Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Grains and Leaves: Weekly Ag-Related News, Events, and Others

Hi there fellow readers -

Here are some good links for your weekly reading list. Suggestions are always welcome. Happy reading.
  • GMO-Free salt! The WSJ on how companies are finding profitable adding the 'GMO-Free' label to things that don't even have genes. 
  • Meanwhile Scotland ban all GMO grown in the country, which amounts to a remarkable 0%!  reports Politico 
  • Fred Perlak - one of Monsanto's renowned scientist behind Bt corn - gives a fascinating interview to the folks at Inquiring Minds. Also check out his Q&A session at Redditt 
  • Thinking of buying organic? Not so quickly, the NYT reports on how organic food accounted for 7% of the foods recalled in 2014 - up from 2% last year. Now, if you're craving burgers, you may be better off buying 'organic'. The Washington Post describes how ground beef from grass-fed, antibiotic-free,  has fewer chances of having 'superbugs' (nasty bacteria). 
  • Now this one got me worried - according to the Washington Post, eggs are getting more expensive and are not longer the cheapest source of animal protein. In some places they are almost six cents a piece! Luckily, here in Afghanistan they're still about 7 AFA (11 cents)
  • For NGOs interested in doing 'Local and Regional Procurement' (a much better way to do food aid), check out CRS's new guide: MARKit: Price Monitoring, Analysis and Response Kit. It gives practitioners tools to monitor and adjust your program to market fluctuations. Also, if you're looking for other field-tested technical information on development interventions? Check out: http://www.crsprogramquality.org/