¡Join the fight!
Tomorrow marks the first of many, many, many joint Department of Justice and USDA antitrust workshops, held to hear from Americans about possible antitrust violations in the seed industry.
With farmers, competitors, activists, and consumers all diving off the top turnbuckle on Monsanto's head for the next year, this is going to get bloody -- and Big Media knows it. Look what just came over the wire from the LA Times:
A national milk glut and nosediving milk prices have prompted federal lawmakers to help the US dairy industry weather this crisis, which Vermont's Sen. Patrick Leahy says is "of epic proportions." $350 million has been set aside by the federal government for struggling farmers. From the AP: Read more...
There's a crappy editorial at the LA Times this morning, in which writer Charlotte Allen clucks her tongue at the growing argument against cheap goods, in this case, argued by Ellen Ruppel Shell in her book Cheap. It's garbage, because Allen fails to take down Cheap's base argument, that cheap means someone upstream had to pay the real cost for cheapness. Read more...
I bumped into my buddy Brian Fredericksen of Ames Farm Honey at the Minneapolis Farmers Market on Saturday. At his stall, he had a steady flow of customers, despite a heavy downpour that morning, but I got a chance to talk to him, which is always great for me.
I could write a ton of stories about Brian and Ames Honey. His farm is located on historically significant land for Minnesota (his orchard is where the famed Honeycrisp apple was developed decades ago), he's a fountain of information about bad practices in the honey industry, and he raises and trains sled dogs, too. Anyway, here's what I learned from him on Saturday: Read more...
If I were the Benevolent Despot of America, I would decree that we don't need organic, local, and/or sustainable farmers to increase scale in order to lower prices. That would defeat the purpose of smaller and more sustainable farming operations. Read more...
Dear Darin,
Hey, dude. You wrote me back in late 2008 asking me about food prices and I never got back to you because I have this Lucha Libre food blog thing going. Sorry, man. But I didn't forget, and I really wanted to respond about what might happen to food prices next, and how the hell we got here.
Anyway, I'm finally getting back to you. Hope you dont mind if I write you and a couple hundred friends at the same time. :)
So yeah. Gas prices are finally down. Here in the Upper Midwest, gas is roughly half of what it cost this summer. What's it like where you are? I know you were getting stomped last fall. (Aside to other Food Fighters, Darin was using the word "apocalypse" frequently in emails to El Dragón. I'm hoping he'll blog here at Fair Food Fight about his experiences -- he has some incredible stories to tell about his neck of the American woods).
So what is up with the grocery bill, huh? Why haven't food prices gone down if gas has? Good question, and it's not just your imagination: Food prices spiked 7% in 2008 according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, and there's no sign of prices coming down soon. Cereal and bakery products are still up 12% over last year, even though wheat as a commodity is down 40% in price.
2008. Gone. History! Must be time for....
Food Trends in 2009!
And, lo, there are many, many to choose from:
* Girl Friday's Take on Epicurious's Take
* Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Predictions
Well, they're all wrong. But you? You're right, because you've come to the right place for true food prognostication. Prepare now to receive...
Tom Buis of the National Farmers Union is consistently mentioned as a potential candidate for the USDA Secretary job, but we haven't been spending much time talking about Tom here -- obsessed as we are with the ever-hateful Dennis Wolff, apparently.
But after researching Mr. Buis a bit more, it seems that we have two Tom Buises, and I'm not sure which one is real.
Is Tom Buis:
A Friend of King Corn? Read more...
Great Meals for Two, Under $100 It was an experiment for lean times, but not an exercise in cheap eats. After all, even many of the most keenly cost-conscious diners can still afford - and still want to enjoy - food of some distinction in full-service restaurants with some coddling. Ooo, and please pass the kruger rands, would you, darling?
Here are updates on a few different stories worth keeping your eye on:
* Canda confirms 15th case of Mad Cow in its recent outbreak.
* Former Agriprocessors workers learn English while awaiting court dates.
Besides living in a foreign land without much knowledge of English, Klinkenberg said her students still are reeling from the raid. Many did not see their spouses and children for months. Other families have yet to reunite. Many still wear government-issued ankle bracelets that track their movements. Read more...
