agriculture

Grinders

• Aussie Apocalypse Continues
  As we reported last month, Australia is in the grip of an eight-year-long drought that's threatening the country's food supply. Looks like that impending food crisis is much closer than we thought.
• Food and Fuel Duke It Out
  The recent boom in the ethanol market has contributed to a drastic jump in the price of corn, The New York Times' editorial page points out—and that means everyone is going to feel the pinch.
• Barbara Kingsolver Gets Her Boots Muddy
  In a Washington Post opinion piece, the novelist argues that we escape the work of feeding ourselves.
• A Last-Minute Farm Bill Update
  Michael Pollan writes CliffsNotes for this year's Farm Bill.
• Harry Reid Likes Fruits and Veggies
  Real-time reporting on the Farm Bill from the Center for Rural Affairs.
• State of the Farm Bill
  Hot Farm Bill update! Click now!
• The International Food Crisis, Abbreviated
  A digest of reporting on the high prices and crop shortages.
• "Monsanto Is Big. You Can't Win."
  Your one-stop roundup of Monsanto news.
• The Poor of Mauritania
  A devastating closeup from the global food crisis.
• The View from Stone Barns
  Chef Dan Barber on the future of small farms, and small farming.
• Higher Food Prices, Higher Profits
  Big Ag gets fat and happy.
• Waiting to Inhale
  Organic farming: now fixing climate change, too!
• Empty Calories
  Stuffed and starved: Raj Patel diagnoses the current food crisis.
• The End of Meat?
  We have no idea what a world of carnivores would look like.
• Who Eats Rice, Anyway?
  Agricultural research budgets have bottomed out—just before this year's food crisis.
• We're All Implicated Now
  The New Yorker on the second wave of food-politics books.
• Waiter, There's Black Stem Rust in My Wheat
  Two terrifying words: wheat fungus.
• Famine Brought to You by Global Warming
  A major new report on the effects of climate change on American agriculture.
• Your New, Unimproved Dairy Farm
  Breaking news from Britain: Letting cows eat grass is a good idea.
• Bug Appétit!
  Grasshoppers for dinner again?
• Boosting Food Production
  Monsanto sets a ballsy goal. Does it matter?
• Rice-a-Grams
  Shipping food from U.S. grocery stores to Haiti and the Philippines.
• The Gods Must Be Thirsty
  Drought in Australia shuts down the world's largest cattle ranch.
• Soaked
  What do the Midwestern floods mean for world food prices?
• That Orange Has City Miles on It
  Salon visits the Ferry Building Market to report on the food-miles debate.
• Better Chocolate Through Supercomputing
  A new plan to sequence and analyze the cocoa genome.
• Parched in Iraq and Australia
  A serious drought falls over Iraq—and Australia's long-term forecasts look dry, too.
• Put This in Your Tank
  The World Bank calls biofuels the major factor in rising food prices.
• Getting the Actual Dirt
  On the Media uncovers a new food beat.
• Naming Names
  The USDA will now release the names of retailers that have received recalled meat. Well, not exactly.
• Our Low-Gluten Future
  Climate change and our daily bread.
• Where No Seed Has Gone Before
  Canada, apparently bored, decides to plant vegetables on the moon.
• Gulf of Deadly
  That dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico? It's now the size of New Jersey.
• Farming the Sahara
  It's easy: Just add water!
• Debunking the Debunkers
  This just in: Fruits and vegetables are more healthy when grown with pesticides.
• PB&J: For the Children
  Switch your sandwich, save the Earth.
• Meet "Meat Chicken"
  At a Connecticut school, students kill chickens for lunch.
• A Strawberry Fuel Surcharge
  Farmers are struggling just to get to the farmers' market.
• Amy Hepworth Touched This Peach!
  Portrait of the farmer as an idol.
• Hopping Over Climate Change
  Australians can cut their greenhouse gas emissions easily, a study finds: Just replace all the livestock with 175 million kangaroos.
• Unleaded Jatropha
  Can the world run on fruit?
• Prince Charles, Royally Pissed
  The prince says that genetically modified foods will lead to the End of Days. More or less, at least.

TastingNotes

• An AVA of One's Own
  Does place really matter when it comes to wine? Yes. Here's to more places.
• Beauty and Truth in Vineyards
  The dichotomy of wine country, as a commercial agricultural landscape, and also achingly beautiful.

Stories

• Your Meat Is Green
  Tips for responsible carnivores
• Food Econ 101
  The End of Food author Paul Roberts dishes on the food system