Food Environment and Reporting Network

JUNE 1, 2023

In the 1970s, entrepreneurs introduced a species of seaweed off Hawaii, intending to manufacture a food thickener. Welcome got her start building a movement of young farmers before becoming enraptured by seaweed, “beings that haven’t been corralled, that haven’t been weeded or bred or contained or plowed up,” she said.

Science 52

Science Harvest Harvester Harvesting 52

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Black polyethylene “mulch film” gets tucked snugly around crop rows, clear plastic sheeting covers hoop houses, and most farmers use plastic seed trays, irrigation tubes, and fertilizer bags. Plastics are tightly woven into the fabric of modern agriculture. It’s definitely a big team, but every member is so critical,” Mejia-Muñoz says.

Agriculture 145

Agriculture Agriculture Supply Chain Production 145

Food Environment and Reporting Network

MARCH 1, 2025

Diesel-powered tractors replaced horse-powered plows, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers replaced their manure. Department of Agriculture programs encouraged their adoption with financial assistance that enabled big purchases like tractors as well as smaller annual purchases of newly improved hybrid corn seeds.

Food 61

Food Crop Processing Tractor 61

Food Environment and Reporting Network

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Today in America, food arguably divides people more than it unites them, thanks in part to decades of manufactured controversy, done for political gain and corporate profit. Larry Kudlow, a former Trump adviser, said Americans would have to “ throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts ” on July 4.

Food 52

Food Greenhouse Cattle Production 52