathic
    • Health officials ‘very worried’ as African Swine Fever spreads in Europe and Asia (CNN) https://cnn.it/2xTIKEg
      • China culls 200,000 pigs due to African swine fever – official (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2J6NpHl
      • USDA suspends pork imports from Poland in ASF defense (National Hog Farmer) https://bit.ly/2Ev3LuO                                The USDA says the goal of the review is to ensure consistency with the stringent, longstanding safeguards in place that protect US animal health from African Swine Fever
    • EU plan to reduce checks on chickens ‘will increase food poisoning risk’ (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2qdGLXb                  Some experts say scaling down inspections is likely to lead to more consumers being infected with campylobacter
    • Scottish government identifies case of mad cow disease (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2NQjkwD                                                                                    The restaurant owner believes that a four-day week will benefit the work-life balance of his employees
    • ‘Horrific’ footage reveals fish suffocating to death on industrial farms in Italy (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2PJNEuN

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • Millennials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2AKzJiU
    • Lucky Supermarkets, Launches Educational Plant-Based Food Program in California (One Green Planet) https://bit.ly/2PYLO9c
    • It’s not regulations, it’s retailers you should worry about (Beef Magazine) https://bit.ly/2AnZ4yP                                                    Consumers may demand food retailers crack down on antibiotic use. What does this mean for beef producers?
    • My fight for justice goes on (San Francisco Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2SpGWf2
      • Monsanto trial: judge rejects bid to overturn landmark cancer verdict (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2q72ZKp                    Dewayne Johnson originally won $289m after finding Roundup weedkiller caused illness, but judge reduces financial award
    • ‘We did the right thing’: jurors urge judge to uphold Monsanto cancer ruling (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2pZqXr5
    • While Nestle extracts millions of liters from their land, residents have no drinking water (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zRXdlH    Just 90 minutes fro Toronto, residents of a First Nation community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land
    • Pilotworks food incubator closes suddenly, leaving 175 companies kitchenless (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2R7srv3
    • Racial Wealth Gap Much Smaller Among Union Members (Forbes) https://bit.ly/2JctRkX
      • Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not. (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2ReYhFZ                                        US unemployment is down and jobs are going unfilled. But for people without much education, the real question is: Do those jobs pay enough to live on?
    • Researchers Who Said Raising Minimum Wage Was Bad For Workers Now Say It’s Good, Actually (Splinter) https://bit.ly/2O5NRqs
      • Study: Minimum Wage Increases and Individual Employment Trajectories (University of Washington) https://bit.ly/2yz2XQm

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • In Echo of Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis Now Hits Newark (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2AE9Lxz                                                                                        For nearly a year and a half, top officials in Newark denied that their water system had a widespread lead problem, despite ample evidence that the city was facing a public health crisis…
    • Meat-free diets could cut out ‘water footprint’ in half, say scientists (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2NH1K1Y
    • Eighty tons of illegal Bluefin tuna pose a threat to sustainable fisheries and human health (Phys.org) https://bit.ly/2yOcYIs
    • California’s Underwater Forests Are Being Eaten by the ‘Cockroaches of the Ocean (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2yylfRP
    • Scientists make incredible discovery on unexplored seafloor off Big Sur. (Monterey County Weekly) https://bit.ly/2yEOwu9

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • ‘Hugely Important Breakthrough for Human and Animal Health’ as EU Approves Antibiotic Restrictions for Livestock to Battle Superbugs (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2AwfANr          “Antibiotic resistance is a real sword of Damocles, threatening to send our health care system back to the Middle Ages.”
    • European parliament approves sweeping ban on single-use plastics (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2PjmYnE                            Proposal passed 571-53, with Labour MEPs demanding UK mirror EU action after Brexit
    • Trump Admin’s Axing Of Plan To Reduce Creatures Killed In Gillnets Ruled Illegal (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2JjlfZP              A judge ruled illegal the axing of a plan to limit the number of marine creatures allowed to be killed by drift gillnets used to catch swordfish off California.
    • Trump’s trade war took a stunning bit out of the US economy, and it’s the strongest evidence yet that he’s shooting himself in the foot (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2EXfWB4
      • Trump tariffs lead to bleak 2019 farm forecasts (Politico) https://politi.co/2DciJnW
      • Tariff Troubles: Ohio Farmers Have Lots Of Crops But Nowhere To Sell Them (WOSU) https://bit.ly/2z9cixB
      • Tariffs, China and American Ginseng: A Case Study in Wisconsin (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2Sg1xT3                    Marathon County is ground zero for the American ginseng industry, growing 98 percent of the country’s crop. But that may be in jeopardy if buyers start to walk away from deals in response to Chinese import tariffs.
    • California’s dairy farmers were struggling to regain profitability. Then came the trade wars (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2AxlJci
    • China slashed its imports of US sorghum, soybean, and corn in September (NBC News) https://nbcnews.to/2QdIw28                  China imported 80 percent less US sorghum in September and upped its Brazilian imports soybeans by 28 percent.
    • Chinese-owned company qualifies for Trump’s anti-China farm bailout (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2CC2O1c
    • Trump picks former Monsanto executive to lead US Fish and Wildlife Service (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2OJOACM
    • Rural jails, brought to you by the US Department of Agriculture (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2EJCvZH                                                     The federal farm boys are getting into the beds-with-bars business.
    • Farm Aid for the Big House (Vera) https://bit.ly/2PngKCV           Over the last two decades, the USDA has been funding jail construction through a program designed to finance infrastructure like emergency services, hospitals, fire station, and community centers…

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

    • Study: Glyphosate is lethal and Cry toxins (Bt) alter the development of the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata (Research Gate) https://bit.ly/2zdOuJ6
    • Commission asks EFSA for urgent assessment of allergenicity of GM crop Bt toxin (GM Watch) https://bit.ly/2COK3Yw
    • TGE-resistant pigs developed through gene editing (National Hog Farmer) https://bit.ly/2R333Gz                                                          Researchers at the University of Missouri have successfully produced a litter of pigs that are genetically resistant to Transmissible gastroednteritis virus (TGEV)…
    • Organic farming with gene editing: An oxymoron or a toll for sustainable agriculture? (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2PwchdY

     

    Poisons

    • Pesticides and suicide prevention – why research needs to be put into practice (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2pZLZ91
    • Bombshell New Study Calls For Ban On Pesticide Family Tied To Brain Damage In Kids (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2yAfTVU      For pregnant women, there is no safe level of exposure to organophosphate pesticides.
    • Entire Pesticide Class Must Be Banned to Save Children’s Health, Landmark Study Says (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Rhw0P9
    • Ban entire pesticide class to protect children’s health, experts say (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2OQORnH
    • Study: Organophosphate exposures during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment Recommendations for essential policy reforms (PLOS) https://bit.ly/2JgeFn9
    • Prenatal exposure to phthalates linked to language delays in children, study says (CNN) https://cnn.it/2OdVUl4

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update, October 20, 2018

     

     

