Most recent 40 articles: Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture
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Wetland Protections Remain Bogged Down in Mystery - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Oct 17) |
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Oct 17 · It is mind-bog-gling, syllable pun intended, that scientists still do not know how many wetlands lost protection in last year’s crippling of the Clean Water Act by the Supreme Court. A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science said the range of possible protection loss is between a fifth of nontidal wetlands to nearly all of them.
Lead author Adam Gold, a watershed researcher for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the wild uncertainty is because the court arbitrarily created a new standard for federal protection divorced from the science of how wetlands support larger streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean.
The Sackett case involved an Idaho couple who sued after ... Read more ...
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How Proposition 4 Would Prepare California for Climate Change’s Dangers - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Oct 7) |
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Oct 7 · Proposition 4 is a critical water and wildfire bond for California, and all Californians should understand it well to make an informed decision in the November elections. However, there are many people who don’t know about it yet.
That’s why, when Radio Bilingüe invited me to talk about the facts surrounding Prop 4, I felt it was a good opportunity to provide Californians, especially Spanish speaking residents of the Central Valley, with information they often don’t receive.
Chelis López and her Línea Abierta team are fantastic and a reliable source of independent, high-quality information. Chelis asks excellent questions, and I admit I study before her ... Read more ...
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Hottest Summer on Record May Be Ending, but Fight to Protect Workers from Heat Is Far from Over - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Sep 12) |
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Sep 12 · Over the last three months, which have been declared the world’s hottest summer on record, outdoor workers across the US have endured dangerously hot conditions on the job. They’ve cut grass in 112°F heat in California’s Coachella Valley, handled baggage on the hot tarmac of airports across the country, harvested fruit, delivered packages, and performed countless other functions that go largely unnoticed by our society.
Unlike past Danger Seasons, however, this one included glimmer of hope: After decades of stalling, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published a proposed federal heat-protection standard that would require employers to protect their ... Read more ...
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The State of the Air in 2024? Not Great - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (May 13, 2024) |
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May 13, 2024 · I am into air quality.
Especially when it means I can breathe outside because there is no pesticide drift, wildfire smoke, vehicle exhaust, or pungent odors. However, the reasons why I am into air quality are a bit contradictory.
On the one hand, I am fascinated by air quality because I love working with sensors and monitoring equipment. I enjoy doing outreach and education about electronics with kids. I am also into open hardware and open data access. I have been collaborating for a few years with AirGradient and am part of a team of worldwide volunteer scientists who advocate for air quality justice.
And, importantly, I strongly believe in community-driven data ... Read more ...
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The USDA’s Climate Hubs Could Help Farmers Adapt to Extreme Weather - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Jan 24, 2024) |
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Jan 24, 2024 · After months of delay, it appears possible (though far from guaranteed!) that the food and farm bill might finally begin moving forward in Congress. This critical legislation was originally expected to be signed into law by the fall of 2023, but a chaotic schedule - and an often dysfunctional Congress - got in the way. Instead of passing a new food and farm bill for the first time since 2018, Congress instead approved a one-year extension last fall and punted the task of crafting an updated bill to the new year. Now, there’s a brief window of time in the first few months of 2024, before the presidential election heats up and campaign season is in full swing, when legislators may be ... Read more ...
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The Supreme Court Ruled Against Wetlands in 2023. We Can Still Save Them. - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Jan 03, 2024) |
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Jan 03, 2024 · 2023 was a rough year for clean water. The Supreme Court took a hammer to the Clean Water Act with its decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stripping federal protections from countless wetlands and leaving these critical ecosystems exposed to devastating pollution and other damage from agriculture and other industries.
The Sackett decision was a tremendous loss for everyone who depends on clean water - that is, for all of us. Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner denounced the Sackett decision as “a major blow to the landmark Clean Water Act and the federal government’s ability to protect our people from pollution and its negative health side ... Read more ...
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What COP28 Means for Climate Action in a US Food and Farm Bill - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 14, 2023) |
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Dec 14, 2023 · The international climate talks that wrapped up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this week - formally known as the 28th Conference of the Parties, or COP28 - had been billed as something of a watershed for their focus on food and farming. But what really happened at COP28 regarding agriculture? And what does it mean back here at home for the five-year food and farm bill that the US Congress is negotiating right now?
