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FDA: High-fructose corn syrup will not be called ‘corn sugar’
The Food and Drug Administration officially rejected the Corn Refiners Association's request to refer to HFCS as the more benign-sounding “corn sugar” in packaged food ingredient lists.
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What humans hath wrought: What happens when we mess with Mother Nature?
A hole-in-the wall museum in Pittsburgh, run by an oddball art professor, offers a sober -- and sobering -- glimpse of what we’ve done to life as we know it. Good? Bad? You make the call.
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Tiny corn could be the next big thing
New science suggests that smaller crops might produce the same amount of food with much fewer resources.
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‘Monsanto Protection Act’ would keep GMO crops in the ground during legal...
One sneaky provision on this year's agriculture appropriations docket would practically give biotech companies immunity from USDA regulation. Needless to say, activists are up in arms.
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Parched Midwest could mean smaller Gulf dead zone
The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico could be unusually small this year -- not because of better agricultural practices, but because of drought.
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Sudden desert: Midwest drought is bad news for farmers and eaters
The "most productive corn crop in years" is drying up and shrinking fast. Is our dependence on monocrops heightening the impact of this year's drought?
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A dry run from hell: Drought hits the smallest farms the hardest
This drought will give small Midwestern farmers lots of practice coping with climate change -- if it doesn’t bankrupt them first.
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The lesser of two evils: Why food advocates are pushing for a farm bill they...
Sustainable food advocates don't like the farm bills drafted by the House or the Senate, but they're pushing Congress to pass a final bill before the current one runs out Sept. 30 anyway.
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Half of Americans drink at least one glass of soda every day
Gallup has discovered a great divide in American society: There are those of us who drink soda and those of us who do not, and the country’s split almost exactly down the middle. Soda drinkers make up...
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Drought leads to ethanol backlash, finicky farm animals, and higher food...
Some meat-producing states are fighting the feds' requirements for corn ethanol in gasoline, trying to bring down corn prices.
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America uses more corn for fuel than for food
In America, most corn is no longer meant for eating, at least by humans. Only 20 percent of all the gazillions of ears of corn the United States grows make it into a person's mouth as corn. The rest...
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Ethanol is making crap food more expensive than ever
If you're a fan of Uno's pizza, O'Charley's, White Castle, or, god forbid, P.F. Chang's, you have only our government's stubborn love of ethanol subsidies to blame for the increasing cost of your...
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The bugs that ate Monsanto
The corn rootworm.Photo: Jimmy SmithNow that 94 percent of the soy and 70 percent of the corn grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, Monsanto — one of the companies that dominates the GMO seed...
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Critical List: Funding for climate research drops; USDA approves...
The federal budget crisis is turning climate denialism into a vicious cycle: Skepticism contributes to lower funding, which means less research, which means less information, which means more...
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Pepsi spends $3 million a year so laws don’t come between corn syrup and your...
Ironically-named food hero Marion Nestle just calculated that PepsiCo, which pumps enough high fructose corn syrup into the American public to turn out one Ghostbusters-size Stay Puft marshmallow man...
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Can the 2012 Farm Bill protect the Ogallala Aquifer?
Kansas wheat.Photo: Brian McGuirkMy father farmed in Kansas and envied those lucky farmers in the wetter states to the east of us, who could grow 200-bushel corn and other lucrative crops like soy...
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Bourbon of proof: Is Kentucky’s heritage spirit compromised by GMO corn?
Aging bourbon at the Wild Turkey distillery.Photo: Michael KellstrandIn 2007, Grist writer David Roberts wrote about his less-than-successful hunt for an organic bourbon. Five years of boom-like...
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Sports enthusiasts urge you to ditch sports drinks
Professional snowboarders Bryan Fox and Austin Smith have started a “Drink Water” campaign, urging people to stop drinking the $20-a-gallon sugar-juice that props up their industry. Biting the hand...
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Honeybee problem nearing a ‘critical point’
Photo: Pesticide Action Network North AmericaAnyone who’s been stung by a bee knows they can inflict an outsized pain for such tiny insects. It makes a strange kind of sense, then, that their demise...
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Farm Bill update: Fewer secrets, more hard work
The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act is one of two bills sustainable ag advocates will be rallying around this spring. (Photo by fieldsbh.) Now that we’re beyond all the intrigue and...
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Corn, corn everywhere — and not a drop to eat
This spring, commodity farmers will plant more corn, soy, and wheat than they have since World War II. If you want to understand the state of American commodity agriculture at the moment, you need...
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Study: GMO crops are killing butterflies
Photo by David Slater. We’re all familiar with Big Ag’s bad reputation of picking on small-scale and organic farmers. Now Monsanto and its cronies are beating up an even more innocuous set of victims:...
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Antibiotics in your meat? The ethanol industry might be partly to blame
Photo by USDA. Last year, while touring a fairly small, pasture-based farmstead cheese company, I found myself in a giant feed barn with a group of curious foodies. It was one of the last stops before...
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Farm Bill 2012: ‘It’s a mess, but it’s our mess’
Daniel Imhoff began writing about the farm bill before today’s so-called Good Food Movement took hold. In 2007, in an effort to make accessible the giant piece of legislation that touches on...
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Paper asks: Does high-fructose corn syrup contribute to a rise in autism?
Photo by Robert Bradley. I know what you’re thinking: “Tom, it’s been ages since you wrote about high-fructose corn syrup.” And you’re right! It has. But as I’m feeling petulantly defiant, I think...
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Would you like a bad farm bill — or a terrible one?
Photo by Jeff Cushner. The 2012 Farm Bill finally appears to be moving forward. Sort of. On Friday, the Senate Agriculture Committee released their draft of the half-trillion-dollar bill. But not much...
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It’s official: China now eats twice the meat we do
If meat eating is a race, China is so far ahead of us we can’t even see what color shorts it’s wearing. Americans still eat about twice as much of the stuff on a per-person basis, but, well, China has...
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‘Weight of the Nation’ takes a realistic look at a looming crisis
HBO has a history of tackling serious American health-care crises. In recent years, the cable network has taken on addiction and Alzheimer’s to much critical acclaim. And now the network has turned...
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Politicians, advocates make an 11th-hour push for a better farm bill
Senator Debbie Stabenow, head of the Senate Ag Committee, has pledged to get a farm bill passed by September. (Photo by Lance Cheung for the USDA.) Right now, the Farm Bill needs a hero, and Sen....
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Blame it all on my roots: Local food sees a resurgence in the South
A still from the documentary Eating Alabama. People in Alabama love to gather and, when they do, it’s usually around football or religion and it is always fortified with plenty of food and drink. What...
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