June 16, 2008 at 12:16 pm
· Filed under Agricultural Biotechnology, The Food System, Biofuels
Terry D. Etherton
The United Nations (UN) Food Summit (High-Level Conference on World Food Security), held in Rome in early June, 2008, was designed to address food security issues in the face of soaring food prices (see Figure below), and the growing challenges associated with rising energy costs, and how this has impacted food prices and food security.
The increase in food prices is astounding! For example, during the early part of 2008, nominal prices of all major food commodities reached their highest levels in the past 50 years. For the first time, the annual global food import bill will surpass $1trillion (FAO, Food Outlook, June 2008)!
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April 22, 2008 at 9:19 am
· Filed under Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System, Science & Education
Dave Natzke
Published in Midwest Dairy Business (April 2008)
More vertical integration, what many consider the “evil empire” afflicting segments of food production, is headed toward dairy. As in other industries, most vertical integration pressure will come from the top down, in an effort to squeeze as much money out of incremental margins as possible. But in an evolving business climate, I think more dairy pressure will ultimately come from the bottom up.
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April 22, 2008 at 9:17 am
· Filed under The Food System, Science & Education
Dave Natzke
Published in Midwest Dairy Business (February 2008)
The buzzword at the International Dairy Foods Association’s Dairy Forum ’08 was “sustainability.” While the word gives everyone a warm and fuzzy feeling they’re doing something – anything – to make the world a better place to live, the definition of “sustainability” can be elusive and confusing. Many Dairy Forum speakers used the term to cover environmental and social aspects of milk and dairy product production, packaging and transportation. Read the rest of this entry »
April 17, 2008 at 1:50 pm
· Filed under PodCasts, The Food System, Science & Education
Terry D. Etherton
Two outstanding podcasts are posted on DairyCast.com. Enjoy listening to these thought provoking presentations on:
- Cloning: where have we been and where are we today? Gary Crawford, USDA, summarizes recent developments from USDA and FDA
- Bruce Vincent, Multiple Generation Environmental Steward and Logger from Libby, MT, shares an empowering presentation on activists, grizzly bears and the logging industry. There are interesting parallels to today’s dairy industry
cdn3.libsyn.com/trufflemedia/080307_DairyCast_0139.mp3
February 29, 2008 at 5:55 pm
· Filed under Agricultural Biotechnology, The Food System
Socio-Economic Benefits Becoming Evident Among Resource-Poor Farmers
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (Feb. 13, 2008) – After a dozen years of commercialization, biotech crops are still gaining ground with another year of double-digit growth, and new countries joining the list of supporters, according to a report released today by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). In 2007, biotech crop area grew 12 percent or 12.3 million hectares to reach 114.3 million hectares, the second highest area increase in the past five years.In addition to planting more biotech hectares, farmers are quickly adopting varieties with more than one biotech trait. These “trait hectares” grew at a swift 22 percent, or 26 million hectares, to reach 143.7 million hectares – more than double the area increase of 12.3 million hectares. New crops were also added to the list as China reported 250,000 biotech poplar trees planted. The insect-resistant trees can contribute to reforestation efforts. Read the rest of this entry »
February 23, 2008 at 7:22 am
· Filed under rbST Public Discussion, The Food System
Sherry Bunting
Farmshine February 8, 2008
Don’t ever apologize for what you do: be proud. What you do affects everyone from Main Street to Wall Street,”said Orion Samuelson to more than 600 dairy producers and agribusiness representatives, launching the 2008 Pennsylvania Dairy Summit at the Lancaster Host on Wednesday (Feb. 6). Read the rest of this entry »
February 21, 2008 at 7:04 pm
· Filed under The Food System, Science & Education
William Henning, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Meat Science
The Pennsylvania State University
Consumer concerns have once again been raised after 143 million pounds of ground beef was recalled this week from a California firm that manufactures and distributes ground beef to retailers and schools. The problems initially surfaced when a member of a special interest group (The Humane Society of the United States; HSUS) filmed a case of brutal animal handling of a cow that was unable to get up and posted it on YouTube. Normally, this would have been a case of animal cruelty that would have been dealt with by the USDA and the plant in question. Since the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service is responsible for animal welfare in packing plants, this should have been all handled within the regulatory system for animal handling. However, it was apparently revealed later that this non-ambulatory cow was, in fact, harvested and entered the food supply that raised the food safety questions. Since non-ambulatory animals are not considered fit for processing due to the possible relationship with BSE (mad cow disease), it should been prevented from entering the food supply. Read the rest of this entry »
December 18, 2007 at 9:24 pm
· Filed under Agricultural Biotechnology, The Food System
From The Economist print edition (December 6, 2007 issue)
Rising food prices are a threat to many; they also present the world with an enormous opportunity.

For as long as most people can remember, food has been getting cheaper and farming has been in decline. In 1974-2005 food prices on world markets fell by three-quarters in real terms. Food today is so cheap that the West is battling gluttony even as it scrapes piles of half-eaten leftovers into the bin. Read the rest of this entry »
November 8, 2007 at 10:05 am
· Filed under Agricultural Biotechnology, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, PodCasts, rbST Facts and Information, rbST Public Discussion, The Food System
The following podcast is a roundtable discussion about rBST with Dr. Terry Etherton and dairy producers Dan Brandt and Tom Krall.
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August 4, 2007 at 5:04 pm
· Filed under The Food System, The Food System and Bioterrorism, Science & Education
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
News Release Date: 3 August 2007
Following an investigation of suspected vesicular disease by Animal Health on a holding near Guildford in Surrey, United Kingdom, laboratory results have this evening indicated that the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) virus is present in samples from cattle on the premises. Read the rest of this entry »