Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
Yesterday marked the first day of a period in US politics that was never supposed to happen – the deadline to prevent sequestration ran out, triggering through-the-board spending cuts of $85 billion dollars. This article (and the one-minute-video) gives a great overview of what stands behind it – basically, it was a bipartisan deal of … Continue reading Sequestration – When Partisan Politics Affect Real Food Security
In a country where 60% of the population is involved in agriculture, and 70 – 80% of agricultural work is done by women, within the legal system women farmers are still almost invisible. Though 18% of family farms in India are headed by women, only 2% of land is owned by them. According to a study carried out by Oxfam India … Continue reading India's Women Farmers Claim Equal Rights
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mZ2KQ9iB_8&feature=player_embedded] Watch Urvashi Rangan from the Consumer Safety and Sustainability Group for Consumer Reports make a powerful argument for the need for the three Ts in food labeling: Truth, Trust and Transparency. Here are her main points if you don’t have the time to listen to her eloquent presentation: Many labels, such as “natural” or “fresh”, … Continue reading Labeling Fables
Only a couple of days ago, I was at lunch with friends at IKEA, where my friends were enjoying Kottbullar (the Swedish meatballs) and joking around that they were hopefully horse meat free. Yesterday, that joke turned sour as IKEA was the last in a series of enterprises that found horse DNA in their processed … Continue reading What the Horse Meat Scandal Can Teach Us
In the latest stage of an extended legal tussle, mid-January of this year the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear a case that claimed the Conservative government’s actions in abolishing the Western Canadian Wheat Board were unlawful since they failed to take into account a plebiscite by the very farmers that had been using the … Continue reading The Grand Wheat Board Controversy
Bhutan just doesn’t stop being inspirational. After championing a Gross National Happiness Index instead of measuring development in Gross Domestic Product, they have now announced that they will be the first country on its way to be exclusively organic. According to Pema Gyamtsho, Bhutan’s minister of agriculture and forests, the kingdom adopted its National Organic Policy out … Continue reading Bhutan – 100% Organic!?
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the oral arguments in a case that promises broad ramifications for the future of seed patents in America and, by extension, globally. The case of Vernon Bowman v. Monsanto is complex and shows gaps in the current legal framework with regard to seeds as patentable items that might make … Continue reading Of Farmers and Supreme Court Judges
When you think about the linkage between food policy and public health, your first thought is probably over- or undernutrition, obesity, or diabetes – something relating the food we eat to our health directly. What if I told you that specifically livestock production methods could pose a health threat to us all, irrespective of where … Continue reading If Sick, Just Pop a Pill – Or Eat a Steak?! Antibiotic Use in Animal Farming.
During my undergraduate degree in Political Science, I wrote my Bachelor’s Thesis on Russia’s definition of food security and their food policies in general, so I still follow news about that topic with great interest. To summarize my 50-page paper in two sentences, Russia seems to be striving for total food independence (meaning that all … Continue reading Russia's Ban on U.S. Meat Exports – Is It Legit?
This is the title of a report that was just launched by the Center for Food Safety, a U.S. NGO that, in their own words, “challenges the use of harmful food production technologies and promotes organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture”. The report gives a great overview of the current state of property rights … Continue reading Seed Giants vs. US Farmers
