AgClips
Recent AgClips
With nearly half its food imported, who will feed Britain after 'Brexit'?
Los Angeles Times | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Federal NewsThe market recently was packed with tourists taking advantage of the British pound’s slide against other currencies in the wake of the country’s vote to leave the European Union. But the vendors were not celebrating. “Brexit” has sown deep uncertainty in Britain’s food system, which for the last 43 years has been entwined with the rest of Europe’s, relying heavily on the EU for everything from pork to peaches to farm subsidies to the labor that picks its tomatoes. Now, the country is going to have to rethink how it feeds itself, from farm to fork. But what Britain can’t do is feed itself.
Michael Pollan, Ten Years After The Omnivore’s Dilemma
National Review | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Food News‘Ethical eating’ has taken the food world by storm, but the farms that produce most of our food have changed very little. Thank goodness. Ten years on, it is hard to think of a book that has influenced the public conversation on food more, and Pollan in his foreword is too modest about the impact of his masterpiece.
USDA Announces Reopening of Brazilian Market to U.S. Beef Exports
USDA | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Federal NewsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reached agreement with Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply to allow access for U.S. beef and beef products to the Brazilian market for the first time since 2003. Brazil's action reflects the United States' negligible risk classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and aligns Brazil's regulations to the OIE's scientific international animal health guidelines.
An egg in every skillet
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Food NewsIt is becoming increasingly obvious that the supermarket shoppers have very little understanding of what it takes to release a hen from a cage and most do not even understand what “cage-free” actually is; but then neither do I. There are free range systems, aviary systems and birds on the floor of a house like the broiler breeders inhabit today and likely some other arrangement that I have not yet encountered.
Foes of climate rule find new weapon in EPA mine case
greenwire | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Energy NewsA federal court should take into account a case involving U.S. EPA's retroactive veto of a water permit for a mining project as it considers the legality of the Clean Power Plan, an opponent to the rule argued. The Competitive Enterprise Institute told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the dissent in the water permit case "strongly supports" its arguments that EPA failed to adequately consider the costs and benefits of its power plant rule. In the mining case, Arch Coal Inc.
Virginia rulemaking processes may bring clarity to fracking oversight
Southeast Energy News | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Energy NewsWith the least stringent regulations of any state with shale production, critics are calling on Virginia to clear up confusion over local fracking bans and complete two reviews of its oil and gas regulations, one of which has been pending since 2004. An in-state regulatory review, underway since 2013, is approaching its final stage but has no deadline. It’s being conducted by a Gas & Oil Regulatory Advisory Panel revved up after Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe took office in early 2014.
Why Has Organic Farming Flatlined?
Science20.com | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Food NewsOrganic farming should be in a Golden Age. The public is already spending $13,000,000,000 on organic food in the U.S. alone, and margins have shown to be much higher. I have long wondered why everyone doesn't switch to organic farming. It's that pesky free market. The GMO and pesticide apocalypse we were assured is just around the corner never actually came to pass. Over 100 billion animals have eaten genetically-engineered food over 20 years and we've seen no difference in the animals, their meat or their milk.
How GMOs Can Help Protect Our Habitats And Ecosystems
Forbes | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Agriculture NewsIn 2014, GM crops helped preserve the equivalent of 12% of the arable land in the United States1. That’s nearly two thirds of all of the land in America’s national parks, or 51 million acres.
Soylent, a food startup with a cult following, is using gmos— and it isn't about to stop
Business Insider | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Food NewsSoylent, Silicon Valley's favorite meal-replacement drink, is using the boogeyman of ingredients in its product. And no, it's not people. The startup, which has attracted a cult following with its convenient powders and ready-to-drink bottles designed to replace eating actual meals, is made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. But are GMOs harmful? The makers of Soylent don't think so. And guess what? Scientists agree. As the company's founders write, "GMOs currently on the market provide ample cases of tangible benefit with relatively negligible risk."
Humans once opposed coffee and refrigeration. Here’s why we often hate new stuff.
The Washington Post | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Agriculture NewsHumans have a habit of stalling their own progress. From coffee to mechanical refrigeration to genetically altered food, history is littered with innovations that sparked resistance before becoming fixtures in everyday life. In hindsight, opposition to innovations such as mechanical farm equipment or recorded music may seem ludicrous. But the past 600 years of human history help explain why humans often oppose new technologies and why that pattern of opposition continues to this day.