Good Food is Everybody's Business
Millions of dollars a year are spent on projects to protect endangered plants – ranging from giant California redwoods to the tiny Marsh Sandwort – but less is spent to protect plants used for food. As a result we fail to consider the importance of wild and domesticated food plants. Consumers in the developed world eat from a smaller and smaller selection of carefully bred and often genetically modified food crops.
Consider the econo-caloric history of the United States, as it progressed from “Emerging Market” to Superpower. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the average American in 1919 had to work two hours and 38 minutes to buy a 3-pound chicken. Nowadays, it takes just 15 minutes. Is era of cheap food about to come to an end?
The Humane Society of the United States has a right to crow! They are gaining traction on their cage-free egg movement and the list is beginning to read like a “Who’s Who” of the food world.
America’s leading food and beverage manufacturers and retailers joined forces and announced their commitment to develop a new Front-of-Package (FOP) nutrition labeling system. The FDA wants to provide standardized, science-based criteria on which FOP nutrition labeling must be based. Where will the two meet?
Reversing a longstanding policy, the federal government said on Friday that human and other genes should not be eligible for patents because they are part of nature. The new position could have a huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry.
Industrial-scale aquaculture production magnifies environmental degradation, according to the first global assessment of the effects of marine finfish aquaculture (e.g. salmon, cod, turbot and grouper).
The Center for Rural Affairs applauds the USDA decision to proceed with rulemaking process on the proposed competitive livestock market reform rule (GIPSA rule). Public comments are accepted through November 22, 2010.
When member-owned food co-ops make a profit, it goes to the shareholders – the members – in various forms. The Wedge Food Co-op, Minneapolis, has reached a milestone: the annual refund to members is $1 million dollars, about 80% of its member-generated profits.