    • Tacoma man grows organic food to give away for free (King5) https://kng5.tv/2OLXA9J                                                                                          A Tacoma man sets out a table in front of his house with free organic produce that he grows in his backyard. He aims to fill a need in his neighborhood and build community at the same time.
    • What if there was a prize for food sovereignty? (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2pYtCBi                                                                There is – and it’s an emerging alternative to the far better known, lucrative, and contentious World Food Prize.
    • The Promise and Peril of Mexico’s Wine Revolution (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2AbjdYJ                                                                          Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe is booming – worrying some its residents.
    • America Isn’t Ready for the lanternfly Invasion (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2DQ4pTv                                                                                      A bizarre pest from Asia is spreading fast putting billions of dollars’ worth of resources at risk.
    • Will Americans Embrace A Zeal For Eel? This Maine Entrepreneur Hopes So (NPR) https://n.pr/2PA178h                    North America’s rivers were once filled with eel, but we ate so many they are now endangered and therefore protected
    • American Eels: Restoring a Vanishing Resource in the Gulf of Maine (Gulf of Maine Council) https://bit.ly/2CsXPQh
    • Goat Meat Could Save Our Food System, But We’re Too Afraid To Eat It (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2CAtwIy                                        Not only is goat often referred to as the healthiest of red meats, but It’s good for the planet, too. And, yes, it actually tastes good.
    • Good News For ‘Green’ Brews: Consumers Say They’ll Pay More For Sustainable Beer (NPR) https://n.pr/2yilRut
    • Samin Nostrat Wants Everybody to Cook (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2QNuCDC                                                                                      The Bay Area chef believes that great food can be both beautiful and accessible. Her new Netflix series, based on her celebrated cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, might just help her deliver that message
    • Flood carries a piece of the Mountain Valley Pipeline into the hands of opposing land (farmer) owner (The Roanoke Times) https://bit.ly/2NFN7It
    • Slaughter-Free Meat Is An Answer To Our Cruel And Broken Food System (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PH63rZ
    • Urban Farming organization Visualizes a Franchise Model to Produce Fresh Fish and Vegetables (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2NDLGdv
    • Coffee Rust Threatens Latin American Crop: 150 Years Ago, It Wiped Out An Empire (NPR) https://n.pr/2ykFDFA

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • The Potato Whisperer (Atlas Obscura) https://bit.ly/2zZMTIr        Manuel Choqque Bravos delicious, colorful creations adored by world class chefs.
    • As Trump Demonizes Immigrants, These US Farmers Aren’t Having it (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PBoCxL                Immigrant workers perform grueling jobs that many Americans won’t do. And Farmers know it. A Wisconsin program builds a deeper understanding between them.

     

    Land and Soil

    • US boasts 6.5 million acres o organic certified land with 460 new operations in 2018 (Ag Update) https://bit.ly/2OxUZB0

     

    Climate

    • We Feed the World: photo stories of farmers fighting climate change in five continents (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2NyIVtQ
      • ‘Crisis is a way of life’” helping farmers cope with devastating climate change (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2dRVtft
    • To Address the Climate Crisis, We Must Completely Rethink How We Produce and Consume Food (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2NKEQTg                                                                                Market-driven solutions won’t cut it.
    • Agroecology as a Tool of Sovereignty and Resilience in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OEvsGs      Two member of Organización Boricuá, which recently won the Food Sovereignty Prize, discuss lessons learned from organizing on the front lines of climate change.
    • The Giant Corporations Behind Your Burgers And Milk Have A Terrifying Climate Secret (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2CFmguO                                                                                Together, five companies have a climate footprint bigger than Exxon, Shell or BP, but we don’t talk about it.
    • Bye-Bye, Beer? Brewers Say They’ve Got a Plan On Climate Change (NPR) https://n.pr/2Ah9Bfi
      • Beer Prices Could Double Because Of Climate Change, Study Says (NPR) https://n.pr/2pVVbLr
      • Study: Decreases in global beer supply due to extreme drought and heat (Nature) https://go.nature.com/2yJ0jqh
      • Trouble brewing: climate change to cause ‘dramatic’ beer shortages (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2P1D3hr                      Extreme weather damage to the global barley crop will mean prices spike and supply problems, according to new research
    • Extreme weather could trigger a global beer shortage that causes prices to skyrocket worldwide (San Francisco Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2J6DSQV
    • A Shortage of Beer and Fries? Climate Change Hits Europe Where It Hurts (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2A98vSP
    • Wineries and vineyards clash over how to handle grapes affected by wildfire smoke (San Francisco Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2y7uTKQ

     

    Seeds & Cultivars

    • Scientists thought they had created the perfect tree. But it became a nightmare. (Seattle Times) https://bit.ly/2IQmmQB
    • This Seed Bank Preserves Biodiversity by Opening Its Doors to Farmers (Gastro Obscura) https://bit.ly/2Aev6xa                                  The Ethiopian institution pioneered a new model.

     

    Food Culture & History

    • How the Navajo Nation Is Reclaiming Food Sovereignty (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OwKLRl                                                                    Through cooking classes, outreach, and social media, a new generation of Native Americans are reconnecting to Indigenous foodways.
    • Canada’s Wild Salmon Caravan Connects Future Of Fish And Indigenous People (NPR) https://n.pr/2QNdL3N
    • Fire and Agroforestry Are Reviving Traditional Native Foods and Communities (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2QJnWGD                                  In Northern California, the Karuk and Yurok tries are burning away decades of forest management practices and revitalizing their foodways and communities.
    • The Chile Pepper Rivalry Heats Up Between New Mexico’s Hatch And Colorado’ Pueblo (NPR) https://n.pr/2IF5SL8
    • Ancient Maya: Astronomers, Farmers… And Salt Entrepreneurs? (NPR) https://n.pr/2C5tyXM
      • Research Report: Salt and marine products in the Classic Maya economy from use-wear study of stone tools (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) https://bit.ly/2IXUl9N
    • How a Uruguayan Meat Factory Became Iconic Worldwide (Atlas Obscura) https://bit.ly/2AdSj2t                                                                          The former factory is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

     

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

    • Food Banks Reap Unexpected Bounty From Trade Disputes (The Wall Street Journal) https://on.wsj.com/2Nq5d0A                                  US government set to deliver $1.2 billion in products bought from farmers as tariff relief
    • Connecting the dots: The trade war with China and feeding America’s poor (Food Politics by Marion Nestle) https://bit.ly/2CkI4Lm
    • Sloppy science bears substantial blame for Americans’ bad eating habits (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2pIjnAX
      • Brian Wansink, the Cornell Professor Known or His Fun Food Research, Retires Amid Scandal (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2pQEJMD                                                                        Accused of misconduct, he stands by the integrity of his work.

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

     

    Healthy, Food Safety

    • Should Canadians Be Worried About American Milk Quality? (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2EjWH42                                                    A dairy expert weighs in on commons misconceptions in the wake of USMCA.
    • Maseca Corn Flours Test Positive for Toxic Residues of Monsanto Weedkiller (OCA) https://bit.ly/2OSeuUj                                        Leading international brand also tests positive for genetically modified organisms, despite marketing claims of ‘100 percent natural.’
    • Is LaCroix Safe? Yes. Natural? That’s Complicated (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Ostclc                                                                                                    A new lawsuit underscores the ambiguity of food labels.
    • Pret A Manager Says Second Person Died After Allergic Reaction To Sandwich (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Nt49cA                            The news of the death follows a British coroner’s ruling that the sandwich chain’s product labeling is inadequate.
    • Walmart, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s are recalling thousands of pounds of ready-to-eat salads (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2OxIR31                                                                                      Here we go again, this is the second recall since August 1, 2018: Health alert issued for salad s, wraps from Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Walgreens due to parasite concern (CNN) https://cnn.it/2LEK8nn

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • This Cornell Food Researcher Has Had 13 Papers Retracted. How Were They Published in the First Place? (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2ynpGhq
    • In Germany, an Entire Vineyard of Grapes Has Gone Missing (Gastro Obscura) https://bit.ly/2Cs0URt                                                Police suspect a rival grape-grower got a little jelly.
    • A Museum Dedicated To Disgusting Food Is Opening In Sweden (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2O9Jtvk                                                From century eggs to maggot-infested cheese, this museum is home to 80 of the world’s most disgusting foods.

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • “Papá, I don’t think you should go to work today.” (The California Sunday Magazine) https://bit.ly/2Ro3BIj                                                  The dread and hope of migrant farmers and families
    • Farmworkers face illness and death in the fields (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2PmmFFw                                                                      ‘The reality is that the machinery of growers is taken better care of than the lives of farmworkers.’
    • ‘Crops go unharvested and animals go uncared for. ‘ Concerns about Washington farmworker shortages grow (Seattle Times) https://bit.ly/2vFPAf1
    • 1,000 unfilled jobs forcing meatpackers to sweeten benefits pot (Ag Update) https://bit.ly/2CoPhtY                                                                  On any given Monday, America’s biggest supplier of ground beef has 1,000 jobs unfilled, pushing Cargill Inc. to aggressively sweeten the pot on benefits to retain existing workers and hire new ones…
    • Sun-Maid strike ends with new contract (Hanford Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2ygR15E                                                                                              … more than 500 Sun-Maid workers went on strike for two weeks…
    • As Midterms Approach, Fast Food Workers Plans Strikes in Battleground States (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2QDRmpF
    • The Food Industry Has Been Notoriously Hard To Organize. Could These Tactics Bring It New Life? (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2OhVLSz                                                                                      These organizing tactics aren’t traditional, but they are helping unions make some headway in the food and drink industry.
    • A Boos for the Worker-Owned Economy (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2y1tEgn                                                                                                  A new measure will make it easier for retiring owners to sell their businesses to employees – and save jobs into the bargain.

