Clipmarks | JICWyllie's Food and Farming collection

A Locally Grown Diet With Fuss but No Muss

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:24:10 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Eating locally raised food is a growing trend. But who has time to get to the farmer’s market, let alone plant a garden?

That is where Trevor Paque comes in. For a fee, Mr. Paque, who lives in San Francisco, will build an organic garden in your backyard, weed it weekly and even harvest the bounty, gently placing a box of vegetables on the back porch when he leaves.

“The highest form of luxury is now growing it yourself or paying other people to grow it for you,” said Corby Kummer, the food columnist and book author. “This has become fashion.”

the shift toward it is being driven by the increasingly popular view that fast food is the enemy and that local food tastes better.

Last year, the New Oxford American Dictionary picked locavore as its word of the year.

For a growing number of diners, a food’s provenance is more important than its brand name,

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“I can’t tell you how joyful it makes me to hear that it’s trendy for people in Manhattan to own a part of a cow.”

Barbara Kingsolver,

said,

Tags: environment, food, i-localisation, i-sustainability, i-trend

Pinching pennies like your grandparents

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:13:40 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

the skyrocketing cost of everything from cereal to eggs is prompting some Americans to turn to traditional techniques for stretching a dollar or a meal.

The food inflation is clearly affecting American lifestyles. An April survey by market researchers NPD Group found that more than half of adults who described themselves as “financially challenged” were trying to use up leftovers more often and prepare more meals at home than they did a year ago.

Americans are still eating out but are choosing cheaper restaurants

more people are choosing grain-based foods, such as pizza and pasta, over meat-based meals.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

For those people who are trying to shop and eat more like their grandparents did, the change in behavior isn’t just a matter of time management. Accustomed to years of drive-through restaurants and pasta in a box, many simply don’t know how to cook from scratch.

Tags: economy, consumers, i-spending, i-decrease, i-consequences

Revealed: the massive scale of UK's water consumption

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:09:32 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Each Briton uses 4,645 litres a day when hidden factors are included

The scale of British water consumption and its impact around the world is revealed in a new report today, which warns of the hidden levels needed to produce food and clothing.

The UK has become the sixth largest net importer of water in the world,

Only 38% of the UK's total water use comes from its own resources; the rest depends on the water systems of other countries, some of which are already facing serious shortages.

Average household water use for washing and drinking in the UK is about 150 litres a person daily, but we consume about 30 times as much in "virtual water", used in the production of imported food and textiles;

People in poorer countries typically subsist on 1,000 litres of virtual water a day;

A meat and dairy-based diet consumes about 5,000 litres of virtual water a day while a vegetarian diet uses about 2,000 litres.

Tags: environment, fresh water, i-demand, i-increase, i-record, i-consequences

Animal rights: A farm boy reflects

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:37:18 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Anyone who knows animals, knows that they have individual personalities, often more interesting and more ethical than human personalities. By what right, do we make them suffer before killing them for our own benefit?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

This comes up because the most important election this November that you’ve never heard of is a referendum on animal rights in California, the vanguard state for social movements. Proposition 2 would ban factory farms from raising chickens, calves or hogs in small pens or cages.

Harvard Law School now offers a course on animal rights.

Among philosophers, a sophisticated literature of animals rights has emerged.

Our cattle, sheep, chickens and goats certainly had individual personalities, but not such interesting ones that it bothered me that they might end up in a stew. Pigs were more troubling because of their unforgettable characters and obvious intelligence.

I’m a farm boy

Then there were the geese, the most admirable creatures I’ve ever met. We raised Chinese white geese, a common breed, and they have distinctive personalities. They mate for life and adhere to family values that would shame most of those who dine on them.

Tags: business, farming, i-cruelty, i-rights

Australia faces food crisis as rivers reach new low

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:55:47 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

hopes of drought-breaking winter rains had faded, and low inflows were expected for the rest of the year. Temperatures are forecast to be above average for the next three months, which means rain is more likely to soak into the sun-baked earth or evaporate than flow into the rivers.

Mr Plummer said good rains early in the year had barely dented the drought, and long-term trends pointed to six to seven years of below average rain in each decade.

