Jeremy Cherfas

December 13, 2009December 13, 2009

A rich new vein of misunderstood agricultural biodiversity

Maybe we’ve stumbled on a rich new vein of agro-biodiversity fun. Jacob’s comment about the Austrian “Swiss” cow (see photo above) shows how easy it is for marketing types to be tripped up by the fine details of their craft. ¹ Nick Saltmarsh’s example of wheat mistaken for oats is another good one, even though I can’t share the photo because it is All Rights Reserved.

So how about it? We’re happy to become the central repository for all examples of inappropriate use of agricultural imagery. Send ’em in.

December 11, 2009December 11, 2009

Nibbles: Hunger, Stereotypes

Farm workers most food insecure. For shame.
Forget the stereotype of the ignorant Farmer John, riding on a tractor spewing black fumes and chewing on a piece of straw. Whose stereotype would that be?

December 11, 2009December 12, 2009

What’s wrong with this picture?

Snapped on a bus this morning. See the animal there on the left? Does it look like a sheep to you? Does cashmere come from sheep? Would you buy “cashmere” from a manufacturer that doesn’t know what animal produces cashmere? Not even at a 50% discount?

December 10, 2009December 12, 2009

Irish Seed Savers Association relaunches website

They’re on our list of seed sources, but of course we don’t check each of those all that often, so thanks to our friend Danny for pointing out that the Irish Seed Savers Association has launched a funky new web site. Go, enjoy, help them out.

December 9, 2009December 9, 2009

Waste promotes organic food?

David Zetland has an interesting take on that 40% of American food is wasted paper.

[I]t seems possible to switch all production to organics:

We can have enough, even with 40 percent lower yields.

Higher prices would reduce demand for food, and thus obesity. (They may cause people to switch to cheaper foods, but those tend to be better for you — rice vs meat — if you ignore the idea that steakhouse diners will switch to McDs.)

Of course, this will not happen through regulation or a wholesale change in people’s demand for food. It could happen if water or carbon use was taxed: that waste uses 25 percent of fresh water and 300 million bbl oil; that’s not even counting methane resulting from rot.