     

    Pollinators

    • A New Study Shows How Mushrooms Could Save Bees. Yes, Mushrooms. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2PbJ8Vu                                “If we could knock down viruses in honey bee colonies, it could lead to greater health in other pollinators.”

     

    Animals

    • Will California finally get the cage-free bill they’ve been seeking? (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2RC7fOR                                     A decade after Proposition 2 passed, voters want firm, clear parameters on how much space to allow farm animals.
    • California’s Latest Push for Cage-Free Eggs (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2P64A1h                                                                                          A new ballot initiative seeks to expand upon a 2008 law that didn’t go as far as many hoped.
    • Calves in Confinement (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2Pmmc61   Gruesome footage of dairy calves exposes a gaping loophole in California’s landmark animal welfare law.
    • Police Arrest 58 Activists After Factory Conditions Exposed at ‘Free Range’ Perdue Supplier (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2IU4YdF

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • Aspiring Maine credit union wants to lend exclusively to farms, food producers (Bangor Daily News) https://bit.ly/2Erl1kG
    • Long Meadow Ranch Takes a Full-Circle Approach to Farming in Wine Country (KQED) https://bit.ly/2A2ocuL                                Visitors to St. Helena, Napa Valley’s chic epicenter, frequently stop at the Farmstead, a restaurant, café, farmstand, and general store know for seasonal, locally grown, and organic fair…
    • Soda Companies Are Waging A Cynical War On ‘Grocery Taxes’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2q2Ds53                                      Corporate-backed campaigns to on sugary beverage taxes are misleading voters.
    • StarKist Faces $100 Million Fine For Fixing Tuna Prices (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PIzQk7                                      Prosecutors allege that the industry’s top three companies conspired between 2010 and 2013 to keep prices artificially high.
    • Scotland’s $2 Billion (farmed) Salmon Industry Is Thriving – But At What Cost? (NPR) https://n.pr/2AeE0uJ
      • Report: Review of the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming in Scotland (Scottish Association for Marine Science) https://bit.ly/2BNnkYS
    • No Cash Needed At This Café. Students Pay The Tab With Their Personal Data (NPR) https://n.pr/2zDXatI
    • People of color have the highest obesity rates in the US. Food marketing is part of the problem (Vox) https://bit.ly/2NO4BHd        University of San Diego marketing professor Aarti Ivanic discusses how race and food marketing intersect.
    • 28 Pie Charts That Show Female Representation in Food (Eater) https://bit.ly/2zdOhEF                                                                                          How far have we come since “The Gods of Food”?
    • The World’s 50 Best List Will at Least Try to Include Women in 2019 (Eater) https://bit.ly/2M8QFC4                                                          The awards’ voting academy will gender-balanced in 2019, but the organization will keep its controversial “best female chef” award
    • How lobbyists for Monsanto led a ‘grassroots farmers’ movement against an EU glyphosate ban (Greenpeace) https://bit.ly/2CS3HUw
    • ‘The world is against them’: new era of cancer lawsuits threaten Monsanto (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2OfzQvh
      • Lawyers: CRT Corrections of Glyphosate Review Only Tells Half the story (Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman) https://bit.ly/2yy3tx5
    • Texas companies paid $654M more in tariffs this summer than the last amidst Trump’s trade war (The Dallas Morning News) https://bit.ly/2P9XwRo

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals & Weird

    • California’s almond harvest has created a golden opportunity for bee thieves (Reveal) https://bit.ly/2QBJyou

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • When In Drought: States Take On Urgent Negotiations To avoid Colorado River Crisis (NPR) https://n.pr/2NENnY0
    • Latest: Tribes gain more leverage over Western water (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2CNP7gM                                                          A recent ruling could settle the unresolved ground water rights of early 240 tribes.
    • Fracking is destroying US water supply, warns shocking new study (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2O9LLKW
      • Study: The intensification of the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing (Science Advances) https://bit.ly/2PcuXis
    • Why 1 million Californians lack safe drinking water (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2PCXIp9                                                  Rural, cash-strapped communities don’t have the means to treat contaminated water.
    • Oysters On The Half Shell Are Actually Saving New York’s Eroding Harbor (NPR) https://n.pr/2ybbSXJ
    • Plastic Pollution Has Increased A Hundredfold In The South Atlantic (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NMxPBG                        “This is a very big wake-up call.”

     

    Government, Regulation, Policy & Farm Bill

    • Trump signs ‘Save Our Seas Act’ to boost clean-up efforts in world’s oceans (UPI) https://bit.ly/2QX6AWY
    • ‘So much water.’ Trump moves to slash environmental rules on Delta, putting farms before fish (Sacramento Bee) https://bit.ly/2AjfEQm
    • How an Algorithm Kicks Small Businesses Out of the Food Stamps Program on Dubious Fraud Charges (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2IIZemV
    • Trump tells May to abandon ‘unjustified’ food (safety) standards for Brexit trade deal (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2Ou9fL3
      • Insect filled chocolates, rat hair noodles, and maggot orange juice: The reality of a Brexit trade deal with Trump (Business Insider)
    • Trump team makes controversial change to allow chicken plants to operate at faster speeds (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2J6CWvS                                                                                  What of worker safety, public health, and animal welfare?
    • San Diego approves ban on polystyrene with grace period for small restaurants (San Diego Union Tribune) https://bit.ly/2Acu30D
    • The Farm Bill Expired – Now What? (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2OZm245                                                                        Republicans and Democrats in the House couldn’t agree on what the bill should include.
    • It’s not just tariffs. The stalled farm bill threatens demand for American food overseas (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CVU5Ic
    • A Change to Farm Bill Conservation Efforts Could Spell Disaster for the Corn Belt (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2QVt2j8                             As lawmakers debate whether or not to merge two crucial farm conservation programs, the future of arm pollution in Iowa – and other Midwestern states – hangs in the balance.
    • GOP plant to get Americans off food stamps puts 4 million children and seniors at risk (Vox) https://bit.ly/2Oq8uCP  Republican work rules will do more harm than good.                  Remember, there is a reason we implemented the food stamp program and it is part of the Farm Bill…

     

    GMOs, CRISPR, Cloning & Synthetic Biology

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

    • The Future Of Food (Quartz) https://bit.ly/2P3cubG                            A four part series                                                                                                        As global climate change worsens and the population expands, humanity must produce more food in the next 50 years than it has in the past 10,000. Are lab-made meat and automation the key to farming in the future, or must we tend to the soil we already have?
    • Forcing the Farm (etc Group) https://bit.ly/2PIosEQ                      How Gene Drive Organisms Could Entrench Industrial Agriculture and Threaten Food Sovereignty
    • Death by Fertilizer (grist) https://bit.ly/2zLSqSE                          Nitrogen fertilizer is a disaster. Abandoning it would be a bigger disaster. Now a dozen billionaires are funding an alternative.

