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From the Newswire

Roundup Ready generics: New opportunities but also new obstacles?

Daryll Ray's Agricultural Policy Column - 22 December, 2010 - 14:00
The impending loss of Monsanto's patent on its Roundup Ready soybean in 2014 raises a number of important policy issues in addition to those raised in DuPont's anti-trust case against Monsanto and the opening of an antitrust investigation of Monsanto by the US Department of Justice.
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Antibiotic use in livestock production

Daryll Ray's Agricultural Policy Column - 15 December, 2010 - 14:00
A recent news article paraphrased a comment made by a producer of meat animals as, "The effort to ban antibiotic use in animals is led by activists who want to shut down all animal agriculture."
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China takes care of China

Daryll Ray's Agricultural Policy Column - 8 December, 2010 - 14:00
It would not be a stretch to assert that Chinese imports have driven the recent growth in soybean production and exports by the US, Brazil, and Argentina. Between 1995 and 2009, Chinese imports of soybeans grew by 1.459 billion bushels (from 0.029 to 1.488 billion) while the rest of the nations of world increased their imports by 0.183 billion bushels (from 1.168 to 1.351 billion).
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Did you know that Walmart controls more than a 30% share in 44% of major U.S. grocery markets?

Food First - 2 September, 2010 - 01:24

August 31, 2010
United Food and Commercial Workers Union

Executive Summary

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TET KOLE ON THE NEEDS OF HAITIAN FARMERS

Food First - 1 September, 2010 - 22:19

Donate to rural reconstruction and forest restoration in Haiti:
https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/199/donate.asp?formid=haiti

Photo of Rosnel Jean Baptiste, exec sec of Tet Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen at pilot seedbank.

“EVEN IF WE’RE PEASANTS, WE DESERVE TO LIVE, TOO.”
By Beverly Bell
September 1, 2010

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8/28/10 – New York Times

Take A Bite - 28 August, 2010 - 14:29

8/28/10 – New York Times
Anna’s Letter to the Editor in response to Math Lessons for Locavores

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Advocates for independent ranchers, workers and consumers demand federal action to restore fair markets

Food First - 28 August, 2010 - 04:44

August 27, 2010, Fort Collins, Colo. – Today the USDA and the Department of Justice hold the fourth in a series of historic workshops on corporate concentration and lack of competition in agriculture. This workshop will examine the livestock industry.

A coalition of organizations that represent independent ranchers, workers and consumers is asking the agencies for new regulations and enforcement efforts to clarify and strengthen protections provided in the Packers and Stockyards Act to mitigate unfair practices that put farmers and ranchers, workers, and consumers at a disadvantage.

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The column's new two-author byline

Daryll Ray's Agricultural Policy Column - 27 August, 2010 - 14:00
As I am sure you have noticed over the last few weeks, this column now sports two authors. Actually, Harwood and I have been co-writing this column from its inception on July 5, 2000. For years, his invaluable contribution was acknowledged at the end of each column. Moving Harwood's name to the byline coincides with, and is in recognition of, his completion of the requirements for a Ph.D. degree here at the University of Tennessee.
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8/26/10 – Foreign Policy

Take A Bite - 27 August, 2010 - 13:08

8/26/10 – Foreign Policy Association
Five Questions for…Anna Lappé

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What’s the story of your food?

Take A Bite - 26 August, 2010 - 15:07

Check out this video from Nourish, a multi-year media and education initiative aimed at getting people to think and learn more about the food system – and to get involved in the food revolution.

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Food figures need a pinch of salt

BBC News on Obesity - 26 August, 2010 - 13:12
The idea that the world needs to double its food production by 2050 in order to feed a growing population "is wrong".
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This time Sodexo caves and signs Fair Food agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Food First - 25 August, 2010 - 01:13

In April 2010 SEIU mounted a labor protest against Sodexo that gained considerable press coverage with celebrities including Holly Near and Danny Glover involved in the protest. Fast forward to August and Sodexo was clearly not interested in more bad press.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers--August 23, 2010

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Watch, listen to Katherine Leiner’s story of Growing Roots

Take A Bite - 24 August, 2010 - 19:42

Katherine Leiner’s new book Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks and Food Activists is a beautiful profile of the young people who are working to make our food system more healthy and nutritious for all!

Growing Roots from Wheelhouse Creative on Vimeo.

Categories: From the Newswire

Aug. 24, 2010: First Annual Minnesota Farm to School Week Set for September 20–24 (press release)

Minnesota schools, students and agricultural producers will celebrate Minnesota?s first annual Farm to School Week from September 20–24, 2010. The...
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Great Democracy Now Segment on All Things Industrial Ag

Take A Bite - 24 August, 2010 - 13:11

David Kirby (Animal Factories) turns your stomach with tales of arsenic in chickens. Patty Lovera (Food & Watch Watch) tells it like it is about consolidation in ag. And Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute) talks about the new global land grab and what it means for food security.

All on Democracy Now! this morning.

Categories: From the Newswire

[08-18-10] MST Informa #187: Participate in the Struggle for Agrarian Reform

MST Brazil - 23 August, 2010 - 18:31

The MST comes to the cities this week to ask for support from all workers, once again, in defense of Agrarian Reform. We want to present a proposal for a new model for Brazilian agriculture, one that actually distributes the land, helps to generate jobs, and produces quality foods at prices affordable to Brazilians.

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Fixing Our Toxic Food Environment

Take A Bite - 23 August, 2010 - 17:56

Natasha Singer takes on our toxic food environment in The New York Times. In “Fixing a World That Fosters Fat,” she argues that we’re bombarded every day by advertising and other toxic environmental factors that make it next to impossible to be a healthy nation. I’m reading David Kessler’s The End of Overeating, in which he makes the same case.

All of this should come as no surprise when we learn that Kellogg’s spends $15 million in just one year advertising Cap’n Crunch, while the past annual budget for USDA’s 5-A-Day fruit and vegetable promotion program is only $5 million. Sigh.

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Three Pillars of the Food Revolution

Take A Bite - 23 August, 2010 - 17:53

With food companies and agribusiness stepping up their “green” marketing, how can we tell real climate-friendly food from fake? In my new piece for YES! magazine, I argue we can use a values-based approach to guide our decisions. Ecology, community and fairness are three that guide me–what guides you?

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Do We Really Need a Math Lesson? Locavores Bite Back

Take A Bite - 23 August, 2010 - 17:52

Self-proclaimed “liberal curmudgeon” Stephen Budiansky’s takes a jab at the locavore movement in “Locavores Need a Math Lesson” in The New York Times. (His simplistic read on what locavores stand for reminded me of the attack on the local food movement three years ago in the Grey Lady’s pages.

How’s our math, really? Check out my take, along with that from other colleagues on Grist.org. It’s part of a new series, Grist Talks: Food Fight, in which experts debate hot-button food topics, via a “virtual roundtable.”

Categories: From the Newswire

One Straw Revolution

Take A Bite - 23 August, 2010 - 17:46

One of the most inspiring books I read while working on Diet for a Hot Planet
was Masanobu Fukuoka’s classic The One-Straw Revolution.

I had been hearing about the book for ages from farmer friends who were influenced by it and I was mesmerized by page one. It’s part-practical farming advice, part-musing on the meaning of meaning of life.

So imagine my surprise to find a mention of the just-published new edition (with a foreword by my mom) in The Financial Times. Feels about as likely as Lady Gaga praising L.L. Bean footwear!

Categories: From the Newswire
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