AltWeeklies Wire
The Age of Aquaculture: The Dish on Farm-Raised Fishnew

Buying fish has become confusing and controversial as the debate between farm-raised vs. wild fish grows. What's good, what's bad and what are the larger issues for an industry that's making its presence known.
Boise Weekly |
Tara Morgan |
02-18-2009 |
Environment
Tags: food, farming, water quality, environment, business, fishing, water rights, Idaho, Northwest, aquaculture
Corn Ethanol is Fueling Controversy ... Except Among Democratsnew
Mounting opposition to corn ethanol, and the spreading global food crisis, pose a serious question for President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Washington: Will they attempt to slow or reverse the ethanol mandates?
The Texas Observer |
Robert Bryce |
02-18-2009 |
Environment
Why Does it Take $46K to Start a Community Garden in San Diego?new
The nonprofit International Rescue Committee never thought it would spend $46,000 to get permits for an organic garden on the stretch of unused, city-owned land. They figured that the city surely would want folks to farm the land, in the name of food security.
San Diego CityBeat |
Rebecca Tolin |
01-14-2009 |
Gardening
What Obama's Secretary of Agriculture Pick Means for the Future of U.S. Farmingnew

Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack is a fan of biotech and ethanol. But he also palled around with Monsanto executives, and he may be pro-cow cloning.
Weekly Alibi |
Ari LeVaux |
01-13-2009 |
Food+Drink
Family-Owned Farms Get Creative When Winter Comesnew
In the winter, the frenetic pace of summer and fall on a family-owned fruit farm winds down. Gone are the lengthy days of pruning and picking and the tiring drives from central Pennsylvania to Philly and back, bringing fruit to market.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Dan Packel |
01-13-2009 |
Food+Drink
California's Great Olive Oil Floodnew

In the past decade, armies of trees have taken root in the Central Valley, the northern Bay Area wine country, and the Central Coast hills. California is still just a baby in world production, but has paced itself to enter the ranks of the world's leaders in olive oil milling in the next 15 years.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Alastair Bland |
01-12-2009 |
Food+Drink
Cut Your Own Meat: Idaho's Underground Lamb Tradenew

It took months, but I eventually found a small sheep operation willing to sell live livestock. One afternoon, I brought a big, fat sheep home and tied it up in my back yard. But there were a few problems: What is the city code on livestock, what to do with the entrails and, almost as important, what would people think?
Boise Weekly |
Nathaniel Hoffman |
11-25-2008 |
Food+Drink
Will the Future of the Chile Include Genetic Engineering?new

Between the shaky agricultural market and the influx of various diseases, commercial chile farmers say they are struggling to survive. Scientists believe genetically modified chile seeds could be the answer to the crop's woes.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Laura Paskus |
10-17-2008 |
Food+Drink
Photo Essay: Dry Harvest -- Growing Through a Tough Droughtnew

This summer, North Carolina farmers grappled with, and to varying degrees overcame, the dearth of water.
Mountain Xpress |
Liz McCarthy |
10-01-2008 |
Food+Drink
The Dust Bowl Cometh to Californianew

Will we control climate change in time to save California's crops? "There's a lot of different speculation, and I don't think anybody fully knows what's going to happen," says vintner Richard Sanford.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Sam Kornell |
09-30-2008 |
Environment
Skyrocketing Food Prices and Biofuels Aren't What's Feeding Global Hunger Crisisnew

It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but the real food crisis gripping the world these days is not what everyone thinks it is. It's really more about the 80 per cent drop in real-time food prices since 1947 than the modest, dare I say, "market correction" of recent years.
NOW Magazine |
Wayne Roberts |
08-04-2008 |
Food+Drink
Alt Farmers Share in the Farm Bill's Bounty, but at What Cost?new
Even if the same law shovels tons of subsidies to rich farmers and agribusiness giants, the little guys growing organic food are at least catching some of the crumbs.
Isthmus |
Marc Eisen |
07-08-2008 |
Food+Drink
How One Ginseng Farmer is Rolling Back America's Trade Deficit with Chinanew

At a time when the Chinese are getting rich exporting to Americans, Larry Harding is a countertrender: an American getting rich exporting to the Chinese. In the world's most populous country, ginseng is like coffee, Viagra, and Prozac all rolled into one, with a dollop of quasi-religious mysticism on top.
Washington City Paper |
Franklin Schneider |
06-26-2008 |
International
Louisiana Perks Up for the Emerging Carbon Trade Marketnew

The rapidly evolving industry — dubbed the "cap-and-trade" market — pays sellers, typically landowners, for sequestering carbon dioxide by growing trees and plants that remove it from the atmopshere with the potential of limiting the level of pollutants that contribute to global warming.
Gambit |
Mollie Day |
06-25-2008 |
Environment
Real or Perceived, the Food Crisis Can be Tamednew

As this cycle of recession and shortages plays out, it's almost certain that another will surface in the future. And as long as the possibility of famine exists, we've fixed nothing. It may be time to stop treating food as a commodity.
Weekly Alibi |
Maren Tarro |
06-03-2008 |
Food+Drink