     

    Poisons

    • Glyphosate and dicamba herbicides increase antibiotic resistance in bacteria (GMWatch) https://bit.ly/2yAfSRf                            Antibiotic resistance development in bacteria increased b a factor of up to 100,000 times faster than occurred without the herbicide
    • Study: Agrichemicals and antibiotics in combination increase antibiotic resistance evolution (PeerJ) https://bit.ly/2RN2qSy
    • Nationwide Class Action Lawsuit Targets Dupont, Chemours, 3M, and Other Makers of FPAS Chemicals (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2C1svrU                                                                                          The Teflon chemicals
    • Despite A Ban, Arkansas Farmers Are Still Spraying Controversial Weedkiller (NPR) https://n.pr/2NzAX3v                                                      … soybeans were damaged in 2017 by dicamba, a popular weedkiller that’s prone to drifting into neighboring fields. Some farmers in the state are defying efforts by regulators to strictly limit use of the chemical.
    • Ancestors’ exposure to DDT may contribute to obesity, study says (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2EjwG52                                          Exposure to the pesticide DDT could be playing a role in high rates of obesity three generations later, new study says.
    • Study: Ancestral dicholorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) exposure promotes epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of obesity (MBC Medicine) https://bit.ly/2NFpMq3

     

    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food and Ag Update October 8, 2018

     

    • Bayview ‘Growers Market’ provides healthy food options grown by and for the neighborhood (San Francisco Examiner) https://bit.ly/2OjwDtT
    • Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid Stages Its Most Crucial Benefit Concert in a Generation (Billboard) https://bit.ly/2NUx2CC                          “The crisis farmers are in now is even worse than 1985, because there are fewer farms left to lose,” says John Mellencamp, co-founder of Farm Aid. “They have a whole system stacked against them.”
    • What Hurricanes Warn Us About the Future of Food (Medium) https://bit.ly/2OzRBl2                                                                                  Whether from floods or fires or climate change0induced natural disasters, when roads collapse and interstate commerce grinds to a halt, we all find ourselves vulnerably dependent on the food at hand.
    • Wisconsin On Pace To Hit Highest Loss Of Dairy Farms In 4 Years (Wisconsin Public Radio) https://bit.ly/2Mvwr5O                          Fewer dairy herds in Wisconsin due to continued economic pressures
      • Wisconsin dairy farmers, in debt and out of options, turn to GoFundMe for bailout (Journal Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2PSI6xG
    • An Amazing Reaction Happens When a Plant Gets Hurt, Making Them More Similar to Animals (Science Alert) https://bit.ly/2Da3FYW
    • Everyone agrees the country needs new farmers. Trouble is, they can’t afford land (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2xg6EK8   Nearly 100 million acres of US farmland will change hands in the next few years, but most of it will go to investors and developers. Now, two online tools aim to help a new generation of farmers find land and demystify the cost of owning it.
    • Agriculture Has a Sustainability Problem – and It affects Your Business. Here’s Why (Inc.) https://bit.ly/2NBsJwL                           The way you connect to other companies and industries is a web bigger than you ever imagined.
    • In Farm Country, Grappling With the Taboo of Talking about Climate Change (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2KMLOup                Despite the heated political rhetoric on both sides of the issue, the realities of the changing climate are driving farmers of all stripes to take action.
    • New global study reveals the ‘staggering’ loss of forests caused by industrial agriculture (Science) https://bit.ly/2RosG5B

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

    • CSA Farmers Must Navigate Obstacles to Get Fresh Food to NYC’s Low-Income Tables (City Limits) https://bit.ly/2Oqjord
    • North Carolina Produces 60% of the Country’s Sweet Potatoes. The Crop Is in Trouble. (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2NRxx1i
      • North Carolina supplies the nation’s sweet potatoes. Florence has put this year crop in doubt. (Charlotte Observer) https://bit.ly/2N9Fxpa
    • Racing Against the Harvest, Custom Wheat Cutters Struggle to Stay Relevant (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2R1I9IE                                        For nearly 100 years, itinerant workers known as “Wheaties” have followed the Great Plains wheat trail, cutting ripening grain from south to north. Climate change, global markets, and the depopulation of rural America are now casting doubt on the future of their way of life.

     

    Seeds & Cultivars

     

    Food Culture & History

    • Luz Calvo Wants to Decolonize Your Plate (East Bay Express) https://bit.ly/2Qaym1M                                                                                      The Oakland resident and ethnic studies professor aims to preserve healing indigenous food traditions through a cookbook and art exhibit.
    • Archaeologists Find Oldest Example of Nutmeg-Spiced Food, Just in Time for Fall (Gizmodo) https://bit.ly/2pDW9M9

     

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

    • Calfresh, a ‘lifesaver’ for Bay Area college students struggling to buy groceries (KTVU2) https://bit.ly/2QfiKKm
    • Freezers taped shut, food dangling from ceilings: How food pantries are preparing for Hurricane Florence (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2plWTWt                                                             Food insecurity increases in the wake of devastating storms. And that makes food pantries and their game time decisions more critical than ever.
    • The Scientific Case for Eating Bread (Medium) https://bit.ly/2xnWHcO                                                                                       The widespread vilification of bread isn’t supported by strong research

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • Humans, Fish and Other Animals Are Consuming Microfibers in Our Food and Water (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2RA4EVg
      • As Synthetic Microfibers Infiltrate Food, Water and Air, How Can We Prevent Future Release? (Ensia) https://bit.ly/2wHD7I5                                                                          Scientists and manufacturers are looking for ways to keep synthetic microfibers from getting into the environment in the first place
    • Plastic Pollution Is Now Spreading From Ocean Food Chain Into Land Animals, Thanks to This Insect (Science Alert) https://bit.ly/2PWoGb6
    • We Can Ban Plastic Straws, But America’s Eating Habits Are The Real Problem (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PYjJhZ
    • Austin, Texas, Bans Restaurants From Throwing Away Food Waste (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2DSO6Fx                            Eateries will now have to donate or compost leftover food.

     

    Healthy Food & Food Safety

    • Medi-Cal Home-Delivers a New Prescription: Healthy Meals (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2xLeDz3                                     California’s Medically Tailored Meals pilot program could lead the medical industry, and especially insurers, to include nutrition as part of overall health care.
    • Jeffrey Sachs: Sugar Addiction Is A Sign Of Our Broken Food System (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2zzuNMY                              The economist and adviser on the UN chief takes aim at large food companies that “peddle food and drink that is bad for people.”
    • Cafeteria Food: What the tray Says About Us (East Bay Express) https://bit.ly/2NM3urT                                                                                        From hospitals to schools, mass-produced meals aren’t what they used to be.
    • Hospitals Take Aim At ‘The Greatest Health Threat Of The 21st Century’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MJ0lDP
      • Global Climate and Health Forum: Call To Action https://bit.ly/2Mq2fsM                                                                                    10 Priorities: #4 Build local, healthy, and sustainable food and agricultural systems.
    • Apples Or Fries With That? When It Comes To Kids Meals, Fries Are Hard To Beat (NPR) https://n.pr/2ImqfMS
    • Cargill recalls 66 tons of ground beef after deadly E. coli 026 outbreak (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2xslz40                              The recall began with 132,000 pounds, and was increased the next day to 66 tons.
      • More than 132,000 pounds of ground beef are being recalled after one death and at least 17 illnesses (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2PVf4NN
    • 5 Million Pounds Of Beef Have Been Recalled Due To Salmonella Risk (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2P7vRwV                                            At least 57 people have become ill following a possible outbreak of salmonella stemming from Arizona-based meat producer JBS Tollenson, Inc.
    • What Sparked An E. Coli Outbreak In Lettuce? Scientists Trace A Surprising Source (NPR) https://n.pr/2PNkVW9

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

    • Maine Asks Restaurant To Stop Giving Lobsters Cannabis Before Boiling Them (NPR) https://n.pr/2QYgGYf                                                  The state of Maine has asked the owner of a lobster restaurant to stop giving cannabis to lobsters in order to get them high before they die.

