Growers and Grocers

Consumers who seek out local growers may still be a drop in the economic bucket, but that drop is growing, at least within the domain of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper calls out numerous local-food businesses that have seen increased sales in recent years. But those “in the trenches” recognize that they must address distribution […]

Business Week uses a profile of Earthbound Farms to discuss the looming debate about industrial organic foods.
The article covers most of the issues on the horizon: the separation of organic reality from the idealized notion of local, sustainable agriculture, the threat that small farmers face when Wal-Mart pushes for low prices on organic food […]

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s blog recently departed from its normal reprints of speeches and interviews to counter the assertions made by Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan uses Whole Foods as a symbol of industrialized organic food, which improves on conventional farming but offers its own set of problems.
Mackey has a reputation […]

The United States House of Representatives has added a boost for organic produce to its 2007 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, according to this post at Blog for Rural America. Formerly, the bill provided $1.8 million to help farmers make the transition to an organic model.
Now, the bill sets aside $5 million for the research. This is […]

Major corporations contribute significant funds to North American universities and, like it or not, this financing helps guarantee the undeniable quality of American academics. But should companies be allowed to operate retail outlets on campuses, all in the name of research?
Despite public furor over the issue, the administrative council of Quebec’s Université Laval has […]

Here at Growers & Grocers, we complain about the ever-weakening definition for “organic.” Did you know, for instance, that you can put “organic” on a milk carton even if the cows are stuffed into an environmentally destructive feedlot? And originally came from a conventional farm?
Here’s your chance to effect a change. The USDA has requested […]

Grape growers throughout the northern part of the country face disastrous grape harvests this year, according to this AP article. Governors Pataki of New York and Granholm of Michigan have petitioned for federal disaster relief.
American farmers already face competition from cheaper South American producers. This frost damage will no doubt send even more farmers into […]

Food and Water Watch has released the Spring 2006 issue of Food Alert, a newsletter devoted to food politics. The articles are light, but give a good snapshot of key issues.
On deck in this issue:

Urge Starbucks to drop milk with growth hormone
USDA approves poultry imports from China
Small New York farms that grow Concord grapes are […]

The world must have ended. I can’t think of another reason for Mark Morford to to give Wal-Mart some love in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. If you’ve not read his almost stream-of-consciousness rants before, Morford’s politics make me look conservative.
What caused this about-face? Wal-Mart has announced a green tint to company policies: Renewable energy, alternate […]

Whole Foods announced that they’ll stop carrying gallon-size cartons of Horizon Organic milk so that they can make room for their new in-house brand.
But here’s the real question: Why does Whole Foods carry Horizon products at all? This Salon article exposed the inhumane conditions of the dairy company’s cows, so why does the feel-good chain […]