The surprising final agreement that emerged from all-night overtime negotiations is extraordinary for its long-overdue focus on transitioning away from fossil fuels. To see that through will require changes in every sector of the global economy, including ... Read more ...
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Why Do Baby Carrots Drink So Much Water? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Nov 27, 2023) |
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Nov 27, 2023 · Recent stories in the New York Times’ groundwater investigation series have highlighted growing concern for the global loss of groundwater, which has finally begun to raise awareness of the need for critical changes in how we are using our groundwater. This need is particularly evident in the Cuyama Valley of northeastern Santa Barbara County in California, where my family’s small vineyard and olive grove is located.
My partner in our farm, Robbie Jaffe, and I have been very involved in trying to speak for the Cuyama Valley community, defending the science of groundwater depletion and our personal experience as farmers and community-members. I am a professional agroecologist ... Read more ...
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New Report Shows the Need for a Food and Farm Bill That Fights Climate Change - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Nov 14, 2023) |
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Nov 14, 2023 · In early 2023, I had the opportunity to serve as the reviewer of Chapter 11 (Agriculture, Food Systems, and Rural Communities) of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). The NCA is a quadrennial report, mandated by Congress, that details the present and future impacts of climate change in the United States.
As a reviewer, I ensured that every piece of feedback submitted through the public and technical comment period was acknowledged and responded to by the authors. Moreover, if the comment asked for an edit or updated data, my job was to ensure that requisite corrections had been made in the text.
The findings of the fifth report are grim and state what has now ... Read more ...
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Fighting to Help Black People - and Others - Keep Their Land - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Oct 04, 2023) |
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Oct 04, 2023 · My colleagues and I at the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation (CHPP) had the pleasure of appearing in Gaining Ground: The Fight For Black Land, a documentary film executive produced by Al Roker Entertainment, produced and directed by Eternal Polk, and underwritten by Deere & Co., which highlights the causes, effects, and solutions for the loss of land among Black farmers and families. Heirs’ property - or land that has been passed down through generations without legal title - was noted as one of those causes and our work was provided as a solution (see the film’s trailer: “What is Heirs’ Property?”).
Although the documentary highlights the plight of Black heirs’ property ... Read more ...
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The IRA Made Huge Climate Investments in Rural Areas. Now, the Food and Farm Bill Must Maintain Them. - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Sep 28, 2023) |
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Sep 28, 2023 · Here at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), we started referring to the period between June and October in the Northern hemisphere as “Danger Season” in 2022. But summer 2023 was when the climate crisis got real for a lot of people. We all felt some impact of it - blistering heat, unprecedented flooding, oppressive wildfire smoke, extreme drought, or some combination - and farmers and farm workers felt the effects in particularly damaging ways.
As farmers and farm workers recover from a growing season that NASA named the hottest on record (even as it may be among the coolest we’ll see going forward), we need to talk about what lawmakers can do about it in legislation ... Read more ...
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The Food and Farm Bill Can Do a Lot for Workers - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Aug 24, 2023) |
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Aug 24, 2023 · This “Danger Season” (the months of May through October, when the risk posed by extreme weather is highest) has been characterized by record-breaking stretches of extreme heat overlapping with torrential rain and floods. Laboring outdoors on the front lines of the climate crisis, farmworkers face disproportionate impacts from extreme weather: recent research from the National Institutes of Health found agricultural workers are 35 times more likely to die from heat than other workers. This summer, there have been at least three farmworker deaths from heat: Dario Mendoza in Arizona, Efrain Lopez Garcia in Florida and Elidio Hernandez in California. And those are just the ... Read more ...
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Ask a Scientist: Will the New Farm Bill Transform the US Food System? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Aug 10, 2023) |
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Aug 10, 2023 · Every five years or so, Congress passes a multifaceted, multibillion-dollar bill that has a major impact not only on farmers and ranchers - who make up less than 2 percent of the US population - but also on the environment, public health, and the economy. Although it is generically called the “farm” bill, it is really a food and farm bill that funds programs covering crop insurance, financial credit, and export subsidies for farmers, as well as nutrition-assistance support for low-income households. The most recent farm bill, enacted into law in December 2018, expires at the end of September.
A product of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, the first farm bills were ... Read more ...
