There are so many concerns tied to GMO foods — health concerns from scientifically documented health risks, environmental concerns by the bushel, and economic returns (GMO companies are generally large and monopolistic and are not good for small farmers and communities). For all of these reasons, and maybe more, there is a strong groundswell of opposition to GMOs around the world, including in Kenya. Last week, the African Biodiversity Network released a statement on how it thinks the Kenyan government should be supporting its farmers and protecting its citizens.
UN: Small Farms Key to Global Food Security
Small farms are the key to global food security in the 21st century, the UN has announced.
Georgia Anti-Immigrant Legislation & Farmworker Crisis Update: Slaves, Convicts, & More
The Georgia farmworker crisis I wrote about last week has been getting a lot of attention. Aside from the fact that it is due to ridiculous Republican legislation, there are a number of interesting side stories that are quite interesting (and concerning).
“Plant This Movie” {Help Fund Great Urban Farming Documentary on Kickstarter}
The video on the next page does a great job presenting core food problems we are facing today but goes far beyond the problems and offers some great solutions to them. The filmmaker, Karney Hatch, is look to get $7,500 donated by Saturday, July 16 on Kickstarter to make a documentary on these problems and solutions.
Georgia Loses Millions of Dollars Worth of Crops because of Anti-Immigration Law
Huge fallacy: undocumented immigrants don’t contribute to society.
Truth: undocumented immigrants do tremendously important work in inhumane conditions and for completely unfair wages so that Americans can eat cheap food.
Test: Georgia Republican lawmakers recently passed legislation geared at pushing undocumented, “illegal” immigrants out of the state of Georgia.
USDA Doesn’t Follow USDA’s Own Advice on Dietary Guidelines
Becky covered the USDA’s new system for conveying its updated dietary guidelines to the public nearly two weeks ago. The USDA has move from a food pyramid to a food plate.
The food plate clearly shows that we should be eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, and not too much meat and dairy.
However, as at least one insightful climate action and healthy living advocate has recognized, the USDA doesn’t follow its own advice.
UN: More Sustainable Farming Needed to Feed the World
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) proclaimed today that we need to switch from the intensive farming practices of the past half-century to more sustainable agricultural practices if we want to feed the world in 2050.
New York Times, Oxfam, & Others Pick Up the Climate Change–Food Insecurity Story
You may be getting tired of my stories on climate change and food, but I think this is a critical topic already significantly affecting the lives of tens of millions of people (or more) that will become increasingly important in the years to come (if we don’t do something to address climate change NOW).
I’m not the only one trying to draw a little more attention to this critical topic, but not many big media agencies have been doing so (yet). This weekend, though, the New York Times published an above-the-fold, 4000-word, front-page story on the matter! The title: A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself.
Factory Farm Investigations on New Interactive Map
It must be the week for maps. I just recently announced that Food & Water Watch won an Interactive Media Award (IMA) for its interactive factory farming map. Now, news is there’s another great interactive factory farming map just out from Animal Visuals, an excellent site with “visual resources for animals” (I’ve shared some of their stuff when writing about livestock production in the U.S. before).
Factory Farming Map Wins Interactive Media Award (Acceptance Speech Cut Off)
I wrote about a pretty awesome (though, disturbing) interactive factory farming map created by Food & Water Watch and New Signature back in December. The map “illustrates the geographic shift in where and how food is raised in the U.S. and allows anyone to quickly search for the highest concentration of animals by region, state and county.” A non-interactive version of it is above.