Time for a Change

The cover story on today’s edition of the Boston Globe is entitled, “End of a 378-Year Era”. The article is about the Tuttle Family Farm in New Hampshire that is now up for sale. The farm is considered the oldest running family farm in the U.S. having passed from father to son since 1632. It’s stunning just thinking of the historical legacy of this farm. In 1632, Williamsburg, VA was just being settled. Only 12 years prior in 1620, the Mayflower landed off the coast of Massachusetts. The article points out that according to the latest federal figures, more than 4 million acres of active farmland were developed between 2002 and 2007, an area roughly the size of Massachusetts. Since 1982, the nation has lost more than 41 million acres of rural land. Massachusetts has lost 24 percent of its prime farmland since 1982, more than all but four states. Read the rest of this entry »

Labeling Genetically Engineered Foods

On May 3rd there was a meeting in Quebec City to discuss international standards for food labeling. Sorry you missed it, eh? In preparation for the meeting the FDA and USDA put together a written draft in which they wrote, “that requiring labels indicating that a food has genetically modified ingredients would be false, misleading or deceptive as it is likely to create the impression that the labeled food is in some way different.” No need to go back and re-read that quote, you read it correctly. That is the new official position put forth by the USDA on Genetically Engineered (GE) foods. They believe that there is no proven difference between GE foods and whole foods. The European Union (EU) on the other hand, has had GE Food labeling laws since 1997. Read the rest of this entry »

Reverence for the Land

This past Sunday, July 18, Nelson Mandela celebrated his 92nd birthday. Mr. Mandela has worked his entire life for peace, and against the oppression of apartheid in South Africa. His accomplishments are both numerous and significant: anti-apartheid activist; winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993; and elected as President of South Africa in 1994 after the first multi-racial elections were held. He is a man who is loved and respected throughout the world. Although not his most noteworthy contribution, nor the most publicized, Mandela did make a small contribution to the world of agriculture. As Rachel Cernansky writes: Read the rest of this entry »

The New Face of Marketing

I don’t really watch much television, but I have seen this commercial (see video below) on occasion and find it pretty compelling. If you’re wondering how Marketing might look in the not-too-distant future, it’s a quick peak at a very possible direction. For those of you at work who cannot view the video, it shows a young boy dancing while his moves are being captured on a cell phone. The video is shared from phone to phone, and in no time, people who didn’t even know this young boy existed, are enjoying his moves all across the globe. As the commercial ends you see that the video has found its way onto a digital billboard in Times Square. The commercial is presented by Cisco. Read the rest of this entry »

Too Much of a Good Thing – Portion Control

Like the majority of Americans, I find myself sporting a few extra pounds these days. Although I mostly eat healthy foods and exercise regularly, those extra pounds have crept up on me over the past few years. And, as we all know, the only way to get rid of excess weight is to exercise more and eat less. For the exercising more part of the equation, I’ve committed to doing some sort of exercise for at least one hour every single day. As for the eating less part of the equation, that is the subject of this blog post – portion control. Read the rest of this entry »

A Missing Variable

In the past 20 years, I would venture to guess there has easily been at least a hundred (if not more) studies comparing the nutritional value of organically raised food (typically fruits and vegetables) to the nutritional value of the same food grown using conventional farming methods. Most of the studies that I have researched or read about tend to conclude that there is really no difference at all, and it’s simply an implied myth that organic foods are more nutritious. I’m not a scientist and am really not qualified to make a statement about the legitimacy of these findings. I basically have to assume that the findings themselves are based on accurate scientific data. Where I do take exception is with the actual methodology of the studies. The typical format is to compare the vitamin and nutrient content of each fruit or vegetable – one raised organically; the other raised conventionally. While this seems to make sense on the surface, the studies fail to consider a rather significant variable, which is that the conventional product has been subjected to pesticide use throughout its growing cycle. Not to consider this as part of the study is like comparing the nutritional value of a crab that was just caught off the Gulf Coast to a crab caught off the shores of Maryland. The actual nutrients and vitamins may still stack up pretty well side-by-side, but there is the ever so small point that the Gulf Coast crab has been laced with petroleum and dispersants. To ignore this as part of the nutritional value of the crabs would easily be considered by most people to be pretty irresponsible and disingenuous. It’s troubling that pesticides on fruits and vegetables are not typically viewed as part of the nutritional makeup of these foods. It would seem that these studies are incomplete at best, providing information that seems to dismiss the health benefits of eating organic fresh food. Read the rest of this entry »

Nature’s Beautiful Balance

Below is a nice research finding from the online publication, Science Daily. It’s really good to see studies that look at the broader aspects of agricuture considering it as an entire system at work with many complexities, issues, and balances. Too often farming is reduced to a rather simple endeavor. This is particularly true with organic agriculture, which is too often portrayed as a type of farming where the only real difference between it and modern conventional farming is the absence of pesticide use. This over simplistic version of organic farming does a tremendous disservice to agriculture in general, and certainly tells only a small portion of the true organic story. Fortunately, studies like this one help remind us of the much larger view of organic farming and sustainability, understanding that although the lack of pesticide use is critically important, what’s vital about organic agriculture, and so important to creating a sustainable farming solution is the reverance for the functional and often fragile ecosystem that is always present; and sadly, often overlooked. Below is the full article from Science Daily. Read the rest of this entry »

Warrior Shoppers

The job numbers that came out this morning were certainly no cause for celebration. We saw our economy shed 125,000 jobs for the month of June. It is worth noting however, that over the past 8 months, we have had positive job growth, and although not nearly where we need to be, it is still improvement. I mention all of this because in several past articles I’ve written about the effects of this recession on the organic and natural foods industry. It’s wise to consider unemployment as a very significant factor in everyone’s business model. It makes sense – if people aren’t working they typically need to make dramatic cutbacks in how they spend their money. Read the rest of this entry »

Mythbusting

Earlier today I was doing a little research about selecting ripe pineapples, and discovered that for years I have been spreading misinformation. I was under the impression that one of several indicators of a ripe pineapple was when a leaf from the crown portion of the fruit could be easily pulled out. Turns out . . . not true. It is actually an indicator of, well, . . . nothing. I kind of feel like there are probably hundreds of people I owe an apology to from my early years in retailing, proclaiming with absolute certainly, after pulling a leaf out, that this pineapple will be delicious. I was wrong. It turns out to be one of those very popular myths, that while popular, it’s just not true. So, of course, this got my little wheels spinning and wondering what other myths are floating around out there that we have all internalized and acted upon, and that we would be devastated to find out that they were simply myths. So today, after a little bit of research, I’m here to do some mythbusting. Below were a few of my favorites that I discovered: Read the rest of this entry »

The Good Old Days

Mollie Katzen was named by Health Magazine as one of the five “Women Who Changed the Way We Eat.” In case you’re not familiar with Mollie, she burst onto the scene in 1977 when she wrote The Moosewood Cookbook, a wonderful collection of vegetarian recipes that were developed at the Moosewood Cafe in Ithica, NY, which she helped to create. Five years later in 1982, Mollie wrote The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, another classic vegetarian cookbook. Read the rest of this entry »

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