Previous Food, Farming and Agriculture News 2019-2023
How Can California Solve Its Water Woes? By Flooding Its Best Farmland. 12-20-23
Restored floodplains in the state’s agricultural heartland are fighting both flooding and drought. But their fate rests with California’s powerful farmers. Read more
The Single Best Way to Reduce Food Waste on Thanksgiving 11-22-23
This Thanksgiving, Americans will throw out about 312 million pounds of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, their aunts’ weird casseroles and other festive foods, according to ReFED, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing food waste. Read more
Raising Better Beef 11-16-23
No food is harder on the environment than beef. Here’s how ranchers and researchers are trying to make burgers less burdensome. Read more
Why can’t we just quit cows? 11-01-23
Eating less beef, cheese, and ice cream would slash emissions. If only it were that easy. Read more
Food justice advocates didn’t set out to save the climate. Their solutions are doing it anyway. 10-30-23
How New York’s rich history of urban gardening connects food justice and climate mitigation. Read more
Agriculture Dept. doles out $1 billion for urban forestry 09-14-23
The Agriculture Department’s U.S. Forest Service yesterday announced it is awarding $1.13 billion to communities across the country to plant and manage trees in an effort to tackle extreme heat and improve access to nature in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Read more
What would happen if the world cut meat and milk consumption in half? 09-12-23
Agricultural emissions would fall by almost a third. But getting there wouldn’t be easy. Read more
Green groups sue EPA over factory farm pollution rules 09-11-23
A group of 13 environmental organizations has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking to force the agency to bolster regulations for industrialized livestock farms, which can pollute U.S. rivers and lakes with raw sewage and other contaminants. Read more
Beef guzzlers: 12% of Americans eat half of the country’s cow meat 09-01-23
Changing the habits of this small group could go a long way toward cutting the country’s planet-warming emissions. Read more
Unchecked Poultry Farming in North Carolina Violates Civil Rights, Residents Say 05-03-23
The complaint includes a number of residents’ detailed descriptions of the ways that chicken farms are affecting their lives. Read more
The next farm bill could be a historic climate law – if Congress can agree on it 03-30-23
Will the legislation help turn agriculture, a climate problem, into a climate solution? Read more
The Field Report: Calls Grow for a Farm Bill that Serves ‘All of Us, Not Just Corporations’ 02-08-23
Plus, a new report on SNAP improvements and broken (egg) promises. Read more
Why the ground under Colorado solar panels is ripe for growing food 01-22-23
A Republican lawmaker has joined the previously Democrat-only push for solar agriculture, or agrivoltaics, priming Colorado to become a national leader. Read more
Op-ed: Amid Academic Strikes, UC Students Liberated Their Cafeterias 01-16-23
Across California, university students are taking over dining halls in solidarity with graduate students on strike. It’s also a response to food insecurity and economic injustices on campus. Read more
Supreme Court grapples with animal welfare in a challenge to a California law requiring pork to be humanely raised 10-04-22 Read more
The more bees the merrier farmer 09-21-22
Crops benefit from a diversity of pollinating bees, and the benefits grow the longer scientists track them. Read more
A New Bill Aims to Ban Mergers in Ag and Food Sectors 06-14-22
Farmers and ranchers say now is the time to stop talking and take action to crack down on monopolies in the food system. Read more
In Wisconsin, small towns want more regulations for big farms 05-03-22
The state’s agricultural lobby says local efforts to regulate CAFOs are illegal. Read more
What I learned from pruning Milwaukee’s orphaned fruit trees 04-28-22
People are planting more trees. But they’re not always prepared to take care of them. Read more
A Regenerative Grazing Revolution Is Taking Root in the Mid-Atlantic 03-30-22
Farmers are scaling up the practice in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and beyond—and it could simultaneously help clean up the Chesapeake Bay, mitigate climate change, and save small family farms. Read more
Photo Essay: How Nourish New York Is Still Feeding NYC 03-29-22
A program created to support farmers and feed New Yorkers amidst the pandemic’s food crisis is here to stay. Read more
Chicken Frenzy: A State Awash in Hog Farms Faces a Poultry Boom 02-14-22
Long home to industrial hog facilities, North Carolina has seen a huge increase in large-scale poultry farms, with more than 1,000 added in 2020 alone. The state scarcely regulates the poultry industry and its waste, which threatens waters in low-wealth communities of color. Read more
US poultry giant Tyson using land ‘twice the size of New Jersey’ for animal feed, study says 02-09-22
Industrial farming: research by the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates huge amounts of land being used for feed crops. 02-09-22
Video: Aerial Detectives Dive Deep Into North Carolina’s Hog and Poultry Waste Problem 01-09-22
As concentrated animal feeding operations spread, airborne surveillance missions aim to protect nearby communities from the air and water pollution they release. Read more
New research shows sustained damage to agricultural land near pipelines 01-07-22
A flurry of new research shows the long-term effects of pipelines on crop yields. Read more
There’s a major gap in the new methane pledge: Agriculture 09-27-21
