Coca-Cola Will Help YOU Invest in "Sustainable" Ag

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Sep 02, 2010 at 03:56:21 AM PDT

And did you know that Coca-Cola has a Senior Manager of Sustainable Agriculture. His name is Ernesto Brovelli and he is "an active player in [Coca-Cola's] global partnership with World Wildlife Fund." Wow. That makes me think even LESS of the World Wildlife Fund.

And if that ain't enough, there are a few speakers from Wall Street banks! Ooh, just the people I trust for good advice. Tell me, J.P. Morgan, how can we sustainably grow food to feed the world and make a huge profit off of it at the same time?

The email's below, for your amusement. Also, if you check out the agenda, you'll notice that Anna Lappe is among the speakers. Hopefully that means that we won't have to fork over $795 to find out what goes on at the event. Cuz honestly, I am DYING to hear what Coca-Cola has to say about sustainability.

Pot Luck

by: JayinPortland

Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 19:00:00 PM PDT

Hey Pesticide Lovers: SUCK IT!

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 17:31:07 PM PDT

I think a big fat "I TOLD YOU SO" is in order here.

Oh - and, no shock - the soil is better too. Here's what the article's abstract says:

We also found the organically farmed soils to have more total carbon and nitrogen, greater microbial biomass and activity, and higher concentrations of micronutrients. Organically farmed soils also exhibited greater numbers of endemic genes and greater functional gene abundance and diversity for several biogeochemical processes, such as nitrogen fixation and pesticide degradation.

Overall conclusion?

Our findings show that the organic strawberry farms produced higher quality fruit and that their higher quality soils may have greater microbial functional capability and resilience to stress.

Salad Bars in EVERY School

by: chefannc

Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 15:42:18 PM PDT

The smells of back-to-school: freshly sharpened pencils, old leather seats of yellow busses, chalk dust, and lettuce?  This fall, Whole Foods and Chef Ann Cooper, "The Renegade Lunch Lady," in conjunction with her Food Family Farming Foundation's premier project, The Lunch Box, have implemented a remarkable new program, which will change school lunch-rooms across the nation - The Great American Salad Bar Project.  With rates of nutrition-related disease and childhood obesity on the rise, now is the time to start making positive change in the way we feed our children.

The initial phase of the Great American Salad Bar Project will raise enough money, via local Whole Foods Markets, thru in-store and online donations, to grant at least one salad bar a school within fifty miles of the store.  That's almost 300 salad bars!  Schools that meet the requirements are encouraged to apply on the Great American Salad Bar Project website for review and will be chosen by a simple set of criteria.  
A salad bar in a school cafeteria provides a healthy option for students on a daily basis.  A typical salad bar will include: fresh multi-colored lettuce, a variety of vegetable "toppings" such as beets, carrots, and jicama, proteins such as chicken, beans, cottage cheese or tofu, whole grains, fresh fruit and healthy salad dressings. One requirement for schools who wish to apply is that they participate in the National School Lunch Program.  The National School Lunch Program is a federally funded program that provides low-cost or free meals to children across the country.  Children who participate in the National School Lunch Program are often most at-risk for the effects of a poor diet.  

School is a sacred space for learning, so why shouldn't this extend into the cafeteria? School meals should not only provide the nourishment children need to excel throughout the school day, but should also serve as a lesson in making life-long wellness choices. Offering salad at lunch helps to provide this lesson and teaches children to include a variety of fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains and healthy proteins in their diet.  The salad bar provides an array of options and allows students to try new items on their own.  Often students will make choices from the salad bar and create delicious and colorful dishes to suit their taste.

The facts are simple: this could quite possibly be the first generation of children in our country's history to die at a younger age than their parents.  

Government statistics show that 4.3 million children aged 10-14 will become overweight or obese in the next 24 months.  In addition, it is predicted by the Center for Disease Control that of all children born in the year 2000, one-third will contract diabetes.  These outrageous statistics can only be stopped by a massive overhaul of the way our children eat and the Great American Salad Bar Project is one giant step in the right direction.

Take this wonderful opportunity to do something good for yourself and your community.  Take a trip to your local Whole Foods, purchase some of the healthy food they offer for yourself and your family, and then donate what you can to the Great American Salad Bar project. Know that with your donation you are participating in an effort to change the future health of our country.
Eat well, use your dollar to vote for healthy food, and help us change the way kids eat across the country for the better.  

