Governments have become more active across the entire economy and this is no less true in food and agriculture. However, what is often portrayed as a choice between free market and regulation often seems misguided.
Monday, June 14, 2010
When shopping for milk, the choice between organic and traditional milk seems obvious. Organic milk is better for the environment, and comes from generally better-treated animals, right? Well, the reality is not quite so clear.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Last month, the ongoing debate about the risk—or reward—of raw milk reached a boiling point in Massachusetts, and advocates and dissenters alike took to the Boston Common on a Monday morning to duke it out over a “drink-in.”
Monday, June 7, 2010
We’ve had a few generations now in America where farmers have so successfully sent their kids off to “a better life” that now there is no one interested in taking over the farm business as they retire. So what happens when we lose this knowledge base and we aren’t taking steps to replace it?
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
There’s nothing like facing 50 Walmart associates, arms crossed thinking: “what are you hippie freaks from San Francisco trying to do….telling us what we should care about, what we should buy, how we should live our lives.”
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Debates over Genetically Modified (GM or GE or GMO as you prefer) food remind me all too much of debates over religion or other moral questions. Too often the discussion is driven from an assumed right answer and arguments crafted accordingly. There is no real debate but instead two sides talking past each other.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Chicha is the traditional preferred drink and an essential part of most indigenous cultures in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Food defines culture as much here as it does everywhere else, whether in the Mediterranean where drinking wine is a daily practice or in the Pacific Northwest where seafood and microbrews are cultural icons. Here the iconic equivalent is chicha.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
As a country in which 85% of its inhabitants work the land, and where permaculture reigns, Rwanda is supremely placed to be the first in the world to be entirely labeled Organic and Biodynamic
Monday, May 17, 2010
In 2006, I had been turned onto Omnivore’s Dilemma and as I was driving through wheat fields in Eastern WA, I asked myself, “how come our wheat comes from Montana and not from here?”
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Consumers have, as a result of the recent global economic climate, had to seriously tighten their belts and think hard about the purchases they make with their hard-earned money. An almighty shift needs to take place in our production methods globally – and in the way that we as consumers make our purchases.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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