The United States became a more food secure nation last night after President Obama issued an order that would prevent deportation of up to five million immigrant workers—including at least 250,000 who are toil in the fields to feed us. To borrow a slogan, if you eat, thank an undocumented worker. Approximately two thirds […]
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Click here to view the Food Chains trailer now When I first traveled to the fields of Southwestern Florida in 2008 to research my book, Tomatoland, I came face-to-face with labor abuses that I thought had disappeared from the United States in the 1860s. Abject slavery was common. Four out of five women picking […]
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Update: McDonald’s rejects GMO potato. Late last week the United States Department of Agriculture gave its blessing for J. R. Simplot Co., a major supplier of frozen French fries to McDonald’s and other fast-food chains, to begin planting a genetically modified (GMO) potato that the Idaho-based company calls “Innate.” Although not the […]
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I thought we’d seen the last of Zilmax, a chemical given to feedlot cattle to make them pack weight in the weeks leading up to slaughter. Merck Animal Health, which sold the drug, called it a “beef-improving technology.” Although the drug added 24 and 33 pounds to carcasses, it failed in the marketplace. Grocery […]
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During my many trips to Iowa to research my forthcoming book, Pig Tales, I lost count of the number of times government officials, university professors, and owners of large hog operations assured me that the state enforced strict manure-management regulations to keep the soupy manure, which is usually applied to fields, out of waterways and […]
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Take this quick quiz: Beef production is a key contributor to global warming. True or False. Overgrazing by cattle and other livestock causes soil erosion and desertification. True or False. Americans’ over-consumption of beef has played a big role in the obesity epidemic. True or False. I suspect that many conscientious eaters would answer each […]
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