Urban agriculture and the local food movement are flourishing as farms and gardens continue to pop up across Boston’s inner-city sprawl. To highlight the green movement, Food Tank created a top ten list of the city’s most innovative urban agriculture projects. 1. Berkeley Community Garden, a community of 140 farmers in Boston’s South End, grows a variety […]
Today, Food & Water Watch in conjunction with Appeal To Reason Productions released a humorous new video revealing the myriad health and environmental issues with factory farmed chicken—the industrialized model under which most chicken served in the U.S. is produced. [youtube //www.youtube.com/embed/aLg2vnupJek?rel=0 expand=1] “Consumers may think they are making a good choice by choosing ‘the […]
Do you care about having access to local and sustainably produced food or protecting your drinking water? Are you concerned about corporate influence distorting our elections? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you should be worried about legislation Senator Max Baucus and Rep. Dave Camp recently introduced that would grant the Obama […]
By Karen Hansen-Kuhn and Ben Lilliston Congress is quietly considering legislation that would speed the passage of two mega trade agreements, and seeks to specifically eliminate government programs that favor “localization.” The bill would give the Obama Administration what is known as “fast track” authority—meaning Congress would surrender its constitutional authority to shape trade agreements […]
Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Bill, which fails to make meaningful reforms to correct this imbalance in our food policy: 1. “Direct Payments” Bait and Switch The Farm Bill eliminates the “Direct Payments” program—long the poster child for wasteful agricultural subsidies, known for handing out checks to rich landowners who don’t […]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly allowed 30 potentially harmful antibiotics—including 18 rated as “high risk”—to remain on the market as additives in farm animal feed and water, despite an internal review that raised significant red flags, according to agency records obtained by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The data show the […]
By Vicki Hird They say every cloud has a silver lining, and since the horsemeat scandal in 2013 it has become much easier to talk about meat—more people seem to know and care about the impact of meat production and consumption and the benefits of cutting down. They’re increasingly keen to do their bit and politically speaking […]
By Alexis Baden-Mayer and Katherine Paul There are plenty of reasons to boycott milk from factory farms, beginning with your own health. Dairy cows raised on grass pastures produce milk that is higher in omega-3 fats, vitamin E and beta-carotene than milk from cows raised on grain. Milk from grassfed cows also contains five times as much conjugated linoleic acid, […]
By Martha Rosenberg The horrors of factory farming are multifold. Treating animals like heads of lettuce—“forget it’s an animal” says one farming magazine—has created institutionalized ruthlessness toward animals, workers and the environment at the same time it harms humans who eat the products. Factory farming even damages the economy thanks to meat-related obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and […]