tagged w/ The Future of Food
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We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single grower can sell under our two item labels to less than $1 Million US dollars annually. This is our small effort to even the playing field between larger and smaller farms. Research shows that larger farms, particularly those with annual revenues in excess of $1 Million per year have a significant competitive advantage as compared to small family farms. Top 10 Produce LLC will invite socially conscious consumers to play a role by alerting the consumer that our brand provides a strategic advantage in favor of smaller farms, and by reminding buyers that we only license independent growers. 100% of our items have a transparency enabling barcode.
This item level barcode will be scanned by mobile phones to tell the consumer about the farmer, whether the produce is locally grown (including a map showing the location of the farm as compared to their current location based on their cell phone's GPS ), and anything else the consumer is interested to know about that produce item. Consumer reviews of fresh produce will be available to shoppers and chefs alike.
Suggestions are encouraged and welcome, so please share thoughts, concerns, criticisms and questions. We are listening carefully.We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single... more
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My pal Deborah Garcia (widow of Jerry) made a documentary a few years ago called "The Future of Food." It's all about genetically engineered seeds and the subsequent problems that has spawned for farmers and foodies. I watched it again last night after watching a talk yesterday given recently by Dr. Vandana Shiva on the same subject with a different spin.
What has happened over the past few decades is that patents have been granted on seeds and Monsanto has bought over 11,000 of them. It's bad enough that a corporation would stake a claim on something borne out of nature, but, once that door was open, things have gotten even worse. (One company claimed a patent on one of the cells that causes breast cancer and proceeded to sue every laboratory that was using that cell in their search for a cure.)
Monsanto took their patented seeds and proceeded to manipulate the cellular structure in order to create pesticide-resistant strains. In order to do that, all manner of ick is introduced into the cell because ick is what is required to break through the natural defenses. And by ick, I mean viruses and bacteria such as E. Coli. So they engineer seeds that are resistant to their own pesticides, then they add a further twist so that the seed actually requires a second chemical spraying to trigger its growth. Mind you, these pesticides were formulated from Agent Orange and other nerve gases, nevertheless a corner on the market Monsanto achieved.
Why stop there? Monsanto certainly hasn't seen a need to. As documented in "The Future of Food," they proceeded to litigate every possible case of patent infringement they could find, even if accidental. One Canadian farmer had some Monsanto canola seed blow into his fields from a passing truck and contaminate the seed he and his wife had cultivated for 50 years. Monsanto sued. The case went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court which ruled in favor of the evil behemoth. The farmer and his wife lost everything along the way.
And if that weren't enough evil doing for one mega-corp, they've even patented seeds from other countries and fought for royalties across the globe, putting millions of farmers out of business and into starvation. As Dr. Shiva points out, India has been devastated by the practice with many farmers committing suicide. Monsanto isn't above threatening anyone, including FOX News.
It's bad enough that monoculture farming is the norm these days. That alone decreases the quality and quantity of the food produced. Then there are the pesticides and herbicides, and the fact that tomatoes are being spliced with flounders and genetically engineered salmon could destroy the whole population of wild salmon. I don't care to dress my salad with nerve gas and E. Coli, and food should be grown in dirt, not a petri dish.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food
http://tinyurl.com/ogkf7zMy pal Deborah Garcia (widow of Jerry) made a documentary a few years ago called "The... more
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Dr. Shiva is the one person in the international community who is standing up to the status quo to bring truth to the masses in order to preserve environmental democracy and biodiversity, and therefore life itself. I love this woman so much because she speaks my heart as well. Seeds are indeed sacred. They are from whence all good things come, and from whence many solutions to the world's problems can be found. And they should be treated with the respect they deserve for the life and sustenance they bring to us all through the graciousness of Mother Earth. You can't get any greener than that.
In this piece, Dr. Shiva ends her speech with a hopeful prediction: That Monsanto will not last much longer, and that she will live to see the end of them. That gives me hope and I will plan to be there as well to see the demise of that soulless, heartless, life sucking evil entity that has done nothing but defile everything sacred about agriculture and our special relationship to the Earth that sustains us.Dr. Shiva is the one person in the international community who is standing up to the... more
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These are the kind of stories we need to see more of. It is the small farmers in these developing countries who plant and farm and live sustainably under all circumstances who must play a part in the future of feeding our world. We cannot rely entirely on industrial agriculture monocrops with restrictive planting guidelines, untested test tube "foods", and expensive seeds and herbicides to sustain the growing populations of these areas, especially when they support taking land away to grow ethanol. We cannot rely on these large multinational conglomerates simply out for profit to have the same love for the land and the knowledge of it that these farmers have. Only through sustainable practices that save biodiversity, soil, and water will we be able to meet this crisis head on.These are the kind of stories we need to see more of. It is the small farmers in these... more
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Montana Senators have sidelined a seed bill that sought standards for how biotech companies test crops for patent infringement, burying the bill after getting a private dinner with Monsanto representatives.
When farmers buy genetically engineered seeds, they must agree not to harvest and reuse them from year to year. Some farmers, however, argue that pollen can drift with wind and water, exposing small growers to expensive legal tussles with big biotech companies even when they are innocent.