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The United States Needs to Protect Its Farmworkers from “Danger Season” - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Jun 20, 2023) |
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Jun 20, 2023 · Farmworkers face many hazards while performing the labor that props up the $1.264 trillion US food and farm economy, yet a new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that federal agencies focused on agriculture and health invested an average of only $16.2 million dollars per year in farmworker health research projects between fiscal years 2019 and 2022. These hazards include climate change, pesticide exposure, and food insecurity, and the risks are at their greatest during the summer months UCS calls Danger Season because of the overlapping impacts of extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and floods.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with The Farmworker ... Read more ...
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Farmers Can Adapt to Alternating Droughts and Floods - Here’s How - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (May 15, 2023) |
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May 15, 2023 · Farmers like predictable weather, and this past year in California has been anything but. After the state suffered through the worst drought in modern history, a series of atmospheric rivers starting last December brought recurring deluges of heavy rain and snow that caused widespread and extensive damage, forcing people to evacuate in many areas across the state and resulting in multiple deaths. Snow levels are at historic highs in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with final snowpack numbers reported at a staggering 207% to 308% of normal - threatening more flooding to come as it all melts. And the agriculture industry, which uses an outsize amount of California’s water and has ... Read more ...
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Illinois Dust Storm Disaster Is a Warning for Agriculture - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (May 11, 2023) |
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May 11, 2023 · On a stretch of interstate highway in central Illinois last week, a freak dust storm caused a series of massive vehicle pileups that killed seven people and injured dozens more. The cause of the tragedy, according to Illinois State Police, was “excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway leading to zero visibility.” News reports noted that dust storms are rare in Illinois, but drier, hotter conditions in many farming communities could make such events more frequent and deadly. This disaster should serve as a sobering reminder that policymakers and the agriculture industry need to do more to adapt to our changing climate.
We’ve all seen grainy ... Read more ...
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Coalition Members Deliver Their Food and Farm Bill Message to Congress - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (May 10, 2023) |
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May 10, 2023 · After several years of virtual meetings due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, this May marked the return of the annual in-person conference for members of the Good Food For All (GFFA) coalition. It was also an opportunity for dozens of these grassroots and policy organizations from more than 20 states to take a side trip to Capitol Hill and advocate for a transformational food and farm bill - one that centers equity and racial justice to create a more healthy and sustainable food system by taking back control from the powerful corporations that have hijacked it.
GFFA members work together to transform our food system through collaborative planning, community engagement, and ... Read more ...
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Food Insecurity Is a Bigger Problem Than Our Government Thinks - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (May 09, 2023) |
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May 09, 2023 · If you’ve been following my blog for the past six months, you probably know national food insecurity rates by heart. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), 10% of households in the United States were not sure where their next meal was going to come from in 2021. Among Black households, it was 20%, and among Hispanic households, 16%. But how do we know this - and do these numbers accurately represent the experiences of households across the United States?
It turns out that we don’t actually know current food insecurity levels - at least not based on federal government sources. The federal government only reports food insecurity data once a year, but new ... Read more ...
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Will Climate Change Force More Farmworkers to Go Hungry? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Apr 05, 2023) |
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Apr 05, 2023 · Continued flooding in California caused by severe storms called atmospheric rivers continues to shock the country. Just last week, broken river levees devastated the majority-Latino community of Pajaro, California. Human-caused climate change is expected to increase the number and intensity of extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods, and droughts that are already ravaging communities across the United States.
The human cost of the Pajaro disaster, including the loss of homes, jobs, and local infrastructure, is truly tragic and may be growing. In Pajaro, a community in which many people rely on farm work, strawberry fields are now flooded, and many may be decimated for ... Read more ...
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California’s Thirsty Future: The Role of Vapor Pressure Deficit in Our Changing Climate and Drought - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Apr 05, 2023) |
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Apr 05, 2023 · California is no stranger to the impacts of climate change. From droughts to wildfires to rising sea levels and torrential rains, the state has felt the effects of a changing climate in a variety of ways. One measure of climate that is of particular concern in California is vapor pressure deficit (VPD), as it has far-reaching implications for people’s health and safety, ecosystem conservation, and economy. In this blogpost, we will explore what vapor pressure deficit is, how it is affected by climate change, and its implications for California.
Vapor pressure deficit is a measure of how dry or humid the air is. When it’s hot outside, the air can hold a lot of water ... Read more ...
