agriculture

The Virginia Department of Agriculture promises a $1.65 billion bump to the local economy—that’s if every household in Virginia spends at least $10 per week on locally grown foods.  What a remarkably simple proposition! And unlike many government programs, the math actually checks out: a total state population of just over eight million (according to the U.S. Census) divided by the average household size of 2.5 people, times 52 weeks a year, times $10 would indeed bring in just over $1.65 billion. The “$10 Buy Local Challenge” appears to have gained support among a group of key players in Virginia’s agriculture industry, and it’s great that the VA Department of Ag. has gone to such...

Looking around an elementary school cafeteria, it is impossible to ignore the images of Spiderman, Justin Bieber, kittens and rainbows stamping each child’s lunchbox. Although in the past lunchboxes have been considered a grade-school commodity, they are bursting their way into the adult world as people realize that a waste-free lunch means more than eating everything on your plate. To truly reduce our meals’ carbon footprint, we need to consider not only how food is produced, but also how we’re packing it. According to the New York Times, sales of environmentally friendly back-to-school products are up just about everywhere. At the Container Store, the increase is 30 percent over last year...

A trip to the local grocery store is not getting any cheaper. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics announced recently that the price index for fresh vegetables rose by 4.7 percent in March. Following a similar upward trend are meats, poultry and eggs, which rose 7.9 percent over the past 12 months. Bloomberg Instead of heading to the produce aisle to grab vegetables grown and transported from thousands of miles away, or to the dairy case to pick up a dozen eggs from a farm on the other side of the country, some consumers are taking alternative routes to saving money and eating more nutritiously—replacing trips to the grocery store with trips to their backyard gardens or to local...

Farm workers tired of being blamed for taking American jobs have countered with the tongue-in-cheek campaign titled "Take our Jobs." Organized by the United Farm Workers of America, the campaign calls the bluff of the many Americans who claim undocumented workers and immigrants are taking American jobs by asserting that most unemployed American citizens find farm work too labor intensive for the compensation received. The Associated Press reports three out of four farm workers were born abroad and more than half are illegal immigrants. The “Take our Jobs” initiative “spotlights the immigrant labor issue and underscores the need for reforms without which the domestic agricultural industry...

The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are joining forces to investigate potential violations of antitrust laws in the agriculture industry. Attorney General Eric Holder and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack traveled to Iowa last week speak to farmers, ranchers and industry leaders at a public meeting. The first of five workshops on competition and consolidation in the agriculture industry took place on Friday in front of a crowd of about 700 people. The central question to tackle is, Holder said, “Is today’s agriculture industry suffering from a lack of free and fair competition in the marketplace.” Public relations executives from Monsanto Company were also at the...