To donate online or to find out more about the Great American Salad Bar Project please visit our website at: http://www.saladbarproject.org/

Staying Tuned for More Innovations

by: NourishingthePlanet

Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 11:19:21 AM PDT

Listen to Radio Fanaka Fana and Radio Jigiya, in the Fana and Zégoua regions of Mali, and you are much more likely to hear tips for improving compost piles and soil quality than you are pop music hits or current events. That's because the station is participating in Farm Radio International's Africa Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI), a project to test the viability of using radio as a tool for spreading agricultural information to farmers throughout Africa.

Farm Radio International is a Canadian-based, non-profit organization with partner broadcasters from over 300 radio stations in over 39 sub-Saharan African countries.  Its programs reach an audience of over 600 million people speaking more than 300 languages, providing listeners with valuable information that is increasing harvest yields and improving livelihoods.

Though cell phones, computers, and televisions might seem like more obvious-and increasingly popular-forms of mass communication, the radio is still the least expensive and most widespread communications technology in Africa. In Mali, where the soil is often dry and eroded, AFRRI is taking advantage of radio's popularity by working with local leaders and extension officers to present radio programs that can help farmers improve soil quality. Radio Fanaka Fana and Radio Jigiya-which have a combined audience of over 170,000 people- present regular shows promoting the use of compost pits to create organic fertilizer.

A case study for this particular campaign shows that farmers in the two radio stations' regions were listening and responding to the programs in overwhelming numbers. In one region households practicing improved composting increased from just over 25 percent to over 89 percent. Farmers reported feeling more comfortable with local extension officers after hearing them on the radio, and-based on word of mouth- other communities outside the reach of the radio stations started requesting programs of their own. One outside community even built a homemade antenna so they could hear the programs being broadcast in the next region over.

To read more about innovations  that use communication technology to improve farmer livelihoods, see: Makutano Junction Soap Opera, Using Digital Technology to Empower and Connect Young Farmers, and A Sustainable Calling Plan.

Pot Luck

by: JayinPortland

Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 19:00:00 PM PDT

Last Week's Livestock Hearing on Competition

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 13:13:43 PM PDT

Predictably, the American Meat Institute (AMI) came out with a statement after the hearing, claiming that economies of scale calls for larger (and thus, fewer) slaughterhouses and that the concentration in the beef industry has not increased since 1995 (which is patently false... the top 4 firms had 76% of the market in '95 compared ton 83.5% in 2005, and there have been more mergers and consolidation since then.).

On the other side of the spectrum, R-CALF USA came out with a statement today saying "independent beef producers who want some refereeing in the marketing game... No one in my circles wants a handout - just a chance to market their cattle in an open and transparent market." and "That is all these many hard-working people, the foundation of Rural America, desire: Enforce the rules."

I watched some of the hearing, when attendees were given 2 minutes apiece to make public comments. There was some support for the GIPSA rule, and some were opposed. Many seemed to come from Republican backgrounds and they just wanted the government to keep its hands out of their business, whether or not that is in their own best interest. It seems like, while some have pragmatic business reasons for opposing the GIPSA rule, others are ideologues who want the government uninvolved on principle, even if that means the big beefpackers can swindle them until they lose their family farms. Some said the solution is more free trade agreements (Colombia and Panama) and rigging up the Food Pyramid to tell Americans to eat more red meat.

I enjoyed the title used by the Center for Rural Affairs in their write-up of the event: "Cowboys vs. Packers in Colorado... But Not Football."

You can see a few more articles here:
Greeley Tribune: Ranchers differ on proposed meat industry regulations
The Coloradoan: Farmers seek fairness at ag workshop
Denver Post: Polar-opposite views on cattle rules rounded up at ag meeting at CSU

I think an important part of the workshop to review will be what was said by the panels, and that will be available online at some point. Also, I hope someone kept a tally on the comments - how many were for the GIPSA rule, how many opposed, and was the split down the line between Cowboys vs. Packers, or not?

Transcripts and video of Friday's hearing will be available at the link, although they are not up yet.

Aha! Got It! Dirty Details About the Egg Operations That Sold the Tainted Eggs!!!