The bill would have required Monsanto and other companies to get permission from a farmer before taking a sample from their crops. If the farmer denied permission, the company could seek a court order. Under the measure, both the farmer or company could also ask the state Department of Agriculture to oversee the sampling.Montana Senators have sidelined a seed bill that sought standards for how biotech... more
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The real price of fruits and vegetables between 1985 and 2000 increased by nearly 40 percent while the real price of soft drinks (AKA Liquid Corn) declined by 23 percent.
The Farm Bill essentially treats our children as a human disposal for all the unhealthful calories that the Farm Bill has encouraged American farmers to overproduce.
The public health community has come to recognize it can't hope to address obesity and diabetes without addressing the Farm Bill.The real price of fruits and vegetables between 1985 and 2000 increased by nearly 40... more
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Now that this year's Oscar nominations are out, debate will rage about which films deserved it, which actors should have received a nod, and who should (or shouldn't) win. While these food films flew under the Academy's radar, at least when it came time to nominate, that doesn't mean they all didn't deserve a nod, or at least a closer look.
If you watch all of these films you'll understand where our food system stands today, a little bit about how it got that way, and you'll have some insight into what it might look like in the future. There's a scary, uncertain future built on greed and there's a bright, progressive future built on community. I reckon we end up with the latter, and I hope these films help you make choices to become a part of that future.
Follow link for the list, including a clip from each film.Now that this year's Oscar nominations are out, debate will rage about which films... more
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Yes, the USDA has been fibbing and it's official: Organic milk is vastly superior to conventional milk. No matter how many times the USDA and the National Dairy Council tell us that there is not a single difference between organic and conventional milk, our taste buds tell a whole different story. Yes, we already knew organic milk tastes much better than conventional, but now we have a scientific explanation for why. Scientists have found that organic milk has such higher levels of nutrients that it’s fairly shocking the dairy industry has been telling us otherwise.
Article adapted from: Organic milk is cream of the crop
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/content.phtml?ref=1211878767Yes, the USDA has been fibbing and it's official: Organic milk is vastly superior to... more
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Please e-mail President-Elect Obama NOW
(You...) may remember this name: Dennis Wolff. He-s the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, dairy farmer and rBGH user, and the author of the infamous PA rules that would have banned ANY kind of rBGH-free labeling. This was an outrageous attempt to censor the freedom of speech of dairy processors and snuff out the consumers right to know what-s in their dairy products. In response, Oregon PSR and our nationwide and PA colleagues organized a massive grass roots effort to protest to Governor Ed Rendell. After receiving thousands of messages of outrage, he told Wolff to rescind the ban. Now Wolff-s name has surfaced again, only at a much higher, more dangerous level - he-s being considered by Barack Obama as the new Secretary of Agriculture. We must do everything possible to prevent this from happening and I urge you to send a quick e-mail to help. I-ve heard one unconfirmed report that Obama could make the decision as early as this Monday. Here are suggested talking points. Please feel free to put them in your own words and add your own, but please do send the e-mail.
1. If you voted for Obama, or better yet, volunteered for him, please say so up front.
2. Say up front that you are opposed to Dennis Wolff as Secretary of the Agriculture Department.
3. Remind Obama that he promised to bring positive change, and one of those changes is a return to our democratic principles with respect for the Constitution.
4. Dennis Wolff would take us in the opposite direction:
a. He tried to ban all labeling of dairy products that didn-t use the genetically engineered growth hormone rBGH or rBST. This was an outright violation of freedom of speech of the dairy processors and the farmers who supplied them.
b. This action would have prevented consumers from knowing which dairy products had the artificial hormone, suppressing our right to know what-s in our food. It is contradictory that Obama would support country of origin labels that would help inform consumers where their food is coming from, yet appoint someone who tried to cut off our ability to make other choices about our food.
5. Dennis Wolff lacks credibility and can-t be trusted:
a. He said that consumers were concerned or confused about the labeling and said his department received many calls about it. Yet when a New York Times reporter asked him about this, Wolff couldn-t provide any surveys showing consumers were confused and could not come up with the name of ONE CONSUMER who had complained.
b. He held one meeting of the so-called Food Labeling Advisory Committee and said they recommended the labeling ban. Yet the committee never voted on anything and never made any recommendations specific to dairy. Moreover, the group most affected by the rules and most opposed to them, the PA Association of Milk Dealers, was never even invited to the meeting. This doesn-t have to be a long e-mail, but it-s important to let the truth be known and to feel free to say exactly what you-re thinking. If you would like further details, please feel free to contact me. And, as with all these updates, please feel free to forward this to anyone you like.
To send your personal message to the president-elect, go to:
http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision
Please make your voices heard - Thank you!
Rick
Rick North, Project Director - Campaign For Safe Food
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
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Does this also mean he would even fight labelling soy formula that babies take? GM soy has not been proven to be safe for human consumption. Do not now wonder why your son is growing breasts, or your daughter reaches puberty sooner. Do not wonder why doctors are concerned about cancer due to IGF-1 which is linked to colon cancer, and why allergies in children are increasing.Please e-mail President-Elect Obama NOW
(You...) may remember this name: Dennis... more
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For full screen "click" link.
There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.
THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.
From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.
Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/For full screen "click" link.
There is a revolution happening in the farm fields... more
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