How Fear Drove World Rice Markets Insane
Nothing is more basic and simple than food. Yet it comes to us courtesy of a long, complicated supply chain that spans the globe.That chain delivers food cheaply — but it can break. Four years ago, it...
View ArticleA Food Security Expert On When 200,000 Tons Of Rice Went Missing
In 2008, food prices around the world surged and awakened fears – which continue to this day— that the world could re-live the disastrous food shortages of the early 1970s.Harvard economics professor...
View ArticleWhen Taking The Pollen Out Of Honey Makes A Sticky Mess
Allegedly, there's a tsunami washing up on American shores. It originates in Chinese beehives and the American beekeepers who've spotted it are hopping mad.The American Honey Producers Association...
View ArticleNewbie Farmers Find That Dirt Isn't Cheap
Local food is fashionable. Customers are swarming farmers' markets. Organic vegetables sell at a premium. So what's to keep a young, smart, enthusiastic would-be farmer from getting into this business...
View ArticleRelax, Folks. It Really Is Honey After All
Maybe we're too inclined to believe the worst about supermarket food.How else to explain the reaction to a recent report about honey on the web site Food Safety News? Food Safety News is published by a...
View ArticleWater, Water, Everywhere, But Not Enough To Waste
Here's a fact worth pondering: Farming accounts for 70 percent of all the water that's used for any purpose, worldwide. And demand for it is growing, along with the planet's population and our...
View ArticleToday's King Corn Can Thank A Jumping Gene
Ever wonder where your food came from? No, I mean where it really came from — as in, where did humans first find the plants that we now depend on for survival, like potatoes or wheat or corn, and what...
View ArticleWhy 158 Acres Of Corn Costs $1.5 Million
I went looking for a bubble the other day. I'd heard that prices for American farmland were spiking – up thirty percent over the past year, and double what people were paying five or six years ago. It...
View ArticleFacing Planetary Enemy Number One: Agriculture
For the past 200 years, ever since Thomas Malthus published his Essay on the Principle of Population, big thinkers have been wondering whether Earth-dwellers will eventually run out of food.Today, a...
View ArticleFarm Subsidies Birds And Fish Would Choose
With the 2012 farm bill coming up fast, we're taking a closer look at what it is and how it shapes food policy and land use in an occasional series. This is part three.Capitol Hill is a scrum of...
View ArticleNew Varieties Haven't Taken The Nutrition Out Of Broccoli
Quick question: Are vegetables less nutritious than they used to be?You're free to argue about this, because scientists haven't managed to come up with a clear answer.There's some new data out this...
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