Farm & Food File
A syndicated column by Alan Guebert
Food Labeling
Sustainable Is What Sustainable Does
Posted on September 2, 2015
Everywhere you look, there’s a poetic irony to today’s high-speed rush toward “slow” food and agricultural sustainability.
For example, throughout the U.S. well-informed, well-intentioned shoppers see no inherent conflict in driving their tank-sized SUVs to the local organic cooperative to purchase sustainably-grown meat, fruit, dairy products, and vegetables.
Corporate America is little different. It spends billions on […]
A SAFE, Silly Trick
Posted on September 2, 2015
There’s little safety and virtually no accuracy in SAFE, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, July 23.
It was written by Big Ag to protect Big Ag, not consumers, even though nine out of 10 American consumers want food labels to disclose the presence […]
Nature’s Calling; Anyone Listening?
Posted on July 15, 2015
Question: What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Answer: Neither; both arrived after a qualified veterinarian declared their farm disease-free following a complete depopulation because of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.
It’s no joke.
On June 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced that 192 “detections” of […]
Got Guts? Bet on TPP
Posted on July 15, 2015
Let’s go out on a small limb and make a big prediction: Not only will the U.S. Senate vote to give this president and the next one fast track trade authority, so too will the U.S. House of Representatives.
Moreover, and since we’re already on the limb, here are two more predictions: First, both the House […]
American Exceptionalism–Except for What We Grow
Posted on July 15, 2015
In the chaos that surrounded Congress leaving Washington, D.C. for a flag-waving Memorial Day holiday, your House Ag Committee found time May 20 to vote to kill Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, for beef, pork, and chicken sold in the U.S.
If you carnivores out here are keeping score, the Ag Committee vote was the […]
Big Food’s Baloney
Posted on June 30, 2015
Sysco Corporation may not be a topic of dinner conversation most evenings anywhere in the U.S. but it is what many Americans are having for dinner—and lunch and breakfast—almost any day everywhere in America.
You may not have heard of Sysco, but you’ve seen ‘em.
Ever pull up to a local fast or fast casual restaurant, nearby […]
The COOL Facts
Posted on February 18, 2015
Country of origin labeling, or COOL, for meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts sold in the U.S. has been kicked around by the courts, politicians, international trade panels and special interest farm groups since it became law in 2008.
The only people who haven’t kicked it are American consumers. Polls consistently report that at least 85 percent […]
Welcome Back, Foodie
Posted on January 26, 2015
We didn’t know it back then but everyone on the big southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth was a foodie.
Of course there was no one named Bittman or Pollan or Waters to tell us we were foodies but there were people named Mom and Grandma and Aunt Nina whose food knocked your socks off […]
Roberts Reboots and Other Coincidences
Posted on December 10, 2014
While Republicans, Democrats and Independents voted nationwide Nov. 4, coincidence, irony and “Huh?” were the big winners Nov. 5.
For example, nationally, according to early numbers compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, candidates spent $3.7 billion on 2014 elections, the most in U.S. history, to get Americans to vote for them. (Links to source material […]
The Endless Politics of GMOs
Posted on November 21, 2014
It’s tough being a genetically modified organism in election season because no election passes without someone or some state slamming you for being, well, you.
This election is no different. Voters in Oregon and Colorado are in the home stretch of multi-million-dollar ballot fights to decide if you will be identified and labeled in and on […]
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Read the story, then click on *reader comments* to see just how angry people are w/ today’s farmers for what they see as blue state billions supporting red state farmers. Many border on fury. https://t.co/LoeoIgOfhW
With all due respect, @ScottIrwinUI, yesterday no one could hay or graze prevented plant acres until Nov. 1. A day is a long time when USDA rewrites rules at the drop of a seed corn hat. https://t.co/Ub0B1K7A4z
Come on... has there ever been a USDA program that hasn’t skinned or scammed taxpayers? This announcement (read the string) is only hours old and the game is already on. https://t.co/TJegvilfxU
Memo to SecSonny: If you’re going to bend facts & make up math to blindly support bad White House politics, don’t do it against former ERS administrators who actually know facts and do math. https://t.co/2QCb5IMoFH
Stay away from the generals-General Mills, General Dynamics, General Motors, General Electric... They write the rules they then use to tell you they’re right. No thanks. https://t.co/Q2v4u8SO0N
This is a solution in search of problem greased by taxpayer money and a vengeful Administration that cares as little about *customers* as it does science and, now, the law. Let’s solve ag’s real problems before making fake ones. https://t.co/GLA8m8OyHJ