"farming" news and stories

Things are not so sweet for the U.S. sugar beet market. A federal judge's ruling may prevent farmers from planting genetically modified sugar beets.

The controversy stems from a case in which the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club challenged the U.S. Department of Agriculture for allowing farmers to plant GM sugar beets before enough research had been conducted to determine their possible environmental impact. A judge ruled in favor of the environmental groups in August, but by September, the USDA had issued four "non-flowering" permits to growers in Oregon and Arizona -- where most sugar beet seedlings are grown. The action prompted environmentalists to challenge the government in court yet again.

On Friday, Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will hear more arguments in the case. His ruling could have a significant impact on the industry. Nearly 95 percent of the U.S. sugar beet production is grown from GMO seeds -- a speedy and considerable change from 2005 when the GMO seeds were first approved. Over half of all U.S. sugar production comes from sugar beets; the rest is derived from sugar cane.

It looks like some folks in British Columbia are aiming to give purveyors of Kobe beef a run for their money. If they have their way, wine-fed Okanagan beef may soon be turning up next to Japan's prime bovine on the menu of high-end steakhouses.

That's right, "wine-fed" cattle -- as in, each cow gets a liter of Okanagan Valley red wine mixed into its feed every day for the last 90 days before it is processed. Yes, it seems strange at first, but when you stop to think about it, red wine and beef are one of the most classic pairings imaginable. What seems even stranger, then, is why didn't someone think of this sooner?

According to the Vancouver Sun (Vancouver is about four hours west of the Okanagan Valley), the genius credit here goes to Janice Ravndahl, a local meat purveyor from the town of Kelowna who also happens to come from five generations of Canadian cattle ranchers.

The CAFO Reader is meaty. Maybe it's the fact that I read it while on vacation in Iowa, smack dab in the very heart of hog and egg laying hen confinement operations. These industrial "farms" have been here for years. Pass them on the highway, and the smell can be eye-watering, even if you can't see the operation itself from the road. Locals are fond of saying, "That's the smell of money." And it is, but too often that cash doesn't make it back into the very communities where these operations live.

That's just one of the points editor Daniel Imhoff makes as he sets out on a myth-busting mission in this book. Chapters are voiced by some of the most notable thinkers in our country's sustainable food movement -- Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry Fred Kirschenmann, Dan Barber, Tom Philpott, and Eric Schlosser among them.

From intensively farmed beef, pork, chicken, fish, dairy and eggs -- the curtain of "Big Agriculture" is pulled back with fact-driven arguments on the true costs of pollution, animal cruelty, overuse of antibiotics, immigrant labor and more, which many feel has mired our food system. Republican speech writer Matthew Scully says "instead of redesigning the factory farm to suit the animals, they are redesigning the animals to suit the factory farm."

Happy New Year! Buon Natale! Feliz Año Nuevo! A new year means more reasons to party with food, and the weather beckons us to nurture our winter waistline. If you're looking for a reason to party with food, drop in and munch at one of the following.

North Illinois Farm Show, Dekalb, Ill., Jan. 6-7: In its 28th year, this convention highlights Illinois farmers at a time when Big Ag and sustainable farming issues are taking a prominent place in the mainstream. Seminars held will discuss the USDA Farm Bill, drainage systems and pesticide licenses -- yes, pesticides. Not your typical food festival -- actually, it's not one -- but a food event more cogent than ever.

Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywine Festival, Vail, Colo., Jan. 7-9: Eschew the slopes, or if you must be a ski bunny, reward yourself with a visit to one of the taps at this 10th annual affair, featuring area brewmasters Peter Bouckaert of New Belgium Brewing Co., and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing Co. If you have the hops for it, enter the homebrew competition.

The Winter Wine Festival, New Castle, NH., Jan. 15-Feb. 27: The idea of more than a month of toasting tippling is a fantastic way of coping with the New England winter. Local hotshot chefs, like Gregg Sessler, executive chef/owner of Cava Tapas Restaurant, and national winemakers, like Ted Seghesio, will be given the spotlight.

Photo: N.C. Museum of History.

Thanks to an agricultural education collaborative that's planted the state's leading crops between the State Capitol and the North Carolina Legislative Building, North Carolina's halls of power are lined with cornstalks and tobacco leaves.

"It's been a great way to take the museum outdoors and let people reconnect with where their food comes from," says North Carolina Museum of History youth and family programs coordinator Emily Grant, who worked with the state's Department of Administration and Department of Agriculture to create a series of agricultural vignettes in decorative planters where maple trees and azaleas once grew.

"Our standard landscape planting was starting to die out from the drought," Grant says. "We thought we could pick out plants from North Carolina to talk about plant use and abuse."

The project this year took more than five planters of varying sizes. "We don't have a big lawn where we can just plow the back," Grant says of the urban museum, sowing seeds for a Three Sisters garden of beans, corn and squash; cotton; tobacco; sweet potatoes and peanuts.