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Drought, Floods, and the Future of California’s Water Challenges - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Apr 02, 2023) |
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Apr 02, 2023 · “Is California still in a drought?” is the single most-asked question I hear as someone working daily with water science, advocacy, and policy in California. That question will arise again on April 3 as water officials carry out the season’s final snow survey.
My answer as an advocate is the drought won’t end until everyone in California has access to drinking water. We must recognize that drought impacts and recovery are not experienced uniformly across the state. While some regions may recover faster, others, particularly disadvantaged communities, often face prolonged water scarcity and compromised water quality. These disparities highlight the need for a comprehensive and ... Read more ...
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The Agriculture Resilience Act Is a Win for Sustainable Nutrition Science - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Mar 28, 2023) |
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Mar 28, 2023 · The Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA) of 2023 was re-introduced in Congress today. The ARA is comprehensive, science-based legislation that covers many topics related to environmental and climate concerns in agriculture, including conservation on both agricultural and pasture land, renewable energy, and food loss and waste. The ARA is bold legislation that equips farmers with funding for climate resilience, including a much-needed focus on soil health.
But what gets me excited about the ARA is a small but powerful section about research that includes truly transformative changes to the vision of the US Department of Agriculture Research, Education, and Economics (USDA REE) ... Read more ...
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Why Soil Health Is So Important to the Agriculture Resilience Act - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Mar 28, 2023) |
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Mar 28, 2023 · The Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA) was reintroduced today in Congress by Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). The ARA is perhaps the most comprehensive and concise legislation (mind you, it still runs a good number of pages!) to integrate food and farm policy in a way that addresses climate change and helps farmers reduce their carbon emissions. Through dramatically increased investments in research and science-based initiatives, the ARA aims to improve the health of long-neglected farm soils and their ability to withstand extreme weather like droughts and floods, improve water quality, and capture carbon.
During its previous introduction, the ARA was widely supported ... Read more ...
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Farmers, Scientists, Rock Stars Come Together to Advocate for Climate-Smart Food and Farm Bill - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Mar 14, 2023) |
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Mar 14, 2023 · Last week, hundreds of farmers and their allies from across the country gathered at the Rally for Resilience to advocate for a Food and Farm Bill that confronts the climate crisis head-on. They were joined by longtime farm advocates John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson, as well as partners from two dozen organizations including the Union of Concerned Scientists. While farmers and scientists may seem like an odd couple, we know that farmers are some of our greatest assets in tackling the climate crisis. Science is a powerful tool to empower farmers to be more sustainable and resilient in the face of a changing climate.
These hardworking men and women took time away from their ... Read more ...
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Could 2023 Be the Year of Sustainable Nutrition Security? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Feb 15, 2023) |
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Feb 15, 2023 · Our food systems are set up to produce cheap calories to the detriment of the environment and our communities. Over the past several years, we have experienced increasing frequency and intensity of climate change impacts including hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Our water is contaminated, and our soil is depleted. Farmworkers are facing health risks and food insecurity. And our communities are getting sick. The large industrial corporations that have hijacked our food system do not care about their impact; they only care about raking in record profits every quarter.
When we ask for a better food system, one that protects human and environmental well-being, we are told we ... Read more ...
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Nuts, Drought, and My Quest for the Perfect Pecan Pie - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 20, 2022) |
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Dec 20, 2022 · This time of year, the air is scented with cinnamon and nutmeg. Whatever you’re celebrating this season, baking is likely a part of it. And that may mean you stocked up recently, as I did, on ingredients like flour, sugar and other sweeteners, and nuts. But how much do you know about the sustainability of nuts and other items in the supermarket baking aisle, and by extension, your favorite holiday cookies or pies? Having recently decided to bake a pecan pie for a gathering with friends, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on this topic, and I’m here to share what I learned . . . and a recipe.
Much has been written about the water demand of almonds. But nuts are big water users ... Read more ...
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How Do You Fight for Environmental, Climate, and Food Justice? Eastie Farm Offers a Recipe - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 20, 2022) |
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Dec 20, 2022 · It was a cold November day in Boston, and I rushed from a conference on public health to tour Eastie Farm. Founded in 2015 on a single lot in East Boston, this urban farm has expanded to seven sites and is working to build climate adaptation and mitigation into urban farming, while offering education, green job training, green space, community gathering space, and affordable locally and regionally grown food. They are also innovators who just finished building the first geothermal greenhouse in the region. After the tour, I had the pleasure of speaking with founder Kannan Thiruvengadam and Jenny Wechter, who heads up climate work for the Eastie Farm team.