The Global Methane Pledge gives farmers and ranchers a ‘free pass,’ environmental groups say. Read more
Turning Hog Waste into Biogas: Green Solution or Greenwashing? 09-09-21
North Carolina’s industrial-scale hog farms have long been a major source of pollution. Smithfield Foods now plans to turn some hog waste into biogas, but critics say the project does nothing about the larger problem of waste being stored in lagoons and sprayed on fields. Read more
House passes Farm Act, which will fast-track controversial biogas projects 06-25-21
Rep. Jimmy Dixon calls agriculture “a whipping boy,” says opposition is unfair. Read more
The red meat issue Biden won’t touch 05-23-21
The administration wants to dramatically shrink farmers’ climate footprint. But Biden’s top officials aren’t talking about serious changes to America’s meat industry. Read more
Environmentalists continue battle with lawmakers, pork industry over biogas from hog waste 05-21-21
Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy want to proceed with plans to turn hog waste into natural gas at 19 farms in southeastern North Carolina. Environmentalists are trying to block the N.C. Farm Act bill of 2021, which would speed the farms’ progress. Read more
Farms, feathers, and fins share water in California 03-24-21
A coalition of conservation non-profits is creating innovative ways to put farmland to work supporting wildlife. Read more at Grist
Two Biden Priorities, Climate and Inequality, Meet on Black-Owned Farms 01-31-21
The administration has pledged to make agriculture a cornerstone of its plan to fight warming, but also to tackle a legacy of discrimination that has pushed Black farmers off the land. Read more at The New York Times
Questions Remain about Big Food’s Influence on the New Dietary Guidelines 01-28-21
Advocates and experts point to a long-standing pattern of corporate influence on the nation’s ‘go-to source of nutrition advice.’ Read more at Civil Eats
What California’s farmworkers can teach us during a season of giving 12-21-20
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of tiny 3-year-old Yair Basurto shuffling back and forth between a pile of grocery bags and a long line of cars waiting with open trunks. He and his father, Gonzalo, were loading food deliveries for farmworkers and other families in need in the parking lot of a Masonic temple in the coastal agricultural community of Oxnard, California. Read more at Grist
Pittsburgh’s Black farmers work to grow a new future 09-11-20
A small group of new farmers have seeded a movement to change the local food industry. Read more at Environmental Health News
In Nebraska, he’s working to break up meat monopolies 09-02-20
While most of us have recently witnessed empty shelves and higher price tags from the aisles of our local supermarkets, 2019 Fixer Graham Christensen has been fighting for solutions to our fractured food system from the fields. Read more at Grist
Revealed: development banks funding industrial livestock farms around the world 07-02-20
Investigation uncovers finance worth $2.6bn pumped into meat and dairy industries, despite warnings of links to climate catastrophe Read more at The Guardian
24 LGBTQ+ Farms and Organizations Celebrating Community Through Food and Agriculture 06-27-20
Throughout the United States and around the world, millions of people gather in June for Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and honor their contributions to the world. Read more at EcoWatch
A Vietnamese Farmers’ Cooperative in New Orleans Offers a Lesson in Resilience 05-01-20
VEGGI Co-op has weathered Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Now, it’s facing the twin threats of the coronavirus pandemic and climate change. Read more at Civil Eats
Black Farmers Are Embracing Climate-Resilient Farming 01-20-20
Communities of color are on the frontlines of climate change. These farmers are also on the frontlines of climate solutions. Read more at Civil Eats
Will New Pork Rules Put the Meat on Your Plate and Workers at Risk? 10-11-19
Last month, the USDA quietly issued a new rule changing meat inspection standards for pork. Not only does the new rule mean slaughterhouses can run their processing lines as fast as they want, it also changes who does the inspecting, giving the pork producers themselves a bigger role in the process. Read more at the Alleghany Front
Boston’s Eastie Farm Builds Community and Resilience on the Front Lines of Climate Change 08-21-19
Sprouting from a 3100-square-foot lot, the urban farm brings people together, feeds neighbors, and focuses on being climate-ready. Read more at Civil Eats
Study Finds Farm-Level Food Waste is Much Worse Than We Thought 08-20-19
Unharvested crops dramatically bump up estimates of U.S. food waste. But some farmers—who get demonized for working within a system they didn’t create—are seeking solutions to get that food to market. Read more at Civil Eats
From chicken to tomatoes, here’s why American food is hurting you 05-28-19
The recent news about glyphosate and cancer only highlights a broader problem with our system: our obsession with killing the natural world is poisoning us Read more at The Guardian
How an Oregon Rancher is Building Soil Health—and a Robust Regional Food System 01-31-19
Fourth-generation rancher Cory Carman holistically manages 5,000-acres which serve as a model for sustainable meat operations in the Pacific Northwest. Read more at Civil Eats
It is time to respect the planet’s boundaries—and overhaul how we eat and waste food—if we want to feed our rising population 01-18-19
If we’re to feed the estimated 10 billion people on Earth in 2050—and protect the planet— we have to completely overhaul food production and choose healthier diets, says international report. Read more at Environmental Health News
