Agriculture

Organic Agriculture in Africa

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) issued a remarkable little briefing paper last week titled "Sustaining African Agriculture: Organic Production." Right out of the gate, the brief directly takes on proponents for a "Gr

What Would Henry Wallace Do?

In this time of turmoil in our food system—commodity prices going up and down like a yo-yo, food contamination cases becoming more commonplace, environmental and climate effects on agriculture becoming more serious, and the world's hungry growing at a startling rate—how would would the United States' greatest Agriculture Secretary, Henry Wallace, respond?

What MN School Food Service Directors Think About Local Food

As demand for local food continues to grow, K-12 schools are looking for ways to incorporate food from local sources into their food and nutrition programs.

North American Livestock Producers Reclaim Power

I've just returned from an incredible, energizing meeting of livestock leaders from Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Joined at the Hip: The Food and Financial Crises

Last week's headlines were blazing with Congressional hearings on the Bernie Madoff fraud scandal and President Barack Obama's proposal for some non-retroactive limits (no disgorgement of ill-gotten riches!) to Wall Street "senior executives'" (whatever that means) compensation (excluding options to buy stock at discounted rates) for financial institutions whose libertine imprudence has been re

This is what colonialism looks like

When I landed in Geneva for a conference in mid-November, after the usual grueling 35 hours or so of travel from Adelaide, one of my first treats was to order a "renversé" (Genevois for café au lait) and to sit down to read the Financial Times, one of my favorite papers.