Word of the day: “cornification.” Cornification, in a nutshell, is the takeover of a diverse landscape by one mighty plant: corn. The “Effects of Cornification” graphic on page 17 of… Read more »
Posts By: Brian DeVore, Land Stewardship Project
Help Deposit Greens in the Food Bank
The U.S. is nothing if not a nation of paradoxes. Consider these statistics from Daniel Imhoff’s new book, Food Fight: Americans spend $110 billion annually on illnesses caused by obesity,… Read more »
Homeland Insecurity
The recent news that a chemical used in plastics and fertilizer has made its way into our food system probably suppressed more appetites than a screening of Supersize Me. The… Read more »
Hospital Food That Won’t Make You Sick
Perhaps one of the richest ironies around is that our hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities are often associated with things that aren’t so healthy. Take, for example,… Read more »
A Chemical Kick to the Gut
One doesn’t need pugilistic experience to feel the effects of a “sucker punch.” We’ve all experienced different versions of the cheap shot in our daily lives—we’re expecting one thing and… Read more »
Pharmaceuticals & Factory Farms
Today’s news that an important class of drugs is no longer effective in treating gonorrhea is yet another sign that we’re losing the drug war. But this drug war isn’t… Read more »
Organics, Erosion & Carbon
During a recent committee hearing at the capitol, a legislator offered up an anthoritative-sounding agronomic nugget of information: organic farming is bad for the environment. Specifically, the argument was made… Read more »
Stacking the Farming Odds
Dave Varney passed a group of rooting hogs, crossed a small creek and came to a stop in a riot of vegetative life. The southwest Wisconsin farmer contemplated his surroundings…. Read more »
March Menu Madness—CSA Style
The late March sun has had its way with our snow; now it’s going for the frost itself—slowing drawing it out of the ground like a tapeworm offered a cracker…. Read more »
Green Farms, Blue Water
The Minnesota River’s contribution of sediment to the Mississippi’s Lake Pepin has increased more than 12-fold since 1830. The Minnesota flows through an area composed of particularly fine-grained soils, which… Read more »