Headlines regarding our food industry and the slow food movement:

·      Copenhagen Consensus 2012: How to Get Food on Every Table http://slate.me/K6hiFi

We have enough food to feed everyone (world wide.) But we need to produce even more. Here’s why.

·      US Beef Industry Shipped Record Amount of Meat Abroad Last Year http://huff.to/Im6MKM

Exports are big business for the US beef industry, which shipped a record $5.4 billion worth of beef abroad last year…

·      The Great Rice Shortage (2008, lessons learned) http://bit.ly/uY4T6X

·      Time to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Industrial Agriculture? http://bit.ly/Je8edP

·      Raj Patel: Organic vs Industrial Agriculture rematch http://bit.ly/JFU8Eo

We already grow enough food for 10 billion people… and still can’t end hunger…

Hunger is caused by poverty and inequality, not scarcity.

·      Monsanto Company: Monsanto Commits $250,000 to University of Illinois Ag Communications Program http://bit.ly/JElElW

Labor

·      Labor Leaders Question Contractor’s Hiring Practices http://bit.ly/IhRKoz

·      Backlash over Labor Department’s decision to drop family farm proposal http://bit.ly/JL7TTA

Labor Dept. caves to big ag, and we will seem more deaths for it…

·      Research shows the US is a low wage country http://cbsn.ws/JrT1sO

Center for Economic Policy Research shows that the US leads developed countries in the share of workers earning low wages… that is 2/3 of median wage, about $10 per hour or $20K per year…

·      Bangkok Post: End this abuse by companies http://bit.ly/Jmytyy

Food processing labor fights in Thailand ( Walmart suppliers)

o   Exploitation claims hit Thai seafood exporter http://bit.ly/JpwsSG

Occupy & Anonymous

·      Occupy the Farm at UC Berkeley’s Gil Tract in Albany, CA http://bit.ly/K63NXr

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

·      National Marine Fisheries Service, New Regulation to Protect Sea Turtles, Scallop Fishery http://1.usa.gov/HlXCgL

·      ‘Healthy food’ bill should replace farm bill http://goo.gl/QRN6S

·      Pink Slime and Mad Cow Just the Tip of the Iceberg http://bit.ly/IgWztl

Of the 34 million cows we slaughter annually in the US, 40,000 are being tested by USDA for the disease, down from nearly 5000,000 in 2005 – about one tenth of one percent…

·      Designed to Fail: Why Regulatory Agencies Don’t Work http://bit.ly/Ip7g0X

By William Sanjour, retired 30 year EPA employee

·      IATP Report: Bugs in the System http://bit.ly/IJMMvo

How the FDA Fails to Regulate Antibiotics in Ethanol Production

·      Subsidy Buffet for Agribiz, Table Scraps, for Good Food http://bit.ly/IqhGNE

GMOs/Cloning/Nanotechnology/Poisons

·      Practical Tips To Avoid GMOs http://bit.ly/9r7bgh

·      ‘Agent Orange Corn’ Debate Rages As Dow Seeks Approval of New GM Seed http://huff.to/Iq6djk

Going down that same path, yet again… Stacked GM corn for both glyphosate and 2,4-D… next round of weed resistance we come…

·      Taking Monsanto to the people’s court http://bit.ly/I3aMtR

·      Genetically modified crops’ results raise concern http://bit.ly/KtEbCS

Note: from the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, this is amazing, due to the proliferation of biotech companies in the SF Bay Area…

·      Human genes engineered into experimental GMO rice being grown in Kansas http://bit.ly/k54U8c

·      Reuters: Special Report: How Washington went soft on childhood obesity http://reut.rs/I6VGVo

·      Greens (Australia) urge protection for non-GMO farmers http://bit.ly/IwoKaJ

The Greens says Western Australian Canola crops need to be protected from contamination as international demand plummets for genetically modified (GM) crops.

Healthy/Humane/Safe Food & Water?

·      Is Ronald McDonald the New Joe Camel? http://bit.ly/JZV56C

·      Nutella Lawsuit: Ferrero Settles Class-Action Suit Over Health Claims for $3 Million http://huff.to/ItZ8I5

·      Bombs Not Food: Food Stamps In Crosshairs of Republicans’ Plan to Save Military http://huff.to/INOL4x

·      Gulf Coast Water Closed to Shrimping http://bit.ly/IdMMJH

State officials in Alabama have taken action, and other states need to take action to keep dangerous seafood from the Gulf off the dinner tables of Americans.

·      KFC Ordered to Pay $8.3 Million to Australian Girl Paralyzed After Eating a Twister Wrap http://bit.ly/JFppbX

·      Fracking Industry California Dreamin’: A Future California Nightmare? http://bit.ly/JTl3iu

I would guess that the state that produces over 50% of US specialty crops, does not need potable water…

·      Two fish-farming films to be screened at Colorado University http://bit.ly/JkqjEV

CU Boulder grad worked on both films

·      Can You Get Mad Cow Disease From Milk? http://bit.ly/IVE0MB

o   US quarantines two dairies (CA) after mad cow case http://trib.in/Ju0gev

·      Oceana Report: Widespread Seafood Fraud Found in Los Angeles http://bit.ly/JlFIFc

·      Microbiological Data Program Ignored in Budget Process http://bit.ly/IFDPIO

Congress is not seeking funding for the ‘tiny food program that matters’

·      USDA to Trace Beef Contaminated With E. Coli back to Source http://bit.ly/KXqkVE

FSIS says it will no longer wait for confirmation or illness before looking up supply chain

·      Pfizer’s Fight to Keep Arsenic in Chicken Feed http://bit.ly/Hj1uz3

Events

·      Justice Begins With Seeds Conference, May 18-19, San Francisco http://biosafetyalliance.org/ keynote speaker Winona LaDuke

Justice Begins with Seeds, International Conference May 18 – 19 2012 Food Sovereignty Week May 14 – 20, San Francisco, California

Biosafety Alliance is pleased to announce the 2012 Justice Begins with Seeds International Conference.

·      NOFA – NY: Food Policy Council Workshop and Networking Session for New York http://bit.ly/JFwqIv

June 7, 2012, 10am – 4pm Monroe County Cornell Cooperative Extension Office, 249 Highland Ave., Rochester, NY 14620

Stay informed and learn about the advantages of organic farming.  Have you visited your farmers market lately?