5 Ways the Stanford Study Sells Organics Short... and many more headlines regarding our food industry.

·      ‘Food Hubs’ Connect School Districts With Farmers http://goo.gl/KwEuL

Online California food hub Ag Link http://goo.gl/RsgKY, ALBA in Salinas http://goo.gl/YRL79 and others in Vermont, Oregon and …

·      Media Coverage of Stanford’s Organic Foods Study is Half Baked http://goo.gl/EbF8K

o   Busted! Co-author of Stanford study that bashed organics found to have deep ties to Big Tobacco’s anti-science propaganda

o   Cargill and Others Behind anti-Organic “Stanford Study” http://bit.ly/PJlmuv

o   Are organics more nutritious? Again? Sigh. http://goo.gl/zQymh

My reaction precisely…

o   Stanford Scientists Cast Doubt on Advantages of Organic Meat and Produce http://goo.gl/ievh9

o   We Eat by the Grace of Nature, Not by the Grace of Monsanto http://goo.gl/R1GSv

o   Why organic must turn to science to survive http://goo.gl/cJkgJ

o   5 Ways the Stanford Study Sells Organics Short http://goo.gl/2y9zA

o   Organic food might not be more nutritious, but you should eat it anyway http://goo.gl/kE1gv

What cultivars were used for the study? Old varietals or new hybrids used for the nutritional analysis?

o   Consumer Reports: Don’t give up on organic food, our experts urge http://goo.gl/ZAclz

o   Washington Apple Study Finds Organic Growing Is Best http://goo.gl/X71OM

Agriculture: The method would help the state’s struggling farmers produce sweeter and more profitable fruit, researchers say.

o   Whoa, Is Organic Food No Healthier Than Non-Organic? Controversy Erupts Over Study http://goo.gl/9UJdj

Here’s an important thing to remember: Our food choices don’t just affect us, but entire communities.

o   And now Oxford University has weighed in on the brouhaha: Organic farms not necessarily better for the environment http://goo.gl/e5XlT

From this article it does not seem that they looked into the whole system of inputs, ie petrochemical production etc.

·      Salvation Army Bed and Bread Trucks’ Mobile Soup Kitchens Feed Detroit’s Homeless 365 Days A Year http://goo.gl/8r8uR

·      Fruits of old: Chicago gears up for an urban heirloom fruit orchard http://goo.gl/hFjI0

·      For Culinary Students, a New Kind of Field Work http://nyti.ms/N78hOr

·      Farmers’ Guide to Applying for Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) Funding, Fiscal Year 2012 Grant Cycle http://goo.gl/pKPNz

·      It’s Hot and Dry Out There

o   US insurance firms unlikely to cover $1 billion in home damage after record-breaking drought http://goo.gl/JRtvO

It’s not just crops and animals that have been damaged…

o   Drought Devastates US Corn Crop, Spikes Worldwide Food Prices http://goo.gl/xh2X7

o   MAP: Extreme Weather Supersizes Global Food Price Tags http://goo.gl/DYI6C

o   Study: Extreme Weather Hammers Global Food System http://goo.gl/KNehC

Current and future impact of floods and droughts being underestimated, says Oxfam

o   Minn. Dairy farmers squeezed by high drought-related feed prices http://goo.gl/h7z70

o   How extreme weather supersizes global food price tags http://goo.gl/gNX8K

·      Report: Resolving the Food Crisis: Assessing Global Policy Reforms Since 2007 http://goo.gl/9QV4H

·      Bad news for movie fans, US drought hits popcorn crop http://goo.gl/x8Uk7

·      Report: Taking into account the politics of rural landscape consumption (US) http://bit.ly/Q0Xf9x

·      Who Killed Lard? http://n.pr/xtS03U

Crisco, the industrialization of our food system, of course…

o   Why You Need to Eat More Lard (and these 5 other healthy fats) http://bit.ly/t135FG

Eating lard from range fed swine…

·      Coop helps people discover new, healthy foods http://goo.gl/YX2b8

·      West Oakland group partners with liquor stores to offer fresh produce http://goo.gl/eV4Sb

·      Factory Farm Map http://goo.gl/gSxzs

Labor/Economics

·      Palermo Workers Union: No Justice No Piece http://goo.gl/4Wflb

o   AFL-CIO Endorses Nationwide Boycott of Palermo’s Products http://goo.gl/9PASY

·      Monsanto: How Cheap Food Makes All Poor http://goo.gl/GKeZi

o   Time for an alternative to cheap food http://bit.ly/QpnGeL

·      Serving Justice – new food label certifies workers rights on US farms http://goo.gl/gPJNR

·      Feeding Capitalists: A Debate About Drought, Speculation, and the Food Crises http://goo.gl/2IfkF

·      Farmers’ Guide to Organic Contracts 2012 http://goo.gl/cZoln

A Publication of Farmers’ Legal Action Group

·      Fair Food Program helps end the use of slavery in the tomato fields http://goo.gl/L5tLW

·      Report: Hungry for Change: Borderlands Food and Water in the Balance http://goo.gl/30tJ1

·      The Cooperative Principles, the Common Good, and Solidarity http://goo.gl/5AfF6

·      Give sustainable food businesses a needed push http://goo.gl/K3xG6

Full disclosure, I am a mentor at the Local Food Lab…

·       70 Hours a Week at Puny Wagers, Exploited Workers Ditch Their Boss to Start Their Own Street Café http://goo.gl/JG0ie

Welcome to the Workers Justice Café, E63 St. & 2^nd Ave.