     

    Children & School Food

    • More US Children Eating Fast Food, Despite Health Concerns (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Qmkx0t
      • Report: Parents’ Reports of Fast-Food Purchases for Their Children: Have They Improved? (UConn Rudd Center) https://bit.ly/2zytZrZ

     

    Labor, Unions & Coops

    • Labor Conditions at Starbucks-Certified Plantation Deemed Analogous to Slavery (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2DwQxNJ
    • Trillion Dollar Company Led By CEO Worth $100+ Billion Gives Workers 25 Cent Raise (Labor 411) https://bit.ly/2DxPKvZ and Amazon raises minimum wage for US and UK employees (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zMnTUZ                                                                      I guess he changed his mind…
    • Amazon training videos coach Whole Foods staff on how to discourage unions (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2DzN7K7The Guardian obtained internal videos sent to Whole Foods management, coaching them on how to watch for unionizing
    • Life as a Farmworker in Yuma’s Lettuce Fields (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2LZxk6o                                                                                       Each winter, the fields of Yuma, Arizona, grow half a billion heads of iceberg lettuce. This is what it’s like to work as a lettuce harvester in those fields.
    • Climate Change Isn’t Just Making It Difficult For Farmworkers. It’s Putting Their Lives In Danger (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2D5kK6o                                                                                  Hotter temperatures can increase heat-related illnesses, reduce paychecks and even kill those who labor outdoors.
    • Disney Resort hotel workers approve a new contract with a $15-an-hour minimum wage (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2OO3Vy1
    • Striking Hotel Workers Say “Slow Season” Is No Excuse for Losing Health Care (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2O3Xeee
    • The Co-op Farming Model Might Help Save America’s Small Farms (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2yb8Eml                                                Amid a nationwide rise in worker-owned businesses of all types, small farms across the country are foregoing traditional farm ownership and reaping the benefits of cooperative farming.

     

    Protests

    • Workers across the Midwest arrested at rallies for higher wages, right to unionize (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2ID0uIc                “Every month is a struggle just to get by.”
    • MeToo’s hidden activists? Working class women (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2R0tD4b                                                                                    Janitors and fast-food workers, not celebrities, are ground zero of the MeToo movement. Time to shift the focus to them
    • The Simple Request of the McDonald’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Protests (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2QM8XN0                                      The strike, like most #MeToo-era advocacy, reveals the those who’ve dealt with workplace misbehavior don’t desire vengeance so much as an acknowledgment of the harm that’s been wrought.
    • McDonald’s workers are about to walk out of their jobs to protest sexual harassment (Vice News) https://bit.ly/2pjR63o
      • McDonald’s Workers Strike Over Sexual Harassment In The Workplace (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Nj3Kyd                          The strike comes after the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund filed 10 sexual harassment complaints on behalf of women employed by the fast-food giant.
      • McDonald’s workers across the United States are on strike to protests sexual harassment (Mic) https://bit.ly/2PVzqXi
    • As Florida chokes on red tide, governor denies environmental malpractice (Seattle Times) https://bit.ly/2OQmBg6        Republican Governor Rick Scott, now running for the US Senate against the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson, nickeled, dimed, slashed and ignored Florida’s environmental protections for almost eight years.
      • Red Tide Protesters Drive Florida Gov. Rick Scott From Campaign Stop (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PKxUqC           “Red Tide Rick has got to go.” Shouted demonstrators as waves of   dead fish buried beaches.
    • Rock Band Occupies Palm Oil Tanks With Activists Protesting Deforestation (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Of9zw5                                    … activists, including members of Greenpeace and the Indonesian rock band Boomerang, occupied a palm oil refinery owned by Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader to protests deforestation in Indonesia.

     

    Pollinators

    • Study: Roundup Weed Killer Could Be Linked To Widespread Bee Deaths (NPR) https://n.pr/2xEvmnz
      • Study: Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) https://n.pr/2xEvmnz

     

    Animals

    • The War On Drugs – In Your Bacon (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NvoWBg                                                                                Factory farming risks pushing us into a post antibiotic world, but consumers are demanding change.
    • A deadly pig disease raging in China is bound to spread to other Asian countries, experts warn (Science) https://bit.ly/2CpKN6Y
      • African swine fever (ASF), a deadly virus in pigs and wild oars, continues to spread in China and will almost certainly wreak havoc in other countries in Asia soon.
    • There’s Only One Way For Grass-Fed Cattle To Be A Sustainable Farming Practice (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2CsBvaz            With a growing demand, two Harvard researchers attempt to answer that question.

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • A food hall, run only by women of color and immigrants, is challenging the “boys’ club” of kitchens (Mic) https://bit.ly/2xY1wtz
    • How commercial kitchens support the cottage food industry, helping startups realize their dreams (Inlander) https://bit.ly/2Nw8osO
      • Spokane County Interstate Fair offers free lessons in growing, preparing and preserving food (Inlander) https://bit.ly/2xyvgOd
    • The man who beat Monsanto: ‘They have to pay for not being honest’ (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2IhLxeB
    • Cornell Alliance for Science is a PR Campaign for the Agrichemical Industry (USRTK) https://bit.ly/2Nyi0hW
      • Email communications between Alison Van Eenennaam and Sarah Davidson Evanega (Chemical Industry Documents UCSF) https://bit.ly/2OLkvSq
    • The Pros And Cons Of Food Delivery And Meal Prep Services (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NmQPeN                                                    Is outsourcing your shopping and meal prep really worth the money and environmental impact?
    • Vegan Fast-Food Chain Amy’s Drive Thru to Open Second California Location (Livekindly) https://bit.ly/2QeM1oL
    • Class Action Lawsuit Alleges LaCroix Contains Ingredients Used In Cockroach Insecticide (3 CBS Philly) https://cbsloc.al/2xZQJzQ
    • Nestle says slavery reporting requirements could cost customers (Sydney Morning Herald) https://bit.ly/2C5QY0T
    • Soylent meal replacement gets UK launch (BBC News) https://bbc.in/2DqSxHs                                                                                      Meal replacement drink Soylent will launch in the UK on Thursday with a different formula to its US equivalent.                                  Remember, this is the stuff that was making people sick in the US in 2016
      • Soylent: meal-substitute company admits products making people sick (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2feZU8G                            The California startup announced its meal powder makes people ill just days after finding similar problems with Soylent Bar
    • The Rise of the Zombie Small Businesses (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2MMptOC                                                                                      What your chicken dinner says about wage stagnation, income inequality, and economic sclerosis in the United States
    • Under Trump, CEO Pay Soars While Employee Wages Decrease – And Tax Cuts Could Make the Gap Even Bigger (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2OQlywK
      • Study: Top CEO’s compensation increased 17.6 percent in 2017 (Economic Policy Institute) https://bit.ly/2zmXrB9          The ratio of CEO-to-worker compensation grew 312 to 1
    • Unions Play a Critical Role in Wealth Creation for People of Color, Research Says (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2CilGnA
      • Union Membership Narrows the Racial Wealth Gap for Families of Color (Center for American Progress) https://ampr.gs/2Nm9EJS
    • On the minimum wage one thing is clear: you get what you pay for (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2IgnBZ1                                        Academic studies have provided encouragement for both supporters and opponents of raising the minimum wage. Smart business owners already know the answer

     

    Food Fraud, Scandals & Weird

    • Seattle sea cucumber poachers reeled in $1.5m (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2NL4rQT                                                                        Washington man faces prison for role in years-long operation to poach and sell 250,000 lb. of poorly understood creature