Eastie Farm is one of ... Read more ...
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Latest Round of USDA Climate-Smart Grantmaking is Both Better and More of the Same - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 15, 2022) |
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Dec 15, 2022 · The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the second funding pool of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities on Monday. With $325 million in grants, this funding is intended to develop climate-smart agricultural products, spurring demand for products grown in ways that have measurable climate benefits, like reducing greenhouse gas emissions or sequestering carbon. After two rounds of funding, the total investment has exceeded $3.1 billion for 141 projects.
In this round, the USDA funded a total of 71 projects at $250,000 to $5 million each. Based on a quick analysis counting the commodities cited in each project, it appears that the USDA has in this ... Read more ...
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As the USDA Invests in “Climate-Smart” Agriculture, It’s Hard to Follow the Money - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 08, 2022) |
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Dec 08, 2022 · Agriculture is responsible for emitting around 11 percent of all global warming pollution in the United States - roughly the annual equivalent of 141.75 million cars. If this country is to meet its climate targets, it is imperative that public and private investments be made that will help shift the agriculture sector to climate-friendly practices that reduce heat-trapping emissions.
In September, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $2.8 billion in funding for “climate-smart” commodities, defined as an agricultural product produced using farming, ranching, or forestry practices that reduce heat-trapping emissions or sequester carbon. These ... Read more ...
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How Should the USDA Spend its Research Budget? (We Have Some Ideas.) - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 06, 2022) |
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Dec 06, 2022 · One of the many functions of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is to advance cross-cutting, innovative research in, well, agriculture. With a budget of $4.1 billion for research (which sounded like a lot until I realized it was mere 2% of the overall USDA budget of $198 billion), the USDA funds scientific work within its own agencies, as well as through grants to other organizations. The National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) oversees nearly half of the total research budget, or $1.96 billion, to advance this mission through non-competitive and competitive grants for research, training (or extension), and education.
Recently, NIFA asked the public ... Read more ...
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This Year’s Danger Season Is Over, but Risks to Farmworkers Remain - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Nov 30, 2022) |
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Nov 30, 2022 · Climate scientists at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) have dubbed the six-month stretch from May through October “Danger Season” because of the confluence of extreme weather - record heat, raging wildfires, severe storms, and flooding - that is putting people at risk around the world. In 2022 alone, cities in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, and Utah recorded temperatures of 105°F on multiple days and often over long stretches. The heat index (what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is coupled with air temperature) for this temperature is considered dangerous by the National Weather Service.
Danger Season is an especially perilous ... Read more ...
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Cultural Heritage Loss and Damage Goes Ignored. This Needs to Change at COP27. - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Oct 31, 2022) |
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Oct 31, 2022 · Losses and damages caused by climate change to intangible cultural heritage such as Indigenous and local knowledge, and traditional agricultural practices have been vastly underestimated in discussions of Paris Agreement implementation. This needs to change.A new IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, published in the lead-up to COP27 and co-authored with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites) has highlighted for the first time in the science panel’s history, the vital importance of protecting cultural heritage in addressing climate change.
The lack of attention ... Read more ...
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How a Fertilizer Shortage Could Drive Food Prices Even Higher - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Oct 11, 2022) |
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Oct 11, 2022 · In yet another year characterized by droughts, floods, wildfires, and record high temperatures, food and farming systems have been excessively stressed. Global food supply chains are further stretched from the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions brought on by the war in Ukraine, which have disrupted the movement of grains and other agricultural products and resulted in shortages and massive price spikes. The Russian war in Ukraine has already pushed the world to the brink of a global humanitarian and food crisis, and now another crisis related to the war has unfolded.
In industrial agricultural systems, the holy trinity of nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium - is ... Read more ...
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Why I Have Renewed Hope for Climate Action on Farms - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Aug 02, 2022) |
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Aug 02, 2022 · Watching the climate crisis unfolding all around us, I’ve experienced a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment over the last year. With last week’s surprise announcement about a Senate compromise on climate action legislation, I’m back to hope again.
My colleagues have argued forcefully about what’s at stake and how the Inflation Reduction Act would affect the cars we drive. But the nation’s farmers and farmland are also poised to be part of the solution, if only our government would invest meaningfully in it. Here I’ll expand a bit on the provisions of the bill aimed at agriculture.
