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His method of water bath canning in glass jars is still the standard method for home preservation today.

Nicolas Appert is born. He will invent the modern food-canning process while trying to help Napoleon conquer Europe.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:59 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Good grief! Look where the blame is laid:

Market-driven chicken farming has produced a race of genetically homogeneous fowl in dire need of new blood.

Here's some news for the morons at Wired: all farming is market driven. It's factory farming that's the problem - not the market. The Soviet Union, certainly never a market economy, pioneered in factory farming. They called them "collectives", we call them "corporations".

In fact, this "threat" to the chicken "industry" is the market correcting them for their shortsighted errors: I have no problem with diversity when I breed meat birds here on the farm. They cost a bit more, true, but they're healthy, happy and yummy. And I'll be breeding chickens long after Tyson and Perdue run out of genes.

So don't blame the market: thank it for punishing folks who can't look beyond the next quarterly report.

A small gene pool and prolonged inbreeding have reduced the genetic diversity of commercial chickens to the point that they are more vulnerable to disease or even bioterror attacks.

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:38 /Agriculture | 2 writebacks | permanent link

This looks to be the end of the line for the company: I've blogged about these folks before. I wonder what shall become of Postville after 20 years of the upheaval they wrought?

A federal judge has appointed a temporary receiver for Agriprocessors Inc. after a bank said that the company had defaulted on a $35 million loan.

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:09 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

WTF are they feeding their chickens?!

The discovery of excessive levels of the industrial chemical melamine in Chinese eggs has prompted the Hong Kong authorities to expand health tests to include meat products imported from China, a senior official said Sunday.

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:48 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

The Old Right discovers sustainable ag...

Renewing the culinary culture should be a conservative cause.

(link) [The American Conservative]

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:28 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

One more reason I'm glad I don't live in Texas...

AP - Texas farmers are once again battling armyworms and the voracious creatures are attacking fields and pastures in formidable numbers.

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:44 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I've blogged before about this issue, and have been questioned as to whether it was chemicals (as in most antibacterial soap) or antibiotics (as in cattle feed) that was causing the problem.

This article seems to suggest it's both. And if that's right, we're in a world of potential trouble.

Chemicals used in the environment to kill bacteria could be making them stronger, according to a paper published in the October issue of the journal Microbiology. Low levels of these chemicals, called biocides, can make the potentially lethal bacterium Staphylococcus aureus remove toxic chemicals from the cell even more efficiently, potentially making it resistant to being killed by some antibiotics.

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:12 /Agriculture | 2 writebacks | permanent link

The end result of patent madness.

The recipient of the produce contained in this package agrees not to propagate or reproduce any portion of the produce, including (but not limited to) seeds, stems, tissue and fruit.

(link) [Madisonian]

via Overlawyered

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:18 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Forget the beast: some of us just see the mark of Big Brother and the Nanny State (sounds like a new rock group, eh?). But everyone seems to agree that this idiotic program will forever change the face of agriculture in America. And not for the better.

Farmers, some of them Amish, are decrying federal and state rules requiring the use of RFID tags on livestock. In a federal lawsuit, they say the tags, which authorities say will help them monitor disease, are the "mark of the beast."

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:03 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I still tend to go with prevailing winds and solar position - but I've admittedly not studied the herds from orbit...

Researchers have explained why grazing cattle will tend to face the same direction when grazing - a behavior long known to herdsmen and hunters but previously attributed to either prevailing winds or the sun's position.

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:06 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Well, doh! I've always been suspect of the claims that organics contain more nutrients than "conventionally" raised foods. I mean, the foods are the same species, after all, should have the same nutritional value. But this is missing the entire point of organic (or naturally raised) food - it's not nutritional value, it's the non nutritive components that bother me.

Calling organic foods a "lifestyle choice" is like saying avoiding cancer causing chemicals is a "lifestyle choice". It's saying that not wanting to pump your kids full of BGH with their milk is a lifestyle choice. It's saying that being prudent and sensible about where your food comes from and what goes into making it is a mere "lifestyle choice".

Perhaps a more accurate description would be a "life choice" - there's no style to it. You can consciously choose to pay attention to the things you need to live, or consciously choose to to be ignorant. And ignorance can be costly indeed.

If you've ever found yourself in your local supermarket agonizing about whether the organic apples will be a more nutritional and greener choice than the cheaper non-organic ones, you're probably not alone.

(link) [CNN]

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:13 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Despite last years assertion, whatever's shown on this tape ain't no coyote!

A sheriff's department in Texas believes it may have caught the legendary chupacabra on camera.

(link) [KGNS-TV]

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:04 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I read a fascinating book about this kosher packing plant a few years back: Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America. And I must say that I'm not at all surprised by this tale of virtual slave labor.

Following a raid at an Iowa meatpacking plant, immigrants have described pervasive labor violations that experts say could result in criminal charges.

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:05 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

I don't know what to think about this trend - part of me wants to yell "Yippee! They're finally getting it!", but another part of me thinks the folks who do this are missing the point entirely, and simply substituting one set of middlemen in the food chain for another.

A new breed of business serves city dwellers who insist on eating food grown close to home but have no inclination to get their hands dirty.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:00 /Agriculture | 1 writeback | permanent link

Yum! Fresh squab! They really are delicious ... but I gotta wonder who gets to put the RFID tag on them and report their every roost.

With global demand for meat threatening to topple the food system, it's time we put Pollan on steroids and remembered: pigeons are fowl.

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:45 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link