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • The Navajo Nation Is Experiencing a Water Crisis (Color Lines) https://bit.ly/2xrt6iE                                                                                                  In Indian Country, 26,000 homes lack access to safe water and/or sanitation services.
    • Grand Canyon uranium mining ban upheld as supreme court declines to hear challenge (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Owmmug                                                                                    Court says extraction ban is among cases it refuses to review, in victory for environmental groups and Native American Communities
    • While Nestle extracts millions of liters from their land, residents have no drinking water (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zRXdlH
    • In the Heart of the Corn Belt, an Uphill Battle for Clean Water (Yale Environment 360) https://bit.ly/2Ob6PQu                            Runoff from farms and feedlots has badly polluted Iowa’s waterways, more than half of which do not meet federal quality standards. Now, an unlikely coalition is calling for stricter controls…
    • California’s Looming Water Pollution Problem (Pacific Standard) https://bit.ly/2xws5H0                                                                                            In California’s Central Valley, the oil industry has been dumping wastewater into unlined – and under-regulated – ponds, threatening the state’s limited groundwater the humans who rely on it.
    • Fracking Chemicals Dumped in Allegheny River a Decade Ago Still Showing Up in Mussels (Earth Island Journal) https://bit.ly/2PJ9caa                                                                                          New study shows that strontium is making its way into the food chain
      • Study: Accumulation of Marcellus Formation Oil and Gas Wastewater metals in Freshwater Mussel Shells (Environmental Science & Technology) https://bit.ly/2DdTQcG
      • Study: Sources of Radium Accumulation in Stream Sediments near Disposal Sites in Pennsylvania: Implications for Disposal of Conventional Oil and Gas Wastewater (Environmental Science & Technology) https://bit.ly/2QDNmX6
    • Oil Drillers’ Attempts to Avoid Earthquakes May Make Them Worse (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2zxBj7c                        Shallow wastewater injections – supposedly safer – can cause big, far-flung quakes, study says
    • “Wild, Wonderful” West Virginia’s Decapitated Mountains and Deformed Fish (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2xqpMVw            A scientist documents the poisoning of the state’s waters by the coal industry
    • High And Dry: Swiss Army Airlifts Water To Cows In Drought-Stricken Mountains (NPR) https://n.pr/2Q9Zeim
    • Florence Kills An Estimated 5,500 Pigs, 3.4 Million Chickens And Turkeys In North Carolina (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NXB657                                                                                      There are also farms cut off from vital supplies like animal feed, a state official said.
      • Hurricane Florence Is Turning North Carolina Into A Toxic Stew o Pig Poop, Sewage, and Coal Ash (Vice News) https://bit.ly/2OwLC0b
      • These Photos of Submerged North Carolina Livestock Farms Are Devastating (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2pj4uEX                  Millions of animals have perished.                                                                  And what of contamination from all that chicken litter?
      • Press Release: Sanderson Farms, Inc. Provides Update on Hurricane Florence Damage https://bit.ly/2PGzXMz
      • Even Before Florence’s Floods, North Carolina’s Factory Farms Were Deadly to Their Neighbors (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2xoYyyS                                                                                    …who are disproportionately poor, African American, and Native American.
      • Thousands of Dead Fish Cover North Carolina Roads After Floodwaters Recede (Time) https://ti.me/2DtfVEd
      • Climate Dystopia: When Hurricanes Hit Industrial Agriculture (Medium) https://bit.ly/2R13bqQ

     

    Government, Regulations, Policy & Farm Bill

    • China hits back at Trump, adds tariffs to $60B of US made products (NBC News) https://nbcnews.to/2QJg6hh
      • Iowa farming’s $2.2 billion trade loss could ripple through state’s economy (Des Moines Register) https://dmreg.co/2QVh0qK                                                                            You think?
      • Trump’s Tariffs Will Make Food and Clothing Pricier for Americans (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2QLK1Fe
      • Walmart says customers will see higher prices due to Trump’s China tariffs (WJLA Washington DC) https://bit.ly/2xzwicS
    • Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister of Scotland) tells Amazon to ditch slave wages or lose millions in handouts freeze (Daily Record) https://bit.ly/2MVfr9m                                                                                          The First Minister has lost patience with the web giant after their failure to bring fair working standards and pay staff the Living Wage.
    • As aid checks go out, farmers worry bailout won’t be enough (PBS) https://to.pbs.org/2xMHRws                                                        Farmers across the United States will soon begin receiving government checks as part of a billion-dollar bailout to buoy growers experiencing financial strain from President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China.
      • Farmers Say Aid Won’t Cover Tariff Damage (WSJ) https://on.wsj.com/2zyXoCj                                                                              USDA has begun make payments to farmers affected by trade conflicts
    • 5 People Died From Eating Lettuce – But Trump’s FDA Still Won’t Make Farms Test Water For Bacteria (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2NUq7KH                                                                                            For more than a decade, it’s been clear that there’s a gaping hole in America food safety
    • As More Cities Push For Paid Sick Leave, States Push Back (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2xRHr7Y                                                  Twenty-two states bar cities from mandating paid sick leave.
    • Governor Brown Signs Bill Legalizing Street Vending in California (KTLA5) https://bit.ly/2pjw8ls
      • Selling street food is no longer a crime in California, easing fears of jail time and deportation (Mic) https://bit.ly/2MPw46b
    • Federal Court Rules in Favor of North Carolina’s Farmworkers Unions (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2OYLqqW                                   In 2017, North Carolina’s farm bill included a provision that prevented farmworkers in the state fro organizing.
    • In North Carolina, Big Ag Tells You What Is ‘Milk’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2psjyjL                                                                               New legislation in North Carolina has placed pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to review their rules regarding the labeling of milk and limits the ability of residents to hold big-ag operations accountable for pollution.                                                                                      This sounds a lot like Missouri’s legislation that ‘meat’ can only be used for derived from “… livestock or poultry.”
    • What’s the beef? Missouri’s attempt to silence speech about veggie burgers (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2MVU6fM
    • (New York) City’s Milk Buying Could Help Farmers in Crisis and Workers in Need (City Limits) https://bit.ly/2NrGRIT
    • Bad Farm Policy Contributes to Natural Disasters (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2NpXMGW                                            Unfortunately, the Washington power structure cares little for the environment or working families
    • Congress Leaves Farmers Hanging Right Before The Election (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2DUCCRD                                Negotiators wanted to keep the pressure on by not doing a short-term extension. But it’s rural lawmakers who are feeling the pressure most.
    • The ocean is brown, the crabs are dead and the smell is unbearable. Welcome to Florida (Miami Herald) https://bit.ly/2zT3WvH

     

    Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

    • Science Reveals How Fruit Keeps A Lid On Ripening Until The Time Is Right (NPR) https://n.pr/2In6THy

     

    Poisons

    • Publisher: Roundup Studies Failed to Fully Disclose Monsanto’s Role (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2y0yjhI
      • Monsanto’s Role in Roundup Safety Study Is Corrected by Journal (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2y1yw4h                          Bayer AG’s defense of Roundup weed killer may take a hit after an academic journal said Monsanto Co. didn’t fully disclose its involvement in publishing research finding the herbicide safe.
    • ‘Natural’ Bread Tests Positive for Glyphosate (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Qk9yEz                                                                                              Of course they do, many Cooperative Extensions recommend using glyphosate as a pre-harvest aid for small grains…
    • Despite knowing PCBs were dangerous, Monsanto kept profiting for decades (Inlander) https://bit.ly/2MQcdDL                              Spokane is now suing, and the ‘Poison Papers’ show why
    • A Drifting Weedkiller Puts Prized Trees At Risk (NPR) https://n.pr/2N80kcq                                                                                  Dicamba drift, again…
    GrowCalgary Blog Posts

    Jenny’s Food & Ag Update September 16, 2018

     

    • This Chef Is Fighting Gentrification With Hot Chicken (Yes!) http://bit.ly/2wGwd5I                                                                                        Tunde Wey’s dinner series – slash – public art project raised $50,000 to address Nashville’s affordable housing crisis
    • ‘Shocked and disappointed’: Pair of researchers say they felt pressed by federal wildlife officials to bury risk on endangered beetle (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2wBxImO
    • Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2g0pw9e                                Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said

     

    • Fake news and the “other white meat”: How pork became poultry, and why it matters (Salon) https://bit.ly/2CBioMj                                    The iconic ad campaign changed what we thought we knew about meat, and set the sage for the age of spin.
    • Europe’s meat and dairy production must halve by 2050, expert warns (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mz8HxF                            Policymakers, farmers and consumers face ‘deeply uncomfortable choices’, says author of report advising urgent reduction of unsustainable livestock sector
    • Report: What is the Safe Operating Space for EU livestock? (Rural Investment Support for Europe) https://bit.ly/2Njm1va

     

    Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, & Fishing

    • ‘I still have a farm. Yeah, I am a farmer!’ says 113 year old North Dakota woman (Grand Forks Herald) https://bit.ly/2oKDKNy
    • ‘This Is Life or Death for Us’: Mexico’s Farm Movement Rejects New NAFTA Agreement (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2CZ8xQv                                                                                       Donald Trump and Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico’s lame-duck conservative president, are trying to push through new trade deal, but farmers are rising up in opposition
    • Watch how organic farmers use tractor-mounted flamethrowers on weeds and pests (boingboing) https://bit.ly/2x6up6v
    • There’s a ‘Scallop War’ Raging in the English Channel and It’s Getting Violent (Munchies) http://bit.ly/2wCeOvc                          Footage from the clashes between French and British scallop fishers included scenes of boat-bumping, rock-throwing, and inexplicably smoking boats.

