Bad News For Ethanol...A Surplus

Companies and farm cooperatives have built so many distilleries so quickly that the ethanol market is suddenly plagued by a glut, in part because the means to distribute it has not kept pace. The average national ethanol price on the spot market has plunged 30 percent since May, with the decline escalating sharply in the last few weeks. Article here. Slideshow here.

Water (Or Lack Thereof) In China

Some tidbits:

• The underground water table is sinking about four feet a year. Municipal wells [in the City of Shijiazhuang] have already drained two-thirds of the local groundwater
• The Communist Party, leery of depending on imports to feed the country, has long insisted on grain self-sufficiency. But growing so much grain consumes huge amounts of underground water in the North China Plain, which produces half the country’s wheat. Some scientists say farming in the rapidly urbanizing region should be restricted to protect endangered aquifers. Yet doing so could threaten the livelihoods of millions of farmers and cause a spike in international grain prices.
• China’s disadvantage, compared with the United States, is that it has a smaller water supply yet almost five times as many people. China has about 7 percent of the world’s water resources and roughly 20 percent of its population. It also has a severe regional water imbalance, with about four-fifths of the water supply in the south.
• Currently, Shijiazhuang dumps untreated wastewater into a canal that local farmers use to irrigate fields

Article here. Mulitmedia here.

PARK(ing) Day in San Francisco

U.S. Farm Talks Offer Gets Guarded Response At WTO

Trade diplomats gave a guarded response on Friday to a U.S. offer to slash its maximum farm subsidies but the mediator of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agriculture talks said he saw significant progress. More here.

Bush Announces Resignation of Agriculture Secretary

President Bush announced the resignation of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and named Johanns's top deputy, Chuck Conner, as his acting replacement. At the White House Thursday, the president thanked Johanns for his service to the department. More here.

Now Dole Gets Into The Act

A division of Dole Food Co, Dole Fresh Vegetables, said on Monday it was recalling some bagged salads sold in the United States and Canada as "Dole Hearts Delight" because a sample at a Canadian grocery store was found to contain E. coli. More here.
Follow Up (09.19): 4900 possibly tainted bags sought...4500 in the US, 400 in Canada...Originally detected by Canadian health authorities...details here.

HELP WANTED!

Hey Apprentices,
Want to work for Eliot Coleman & Barbara Damrosch on Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine next year? They provide housing and lunch everyday you get to learn from Barbara & Eliot and their library, while getting respectable wages, enjoying gorgeous Cape Rosier. I worked for them for three seasons before doing CASFS, and I can guarantee you that they are genuinely wonderful people to work with. Kennon from the class of 2006 worked for them this year. Either of us would be happy to answer any questions you have. Email me if you're interested and want further details.

Metropolitan & Urban Food-System Planning

The American Planning Association has adopted a policy guide on community and regional food planning. Citing Marion Nestle, Fred Kirschenmann, Mary Hendrickson, National Restaurant Association, David Pimental and the American Farmland Trust, the guide provides a meticulously reasoned rationale for food systems as central to future development of public and private areas.

They recommend sustainable food systems in recognition of the: rapid and continuing loss of farmland in metropolitan areas; pollution of ground and surface waters caused by overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides; ability of urban agriculture to create greater access to healthy foods in low-income areas: many benefits that emerge from stronger community and regional food systems. Full story and guide here.

At long last, heirloom apples

Old varieties such as Spitzenbergs and Arkansas Blacks are just as beguiling to a few Southern California farmers as they are to apple lovers. More here.
(Hat tip: Liza)

Berkeley Food & Farming Film Festival

The UC Berkeley Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology (SAFE) is holding a Food & Farming Film Festival. These events are free and open to the public. Films start promptly at 6:40 pm. Prior to the main feature will be screenings of archival shorts, super eight films, and assorted previews. Come early and stay late! Click here for more info or on the image at right for a large version of their phatty flier.

Virus May Be Cause of Honeybees' Deaths

Scientific sleuths have a new suspect for a mysterious affliction that has killed off honeybees by the billions: a virus previously unknown in the United States. The scientists report using a novel genetic technique and old-fashioned statistics to identify Israeli acute paralysis virus as the latest potential culprit in the widespread deaths of worker bees, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Next up are attempts to infect honeybees with the virus to see if it indeed is a killer. More here.
Also, artificial coloring and preservatives in food can increase hyperactivity in kids, a new British study shows. More on that here.

Short on Labor, Farmers in U.S. Shift to Mexico

A sense of crisis prevails among American farmers who rely on immigrant laborers, more so since immigration legislation in the United States Senate failed in June and the authorities announced a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants. An increasing number of farmers have been testing the alternative of raising crops across the border where there is a stable labor supply, growers and lawmakers in the United States and Mexico said. Story here. Great Audio & Photos here.