The Inflation Reduction Act would invest $20 billion to help the nation’s farmers ... Read more ...
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As Climate and Nutrition Crises Collide, We Need a New Research Agenda - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (May 10, 2022) |
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May 10, 2022 · There are a lot of problems facing our food and agriculture today, and they’re all connected. To solve such a complex mix of problems, we need to see the connections clearly and identify ways to address them holistically rather than in piecemeal fashion. The 2023 farm bill - which Congress is already starting to debate - could give us that opportunity. But before I get to that, here are just a few recent news stories that illustrate the multiple issues surrounding the long-term sustainability, safety, and nutritional value of our food:
Just this quick roundup of headlines demonstrates the breadth of issues at play in the complex system that puts food on our tables. And if we ... Read more ...
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Ask a Scientist: Taking a Holistic Look at Big Ag - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Apr 13, 2022) |
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Apr 13, 2022 · UCS Food and Environment Program Research Director Marcia DeLonge and Senior Strategist Karen Perry Stillerman recently posted an analysis estimating how much land Tyson Foods - the nation’s largest meat and poultry processor - relied on to produce corn and soybeans to feed the 6 million cows, 22 million pigs, and nearly 2 billion chickens it processed in 2020.
Their estimate was eye-popping: The company’s “feed footprint” takes up 9 million to 10 million acres - about twice the size of New Jersey. With indirect control over so much farmland, Tyson has an opportunity - and the responsibility - to ensure that that land is farmed sustainably. As UCS has previously pointed out, ... Read more ...
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In California’s Central Valley, Drought Is a Growing Threat to Farms, Food, and People - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Mar 15, 2022) |
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Mar 15, 2022 · Record-breaking rain and snow across much of the West late last year came as welcome relief to many, including farmers and communities in California’s Central Valley, but that relief was short-lived. The dry months that have followed have only increased the potential for another year of drought and severe water shortages for many farms and households, with disadvantaged communities likely to suffer the most. This news is particularly difficult on the heels of a new report finding that the 2021 drought alone cost $1.7 billion and over 14,000 jobs. The situation is disheartening but also foreseeable, as the most recent IPCC report has harshly reminded us that climate change is here ... Read more ...
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Could 2022 Be the Year of the Food Worker? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Feb 07, 2022) |
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Feb 07, 2022 · Stories about the “Great Resignation,” the sweeping trend of workers leaving their jobs in search of something better, have flooded the front pages of newspapers in recent months. But even as many workers have rightfully rejected industries and workplaces providing paltry wages and subpar benefits, many others have made it clear that they’re not going anywhere - and they’re demanding changes in their workplace.
Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than in the food industry: Frito-Lay, Nabisco, and Kellogg’s workers went on strike; a major union drive by Amazon workers (yes, many warehouse workers are food workers!) is still ongoing in Alabama; the first-ever ... Read more ...
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Four Pieces of 2021 Progress on Agriculture and Climate Change Worth Celebrating - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Dec 21, 2021) |
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Dec 21, 2021 · As 2021 draws to a close, it’s worth looking back at the year and reflecting on what came to pass on the climate and agriculture front. This year showed (again) how vulnerable farming and food production are to climate change, but also just how much potential there is for farmers to be part of the solution. And while there were plenty of discouraging points and reminders of the urgent need for action along the way, there were also noteworthy areas of progress. As we gear up for another year of fighting for urgently needed changes, I’d like to take a moment to share four items that I think are worth celebrating.
With a new year approaching, it’s clear there’s a lot of work ... Read more ...
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Tyson Foods Is a Monster in Disguise - Union of Concerned Scientists - Food and Agriculture (Oct 29, 2021) |
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Oct 29, 2021 · Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest meat and poultry company, just can’t stop pretending to be something it’s not. Pretending, for example, to be a company that is concerned about its workers. Last weekend, a news report from Ohio documented a seven-alarm emergency at a Tyson processing plant where 13,000 pounds of toxic ammonia vapor had leaked. It was another potentially harmful exposure for plant workers who already perform some of the nation’s most dangerous jobs every day, but Tyson’s statement to the press was reflexive:
“The safety of our team members is always our top priority, so we immediately evacuated the plant and there were no injuries.”
Read that ... Read more ...
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