Publication archives

This article first appeared in Civil Eats. Three recent actions by big agribusiness companies to manipulate public opinion have me almost giddy with excitement. After years dictating the direction of the food system, agribusiness is taking a reactionary stance.

In exchange for $44 million, most of it taxpayer money from the Legacy constitutional amendment, the UPM Blandin paper company of northern Minnesota is agreeing to do -- nothing.

Feared and expected, the emerald ash borer has been found in Minnesota, posing a critical threat to the state's 900 million ash trees, including roughly one-third of all trees in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Low prices, low profits, and pessimistic forecasts are the "new version of normal" in the forest products industry, a PricewaterhouseCoopers expert said Thursday. And Canadian producers are among the worst performers, Craig Campbell, an executive in the firm's global forest, paper and packing practice, said in a news release about international comparisons of 100 public companies.

Forest land home to rare bird species isn't the usual image that comes to mind when we think of Iowa. But the Yellow River Forest area in northeast Iowa totals 135,000 acres of unfragmented forest.

Bad agriculture and trade policy in the U.S.