Business in the Front, Party in the Back: Salon Nakahara briefly back in business for Aaron's mullet creation. Saturday, April 28

You Are What You Grow

Great article on the farm bill by Michael Pollan, which appeared in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, can be found here.
Also, obesity down in sugar-free schools all within the schools' existing budgets. More here.
Finally, more video and writing on colony collapse disorder here. Hat tip: Julie.

NEW PROPOSED USDA ORGANIC REGULATIONS COULD DRIVE THOUSANDS OF SMALL ORGANIC FARMERS OUT OF BUSINESS

A controversial new directive from the USDA threatens to deny organic certification to thousands of small organic coffee, tea, banana, rice, sugar cane, cacao and other farmers around the world. The USDA's directive would eliminate the longstanding practice of certifying organic and Fair Trade family farm cooperatives as a group, rather than forcing each coop member to pay for individual certification. Thousands of organic and Fair Trade farming cooperatives around the world have been established over the past few decades to help low-income farmers in financing and marketing, and in acquiring otherwise cost-prohibitive certification for their farms. Most of the world's small-scale organic coffee farmers take part in these cooperatives, so eliminating group certification, will drive thousands of family farmers out of business while giving large-scale commercial coffee plantations a competitive advantage. Though the OCA supports careful monitoring of all organic farms, we are adamantly opposed to the elimination of group certification for low-income farm cooperatives.

More Bad News for Farmers Down Under

Australia, which relies on agriculture for 20 percent of its exports, will stop farmers taking irrigation water from the nation's biggest river system without "significant'' rainfall in the next eight weeks. More here.

Also: Global Effort to Save Endangered Crops Gets $37.5 Million.

Colony Collapse Disorder: Part Deux

This is a follow up on my post from 02.27, which spoke about colony collapse disorder: a mystery epidemic is causing entire hives to "disappear." Now scientists believe radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up. More here.

Organics: A Poor Harvest for Wal-Mart

A year ago last March Wal-Mart (WMT) grabbed headlines by announcing its organic push. Stephen Quinn, a top marketing executive, told investors at a Bear Stearns (BSC) conference that the company would double the number of organic food items in its stores to 400 and offer them "at the Wal-Mart price" (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/29/06, "Wal-Mart's Organic Offensive"). But now Karen Burk, a spokeswoman for the company, says that the majority of Wal-Mart stores are offering between 100 and 200 organic food items. She says the company does not have a target, at least not a public one, of stocking 400 organic items in the average store.

Also, The Most Expensive Farmland in the U.S. Surprisingly, California is #8.
More: the only good thing to come from this smoke and mirrors ethanol craze is that it has people thinking. Some great comments here. Three cheers for bacterially-produced Butanol.

Vertical Farming

A Columbia professor believes that converting skyscrapers into vertical farms could help reduce global warming and make New York cleaner. It’s a vision straight out of Futurama—but here’s how it might work.

Also, $2.5 billion in water projects are planned or under way in four states, the biggest expansion in the West’s quest for water in decades. More here.