Growers and Grocers

Progressive news aggregator Common Dreams offers a glimpse at the next bogeyman coming to haunt the food chain: Marker Assisted Selection, or MAS.
Except this one doesn’t seem so bad. Like genetic modification technology, MAS allows you to spot desirable genes and get them into your new hybrid. Unlike its more feared relative, however, MAS is […]

A New Mexico professor has invented a sticker that measures ripeness, and Washington state hopes to pilot it during this year’s apple harvest. The decal measures ethylene output and changes color when it’s time to pick the fruit. Fruits release ethlyene as they ripen, and distribution plants gas fruit with the chemical to ripen them […]

While the Midwest battles droughts, the coasts have suffered from torrential rain. In California, the bulk of our annual rainfall came in one month, just as the stone fruit was starting to bloom.
And now Maryland chicken farmers have suffered huge losses as torrential rains flooded chicken coops with enough water to cover the cages.
Like […]

A severe drought burning its way across America’s Midwest could mean higher food prices throughout the coming year, according to this news story.
Consumers with tight food budgets should plan for an uptick in their costs, but the article doesn’t discuss the financial impact. Beef costs have stayed low so far as ranchers slaughter their herds […]

The battle over a definition for organic milk has heated up, as the Organic Consumers Association called for a boycott against Horizon Organics, which raises cows in giant feedlots that follow the letter of the organic law, not the spirit.
The boycott comes as the USDA considers a change to the “organic” definition for dairy that […]

Progressive news aggregator Common Dreams points to this poorly written article (perhaps poorly translated) about the privatization of seeds in India. Farmers on the subcontinent already buy public-sector seeds from the government, but a new initiative would allow private companies to sell high-yield seed varieties directly to farmers.
Most farmers view this as a good […]

Norway has announced plans to build a “Noah’s Ark” for seeds, according to this AP story. The vault, in the remote Svalbard Islands, could keep three million seeds safe in the event of a disaster, which the designers define as nuclear war, environmental collapse, or “accidents, mismanagement and shortsighted budget cuts.”
The seeds will be wrapped […]

The Thomcord grape is emerging from California’s San Joaquin Valley farmer’s markets into wider distribution, according to this news item at the USDA. The new hybrid, a cross between the Thompson and the Concord, offers the deep-black skin of the Concord, a milder version of that grape’s taste, and the seedlessness of the Thompson.
One doesn’t […]

I understand the need avoid silly panics, but you’ve got to question Alabama’s decision to import Florida citrus despite the widespread citrus canker and a government ban on shipping Florida fruit to certain areas
The federal government wants to contain the disease, but Alabama believes the “cleansing” technologies are perfectly safe. That’s just not something I’d […]

The USDA has released a large list of farm subsidy recipients, according to this news release at St. Paul Pioneer Press. The disclosure comes as part of the 2002 Farm Bill, but the Environmental Working Group argues that the new information is only a good first step. The list excludes co-operatives, even though they receive […]