This year, the 112th Congress is set to consider reauthorizing 2008’s Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (known familiarly as the Farm Bill), as many of that Act’s provisions expire in 2012. This bill, a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill, contained 15 titles covering a broad range of issues. Among other things, it [...]
Archive for the ‘Agriculture’ Category
20 Mar
EPA Sued Over Nutrient Pollution in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico
Law Firm Faegre Baker Daniels sent out a Legal Update this week detailing two complaints filed simultaneously against the EPA over actions (and inactions) taken in regards to nitrogen and phosphorus runoff in the Mississippi River. One complaint (Gulf Restor’n Network v. Jackson, E.D. La., No. 2: 12-cv-00677), filed March 13 in the U.S. District [...]
29 Feb
Seattle Will Soon Boast America’s Largest Food Forest
In what can be seen as a prime example of classic “quirky” Pacific Northwest innovation, city planners broke ground earlier this month on a project to develop the nation’s largest public “food forest” right here in Knowledge Mosaic’s home city of Seattle (seems only fitting, as Seattle lost its “Fun Forest” in 2009). The inspiration [...]
1 Feb
USDA Releases First Plant Hardiness Zone Map Since 1990
Last week, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, along with Oregon State University’s PRISM Climate Group, released a 2012 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, an interactive tool that displays (via colored zones) the average annual minimum winter temperature in any given area of the fifty states, using climate data collected from 1976 – 2005. With spring (well, [...]
16 Nov
An Encouraging Spike in Local Food Sales
Living in Seattle can sometimes skew one’s sense of where we are as a country. At least as far as access to quality local and organic foods, it’s always seemed to me that we have it better here than most. Our farmer’s markets are a sight to behold! And they’re in every neighborhood! However, I [...]
13 Oct
Follow That Beef!
Late last week the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced an extension of the comment period for the proposed rule on animal disease traceability. What proposed rule on animal disease traceability, you might ask? The USDA press release explains it so: Under the proposed rule, unless specifically exempted, livestock moved interstate would [...]
6 Oct
Peak Meat
“Firstly, per capita US meat consumption appears to have peaked.” So begin the conclusions of Rabobank International Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) group in their recent report on meat production in the US. The accompanying graphic shows our national consumption of meat (beef, pork, and poultry) at an all time high around 2007, [...]
21 Sep
Walmart’s Million Dollar Baby
Why did the former NBA forward decide to start a farm in urban Milwaukee? Sounds a little like the start of a really dull joke, right? Founded in 1993, Growing Power was conceived by former Miami Hurricane Will Allen, conceived as an urban farm that would employ African American farmers in an otherwise low-income, low-employment [...]
16 Jun
More Murders over Illegal Logging in the Amazon
The heartbreaking news came yesterday that a young peasant activist in Brazil was murdered over an ongoing illegal logging conflict in the Amazon. Obede Loyla Souza’s death marked the fifth logging-related murder in the region in only a month. According to the Associated Press, the Brazilian government is taking “a series of measures to contain [...]
7 Apr
Public Patent Foundation Sues Monsanto on Behalf of Organic Farmers
On March 29th, 2011, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed a complaint on behalf of organic farmers, seed businesses, and organic agricultural organizations seeking to invalidate Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seeds. One of the primary concerns of organic farmers regarding GM seeds has always been the threat of contamination – “Coexistence between transgenic seed [...]