     

    Food Culture & History

    • After decades, Native American tribes are regaining their fishing rights. But are there any fish left? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NFycC1                                                                                            Like many tribes in the Pacific Northwest, the Yurok had to fight hard to gain fishing rights in their ancestral river. Now they fight to keep it healthy.
    • In Washington, a farm-to-table restaurant tried to serve the best local fish. Instead, it stumbled into a debate over tribal fishing rights (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CR9oCX
    • In Flatbush, Little Caribbean Food Tours Help Preserve West Indian Culture (The Village Voice) http://bit.ly/2oxymgs
    • ‘White People Food’ Is Creating n Unattainable Picture Of Health (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2Q1uCjO                                                There’s a perception in the black community that eating healthy means eating like white people, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
    • The New Era Of Kosher Wines You Should Try For Rosh Hashanah (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2wTwT89                              It’s not your grandparent’s Manischewitz
    • The Bizarre Fad Diet Taking the Far Right by Storm (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2QdzeDv                                                          “Canivorism” advocates claim meat will cure health woes, replenish masculinity – oh, and piss off liberals.
    • According To History, We Can Thank Women For Beer (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2xfgPhO                                                  Beer consumption has been so disproportionately linked with men that it’s easy to forget women were the original brewers. Now, they’re staking their claim again.

     

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

    • Immigrants, fearing Trump crackdown, drop out of nutrition programs (Politico) https://politi.co/2Cbyg88                                        Both documented and undocumented immigrants fear that accepting federal aid could make them ineligible for a green card if rules are changed.
    • Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America’s groceries (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2wHs9T4
    • We already know climate change will make our crops less nutritious. Now we know how that will impact our health (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Nvj32C                                                  A new study shows this nutrient decline will mean that, by 2050, an additional 175 million people worldwide will be deficient in zinc, and 122 million more won’t be eating enough protein.

     

    Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

    • 6 Photos That Show Just How Ridiculous Plastic Packaging Has Become (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2p43Hrf
    • A Massive Floating Boom Is Supposed To Clean Up The Pacific. Can It Work? (NPR) https://n.pr/2QqeqZz
      • Half of dead baby turtles found by Australian scientists have stomachs full of plastic (Independent) https://ind.pn/2D4J4p4  Study suggests younger reptiles are particularly vulnerable to pollution

     

    Healthy/Food Safety

    • Thousands of California home cooks have no idea they’re breaking the law every day (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NbDWDV                                                                                          By selling or trading food with neighbors, contributing dishes to the church BBQ fundraiser, or peddling tamales on the street, home cooks violate food sales and safety laws. But new legislation aims to make them “Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operators” instead.

     

    Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

    • $100,000 reward offered to find person putting needles in Australia strawberries (Independent) https://ind.pn/2NKj8mK      ‘Someone is trying to sabotage the industry but also in doing that, they are putting babies’ and children’s and families’ lives at risk’
    • Mountain Dew Mistakenly Tells Scotland to Masturbate for ‘Epic Thrills’ (Munchies) http://bit.ly/2wzwMPK                                              Gives a whole new meaning to ‘Do the Dew.’

     

    Children & School Food

    • The Problem With School Lunch: How The Wealth Gap Is Shaming Students (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2L4HRwB      The school lunch is symbolic of America’s socioeconomic and food disparities.

     

    Labor/Unions/Coops

    • Study: Minimum Wage Hikes Are Paying Off (New York Magazine) https://nym.ag/2M9CZGZ
      • Study: The New Wave of Local Minimum Wage Policies: Evidence from Six Cities (Institute for Research on Labor and Employment) https://bit.ly/2QejBvE
    • A post-Great Recession overview of labor market trends in the United States and California (Institute for Research on Labor and Employment) https://bit.ly/2NR8kD4
    • Challenging forced labor in immigrant detention centers (Looking South) http://bit.ly/2LWhycl
      • Court allows claims to move forward against private prison company that profits from forced labor of detained immigrants (Southern Poverty Law Center) https://bit.ly/2xbTfT8                     A federal court has ruled that a private court has ruled that a private prison company can be held liable for forcing detained immigrants to work for as little as $1 a day to clean, cook, and maintain an immigration prison it operated in Georgia.
    • Is Prison Labor the Future of Our Food System? (Food First) https://bit.ly/2oQVYg6                                                                                Prisoners are being used to fill the growing shortage of farmworkers – shortages that in large part are caused by the US immigration enforcement system.
    • Founding Farmers’ Restaurant Group Settles a Class Action Lawsuit From Employees for $1.49 Million (Eater) https://bit.ly/2MStH7E
      • Restaurant Group Agrees to $1.49M Pay, Sick Leave Settlement (Bloomberg Law) https://bit.ly/2LVB7kY                        A restaurant group with locations in the Washington, DC, area agreed to pay up to $1.49 million to settle claims it didn’t provide sick leave required by a city law and underpaid tipped employees.
    • A Labor Day tribute to restaurant workers, cooking and serving food they can’t afford to eat (Salon) https://bit.ly/2x1n0oK                I made 12 bucks an hour in a place where the tasting menu cost $400. Capitalism at its worst, but I don’t regret it
    • Your Labor Day reading List: five stories that will help you understand the workers behind what you eat (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NFn8F2
    • Whole Foods workers are moving to unionize. Read the letter sent to employees nationwide (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2MVpbF7                                                                                          “We cannot let Amazon remake the entire North American retail landscape without embracing the full value of its team members.”
    • Thousands Of Marriott Workers To Vote On Multi-City Strike (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MRveL5
      • Hundreds of hotel workers march in San Francisco for better pay (San Francisco Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2O1Wp2i
      • Thousands of Chicago Workers Are Out On the First City Wide Hotel Strike In Over a Century (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2D0YtGz
    • Fed Up With Sexual Harassment, McDonald’s Workers Are Going On Strike (Labor 411) https://bit.ly/2paFPCo                            Emboldened by the #MeToo movement, McDonald’s workers have voted to stage a one-day strike next week at restaurants in 10 cities in hopes of pressuring management to take stronger steps against on-the-job sexual harassment.
    • What History Books Left Out About Depression Era Co-ops (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Os4nlu                                                                                    It would seem that a movement that provided livelihood for more than 300,000 people in California alone would merit discussion in the history books.

