Farmer Homer McFarland is being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Monsanto corporation. His crime? Replanting his crops' own seed, as farmers have done for millennia, which violates the biotech giant's intellectual property rights, the company claims. Quietly, Monsanto's aggressive "seed police" have been suing farmers in 25 states for years, often settling out of court for huge sums, according to the Center for Food Safety's new report, Monsanto vs. US farmers [PDF link]. For more information, also see a new documentary called The Future of Food.
posted by digaman on Jan 15, 2005 - 55 comments

Got hay? The USDA helps you sell hay in Tennessee and buy hay in Minnesota.
posted by NickDouglas on Jan 13, 2005 - 22 comments

Hundreds of kinds of mixed seeds, soil humus, and dry powdered red brown clay, form the solid components of seed balls.
posted by sudama on Jul 15, 2004 - 6 comments

After reading that beef has been recalled from my local grocery store, I spent some time reading Mad Cow USA a book written back in 1997 but not widely published because of fears of repercussions under the Texas food disparagement act. AlterNet has an article written by one of the book's authors summarizing some of the key points of the book. Some claim that only ground beef is infected, while others claim that's bull. mad-cow.org has a lot of good information on the topic, and it seems the powers that be are going to blame Canada.
posted by woil on Dec 30, 2003 - 14 comments

'Superweeds' signal setback for genetically modified crops.
posted by thedailygrowl on Jun 25, 2003 - 22 comments

Farmland for sale. $80-100 trillion. Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow the sale of Russian farmland for the first time since the days of the czars, but would bar foreigners from buying it.. foreign companies could still purchase Russian land through subsidiaries that are majority Russian-owned.
posted by stbalbach on Jun 26, 2002 - 3 comments

If you're lucky, it's not too late to sign up with a Community Supported Agriculture (?) program in your area. Imagine getting more fresh, often organic, locally-grown produce (of sorts familiar and un-) each week from late spring through fall than you probably eat in a month! Some friends did this in college and I was thrilled to find a farm near me this year. Is there one near you?
posted by sudama on Mar 23, 2001 - 15 comments

Enjoy what may be your last royalty-free Christmas dinner... Opinion solicitation: is either extreme right here? Is there a compromise solution that will satisfy both sides? Where do the rest of us (i.e., the food consumers) fit in to this?
posted by rushmc on Dec 24, 2000 - 5 comments