From bricks to clicks to groceries at the front door
A Canadian grocery and pharmacy chain says it will close 22 stores and launch home delivery in Toronto in December and Vancouver in January.
Where to find a celebrity chef? At a natural disaster.
Washington chef and restaurateur Jose Andres hit a milestone in relief work in Puerto Rico: Serving the 1 millionth meal to hurricane victims in three weeks through his World Central Kitchen, aided by hundreds of volunteers. Restaurateur Guy Fieri, a resident of Santa Rosa, Calif., cooked meals for wildfire evacuees in Sonoma County.
Rep. Blumenauer’s ‘outsider’ farm bill comes in from the cold
An amalgam of budget hawks, environmentalists and food movement activists are scheduled to call for reform of U.S. food and ag policy today as Rep. Earl Blumenauer unveils legislation to challenge the farm bill being assembled by the House Agriculture Committee.
Coho salmon die in ‘witch’s brew’ of stormwater runoff
Coho salmon face fatal levels of pollution in 40 percent of their range in the Puget Sound Basin, chiefly because of stormwater runoff, says a study published in the journal Ecological Applications.
Tax cuts may come back to bite farm subsidies, says NFU
The second-largest U.S. farm group says the mammoth tax cut now pending in Congress could force cuts in farm subsidies, or possibly wipe them out, because of "pay-as-you-go" law. "That would be a disastrous trade," said president Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union, taking a more skeptical view than many farm leaders of the impact of the proposed $1.5 trillion in cuts and associated changes to tax brackets and deductions.
To meet farm-labor shortages, Idaho puts inmates on the job
An Idaho state lawmaker says she plans to sponsor a bill in the 2018 legislative session that would expand a program allowing agricultural businesses to use state inmate labor if they can't hire enough workers. Six businesses — two fruit companies and four potato-related companies — use the program now with a fluctuating number of inmates, varying from 150 to 261, at work, says Capital Press.
Drop the threat of NAFTA withdrawal, asks U.S. food and ag sector
A coalition of 100 companies and trade groups representing the U.S. food and agriculture sector says it supports President Trum's goal of modernization of NAFTA but, "We encourage NAFTA negotiations to continue without the threat of withdrawal." Trump has repeatedly threatened to scrap the tri-national trade agreement and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Canada and Mexico have more to lose than the United States if there is a rupture.
USDA kills fair play in livestock marketing rule; revival unlikely
In one of its biggest decisions since President Trump took office, the USDA killed an Obama-era proposal that would make it easier for livestock producers to prove unfair treatment at the hands of meat processors. “They’re just pandering to the big corporations,” said small-farm defender Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, nearly shouting in his “violent opposition to what they are doing.”
American Farm Bureau seeks withdrawal of organic livestock rule
FDA delay of Nutrition Facts update is too long, says key senator
The Democratic leader on the Senate Health Committee wrote FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb to complain of an unreasonable delay in updating the Nutrition Facts label that appears on every package of food.
A soda a day? Not so often for many Americans.
Only half of adult Americans and 61 percent of children consume a sugar-sweetened beverage on any given day, down sharply from consumption rates a decade earlier, reports the New York Times, citing a study in the journal Obesity. Fewer people are drinking sugary beverages and when they do, they consume fewer calories.
Canada and Mexico say U.S. asks too much for new NAFTA
With NAFTA negotiations at their midpoint, senior officials from Canada and Mexico accused the United States of seeking unfair trade advantages. U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer sternly responded that the United States will no longer tolerate trade deficits.
India emerges as No. 1 in the world for cropland
A high-resolution search by satellite found 15 to 20 percent more cropland in the world than previously thought and identified India as the world leader, says the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS says its new map, showing 1.87 billion hectares of cropland, will help "to ensure global food and water security in a sustainable way."
Stabenow and Ernst propose bigger regional conservation program
The senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow, and Iowa Republican Joni Ernst have proposed a tripling of funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program as part of legislation that would give the program more flexibility.
More organic production possible without huge loss of virgin land
If the world raised organic production and moved toward a vegetarian diet, farmers could feed the global population without converting large amounts of virgin land like forests to crops, says a new study in the journal Nature Communications.
California governor signs food waste bill
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to encourage manufacturers to voluntarily standardize date labeling on their products in order to curb some of the 5.5 billion tons of food tossed into the state’s landfills each year.
U.S. organic farm total rises 15 percent in a year, says consultancy
The booming U.S. demand for organic food is fueling a rapid expansion at the ground level, with more farms turning organic and growers devoting more land to feedstuffs for organic cattle and poultry, says Mercaris, which monitors the sustainable agriculture sector. "We look forward to seeing imports edge downward in coming years" as domestic corn and soybean production increases.
Climate change could make some places better for agriculture, others worse
Changes in soil moisture and increased temperatures could make some areas newly suitable for rainfed, non-irrigated agriculture, but others could lose viability, says a study published in the journal Nature by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Monsanto says it’s not to blame for misuse of old dicamba
A Monsanto executive "acknowledged the company misjudged the timeline" for EPA approval of its lower-volatility formulation of the weedkiller dicamba in 2016, reports Reuters. The result was that some farmers, worried about invasive weeds, planted Monsanto's new dicamba-tolerant soybean seeds and used older versions of dicamba, blamed for damage to neighboring fields.
Farmland prices rise 5 percent in Britain over the summer
Property consultants Strutt and Parker said the price of cropland in England rose by 5 percent in the three months ending on Sept. 30, reversing a two-year decline, reported Agrimoney.