Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, May 31, 2015 American exceptionalism—except for what we grow By Alan Guebert In the chaos that surrounded Congress leaving Washington, D.C. for a flag-waving Memorial Day holiday, your House Ag Committee found time May 20 to vote to kill Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, for…
Magna Carta Messed Up the World, Here’s How to Fix It The “logic” of capitalist development has left a nightmare of environmental destruction in its wake. Noam Chomsky March 23, 2015 | This article appeared in the April 6, 2015 edition of The Nation. (Milton Glaser) This article is part of The Nation’s 150th Anniversary…
Why Monsanto Is About to Get a Lot Bigger and More Powerful We should be very concerned about the future of the world’s food supply. By Reynard Loki / AlterNet May 29, 2015 Photo Credit: prudkov/Shutterstock Earlier this month, Swiss seed and agrochemical company Syngenta rejected Monsanto’s second takeover bid in a year. Syngenta’s board…
R-CALF Congratulates Nebraskans Who Stopped Chinese-Controlled Industrial Hog Farms in Nebraska Billings, Mont. – Yesterday, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature defeated a measure that would have allowed Chinese-owned Smithfield Farms, the largest industrialized pork packer and hog producer in the United States, along with other foreign and domestic multinational corporations, to begin owning, controlling and feeding…
Howdy, Below are four articles and links from the legislative defeat of LB176 yesterday in the Nebraska Legislature. Yesterday, it was an historic day for the Nebraska Legislature, in more ways than one. The Legislature overrode the Governor’s veto of the elimination of the Nebraska death penalty with 30 votes, and they also failed to…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ted Monoson May 28, 2015 (202) 225-2171 ICYMI: Farm Bureau asks Congress to Repeal Country of Origin Labeling for Beef, Chicken and Pork This week, the American Farm Bureau Federation announced support for efforts in Congress to repeal a law that forces food distributors to label beef, chicken and pork products as…
Howdy, Below are three news articles about LB176, which is on today’s Select File agenda today. Keep the phone calls and emails coming. The clear difference on the outcome of this issue is the fact Smithfield hired Mueller and Robak, the Legislature’s top lobby firm. Ironically, co-owner Kim Robak’s mother, Jennie Robak ran a strong…
Is Missouri’s agricultural law being rewritten in Hong Kong? A butcher shop worker prepares a free lunch of pulled pork for Missouri lawmakers and staffers on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. The lunch was paid for by pork giant Murphy-Brown LLC of Princeton, Mo., a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods. The Legislature has failed to limit lobbyists’…
Would You Buy Meat If You Didn’t Know Where It Came from, or How It Was Raised? Being a member of the World Trade Organization definitely has some anti-perks. By Ari LeVaux / AlterNet May 25, 2015 A recent move by the World Trade Organization threatens to put more mystery in the meat we eat,…
Agriculture May 23, 2015 Pressed by activists, agri-business alters care for livestock Norm Oeding of Janzen Family Farm near Elbing raises grass-fed red and black Angus cattle. (May 18, 2015) | Mike Hutmacher The Wichita Eagle By Dan Voorhis The Wichita Eagle PEABODY – Duane Unruh’s chickens live on a bus – still marked as…