Whole Foods workers begin unionization drive
Some Whole Foods employees are instigating a union drive, according to a letter leaked to the press Thursday. Citing layoffs and falling morale since the company’s 2017 acquisition by Amazon, the workers plan to push for higher wages and better benefits.
Consolidation continues to reshape grocery retail
Mergers, tech companies, and private equity ownership are reshaping the grocery retail sector, as a continued wave of consolidation threatens smaller chains and their employees.
Post-Amazon, Whole Foods suppliers wait and worry
Since its acquisition by Amazon in August, Whole Foods has implemented some changes that are causing its suppliers to worry. Among them are centralized buying, higher charges for placement in certain sections of the store, and a new inventory system.
Amazon begins delivery from Whole Foods
Amazon announced last week that it would begin two-hour delivery of Whole Foods products for Prime members in select markets. The announcement came just before the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon is preparing to introduce an in-house delivery service, which would compete with FedEx and UPS.
Inside the movement to convert Iowa farmers into climate evangelists
A faith-based nonprofit group is mobilizing farmers across Iowa to become evangelists in the movement to battle climate change — and it is getting a welcome reception, according to FERN’s latest story, produced in collaboration with Mother Jones. The story, written by Brian Barth, says the Iowa branch of Interfaith Power and Light convened a series of meetings, aiming “to round up a 100-strong squad of farmers who are willing to speak publicly about agriculture as a climate solution” ahead of the 2020 presidential caucuses in Iowa. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
How’s organic faring in the farm bill?
In FERN's latest audio report, reporter Barry Yeoman delves into the fast-growing organic food sector and explores how organic agriculture is faring in the 2018 farm bill. The piece was produced for Nebraska Public Media's "On the Table" Podcast. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Two podcasts – California Foodways and Plate of the Union – launched this week
California Foodways, the critically acclaimed public radio series by award-winning FERN contributor Lisa Morehouse, launched a podcast this week. In the series — which can be found at FERN and multiple podcast platforms — Morehouse travels county by county in California, exploring the intersection of food, culture, history, labor, economy, and environment. <strong>No paywall</strong>
Spanish pigs touch down in Georgia, birthing a new ham
For centuries, a coveted type of ham — jamón ibérico de bellota — has been produced from a special breed of pigs in Spain. Now a Georgia farmer is aiming to create an American version of the iconic food, writes Maryn McKenna in FERN’s latest story, produced with Eater. <strong>No paywall</strong>
Consumer groups press for catfish inspection
Four consumer groups and the United Food workers union asked the White House to expedite the creation of the catfish inspection program, now six years past due.
Federal loan guarantee for biorefinery making a drop-in fuel
The Agriculture Department announced a $91 million loan guarantee for an advanced biofuel plant in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, that will turn pine chips into 8-10 million gallons a year of reformate, a drop-in ingredient for gasoline and jet fuel that can be added during the regular refinery process.
USDA to offer a renewal of CSP contracts
Landowners enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program, which pays farmers to practice soil, water and wildlife conservation as part of their daily operations, will have two months to apply for a renewal of their contract, says a USDA bulletin.
House GOP tries anew on ag guest worker legislation
For the second time this summer, House Republican leaders backed creation of a new agricultural guest worker program, this time a three-year H-2C visa available for fish farms, dairy producers and meatpackers as well as crop farmers. Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state applauded Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy "for their commitment to bring this to the floor" but the bill was not on the agenda for House action before the August recess.
Prospects dimming for House vote on ag guestworker bill
House Republican leaders promised a vote this month on creating a new agricultural guestworker program. But it now appears that vote may be delayed, in part due to inter-party squabbling over more comprehensive immigration reform.
Conservatives omit H-2C farmworker visa in new immigration bill
The chairmen of the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees unveiled an immigration bill on Tuesday that “addresses the four pillars for immigration reform outlined by President Trump.” Unlike an earlier version, though, it does not create a new, year-round H-2C visa for farmworkers.
Deadline nears for House attempt to revive farm bill
The electoral circuitry to revive the Republican-written House farm bill this week looks like the mechanism of a Rube Goldberg machine. Republican leaders plan floor votes on two immigration bills, neither certain of passage, to generate support among hardline conservatives for the farm bill. A close vote is expected, just like the roll call that sank the bill a month ago.
