Markets May Lose Farmers

School lunches are improving; Walmart's into sustainability: Mark Bittman

(NEWSER) - Sometimes it’s important for a critic to drop the criticism and offer some praise. In the New York Times , Mark Bittman presents a taste of good news in the food world:

1. Backers of better food policy are gaining real traction: The reauthorized Child Nutrition Act will improve school lunches, while the Food Safety Modernization Act will make our meals safer.

Farmers are turning to leftover sweets as biofuel drives up the price of corn

(NEWSER) - The biofuel craze has doubled the price of corn in just a few years, forcing farmers from Pennsylvania to California find alternatives to feed their livestock. What they're coming up with is cookies, candy bars, cheese curls, breakfast cereal and french fries, reports the Wall Street Journal. More»

Small-scale agriculture provides a path toward real solutions: Joel Salatin

(NEWSER) - In a recent New York Times op-ed , James McWilliams dismissed the movement toward smaller-scale, sustainable farming as ultimately unworkable in terms of logistics, and nowhere near as good for the environment as proponents suggest. In doing so, he called out one of the movement's leaders, Joel Salatin of Virginia's Polyface Farms, who writes in Grist that McWilliams' essay has "enough factual errors and skewed assumptions to fill a book." More»

Farmland has outperformed S&P 500 since recession

(NEWSER) - While Wall Street fiddles and the rest of the real estate market largely fizzles, there's a new hot commodity that has investors flocking to it: Farmland, reports the LA Times. Average farm real estate prices have doubled over the last decade, unlike, say, Florida condos, and many Americans and foreigners alike are turning to what they view as a safer alternative to the markets. "You want to throw your money into something you can't touch?" says one California farm manager. "Or do you want to put your money into soil and sun, into food that feeds people?" More»

Furry friends are also perfect food animal for budding DIY farmers

(NEWSER) - Rabbit as food is a troubling conceit for many Americans—“it’s this weird association with Easter,” a chef says—but the animal is taking off with a small group of budding butchers, urban farmers, and those just enamored of its lean, healthy meat. “This is my gateway animal,” a woman at a recent rabbit-killing seminar who envisions raising the critters in her backyard tells the New York Times . More»