Dan Charles

Congress: Where Food Reforms Go To Die?

Dan Charles — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:47:00 +0000

Two seemingly common-sense, bipartisan food reforms have gotten mugged on Capitol Hill in recent days. If you're a loyal reader of The Salt, you've heard of them.

First, there's the proposal — backed by an odd-couple alliance of egg producers and animal-welfare activists — to set minimum standards for the housing of egg-laying chickens.

Bee Deaths May Have Reached A Crisis Point For Crops

Dan Charles — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:12:00 +0000

According to a new survey of America's beekeepers, almost a third of the country's honeybee colonies did not make it through the winter.

That's been the case, in fact, almost every year since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began this annual survey, six years ago.

Over the past six years, on average, 30 percent of all the honeybee colonies in the U.S. died off over the winter. The worst year was five years ago.

Who Paid For Last Summer's Drought? You Did

Dan Charles — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:29:00 +0000

Say the words "crop insurance" and most people start to yawn. For years, few nonfarmers knew much about these government-subsidized insurance policies, and even fewer found any fault with them.

Exploring Coffee's Past To Rescue Its Future

Dan Charles — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:57:00 +0000

At the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Education (CATIE) in Turrialba, Costa Rica, you can touch the history of coffee — and also, if the optimists have their way, part of its future.

Here, spread across 25 acres, are coffee trees that take you back to coffee's origins.

"The story starts in Africa, no? East Africa," says Eduardo Somarriba, a researcher at CATIE, as we walk through long rows of small coffee trees.

These trees came directly from forests in Africa.

Coffee For A Cause: What Do Those Feel-Good Labels Deliver?

Dan Charles — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:20:00 +0000

What does it take to find guilt-free coffee?

Much of our coffee comes from places where the environment is endangered and workers earn very little — sometimes, just a few dollars for a whole day's work. Coffee farmers have helped cut down tropical forests, and most of them use pesticides.

It doesn't take much effort, though, to find bags of coffee with labels that promise social and environmental improvements.

How Coffee Brings The World Together

Dan Charles — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:22:00 +0000

Coffee is more than a drink.

Fertilizer Shows Its Deadly Side

Dan Charles — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:06:00 +0000

My first reaction when I heard details of this week's deadly fertilizer explosion in Texas was horror.

My second thought was, "Maybe I shouldn't have pushed to change that headline."

National Geographic magazine just published in its May issue my article about how nitrogen fertilizer has shaped our planet.

As Promised: Obama Wants To Overhaul Global Anti-Hunger Efforts

Dan Charles — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:29:00 +0000

The White House unveiled its proposal Wednesday for drastic changes in government programs that donate food to fight hunger abroad — and surprised no one.

As we reported last week, rumors of such an overhaul had been circulating for weeks, arousing both hope and anger among organizations involved in global anti-hunger programs.

The rumors, it turns out, were largely on target — and the groups that previously had expressed

A Political War Brews Over 'Food For Peace' Aid Program

Dan Charles — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:11:00 +0000

Washington is awash in rumors this week that the White House is planning major changes in the way the U.S. donates food to fight hunger in some of the world's poorest countries.

It has set off an emotional debate. Both sides say they are trying to save lives.

America's policies on food aid are singularly generous — and also unusually selfish. On the generous side, the U.S.

Are Agriculture's Most Popular Insecticides Killing Our Bees?

Dan Charles — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:30:00 +0000

Environmentalists and beekeepers are calling on the government to ban some of the country's most widely used insect-killing chemicals.

The pesticides, called neonicotinoids, became popular among farmers during the 1990s. They're used to coat the seeds of many agricultural crops, including the biggest crop of all: corn.

Nation's Biggest Honey Packer Admits 'Laundering' Chinese Honey

Dan Charles — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:59:00 +0000

There was bombshell news from the world of honey two weeks ago, and somehow we missed it. Two big honey packers, including one of the largest in the country — Groeb Farms of Onsted, Mich.

In A Grain Of Golden Rice, A World Of Controversy Over GMO Foods

Dan Charles — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:59:00 +0000

There's a kind of rice growing in some test plots in the Philippines that's unlike any rice ever seen before. It's yellow.

Wild Bees Are Good For Crops, But Crops Are Bad For Bees

Dan Charles — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:58:00 +0000

Some of the most healthful foods you can think of — blueberries, cranberries, apples, almonds and squash — would never get to your plate without the help of insects. No insects, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.

Farmers who grow these crops often rely on honeybees to do the job.

Oxfam Gives Big Food Companies Bad Behavior Grades

Dan Charles — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:09:00 +0000

Do failing grades inspire more effort? Oxfam hopes so. The activist group on behalf of the poor has just handed out report cards to 10 of the world's top food companies, grading their commitments to protect the environment and treat people fairly.

Oxfam doesn't grade on the curve, evidently. Every company flunked.

Despite Lingering Drought, USDA Predicts A Flood Of Grain

Dan Charles — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:42:00 +0000

Economists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gazing into their crystal ball, see American farmers planting and harvesting huge amounts of corn, soybeans, and wheat this year. They're predicting a record harvest of corn: 14 billion bushels, up nearly 40 percent over last year's drought-crippled level.

With supply up, prices will fall. The USDA thinks that the price of the average bushel of corn could fall by a third.