Scientists say the lower reaches of the Murray, where lakes and vast wetlands meet the sea, are almost "beyond recovery",

Australia's most punishing drought in a century has forced about 10,000 farming families off the land, and threatened the economic viability of some agricultural towns. Ross Garnaut, the government's chief climate change adviser, warned in a report last week that irrigated agricultural production in the Murray-Darling Basin would decline by 92 per cent by 2100.

Tags: environment, i-climate change, i-drought, i-increase, i-consequences

Is a Big Hunk of Steak Worth Almost 2,000 Gallons of Water?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:22:08 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: It takes a lot of oil and electricity to pump that water around and that is becoming much more expensive, while clean water is becoming scarce.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Quite similar in concept to the carbon footprint, our water footprints are defined as "the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual, business or nation," by Waterfootprint.org. People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. The numbers are staggering.

In the US, our water footprint is

660,430 U.S. gallons per person per year. Compare that to 700 cubic meters per year per capita (184,920 gallons) in China and 1150 cubic meters per year per capita (303,798 gallons) in Japan.

it takes about 1,916 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef,

Tags: environment, water, i-demand, i-record, food, i-cost

After 'peak oil', world now faces 'peak water'

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:32:21 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.euractiv.com

The challenge posed by current high oil prices is nothing compared to what lies ahead amid dwindling supply and growing demand for a far more basic commodity - water, warns a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor.

Slaughter argues that as awareness of the vulnerability of water systems increases together with concerns over climate change, "public utilities are discussing how to restructure water rates to better reflect true costs without causing public harm". Meanwhile, the price of water is increasing.

The solution to the looming water crisis could, according to her, be provided by innovative companies who seize water as "the next opportunity for smart innovation". She cited a particular ultraviolet treatment technology already being used to deliver clean drinking water to various communities.

As for the EU, water crept up the bloc's political agenda last summer following the serious drought that swept across Europe.

Tags: environment, fresh water, i-supply, i-decrease, i-forecast

Wake Up, America. We're Driving Toward Disaster.

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:05:47 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Great article. And published in the Washington Post! The worm is beginning to turn.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

the truth is that no combination of solar, wind and nuclear power, ethanol, biodiesel, tar sands and used French-fry oil will allow us to power Wal-Mart, Disney World and the interstate highway system -- or even a fraction of these things -- in the future. We have to make other arrangements.

Shocks to the oil markets will hurt trucking, which will slow commerce and food distribution, manufacturing and the tourist industry in a chain of cascading effects.

two pernicious beliefs

have become common

The first is the idea that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The companion belief to "wishing upon a star" is the idea that one can get something for nothing.

Fixing the U.S. passenger railroad system is probably the one project we could undertake

The airline industry is disintegrating under the enormous pressure of fuel costs.

If we don't get the passenger trains running again, Americans will be going nowhere five years from now.

World's poor pay price as crop research is cut

Wed, 21 May 2008 13:14:10 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.iht.com

The brown plant hopper, an insect no bigger than a gnat, is multiplying by the billions and chewing through rice paddies in East Asia, threatening the diets of many poor people.

The damage to rice crops, occurring at a time of scarcity and high prices, could have been prevented. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute here say that they know how to create rice varieties resistant to the insects but that budget cuts have prevented them from doing so.

The budgets of institutions that delivered the world from famine in the 1970s, including the rice institute, have stagnated or fallen, even as the problems they were trying to solve became harder.

But cuts in agricultural research continue. The United States is in the midst of slashing, by as much as 75 percent, its $59.5 million annual support f

the wealthy countries, as a group, cut such donations by more than half from 1980 to 2006,

Tags: food, farming, i-disease, i-increase, i-supply, i-decrease

Forget flowers ... fruit and veg are in season for young gardeners

Sun, 18 May 2008 10:56:46 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: The supermarket business model which relies on making profits from 'adding value for the consumer' with ready made, convenience foods is ill-suited to times of high food inflation, when people are more likely to cook and grow their own.

Clip Source: lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk

Rising prices in the supermarkets coupled with growing concerns about the environment and global food shortages have led to five-year waiting lists for council allotments and a boom in the sale of vegetable seeds,

A combination of rising food prices, global food shortages and the guilt of food miles has seen an explosion in the numbers now growing their own, with women, and in particular young urban mothers, taking on allotments or converting back gardens into vegetable patches.