Yup, I had a job as a sous chef where they required 90 hours a week…

Occupy, Anonymous & Protests

·      At least 60 Protests to Target Makers of Genetically Engineered Foods on Anniversary of Occupy Movement http://sacb.ee/PQnYcN

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

·      Organic 101: Organic Certification Cost Share Program http://goo.gl/IKPpr

Organic producers and operations: USDA offers up to $750 to help offset certification costs.

·      USDA Offers the Biotech Industry Blanket Immunity for Contaminating Organic Crops http://goo.gl/M2nss

·      Myriad wins gene patent ruling from US appeals court http://reut.rs/RkrNty

A US federal appeals court has once again affirmed the right of Myriad Genetics Inc to patent two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer, after the US Supreme Court told it to take another look at the hotly contested case.

Not a good omen…

·      Regulations do change eating behavior http://goo.gl/Bik98

·      USDA Household Food Security in the United State in 2011 http://goo.gl/opqvy

·      Please comment on the GMOs the Feds want to regulate, or not http://1.usa.gov/OxiL6V

GMOs/Cloning/Nanotechnology

·      Miracle-Gro Caught Violating Pesticide Laws http://goo.gl/w77fq

·      GM – free means good sales for NZ http://goo.gl/L8YZQ

·      “Farm Aid” calling for mandatory GMO labels http://goo.gl/tWR1i

·      Chinese Government denies Golden Rice was fed to children in experiments http://bit.ly/R6jBWX and China denies Greenpeace GM rice test claims

o   The Study: B-Carotene in Golden Rice is a good as B-carotene in oil at providing vitamin A to children http://goo.gl/VSJcT

o   Medical ethics groupIK’d GM rice test for Chinese kids http://goo.gl/V6VhR

o   I may be the Philippines next: Greenpeace demanding halt to field trials of ‘gold rice’ in 3 PH provinces http://goo.gl/JoKZR

·      Nanoparticles Bioaccumulate and Harm Soybean Crops http://bit.ly/PEn5RG

·      Turkey: Food Association Withdraws Application to Import GM Foods http://goo.gl/Nuicu

A campaign launched by Geenpeace Mediterranean has achieved success, as the Federation of Food and Drink Industry Associations of Turkey announced that it withdrew an application to import 29 different kinds of GMOs.

·      Bt Toxicity Confirmed: Flawed Studies Exposed http://bit.ly/PQaOyu

·      GM Soy Linked to Illnesses in Far Pigs http://bit.ly/MUIyGN

·      USDA Scientist Reveals All Glyphosate Hazards to Crops, Soil, Animal, and Consumers http://bit.ly/yK78Zt

·      First GM camels to be engineered for drug production http://goo.gl/JFGEJ

No, no, no!

·      GM Animals: Farmers warned of backlash, Dalli (European Commissioner on Health and Consumers) challenged on vested interest http://goo.gl/oKgbC

·      Brazil Soy Group Warns Farmers Against Monsanto Seed http://goo.gl/w15pc

·      Stop Monsanto’s Dicamba Tolerant Soybeans! http://goo.gl/30QyU

·      How Genetically Modified Corn Is Creating Super Worms http://goo.gl/tlDw2

·      Louise Slaughter (D, NY) Survey Results: What’s in the Beef? http://goo.gl/6gXZ2

·      Africa’s Frankenfoods http://goo.gl/Y9wYK

"Basically this is disaster capitalism. The disaster of hunger and drought, climate change and policy-related, is now a profit opportunity for Monsanto and Syngenta. The Gates Foundation buying shares in Monsanto tells you what the real agenda is: To get GMOs in Africa." 

Healthy/Humane//Poisons/Safe Food & Water?

·      National Pork Producers Council (NPPC): Anti-Science & Anti-Animal http://goo.gl/lYoht

NPPC communications director David Warner told the National Journal, “So our animals can’t turn around for the 2.5 years that they are in the stalls producing piglets. I don’t know who asked the sow if she wanted to turn around… “

·      Overfishing Strips Tens of Millions from Southeast Economy http://goo.gl/Qqd5E

·      New Report Highlights Ubiquity of Controversial Chemicals in the Food System http://goo.gl/O03Xd

·      Consumer Group Alerts Public to Non-Approved HFCS in Food Industry http://goo.gl/DNWb2

The FDA has only authorized the use of HFCS in foods and Beverages at or below 55% fructose concentration – the level generally recognized as safe. But Concentration levels as high as 90% fructose have been reported to be used by some food producers.

·      Grand Jury Indicts Meat Company Owners in Nebraska http://bit.ly/NJUy1u

·      Caffeinated Maple Syrup http://goo.gl/VYnJA

I kid you not…

·      Indiana May Soon Publish Raw Milk Safety Standards http://goo.gl/LNwGI

·      Another sour twist in spat between sugar, high fructose corn syrup http://goo.gl/Diuxs

·      Is the ‘natural’ label 100 percent misleading? http://goo.gl/4lHTJ

·      Is Fracking Good for the Environment? http://goo.gl/hQNkd

·      Organic Produce Reduces Exposure to Pesticides, Research Confirms http://goo.gl/xu4ZQ

Events

·      Shift Change World Premier Screening at the Grand Lake Theater, September 18^th 8pm, Oakland California http://goo.gl/n7gtR

·      Organic Summit, September 19, Baltimore, MD http://goo.gl/O81VB

Twitter: @chefjennyhuston