Former Peanut Firm Executives Indicted Over 2009 Salmonella Outbreak

Dan Charles and Maria Godoy — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:16:00 +0000

Four former executives from Peanut Corp. of America and a related company are facing federal criminal charges for covering up information that their peanut butter was contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

The charges are related to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella back in 2009. More than 700 people became ill, and federal investigators traced the source of the bacteria to peanut butter manufactured in Blakely, Ga., by the Peanut Corp. of America.

Pictures Don't Lie: Corn And Soybeans Are Conquering U.S. Grasslands

Dan Charles — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:58:00 +0000

For years, I've been hearing stories about the changing agricultural landscape of the northern plains. Grasslands are disappearing, farmers told me. They're being replaced by fields of corn and soybeans.

This week, those stories got a big dose of scientific, peer-reviewed validation. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows actual pictures — derived from satellite data — of that changing landscape.

Farmer's Fight With Monsanto Reaches The Supreme Court

Dan Charles — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:28:00 +0000

This week, the Supreme Court will take up a classic David-and-Goliath case. On one side, there's a 75-year-old farmer in Indiana named Vernon Hugh Bowman; on the other, the agribusiness giant Monsanto.

The farmer is fighting the long reach of Monsanto's patents on seeds — but he's up against more than just Monsanto.

Why Russia Is Saying 'Nyet' To U.S. Meat Imports

Dan Charles — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:37:00 +0000

Chances are, you've never heard of ractopamine. But as of Monday, U.S. meat exports to Russia — worth $500 million dollars a year — have been suspended, all because of this obscure chemical.

Russian officials say American meat products won't be allowed into their country unless the meat is certified free of ractopamine.

Some U.S. meat producers add ractopamine to the feed that they give to their pigs, cattle or turkeys.

Pig Manure Reveals More Reason To Worry About Antibiotics

Dan Charles — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:30:00 +0000

There's a global campaign to force meat producers to rein in their use of antibiotics on pigs, chickens and cattle. European countries, especially Denmark and the Netherlands, have taken the lead. The U.S. is moving, haltingly, toward similar restrictions.

Gut Microbes May Play Deadly Role In Malnutrition

Dan Charles — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:18:00 +0000

There's a part of our body that's only now getting mapped: the trillions of microbes, mostly bacteria, that live in our guts.

Some scientists describe this community as a previously unnoticed vital organ.

Why Chicken Wings Dominate Super Bowl Snack Time

Dan Charles — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Take a look at this remarkable graph — is it the stock market? Home sales?

Nope. Click on the blue box in the lower right-hand corner and you'll see that the blue line tracks the number of chicken wings that Americans bought at grocery stores over the last year. See that mighty surge of wing-buying in early February?

How One Man Tried To Slim Down Big Soda From The Inside

Dan Charles — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:31:00 +0000

Many big food companies are caught in a dilemma these days.

Monsanto Lawyer Suggests New Standard For Suing Farmers

Dan Charles — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:04:00 +0000

For years, the biotech giant Monsanto has provoked outrage among its critics for suing farmers who save and replant seeds, such as soybeans and canola, from the company's patented Roundup Ready crops.

Some of that outrage is based on a decade-old case in Canada, in which a court ruled that a farmer, Percy Schmeiser, violated Monsanto's patents by plantin

Partial Victory Claimed Even As Farm Bill Reform Fails Again

Dan Charles — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:52:00 +0000

It's amazing how many different kinds of people have been trying to abolish or at least change the government's payments to farmers. They include economists, environmentalists, taxpayer advocates, global anti-hunger advocates and even a lot of farmers. Some have been fighting farm subsidies for the past 20 years.

This past year, those critics laid siege to offices on Capitol Hill because the law that authorizes these programs — the farm bill — was about to expire.

Farm Subsidies Face Big Battle In Congress

Dan Charles — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:41:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

The federal government does lots of things that free market economists don't like, but it does at least one thing that they really despise: subsidies for farmers. These subsidies were up for renewal last year and the battle over them ended on New Year's Eve in a stalemate.

Don't Fear That Expired Food

Dan Charles — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 08:22:00 +0000

Now that the Christmas feast is over, you may be looking at all the extra food you made, or the food that you brought home from the store that never even got opened.

And you may be wondering: How long can I keep this? What if it's past its expiration date? Who even comes up with those dates on food, anyway, and what do they mean?

Here's the short answer: Those "sell by" dates are there to protect the reputation of the food. They have very little to do with food safety.

Drought, Economics And Your Holiday Feast

Dan Charles — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:21:00 +0000

Nobody really wants to think about economics, the famously dismal science, while sitting down at a table loaded with love and calories. Like it or not, though, supply and demand drive food production and set the price of dinner.

So, in a season of feasts, what are the business stories on your holiday menu?

The big one is last summer's drought and its slow, rolling impact on food prices. If you recall, the Midwest suffered through one of the worst droughts in half a century.

Big Food And The Big, Silent Salt Experiment

Dan Charles — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:02:00 +0000

Have you noticed, perhaps, that some of your store-bought salad dressings or spaghetti sauces taste a little less salty lately?

Probably not. The companies that make those products are doing their best to keep you from noticing.

The Paradox And Mystery Of Our Taste For Salt

Dan Charles — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 08:28:00 +0000

Salt is one of those dangerously tasty substances. We add the magical crystals of sodium chloride to almost everything that we cook or bake, and according to many public health experts, we add too much.

They want us to cut back, to lower our risk of heart attacks or strokes.

Yet when you really start looking for ways to do this, you run into a paradox and a scientific puzzle.

First, the paradox.