     

    Protests

     

    Pollinators

    • ‘Like nicotine’: Bees develop preference for pesticides, study shows (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2LFcnxc                                      Insects’ acquired taste for pesticide-laced food is similar to nicotine addiction in smokers, say scientists

     

    Animals

    • Investigation Exposes Animal Abuse at US Supplier to World’s Largest Meat Company (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2MYUOxQ

     

    Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

    • Nestle says slavery reporting requirements could cost customers (Sydney Morning Herald) http://bit.ly/2LQZGj0
    • Bob’s Red Mill Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Glyphosate Weedkiller Contamination (Organic Consumers Association) https://bit.ly/2MVYP62
    • California Farm Bureau sells out farmers, hands John Deere a monopoly over tractor repair (Bongboing) https://bit.ly/2NHsjUG
    • Maine’s small wild blueberry farmers struggle on what they’re raking in (Portland Press Herald) https://bit.ly/2x80QlB                Fierce competition from Canada, a glutted marketplace and inequitable USDA buybacks have made cultivating this iconic Maine crop a brutal business.
    • Price of Maine wild blueberries tumbles to lowest point in more than 30 years (Portland Press Herald) https://bit.ly/2KIY4bd
    • Filipino Fast-Food Giant Jollibee Serves Spaghetti, Burger Steak and Fried Chicken – This Is What Two New Yorkers Made Of It (Independent) https://ind.pn/2xgCyGi
    • How do Whole Foods shoppers feel about Amazon’s $1 trillion milestone? Look at their Yelp reviews – and the foot traffic (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2M1FGdr
    • Why Care about Independent, Locally Owned Businesses? (Institute For Local Self-Reliance) https://bit.ly/2oUDFaa
    • Inflation hits 6-year high, wiping out wage gains for the average American (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2uBlicz
    • The Chemical-Free Food Movement Turning Dusty Land Into Fertile Paradise (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Q6xSdP                    It’s called permaculture, and advocates say it could feed the world.
    • Is the Second Farm Crisis Upon Us? (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2N1F1OH                                                                                Farmers across the country are in a state of emergency with diary and grain producers, new farmers, and farmers of color being hit the hardest.
    • The Consolidation of the American Harvest (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2NzjM69
    • Minnesota farmers consider asking for government help as trade war worsens downturn that started years ago (Star Tribune) http://strib.mn/2Nu2OGq                                                                                      The escalating trade war is imposing new burdens on Minnesota’s vast and economically important agricultural sector.
    • The economy my be booming, but early half of Americans can’t make ends meet (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2PtEvFX

     

    Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

    • (Great Britain) More Than a Fifth of Meat Samples From Supermarkets and Restaurants Found to Contain DNA From Animals Not On the Label (Independent) https://ind.pn/2QgZ4qu
    • School Cops Busted for Selling Soda to students (Munchies) http://bit.ly/2NGy81A                                                                                            The side hustle grew out of Connecticut’s ban on soda in public schools.

     

    Water & Our Oceans

    • This Is How Much Water it Takes To Make Your Favorite Foods (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2hbfrbn
      • Report: The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Crops and Derived Crop Products (UNESCO-IHE) https://bit.ly/2cXdETw
      • Report: The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Farm Animals and Animal Products (UNESCO-IHE) https://bit.ly/1UXNle3
    • Torrential Rain Triggers Cole Spill In North Carolina (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MBwPj1                                                                            Duke Energy said the collapse displaced about 2,000 cubic yards of ash…
    • How do you make California water wars worse? Get the Trump administration involved (Sacramento Bee) http://bit.ly/2oH0Ftb
    • Pennsylvania: Energy Transfer Partners’ Pipeline Explodes Because of Rain (Earth First Journal) https://bit.ly/2NxTxNE          The pipeline had only been in operation for one week…
    • Pipeline that Exploded in Pennsylvania Part of Push to Build Fracking-Reliant Petrochemical Network (Desmog) https://bit.ly/2CWOIct
    • More than half PA gas wells used ‘secret’ chemicals for fracking or drilling, report says (State Impact Pennsylvania) https://n.pr/2xbDWtI
    • Injecting wastewater underground can cause earthquakes up to 10 kilometers away (Nation of Change) http://bit.ly/2Ced5lD        The important insight of this study is sedimentary rock injection is not a safer alternative to basement injection.
    • Oregon Reaches Critical Drought Levels after Driest Summer West of the Cascades in 40 Years (Willamette Week) https://bit.ly/2MfFpns
    • UN Makes a Bold Move to Protect Marine Life on the High Seas (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2O0qMq0                                   More than 190 nations are hammering out a treaty as industry rushes to cash in
    • Eyes on the High Seas (Anthropocene) https://bit.ly/2x3UeEb        Illegal fishing is getting harder, thanks to public surveillance from space
    • Oyster shells used to end up in landfills. Now, they’re being turned into castles for baby oysters (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Ok7OdW

     

    Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

    • France becomes first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides killing bees (The Telegraph) http://bit.ly/2Pt5lhg
    • A handful of companies control American agriculture. Cory Booker wants to change that (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2oGp8Pc                                                                                              The New Jersey Senator has introduced a bill to halt the mergers and acquisitions that have hamstrung small-scale producers for decades.
    • Congress Finally Can Tell Hemp From Pot (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2nhuqQr                                                                                            For almost 50 years, hemp has been lumped together with heroin, LSD, and Ecstasy, but new legislation could soon make the crop legal for farmers still struggling from the loss of tobacco.
    • Court orders ban of top-selling pesticide, says EPA violated law, ignored scientific studies (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2PNk9IS
    • Documents Show Financial Entanglements Between Trump’s USDA Pick and Agribusiness (Texas Observer) https://bit.ly/2OdBjhH                                                                                      Mindy Brashears, a Texas Tech animal scientist nominated by Trump to lead the food safety arm of the USDA, is deeply imbedded in the agribusiness industry.
    • Trump rolls back worker safety rules (Politico) https://politi.co/2wFpE4a                                                                                    ‘We want to protect our workers,’ Trump said in 2017. But his administration has weakened measures designed to keep them safe.
    • Hey, Army Corps of Engineers – Show Us Your Work in Your DAPL Report (Natural Resources Defense Council) https://on.nrdc.org/2NKRB4o
    • Bernie Sanders’ BEZOS Act would tax Amazon for its employees use of federal assistance (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Q7WRgP
    • Hawaii Shows States’ Power to Regulate Pesticides (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2tdhL4u                                                                                                  A new state law banning chlorpyrifons and regulating agrochemical companies is the result of nearly a decade of grassroots community organizing, and the first in the nation.
    • Michigan Legislature Approves Initiatives for $12 Minimum Wage, Paid Sick Leave (Eater) https://bit.ly/2NUZaCk        Republicans aim to keep the issues off the November 6 ballot
    • Why Labor Is Holding Its Applause for Michigan’s Latest “Workers’ Rights” Measures (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2DenX3J
    • (California) Gov. Brown signs bills to block Trump’s offshore oil drilling plan (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2x3CcTo
    • Why an Oakland pop-up restaurant was shut down for being ‘illegal’ (Berkeleyside) http://bit.ly/2wERX1T
    • The House Is Trying to Sneak These Controversial Changes Into the Farm Bill (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2xlrCGz                            Even if the SNAP work requirements don’t make it through, these three wrinkles could.
    • How the Farm Bill Could Keep You from Banning Roundup at Your Kid’s Playground (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2CnDHkm                  A lesser-known provision in the House farm bill would prevent cities and counties from setting their own rules about pesticides on public land. And it would reverse current bans in 155 communities.              And once again, what of states rights?
    • City Official Farm Bill Preemption Letter to Senate Ag Committee (Friends of the Earth) https://bit.ly/2xeFQZB
    • About 2 Million Low-Income Americans Would Lose Benefits Under House Farm Bill, Study Says (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2wTCQSl

     

    GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

    • Researchers to Release Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes in Africa for First Time (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2QeJhs6
    • Experts: Non-GMO Certification of GMO-Derived Sweetener Sets a ‘Dangerous Precedent’ (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2x7I3Gd

     

    Technology/Food Technology/Nanotechnology

    • This is Roquette Science (Anthropocen) https://bit.ly/2x9dX64       How computerized arugula (aka roquette) farms take over the world

     

    Poisons

    • Study: Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) https://bit.ly/2jzDr82
    • These Farmers Switched to Organic After Pesticides Made Their Families Sick (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2KW9etU                                  After seeing parents fall ill from cancer or die, many farmers are switching to organics to protect themselves and their children.
    • How the EPA and the Pentagon Downplayed a Growing Toxic Threat (ProPublica) https://bit.ly/2L5QAza                                                   A family of chemicals – know as PFAS and responsible for marvels like Teflon and critical to the safety of American military bases – has now emerged as a far greater menace than previously disclosed.
    • New Science Shows Bee-Killing Pesticides Are Unnecessary on Most Farms (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2GDcFWU                  Alternatives are available for neonicotinoid insecticide seed coatings, saving farmers money and better protecting the environment.