At the mammoth American Public Health Association meeting last month in Philadelphia, it was easy to get lost in all the meetings, scientific sessions and special events. Still, 50 people made it to a food system bus tour of some of the city’s sustainable markets and urban farms on the opening day of the [...]

In October 2009, Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl sat down with Ana Araujo to discuss the Urban Agriculture and Food Systems class she participated in at Richmond High School in 2008/2009.  The class was a pilot program, which gave the students graduation credit and was centered around the creation of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and direct sale [...]

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Capitol Hill briefing, yesterday, on Industrial Animal Farms and Worker Health and Safety was informative and compelling. It was also contentious. While Dr. Steven Wing, University of North Carolina epidemiologist and environmental justice expert, discussed the transformation of agricultural practices over the last few decades he was interrupted by a Congressional [...]

As we give thanks for sustenance this holiday season, we might tip our hats to the life-supporting organisms living beneath our feet.  Virtually all that we eat, from tofurkey to turkey, originates on fertile soil.  From a consumer’s point of view, the story of a roasted bird begins at the supermarket, but the first chapter in every [...]

The Russians are helping build political will for passage of PAMTA! How has this happened and should we allow foreign influence in our domestic policy to preserve antibiotics for medical treatment? In this case the answer should be a resounding yes since industrial agriculture in the U.S. appears more responsive to the needs and desires [...]

On the heels of CLF’s Congressional Briefing Dec. 2, the Pew Environmental Group will be holding a Capitol Hill briefing tomorrow to discuss the impact on workers and communities of CAFO’s. The briefing, Industrial Animal Farms and Worker Health and Safety, is being held in collaboration with Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Co-Chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus. It is scheduled for [...]

After the December 7, 2009 post about the Eastern oyster’s (Crassostrea virginica) decline in the Chesapeake Bay, Dr. Kelly Goodwin, a scientist at NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), informed me of a parallel story for California abalone species. Dr. Goodwin says:

The peak decades for the commercial harvest of California abalone occurred after WWII; however, [...]

The New York Times’ Mark Bittman poses the interesting question in yesterday’s column, “Could Industrially Raised Meat Be Illegal?” Bittman pontificates that if the EPA has classified greenhouse gases as a human health hazard “as the EPA has declared, and the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act authorizes strict regulatory action on substances if there’s a reasonable [...]

Dairy CAFOs in New Mexico are under increased scrutiny today following this morning’s report from NPR’s John Burnett. The reporter discusses the unrelenting pollution caused by large dairy operations in the state along “dairy row,” a section of Interstate 10 between Las  Cruces, NM, and El Paso, TX.  ”Everyday, an average cow produces six to [...]

Image via Wikipedia

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley held a press conference in Annapolis, MD last Thursday to announce a plan to restore the oyster population to the Chesapeake Bay by prohibiting oyster harvesting in selected areas (Baltimore Sun; oyster plan pdf).Those most affected by the plan will be MD watermen; O’Malley offered them $2.5 M in [...]