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 22:25:37 PM PDT

In short, at Wright County Egg, they found holes in the buildings where other animals could get in, wild birds, standing water, rodents (a MAJOR risk factor for salmonella), escaped chickens, live and dead flies, live and dead maggots, and lots of poop (piles of manure 8 feet high!).

There were also some problems in the feed mill, which makes sense if the salmonella came from the feed. Birds were all over the place in there, and there were holes in several food containers. Plus some "avian like feces." No surprise, the FDA tested for salmonella and found plenty of it in there.

The report for the Hillandale, the other farm (the one not owned by DeCoster), was much less exciting. There's still a bit of manure, rodents, open holes in the structures, standing water, and lack of record keeping, but it's clearly not as bad as the DeCoster operation.  

Celosia: Nature's Prettiest Vegetable

by: NourishingthePlanet

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 11:18:44 AM PDT

You may know it as that pretty ornamental flower in your garden, but did you know that Celosia could also be a delicious snack? This beautiful plant with flame-like flowers is actually a common and important food in parts of tropical Africa, its original home.

Because of its flavor and nutritional value, Celosia is widely consumed in several parts of Africa. It is an especially important food in Nigeria, Benin and Congo because of its affinity for hot and humid climates, and it is also commonly eaten in Indonesia and India. The leaves, young stems, and flowers a can be made into soups and stews, served as a nutty-flavored side dish with meat or fish or with a cereal-based main course such as maize porridge. Celosia has a pleasant, mild flavor, and lacks the bitterness of other leafy vegetables.

Celosia grow easily, require little care, and often reseed themselves making them high yielding, cheap and simple to grow. Having proven widely tolerant to both tropical and dry conditions and usually unaffected by pests, diseases, or soil type, this crop is among the most flexible greens for harsh growing conditions.

In addition to their nutritional and aesthetic value, Celosia may also help repress striga, a parasitic weed which devastates other crops such as sorghum, millet and maize. Though the research on this trait is still far from clear, farmers call it "striga chaser".

With the potential to increase food security, Celosia is valuable in more ways than one. When cultivated near homes, the colorful flowers will brighten villages and local cooks can also pluck off some leaves each day to add to dinner or for a snack.

Eggs, and That Slimy Criminal DeCoster

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 07:40:06 AM PDT

He was also up to no good in Maryland, where the state tried to shut down an egg facility he had there. He sued, and won.

There are some other articles on DeCoster's criminal past in the LA Times and the Des Moines Register. I love the title of the Des Moines Register piece: "DeCosters in Iowa: A checkered legacy." Checkered? How about outright criminal?

Meanwhile, the egg industry says it's your fault if you get salmonella. What were you doing eating your eggs runny?

So are local eggs safer? Newsweek says "not necessarily." The article is kind of lame. All food carries some risk. Duh. But no small producer who only sells locally will cause 1400+ cases of salmonella across the country and tank the entire egg industry.

Pot Luck

by: JayinPortland

Sun Aug 29, 2010 at 19:00:00 PM PDT

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Aug 29, 2010 at 01:06:37 AM PDT

• "Gates Foundation ties with Monsanto under fire from activists." Hehehe.

• "Cargill Meat Solutions Sickens Three in Maine and New York with E. coli O26 Tainted Burger." Why is this not just another food safety recall? Because the federal government does NOT think that this form of E. coli is an "adulterant" in meat. It's a less common but still harmful form of E. coli. So I guess, if you get sick from it and have your digestive tract and/or kidneys wrecked for the rest of your life, you should feel special?

• Change.org has a petition to make all eggs cage-free. Note that cage-free doesn't mean safe, and chickens in cage-free factory farms aren't exactly living the good life. But it's better than those awful cages.

• Live in Iowa? If you do, I think the rest of us in this country would like you to vote for Secretary of Agriculture this next November. And, um, maybe don't vote for the guy who thinks Iowa's egg industry is awesome. (And definitely forward the YouTube link of him boasting about how great it is.) The other candidate this November, Francis Thicke, thinks the egg industry might have some problems.

• "Atrazine Threat to Male Sexual Development Revealed." I'm shocked! Shocked! (to find that gambling is going on in here.)

• Yep, so Canada listed BPA as toxic. What, did the BPA lobby run out of money to bribe the Canadian government after it spent so much lobbying in DC?

