There has been a running, and often misguided, debate about the value of organic farming over the past few months. Read More
USDA Says Organic Farming Worth $3.5 Billion…Happy Food Day!
October 24th, 2012
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly announced that the nation’s certified organic farmers enjoyed sales of more than $3.5 billion in 2011. On this second annual Food Day—a nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, sustainable food—it seems fitting to highlight this “good news” story that hasn’t received much attention. Read More
Many Good Reasons to “Eat Local”
August 15th, 2012
As an analyst and communicator at UCS, I know how difficult it can be to tell a complicated, nuanced story in our sound-bite-oriented media culture. So even though it was not totally surprising, it was still frustrating to find UCS’s position on the benefits of local foods mischaracterized last week in a USA Today article that called local food “trendy,” but asked whether it is “really more eco-friendly.” Read More
Five Good Reasons to Eat Food (and One Not-So-Good One)
April 9th, 2012
For most of my life I never thought much about what I ate. Generally I’ve been dependent on others – first my mother, now my wife – for good meals. My foraging philosophy has been simple: When I feel hungry, I search for something close at hand and do whatever is necessary to make it edible. Like the Checkers ad says, “ya gotta eat,” so I do.
However, in the last few years I’ve started to think about what I eat, and why. Read More
Weed Resistance Costs Farmers Millions
September 27th, 2011
Reuters’ Carey Gillam’s recent excellent analysis of the Roundup-resistant weed problem makes points that my colleagues at UCS have been arguing for a long time.
Overuse of any herbicide—such as we have seen with the widespread adoption of Monsanto’s genetically engineered Roundup-resistant crops—leads inevitably to the development of resistance. Read More
A Bite of the Big (local, organic) Apple
September 20th, 2011
Last weekend I took my mother, visiting the East Coast from California, on her first-ever jaunt to New York City. We had a ball, wandering the urban canyons, taking in a Tony-winning Broadway show, shopping at the fabulous Union Square Greenmarket, and of course, eating ourselves silly. Read More
Biodiversity: It’s Not Just about Pandas and Polar Bears
September 13th, 2011
As I slogged into my garden, soaked by recent tropical storms and hurricane Irene, and pushed back the leaves of my zucchini plants, the wild bumblebee emerging from one of the flowers reminded me that I wasn’t doing all of the work in this plot of vegetables. Read More
Will Genetic Engineering Divert Us from Essential Food Production Science?
August 29th, 2011
Climate change, increasing population, greater demand for animal products, and the un-sustainability of current food production: All will challenge our ability to produce enough food in coming decades. Read More
