Local Food
Without immigration fix, dairies struggle
America’s dairies rely on immigrant labor to milk cows and care for the herd. Many owners of the country’s largest dairies say that they’re unable to find employees. A comprehensive fix to the immigration system seems like a longshot in the new Congress, leaving some dairies struggling to keep up.
All about that broth
This is a story of soup interrupted. Stripped down stock that will never see a bowl. Bone broth – the liquid resulting from the long, slow boiling of animal bones usually in a combination of water, apple cider vinegar and a few vegetables (carrots, celery and onion, among them) – has gone from classic to chic.
Is the local-food movement growing up?
After more than a decade of explosive growth in the local food economy, the most visible portion of food sales within that sector has seen a slowdown. A new report from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture shows the growth of sales of local food at farmers markets, farm stands and through CSA models has lost momentum. Even the rate of growth in the number of farmers markets nationwide has slowed in recent years, rising just 1.5 percent from 2013 to 2014, after several years of rapid growth. But that’s not necessarily bad news for farmers. In fact, it could mean the entire local food movement is growing up.
How ‘organic’ are organic fish?
When it comes to organic certification, there are strict guidelines for food producers to follow. For an organic steak, the cow it came from has to be raised on organic feed and the feed mix can’t be produced with pesticides, chemical fertilizers or genetic engineering. Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in considering a set of rules for organic farmed fish. Several consumer groups, though, say the recommended rules don’t go far enough to meet the strict standards of other organic foods.
Following the Beef Dollar
On Sunday, KCPT’s Flatland, along with the Kansas City Star, published this Harvest Public Media story and video about the “checkoff cowboys” – ranchers and independent farmers who have a problem with the federal “beef checkoff” program that mandates that ranchers pay $1 for every head of cattle sold. Peggy Lowe and Mike McGraw reported…
A beef over politics
NEMAHA COUNTY, Kan. – From their small farms set in the rolling hills of northeast Kansas, two ranchers are raising a few cattle, and a lot of Cain. David Pfrang and Jim Dobbins turned themselves into activists, launched a shadow corporation, got hauled into federal court and had to hire a lawyer. All over $1….
Will Kansans support lowering the sales tax on ‘healthy’ food?
A Kansas City-based nonprofit organization says a recent poll shows widespread support for exempting some foods from the Kansas sales tax.
Ashley Jones-Wisner, state policy manager for KC Healthy Kids, says the survey conducted for the Kansas Health Foundation showed that 86.6 percent of Kansans supported exempting fruits and vegetables from the state sales tax.
‘Fed Up’ asks: Who’s to blame for obesity?
Just who’s to blame for the childhood obesity epidemic? Over the years, the finger has been pointed at parents, video games and vending machines, to name a few. To the makers of the new activist documentary, “Fed Up,” the bottom line of blame lies with a simple substance poured into our diets every day: sugar. And the pushers of what this film calls a drug and “the new tobacco” are the food industry and our own government.
Food fights, FLOTUS and GMOs: The top food and field stories from 2014
Harvest Public Media was created four years ago to report on agriculture and food production in the geographic area where the majority of that takes place – the Midwest. This year, my third of counting the top ag stories of the year, I find that the issues taking center stage were set not here, but in the politics, policies and processes of Washington D.C., state legislatures or the ballot box.
Hold the eggnog, bring on the hot sauce
The holidays bring us together around tables of all shapes and sizes. While the kids may think this time of year is about presents, the grown-ups know that it is really about what goes in your glass or on your plate. Flatland blogger Jonathan Bender reached out to the folks usually responsible for filling your bellies with holiday cheer to find out which foods they’d consider to be merry and bright and which they’d ship to the North Pole. Here are the excerpts from their conversations with Jonathan.