A banker bets on organic farming
New York Times - 8/28/2012. By Mark Bittman – It’s unlikely that large-scale changes in the so-called food system will happen without movement on the part of big investors. Sadly, most of these – like the corporations they support – take short-term, profit-maximizing views. But there are unconventional exceptions. Jeremy Grantham, the chief investment strategist for the unfortunately named G.M.O. (it stands for Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC), is one of those. |
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Keeping it in the family: BPA might last in our bodies for generations
Grist - 8/28/2012. By Tom Laskawy – Back in May, I pointed to a study on a farm chemical that was found to cause physiological and behavioral changes in rats. Worryingly, the effects persisted for generations after a single exposure (it was the first time this phenomenon was extensively documented in an industrial chemical). |
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The fracking of Rachel Carson
Orion - 8/27/2012. By Sandra Steingraber – Rachel Carson, the ecologist who kicked the hornet’s nest, wrote a book that needed no subtitle. Published fifty years ago this September, Silent Spring rocketed to the top of the bestseller list, prompted a meeting with the president’s science advisers, occasioned congressional hearings, and circled her neck with medals of honor. It also let loose swarms of invective from the pesticide industry. |
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Tire-eating cornstalks
The Contrary Farmer - 8/23/2012. By Gene Logsdon – I fantasize about genetically-engineering deer that would love the taste of raccoons or that would eat car tires so society would do something about surging wildlife populations. But now a true occurrence is taking place in Foolish Farming Today that not even a genius like Mark Twain could reduce to a more absurd conclusion. Agribusiness has succeeded in developing corn varieties that eat tractor tires. Do not laugh. This is not a joke. |
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