COOL under review and other top headlines for Jan. 23

This story from the NYT The Obama Administration may seek to tighten up labeling rules in the COOL rule, recently put under review by the new president.

President Obama has frozen an Agriculture Department rule set forth by the Bush administration requiring country-of-origin labeling on meat and other perishables. Opponents of the rule say that by allowing meat produced in domestic facilities that also process animals from abroad to carry a "multicountry" designation, it will blur the distinctions between U.S. and imported meats. It is expected that the new administration will seek to tighten the measure.

Here are some other headlines snatched from the Web today:

Citrus commission okays its own stimulus
The Florida Citrus Commission has agreed to spend nearly $7 million on advertising programs to increase sales of orange and grapefruit juices this year.

California stands to gain most from stimulus
In its current form, the plan would give California $4.46 billion for investment in water, roads, public transportation, highways and bridges, according to the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Fitch downgrades Dole From the story:

The downgrade is due to growing uncertainty surrounding Dole's string of significant near-term maturities, the company's negative free cash flow and the absence of a concrete plan to repay or refinance its obligations.

California farmers slash acreage to deal with drought Some Central Valley growers have credit frozen until they can show banks they have water. Processing tomato acreage to be cut, plus lettuce and melons. From the San Jose Mercury News:

Computer models of the state's parched reservoirs and this year's patchy snowfall showed shortages so extreme that federal officials could slash supplies down to zero, managers at the Westlands Water District told their members in an emergency conference call.

Costa Rica backs Ecuador in battle against EU From the Tico Times:

Ecuador and Costa Rica, the world's second- and third-largest banana exporters respectively, after Philippines, have condemned the EU's preferential treatment toward former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific in allowing duty-free, quota-free access into the European market, while maintaining tariffs for Latin American countries.

Last year, countries in this region signed an agreement with the EU that says Europe would reduce its tax on bananas imported from Latin America from €176 ($229) to €114 ($148) a ton from 2009 to 2014.

The tariff was supposed to drop to €148 ($193) on Jan. 1, but the EU argued that the agreement was no longer binding as it was reached during a Doha round that broke down. Ruiz said the issue will be key during a meeting between Central American trade officials and the European Commission representative Catherine Ashton set for Monday in Brussels, Belgium.

Public yawns at climate change Just as I suspected. From The New Republic:
Andy Revkin passes along a new Pew report showing that very few people seem to care much about global warming—just 30 percent of respondents listed it as a "top priority," down from 38 percent two years ago.


Even good borrowers may face foreclosure soon From The Dallas Morning News

During the next couple of years, loans on billions of dollars in local commercial properties will expire, and the owners will have to find new financing.Unless the lenders change their approach, they can expect to foreclose on hundreds of local commercial properties.

A stimulus package for the world Economic crisis has already pushed 100 million into poverty, NYT says.

Wal-Mart completes takeover of Chilean grocer its biggest acquisition in Latin America

Wal-Mart's green store prototypes

Massachusetts f/v snack program feature

"Our students were thrilled to learn about the fruit and vegetable grant. The student response was very positive," Butts said. "We hope by introducing fresh fruit and vegetable snacks, our students will develop healthier eating habits and an interest in trying healthy new foods. With concerns about obesity and junk food consumption, this program has the potential to be a very positive move toward better health."

Fresh & Easy lets patrons shop for schools

Japan launches greenhouse gas rocket

In praise of pesticides Truth about Trade and Technology

There is still time to reconsider the EU’s ill-thought out new pesticide rules. Unless more people learn not to pillory pesticides but to praise them - or at least to acknowledge the good they do - there will be a big price to pay. The currency of that price will be higher European food costs and soaring death rates in developing countries.


FDA crackdown cuts back availability of Asian food for new year celebration

Exporters face new Canadian requirements Coverage from The Packer

Paying the price of obesity

Recent research by Adam Drewnowski, director of the Nutritional Science Program at the UW, has linked rising obesity rates in the United States with economic factors. The rise comes not from the amount of fats or sugars consumed, but is in conjunction with income level.

Drewnowski’s research found that obesity levels tend to increase as income levels and education decrease. Racial and ethnic minorities and areas of high poverty are also associated with higher obesity rates.

According to the study, the reason for the link between income and obesity is attributed to the fact that high-energy foods simply cost less to produce compared to healthier options such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Victory gardens to bloom again? More on the unlikely popularity of vegetable gardening. From the story:

During World War II, "victory gardens" planted at the behest of the federal government helped Americans cope with food shortages. (In World War I, they were called "liberty gardens.") By 1943, Americans had planted more than 20 million victory gardens and reportedly produced 8 million tons of food that one old film called "America's hid den weapon."

Now, in a fractured economic climate, a new victory-garden movement has captured the attention of people who want to lessen their reliance on mass-produced or imported food, reduce their carbon footprint, foster a sense of community or save on grocery bills.

Green Acres Is The Place For Me

A suburban myth? Record numbers? Idiocy, I tell you. But I must admit, that I be one of those idiots. 6 tomato plants, consisting of the three of the Burpee Big Boy Better Beefstake Hybrids, one Sweet Million cherry tomato, and two Mr. Stripey heirlooms, only 'cause I like the name. Interspersed are my herbs of choice---cilantro, dill, bouquet dill, thyme, Italian parsley, and basil. And organically, I planted onion sets on the rectangular perimeter to ward off critters of all kinds, as I have decided that I am at one with the environment, or at least I thought I was once in college in 1977. My brother uses a fence, the fool.

You can never tell about basil, of course. Nice plant, good leaves when bought at the nursery, then it craps out on you. Mine looks like a gnome right now. Last year it was on steroids--the dried leaves are still hanging upside-down in the garage. One of the cilantro plants has gone to seed, known as coriander, also known as un-usable. Doing OK with the dill, and lately I've been making smashing salads with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dill & cilantro as the garnish. I feel vigorous, almost ready to take on the FDA.

And although Bankrate.com is known far & wide as the ultimate authority on gardening, I do question the validity of growing crops such as mushrooms, cherries or blackberries in a backyard garden. It might take something a little bit more complicated like...planting a tree? Now you've got an investment incurred, which might cut into the aforementioned 'gardening profit matrix'. But given my black mood lately, I might get excited about a compost bed in my basement for the mushrooms, or at least some toadstools.

Later,

Jay

More on climate change and gardens

The issues of climate change and growing your own garden seem inexorably linked. Here, speaking to the issue of climate change and "what we should do," is the recent opinion piece "Why bother?" by Micheal Pollan. Putting the weight of the world's future on what individuals do or don't do with a vegetable patch is a heavy burden. But Pollan argues for the collateral benefits as well:

But there are sweeter reasons to plant that garden, to bother. At least in this one corner of your yard and life, you will have begun to heal the split between what you think and what you do, to commingle your identities as consumer and producer and citizen. Chances are, your garden will re-engage you with your neighbors, for you will have produce to give away and the need to borrow their tools. You will have reduced the power of the cheap-energy mind by personally overcoming its most debilitating weakness: its helplessness and the fact that it can’t do much of anything that doesn’t involve division or subtraction. The garden’s season-long transit from seed to ripe fruit — will you get a load of that zucchini?! — suggests that the operations of addition and multiplication still obtain, that the abundance of nature is not exhausted. The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.

TK: We will all have gardens if it means we can avoid having a big climate change tax imposed on us. I rather think Pollan's quaint solution is preferable to the big government response.