Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
What is the farm bill, and why does it matter?
FERN (video)
Every five years or so, Congress takes up a massive piece of legislation known as the farm bill, which covers everything from supporting farmers to ensuring that those short of food don’t go hungry. The cost of the bill is nearly $100 billion a year. Right now, Congress is in the middle of the farm-bill cycle again. But how does the farm bill work? This video, the latest offering from FERN, unpacks this complex and crucial piece of legislation.
Could you spot a fake wine?
Wired
Most wine drinkers aren’t seeking out the most unique, expensive blend—they just want wine that tastes good for a decent price. So the founders of Integrated Beverage Group figured out how to reverse-engineer high-end wines to sell similar blends at a fraction of the cost. “IBG can’t replicate every wine. Those with singular attributes, like wines made from grapes grown in a specific vineyard or from a hard-to-find variety, are far more difficult,” writes Bruce Schoenfeld. “But the world’s most popular wines—from Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay to Dom Perignon—are made hundreds of thousands of bottles at a time, enough volume that their grapes are sourced from a range of vineyards.” That makes a knock-off a no-brainer.
Native American tribes win important ruling on salmon fisheries
The New York Times
The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling this week that could preserve the livelihood and lifestyle of the Swinomish and other Native American tribes in Washington State. In the suit, brought in 2001, the federal government and the tribes had “argued that Washington State had harmed salmon habitats by building culverts — below-road channels and structures — in a way that prevented salmon from swimming through and reaching their spawning grounds,” writes John Eligon. “Federal courts ordered Washington to fix most of the culverts by 2030, an effort that a state spokesman said on Monday would cost about $2.4 billion.”
Pros and cons of the new law on ‘tipping out’ at restaurants
Eater
The spending bill passed by Congress in March included a provision that allows waiters and bartenders to share their tips with the cooks and dishwashers who toil in the “back of the house.” Previously, those tips could only be shared with fellow “front of the house” employees, like bussers and hosts.The new law was meant to address income-inequality issues that plague the hospitality industry. But while most are happy with the change, there is some grumbling, writes Andrea Strong, that it allows owners to “siphon tips off from servers to pad cooks’ existing salaries,” rather than just pay the cooks more.
A year after its Whole Foods buy, Amazon has yet to crack groceries
Bloomberg
One year ago, Amazon made the surprising announcement that it was buying Whole Foods, setting off endless speculation about how the deal would reshape the grocery sector. In the months since, some things have changed—but Amazon has yet to lay out a game-changing grocery strategy. “Amazon now has to tackle the continued integration of Whole Foods and an even bigger task: making the company’s grocery-related offerings more coherent,” writes Shira Ovide. “One key to Amazon’s success is its simplicity of buying. The company’s grocery offerings are anything but simple.”