In tussle over immigration bills, farmworkers play a role
House Republican leaders say they will call votes next week on two immigration bills dealing with so-called Dreamers. The bill favored by conservatives would create, as a sidelight, a new, year-round H-2C visa program for farmworkers.
‘Forever chemicals’ in 45 percent of U.S. tap water
Researchers conducting the first broadscale test for so-called PFAS in private and public water supplies found the so-called forever chemicals in 45 percent of the nation’s tap water, said the U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday. The agency said PFAS were far more likely to be detected in tap water in urban areas than in rural America.
California again rejects groundwater protection plans as inadequate
Farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley didn’t stop over-pumping groundwater when doing so contaminated local water supplies with arsenic, and they didn’t stop when the valley’s floor began sinking underneath them, by a foot per year in some places. State officials have long hoped to stop them with regulations—and last week, they decided that several local regulatory plans weren’t strong enough. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
In Minnesota, study finds drinking water tainted with nitrates
Hundreds of thousands of Minnesota residents are drinking water contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate, according to a new analysis from the Environmental Working Group. The state is rolling out new rules to regulate nitrogen fertilizer application and protect groundwater, but advocates say they may not go far enough to keep residents safe.
Are there ‘forever chemicals’ in the nation’s milk supply?
When a dairy farm in New Mexico was shut down last year due to contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals that have been linked to reproductive and developmental problems as well as cancer, it revealed how little federal and state regulators know about the presence of these chemicals in our food supply, according to FERN's latest story, published with HuffPost. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
GAO: Many barriers to precision agriculture beyond cost
Precision agriculture equipment, such as yield monitors, have been available since the 1990s, yet farmer adoption of the technology has been slow, said a congressional report on Thursday that listed a half-dozen barriers beyond high acquisition costs.
Precision ag usage is highest in top row-crop states
Farmers in the top corn, wheat, soybean, and hog states are twice as likely as farmers in smaller-volume states to use precision agriculture practices, such as GPS guidance, said the USDA’s farm computer report on Thursday. Usage often topped 50 percent in the top row-crop states, while the U.S. average was just 27 percent.
House votes to create USDA meat investigator
Over the objections of Republicans, the House passed legislation on Thursday to create a USDA special investigator to enforce fair-play rules in the highly concentrated meatpacking industry. It was the most significant livestock marketing reform to advance in Congress this session.
House Democrats unveil ‘lower food and fuel costs’ bill
The House could vote as early as next week on an omnibus bill that would allow summertime sale of E15, create a special investigator’s office at the USDA to enforce fair-play laws in meatpacking, and help farmers adopt so-called precision agriculture technology.
Trump’s USDA relocated research agencies despite warnings of high staff attrition
In 2019, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the government would save $300 million over 15 years by moving two research agencies to Kansas City from the District of Columbia. However, congressional auditors now say USDA's selection process was flawed and disregarded estimates that up to 75 percent of employees would quit rather than move.
USDA ‘hiring at an extremely fast pace’ to rebuild ERS and NIFA
One-third of the jobs at two USDA research agencies are still vacant 18 months after their abrupt Trump-era relocation to Kansas City, said the chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the USDA budget on Wednesday.
Transplanted USDA agencies will stay in Kansas City, says Vilsack
Few ERS and NIFA replacements as relocation reaches milestone date
When Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Kansas City as the new home for two USDA research agencies, officials laid out an aggressive schedule to have everyone in place by today, the final day of fiscal 2019. The USDA has hired only a comparative handful of workers to stanch staff turnover that could exceed 75 percent and the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee says the disruption is affecting farm bill implementation.
Landlord wants a chance to keep NIFA in Washington
The government has extended the deadline for bids from Kansas City real estate companies looking to house two USDA scientific agencies, while the current landlord for one of those agencies contests the relocation, reported Politico.
The farm industry is pushing for tighter right-to-farm laws across the country. What does that mean for farm neighbors?