• Compromise in the Senate: Help the Chesapeake, screw everywhere else. I'm not for that. You?

• There's a mite-resistant bee that might be the solution to colony collapse disorder. Oh good, does that mean we can go back to using all of those toxic pesticides that we thought were to blame?

• Hehehe. Sen. Lincoln's getting some negative press in the WaPo, NYT, and the WSJ.

• The government is taking money from farm subsidies to fund rural broadband.

• Confused about which fish to eat? Food and Water Watch has a new seafood guide. Also an option: Don't eat fish.

• Coffee's getting more expensive on the world market. I say good. The coffee farmers could certainly use the money more than most coffee drinkers need it.

• Blogger Mental Masala sent me three great articles on cooking: "The evolution of home economics programs," "Giving students a better school lunch," and "
  Students opt for real-world experience in restaurant kitchens."

• Wayne Roberts (one of my favorite Canadians) says "Agro-Ecology Is the Oldest and Newest Form of Bio-Mimicry"

• Some pissed off wheat growers are campaigning for labels on genetically engineered foods. And they REALLY don't want Monsanto to come out with GE wheat.

Pot Luck

by: JayinPortland

Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 19:00:00 PM PDT

Sewage Sludge in the New York Times!

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 07:27:24 AM PDT

In Decatur, Ala., chemical companies released perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) -- the stuff that makes up nonstick cookware and has been linked to thyroid defects in pregnant women and to cancer in wastewater treatment plant workers -- into the sewage system over a period of decades.

The local wastewater treatment plant, Decatur Utilities, collected sludge, which was then sprayed onto grazing lands over a period of 12 years. Tests in 2009 showed that the fields -- a grazing ground for cattle -- contained PFOA and PFOS. Both chemicals are highly persistent in the environment and accumulate in the body.

But then read the next paragraph:

Tests showed that other types of perfluorinated compounds were also present, but EPA does not have maximum safety limits for these, said Roberts. "We wouldn't participate if there wasn't some cause for concern," she said of continuing tests of water and people's blood in the region.

OK, wait - what? Toxic persistent chemicals were released into the environment, onto farm fields, and then said there was no cause for concern? And the justification is that the EPA doesn't have any maximum limit for how much of that toxic, persistent chemical you can have in sludge applied to land? Think about that. I'm sorry but just because the law was followed doesn't mean there's no risk to the environment and human health.

You've really got to read all four pages of the article to get the full story. If you just stop on page 2, you might get the impression that scientists think sludge is fine. Then again, if you can think for yourself, you might think that it's all really fucked up for any scientist to be okay with spreading sludge on land. The story tries to be "balanced" and unbiased. But it ends up with paragraphs like this one:

Nearly all scientists agree that sewage sludge can be beneficial if it is uncontaminated, as it is a rich source of phosphorus and nitrogen. It has two components -- bacteria naturally present in organic matter, which can be somewhat removed depending on how the sludge is processed; and heavy metals and chemicals such as any of the 11 flame retardants, 72 pharmaceuticals, 28 metals, 25 steroids and hormones, and others that EPA tested for in its 2009 national sludge survey. It can also contain chemicals that no one is looking for, any one of the 80,000 that are made in the United States.

Okay, so what they are saying is that it would be fine if it was uncontaminated, except it's TOTALLY contaminated with god knows what.

And check this out:

About 55 percent of sludge is applied in the United States on primarily grazing land. It is a multimillion-dollar industry in which utilities pay applier companies like Synagro to take the stuff and spray it on farmland as a potent fertilizer. They save money by avoiding costs of land filling or incineration. The farmer pays little or nothing.

There ya go. That's why they are doing it. Money. Not because it's safe. It's money. The article also tells about how little research there is on safety and any health harm caused by land application of sewage sludge, and the close ties between the sewage industry and government regulators. And surprise, surprise, there's "heavy lobbying" involved.

Today's the Big Day! Livestock Hearing in Colorado

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

For a bit of background, I would refer folks to check out some of the stuff put together by R-CALF, like this PDF on livestock market consolidation. They are fighting a big bunch of monkey business thrown at them by big beefpackers that should probably be illegal, if it isn't already. A few tactics they are up against are posted below, from another R-CALF briefing document.