Agriculture

Getting US Dietary Guidelines right

Every five years since 1980, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture set the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for healthy eating and ways to reduce diet-related disease. These guidelines are about more than just personal advice. They serve as the basis for federal food and nutrition education programs including research, labeling and nutrition promotion.

Do we need a US Department of Food?

If we want to fix our broken food system—a system that isn't working for farmers, consumers or the environment—changing government policy is essential. In the U.S., policy set by Congress and implemented by government agencies deeply affects what, and how, food is produced and consumed.

CBS to air antibiotics and agriculture series

Update: The CBS feature has been moved to next week due to a high volume of material, which may expand the feature into a three-night series. More updates will be made on this story as information becomes available.

China's nitrogen problem

IATP President Jim Harkness is blogging from China.

Organic agriculture and climate policy

Organic agriculture stores more carbon in the soil than conventional agriculture. It has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional agriculture because it doesn't use fossil fuel intensive pesticides or fertilizers.

Ideas for a healthier food system

If you were to redesign our food system to provide enough healthy, nutritious food for everyone, what would it look like?

Water consumption questions for biofuels—irrigated or non?

It is well accepted that consumptive water use in ethanol distilleries ranges from 3 to 4 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol, but this is only part of the story.

BCAP boondoggle

By Loni Kemp, a consultant to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy