Archive for the 'Food' Category
Corn at Three-Year High as USDA Slashes Inventory Estimates
June 9th, 2011This is pretty grim, considering that much of what Americans eat is corn, in one form or another. Via: Bloomberg: Corn jumped to the highest in almost three years after the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast tighter supplies, as adverse weather hurt crops. U.S. stockpiles before the start of the 2012 harvest may fall to […]
Japan: Green Tea Exports Banned Due to High Radiation Levels
June 4th, 2011Via: Telecom: The Japanese government has banned shipments of green tea leaves in four regions after high levels of radioactive caesium were found. A swathe of Japan’s tea making regions including parts of Tochigi, Chiba and Kanagawa prefecture as well as the whole of Ibaraki were included within the ban, according to the Ministry of […]
Local Food Makes Strange Dining Companions
June 1st, 2011Via: The Freeman: The litany of abuses by centralized power against the individual is long and predictable. But centralization in agriculture, that hazy realm from which our food spontaneously appears, poses its own set of dangers to individual aspirations. Now that fewer than 2 percent of the population is directly engaged in food production (down […]
CONGRESS MULLS CUTS TO FOOD STAMPS PROGRAM AMID RECORD NUMBER OF RECIPIENTS
May 31st, 2011Millions of broke, hungry, armed people? What could possibly go wrong? Besides, there are robotic, long range nuclear bombers to be built. Via: ABC News: Congress is under pressure to cut the rapidly rising costs of the federal government’s food stamps program at a time when a record number of Americans are relying on it. […]
Is Berlin the Ultimate Urban Pig Growing Area?
May 27th, 2011Why not embrace the bounty and designate areas for the raising and slaughter of pigs for local consumption? This sounds like more of a blessing than a problem to me. Update: Radioactive Boars on the Rise in Germany Reader DP sends cautionary information about wild pigs in Germany. Via: AP: Almost a quarter century after […]
Groups Sue FDA to Stop Addition of Antibiotics in Livestock Feed
May 26th, 2011Via: Washington Post: Several environmental and public health groups filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday to try to force the government to stop farmers from routinely adding antibiotics to livestock feed to help animals grow faster. The groups say widespread agricultural antibiotic use and the FDA’s allowance of the practice are […]
Food Inflation to Quicken; Nestle, McDonald’s, WholeFoods Lift Prices
May 26th, 2011Via: Bloomberg: U.S. food-price inflation may top the government’s forecast as higher crop, meat, dairy and energy costs lead companies including Nestle SA, McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFMI) to boost prices. Retail-food prices will jump more than the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s estimate of 3 percent to 4 percent this year, […]
Hedge Farm: The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedge Fund Managers Into Survivalists
May 19th, 2011Via: New York Observer: This is happening in part because investors see their play as a hedge against hyperinflation. While the rest of the world uses the current calculation of the Consumer Price Index as a proxy for the cost of goods, some farmland investors are using a different equation, one from 1980. These investors […]
Toxin from GM Crops Found in Human Blood
May 18th, 2011Via: India Today: Fresh doubts have arisen about the safety of genetically modified crops, with a new study reporting presence of Bt toxin, used widely in GM crops, in human blood for the first time. Genetically modified crops include genes extracted from bacteria to make them resistant to pest attacks. These genes make crops toxic […]
Coast Guard Closes Mississippi River Near Natchez
May 17th, 2011Update: Re-Opened, With Restrictions Via: CBS News: Shipping already curtailed because of flooding that is plaguing the Mississippi River was halted for much of Tuesday when officials closed the waterway north of New Orleans in the latest tough decision to try to reduce pressure on levees protecting cities and towns. By late in the day, […]