Every state has a “right-to-farm” law on the books to protect farmers from being sued by their neighbors for the routine smells and sounds created by farming operations. But this year, the agriculture industry has been pushing in several states to amend those laws so that they will effectively prevent neighbors from suing farms at all — even massive industrial livestock operations.
Oklahoma wildfires kill 1,600 cattle
Cattle producers in Oklahoma lost $26 million in stock, fencing, and facilities to wildfires during April, estimated Derrell Peel, a livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University.
Drought fries wheat crop in Kansas and Oklahoma
Kansas will reap its smallest winter wheat crop since 1989 and neighboring Oklahoma will harvest half of its usual total because of a months-long drought in the Plains, crop scouts said on Thursday after touring the winter wheat belt.
Big Beef seeks to expand its tax on Oklahoma ranchers
Big Ag is back on the offensive in Oklahoma, less than a year after voters defeated a bill that would have stripped the state’s residents of their ability to regulate corporate farming. The Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association wants ranchers to pay an additional $1 tax per head of cattle sold in the state, and will hold a Nov. 1 vote on the tax for Oklahoma cattle producers. Family farm advocates say that much of the money collected under such checkoff taxes is funneled to private industry groups that use it to promote the interests of corporate agriculture over independent farmers.
Iowa Sen. Grassley runs for eighth Senate term
While many Republicans were swamped by the Watergate tide, Republican Chuck Grassley won election to the House in 1974 and will surpass half a century in Congress if elected to his eighth Senate term in 2022. Grassley announced for re-election on Friday and is regarded as the heavy favorite by political handicappers.
Four months after ‘Trump postcard,’ the Trump food box letter
Four dozen House Democrats warned the USDA against using its food box donation program "to distribute a self-promoting letter from the president" ahead of the Nov. 3 election, criticizing the idea as a political use of federal resources.
Retailers, officials insist the food supply is strong as grocery stores are emptied
A recent surge of demand has emptied some grocery store shelves of staples, as shoppers concerned about the spread of the novel coronavirus prepare to self-isolate at home. But the U.S. has plenty of food and Americans should not panic, urged food retailers, producers, and the federal government over the weekend.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
‘Phase one’ with China is ‘pretty much all for the farmers,’ says Trump
With China confirming that it will sign a “phase one” trade agreement next week, President Trump said on Thursday that the pact, which will include China buying up to $50 billion a year in U.S. farm exports, “is pretty much all for the farmers.” At the same time, the outlook darkened for final congressional approval of the USMCA next week.
U.S. to see larger beef exports to Europe, while China threatens trade action
U.S. exports of hormone-free beef to Europe would triple under an agreement signed by President Trump and hailed by EU officials as a sign of tangible results for the strongest trade relationship in the world. Meanwhile, China said it “will have to take necessary counter-measures” if the United States expands the trade war on Sept. 1, as Trump says he plans to do.
The future looks grim for the industrial egg
California's Prop 12, which prohibits the sale of eggs in the state from chickens housed in battery cages, along with the arrival of the first viable egg substitutes, amounts to a one-two punch that could mark the beginning of the end of the industrial egg, writes Rowan Jacobsen in FERN's latest story, published with New Food Economy. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Big Canada meat distributor buys Field Roast, a U.S. vegan meat producer
Maple Leaf Foods, Canada's largest distributor of packaged meats, says it will buy Field Roast Grain Meat Co. in an expansion of its role in the North American market for alternative proteins. Based in Seattle, Field Roast produces grain-based "meat" and vegan cheese products, such as plant-based roasts, sausages, burgers and sliced cheese. It also makes a frozen vegan mac-and-cheese.
Vegan foodmaker says it quelled an employee coup
The maker of a vegan mayonnaise, Hampton Creek, accused three top employees of planning a coup and fired them. The company said the employees — two vice presidents and the chief technology officer — intended to change the governance structure of the Silicon Valley company so that new investors would have a greater voice in company operations.
Annual audits, ethics training for Egg Board after crack-up
The farmer-funded American Egg Board will face annual audits and a round of ethics training for its undercover attempt to derail a vegan version of mayonnaise, say USDA regulators. Their report could bolster long-shot legislation to end compulsory participation in the two-dozen "checkoff" programs that promote farm goods, from watermelons and limes to beef, cotton and milk.