Author Archives: admin

B corps

Posted on June 13, 2013 by admin

One interesting aspect of companies in the “good food movement” is the unusual mix of organizational types. There are strictly commercial operations, nonprofit operations, and hybrids of the two. Food hubs and urban agriculture are two living examples: going out … Continue reading →

Posted in b corps, certification systems, shared value | Leave a comment

farm bill: out with the old and in with the old

Posted on June 12, 2013 by admin

Out with direct payments and in with crop insurance! All joking aside, I have to wonder why crop insurance is preferable to direct payments. On the surface, insurance sounds better,  but digging deeper, it is not clear that insurance is … Continue reading →

Posted in crop insurance, farm bill | Leave a comment

news on GMO labeling

Posted on June 2, 2013 by admin

This past week, Connecticut passed a bill in favor of labeling GMO products. Interesting, the bill won’t be made into a law until 4 other states pass a similar bill; one of the 4 states needs to share a border … Continue reading →

Posted in food labels, gmo | Leave a comment

farmer share of SNAP expenditures?

Posted on May 24, 2013 by admin

Recently, a doctoral student asked for the source of the research that underlies the following statement: “In general, research shows that about 20 cents of every SNAP dollar spent on food ends up in the pocket of American farmers.” (Undersecretary … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food policy, SNAP, USDA | 1 Comment

monsanto protection act

Posted on May 23, 2013 by admin

In his usual witty way, Jon Stewart makes fun of Congress. Honestly, though, this is another example of why big agribusiness companies need to be regulated.  There is a high level of arrogance on the part of the company, slipping … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food labels, food politics, gmo | Leave a comment

check-off programs

Posted on May 21, 2013 by admin

It has been a long and challenging semester, but those days are behind me and I am back to posting. The recent recent commotion about check-off programs for organic farmers has piqued my interest. Check-off programs, also known as research … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food policy, organic food | Leave a comment

economic benefits and measurement error

Posted on February 22, 2013 by admin

I am attending the annual project directors’ meeting for the Small and Medium Sized Farms research grants, awarded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.  The meeting consists of a mixture of ‘big picture’ talks by the NIFA program … Continue reading →

Posted in buy local, food system, multiplier, regional food systems | 2 Comments

food miles

Posted on February 20, 2013 by admin

The general interpretation of “food miles” is intuitively appealing – the shorter the distance your food travels, the better.  Like everything else in life, this is not guaranteed to be true.  In some ways, low food miles are better: food … Continue reading →

Posted in buy local, food labels, food miles | 1 Comment

updated statistics on beginning farmers

Posted on February 16, 2013 by admin

The Economic Research Service recently published a brief with updated statistics on beginning farmers, defined as those who have been farming (on their current farm) for less than 10 years.  The data forming the foundation of the report are from … Continue reading →

Posted in beginning farmers, census of agriculture, USDA | 1 Comment

thoughts on a few food documentaries

Posted on February 12, 2013 by admin

I’ve been on a food documentary watching kick lately, and have viewed old favorites and some new films (this is what I do for entertainment and relaxation). The one “oldie but goodie” documentary is King Corn, which provides a nice, … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, biodynamic farming, Food studies, India, sustainable agriculture | Leave a comment