For the first time in decades, vegetable seeds are outselling flower seeds.

Such is the grow your own movement that Newcastle city council has planted tubs of herbs and vegetables to decorate the streets for a food festival. Bill Corbett, manager for ground maintenance, said they are proving so popular with residents they intend to spread the idea to housing estates to teach families how to harvest their own food.

I have a well appointed shed on the plot with an armchair and the wherewithal to make tea.

Tags: economy, business, food, supermarkets, i-behaviour change, i-demand, i-decrease

An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth

Sat, 17 May 2008 09:29:12 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Oil + economic growth = over-population + record extinctions. Humans will make themselves extinct, too, as life support systems are destroyed.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The Living Planet Index out today shows the devastating impact of humanity as biodiversity has plummeted by almost a third in the 35 years to 2005.

The report, produced by WWF, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Global Footprint Network, says land species have declined by 25 per cent, marine life by 28 per cent, and freshwater species by 29 per cent.

Scientists say the current extinction rate is now up to 10,000 times faster than what has historically been recorded as normal.

The study picked out five reasons for species decline, all of which can be traced back to human behaviour: climate change, pollution, the destruction of animals' natural habitat, the spread of invasive species, and the overexploitation of species.

Aside from tackling global emissions, the report recommended two ways that species decline could be combated – by avoiding the destruction of animals' natural habitat by overdevelopment or cultivation; and in avoiding the over-farming or fishing

Tags: environment, i-extinction, i-increase, i-acceleration, i-record, i-reported

Survey shows rise in U.S. honey bee deaths

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:17:12 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: From a selfish (human-centred) point of view, here's another reason why food prices will continue to rise at an accelerating rate. From the point of view of the bees, it must be even worse.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost since last year.

the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.

clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving,

Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm.

About 29 percent of the deaths were due to Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that causes adult bees to abandon their hives.

"What's frightening about CCD is that it's not predictable or understood," vanEngelsdorp said.

Tags: environment, bees, i-disease, i-increase, i-consequences

Multinationals make billions in profit out of growing global food crisis

Sun, 04 May 2008 09:50:40 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.

Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.

Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months.

Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.8m, on the back of a shortage of fertiliser.

Tags: food, i-profits, i-hunger, i-increase

Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:32:53 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

the widespread use of inexpensive chemical fertilizer, coupled with market reforms, helped power an agricultural explosion

Yields of rice and corn rose, and diets grew richer.

Now those gains are threatened in many countries by spot shortages and soaring prices for fertilizer, the most essential ingredient of modern agriculture.

The squeeze on the supply of fertilizer has been building for roughly five years. Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to plant more crops. As demand grew, the fertilizer mines and factories of the world proved unable to keep up.

Some dealers in the Midwest ran out of fertilizer last fall

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Overall global consumption of fertilizer increased by an estimated 31 percent from 1996 to 2008, driven by a 56 percent increase in developing countries

At least 50 plants to make nitrogen fertilizer are under construction, many in the Middle East

This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people

Without chemical fertilizer

The game is over.”

Tags: food, fertiliser, i-supply, i-decrease, i-demand, i-increase, i-risk

The Politics of Food is Politics (cont.)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:07:50 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie
clipper's remarks: Yes! The best resistance is growing food.

Clip Source: www.counterpunch.org

We are not accustomed, especially on the political left, to thinking about such practical activities as "political." We are still trapped in a strategic-theoretical model that equates power with policy, and policy is then undertaken as a purely ideological struggle. The persuasion of the word and the concept is given primacy over the persuasion of actual conditions and deeds. Metaphorically, we have constructed a line, running from left to right, and we use a constellation of policy-issues to place both people and discourse along that line.

The system, however, reproduces itself most earnestly through "facts-on-the-ground."

Food autarky and relocalisation are not symbolic acts of resistance, but actual resistance... the basis of resistance, the precondition of resistance.

Past revolutions began not with ideas in isolation; they began with facts-on-the-ground.

The kitchen garden -- the "victory garden" -- represents

the ability to sustain resistance (or aggression)