Latest Stories — Food & Power

Food & Power Newsletter: Is an Organic Checkoff Supported By Farmers?

There’s a battle happening in organic farming, and it’s not about labeling or the setting of standards. In May, the Organic Trade Association submitted a revised proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to impose a special tax on organic farming. Called a “checkoff,” this tax would apply to all organic farmers, handlers of organic goods, and food processors with sales over a certain threshold. According to the proposal, money collected through the tax would be used for the promotion of organic products.

PolicyChris WagerJune 23, 2016checkoffs, commodity, labor, North Dakota, organics, soda tax, Leah Douglas, Beef Checkoff

Food & Power Newsletter: The Fight for Family Farming in North Dakota

On June 14, while electing their state representatives, the citizens of North Dakota will also decide whether to open their state to corporate agriculture or to uphold historical protections of family farming.

PolicyChris WagerJune 8, 2016family farms, North Dakota, dairy, Leah Douglas, pork

Nebraska's Livestock Market Faces Death by Big Meat Lobbying

Few images are more emblematic of the American heartland than that of farmers taking their livestock to market. But if Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts signs a bill passed last month by his state’s legislature, one of the last of the country’s traditional open livestock markets may soon close forever. The bill would remove one of the few safeguards that allow farmers to sell their livestock in a transparent and competitive way.

Book Review: Mark Bittman's A Bone to Pick

With A Bone to Pick, an anthology of columns from his four years at the Times, Bittman provides a survey of his food policy analysis. But the collection also reveals Bittman’s disheartening lack of analysis about how, exactly, the American public came to find itself in the midst of such a widespread – and growing – agricultural and dietary crisis. Bittman’s proclivity to position the eater as a powerful decision-maker and federal food policy reform as the most effective path forward obscures much of the reality of who holds the power in today’s international food system.

PolicyLeah DouglasAugust 19, 2015guthman, Smithfield, Leah Douglas, Bittman, Book Review, produce

Big Beef

Imagine if the federal government mandated that a portion of all federal gas taxes go directly to the oil industry’s trade association, the American Petroleum Institute. Imagine further that API used this public money to finance ad campaigns encouraging people to drive more and turn up their thermostats, all while lobbying to discredit oil industry critics—from environmentalists to those calling for better safety regulations or alternative energy sources.That’s a deal not even Exxon could pull off, yet the nation’s largest meat-packers now enjoy something quite like it. Today, when you buy a Big Mac or a T-bone, a portion of the cost is a tax on beef, the proceeds from which the government hands over to a private trade group called the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. How did this system come into being? And what is the NCBA doing with all that money?