Mariwrites

What happens in the Colorado River basin affects every aspect of life in the Southwest. Send your questions.

Starve the poors! Between malnutrition and no vaccines, they won't have to worry about Social Security and Medicare in a couple decades.

Sustainability, Inc. Big food corporations are funding cover crops across the Midwest — on their own terms.

Does corporate America really embrace sustainability? Only if it makes them money, of course. But is that a bad thing? ambrook.com/offrange/per...

Saguaro

Looking forward to seeing you at Changing Hands next week!

Needed to look this up last night to get the precise language of one of my favorite Toni Morrison quotes:

"There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal."

It’s one thing for a journalist who doesn’t cover ag to not know USDA prohibits the use of hormones in pork production, but it’s inexcusable for the Secretary of Agriculture to be so ag illiterate.

USDA cancels $1B in local food purchasing for schools, food banks States have been notified that they will not receive 2025 funding for schools to buy food from nearby farms.

Not surprising, but pretty devastating for local farmers, school districts, and food banks. tinyurl.com/5b6etxmt

🤦🤦🤦

Next time you fly, smile and be kind to the crew and your flight attendants…maybe even say “thank you”.

Imagine part of your job description being to stay calm, and save an entire plane full of scared people.

They deserve a lot of respect and love. #Delta4819

Nutrition advice is rife with misinformation − a medical education specialist explains how to tell valid health information from pseudoscience It’s easy to get caught up in the promise of quick health fixes, but they are generally too good to be true.

Disinformation about food and health is only going to get worse in this chaotic and bizarro time, especially if all of our research scientists and doctors are muzzled. tinyurl.com/9yde9xtz

How MAHA poisons the food movement RFK Jr. could make legitimate critiques of the ways we grow and process food appear crackpot.

One of the many dangers of RFK Jr. running HHS. tinyurl.com/4jm7vxp2

Yes, Osprey's lifetime warranty has made me a customer for life. And in 15 years of using their stuff, this is the only problem I've ever had.

I love their bags and packs. And their customer service is great. I had a seam come apart (totally my fault for overpacking), sent it back to them, and they repaired it and got it back to me in about three weeks. They're a truly excellent company.

States Resist Agricultural Labor Protections While Relying on Temporary Workers - Ambrook Research As the use of H-2A guest worker visas has skyrocketed, so has resistance to regulations that would protect this workforce.

Between 2017 and 2022, farmer demand for foreign farmworkers increased by almost 65%. But as demand has skyrocketed, so has resistance to regulations that would protect this vulnerable workforce.

New from @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social:
ambrook.com/research/lab...

How Honeycrisp Apples Went From Marvel to Mediocre An investigation into the Honeycrisp apple and how a complex string of events led to a decline in the quality of a beloved apple variety.

A cautionary tale about how industrial agriculture can turn even the best varieties of produce into flavorless, unappealing commodities. RIP, Honey Crisp. tinyurl.com/ymu2s5xy

A 138-year-old Colorado newspaper asked readers if it was worth saving. They resoundingly said yes. Weeks before closing, The Plainsman Herald owner Kent Brooks asked readers if the Colorado weekly was worth saving. Their response changed his mind.

Nearly five months ago, the owner of The Plainsman Herald in southeastern Colorado told readers he planned to close the longstanding newspaper.

But he left the door open to reconsider if something changed — and it did

An under-the-radar battle is the House Agriculture Committee.
Current Dem leader, David Scott, is 79 and in ill health.
Jim Costa, one challenger, is 72 (!) and has been pro-Big Ag throughout his career.
Angie Craig, 52, offers a new approach.
prospect.org/politics/202...

Op-Ed | The World’s Desert Farmers and Chefs Can Guide the U.S. into a Braised New World – Food Tank A timid approach to addressing the climate crisis that lacks adaptation strategies will hurt, not help, farmers in the long run.

From my friend Gary Paul Nabhan regarding food production in a hotter world. tinyurl.com/38bteyx4

What really happened after California raised its minimum wage to $20 for fast food workers What would happen to the fast food industry if it had to pay its workers something closer to a living wage?

As stunning as it may seem, paying people an almost living wage didn't destroy the fast food industry in California. tinyurl.com/mura9umr

Food, family and community define Thanksgiving for Indigenous restaurateur Ben Jacobs “I am about what it represents. It’s one of my mother's favorite holidays. Where we come from, food is really important, community is really important. For us, it's incorporating our foods into what w...

In this week of giving thanks, I'm grateful for Indigenous chefs who share their food traditions with the rest of us. The buffalo ribs at Tocabe are so good! tinyurl.com/y9kan9xy

What is Wolverine Packing Co.? What to know after 160,000 pounds of ground beef recalled Wolverine Packing Co., the company at the heart of a current E. coli recall, supplies over 250 meat brands with familiar names like Tyson.

160,000 pounds of ground beef have been recalled nationwide due to possible E. coli contamination.

The recall covers over 100 products and numerous brands, all processed by one meat packer.

Monopolization makes our food more expensive and leaves us vulnerable to health risks.

US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations.

U.S. farmers want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.
www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2...

Bird flu found in raw milk sold at Bay Area grocery stores California agriculture officials confirmed Sunday that avian influenza, or bird flu, was detected in raw milk produced by a Fresno County facility.

Please stay away from raw milk unless you're the one milking the cow by hand. And maybe even then. tinyurl.com/4w3b52xy

Better than cow patties.

Beef jerky is just cow raisins.

Why the Election Has the Specialty Cheese Industry Bracing for Disaster Tariffs, MAHA, and more.

If you enjoy cheese or dairy, or even eating for that matter, here's a good analysis of what could be coming from my colleague Alexandra Jones. tinyurl.com/29h7wacw

The question of the hour. I feel like we're all on the roller coaster to hell.

It’s the little things that start pulling us back together when we’ve been torn apart. Baby steps.