Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm and Resource Issues articles from March 2001

Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm and Resource Issues archives from March 2001

DOUBLY ENDANGERED SPECIES.(habitat policy needs changing)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... In a soon-to-be-published article, Zhang and lick say, "Of the vast majority of endangered species that have some or [all of] their... habitat on private lands, the likelihood of their thriving there is not bright if the current policy is not...

INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MARKETS.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Richard T. Rogers at the University of Massachusetts says, "The American food system continues to consolidate and industrialize as consumers splinter into more segments and technology allows catering to the diversity of demands while retaining...

THE VALUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE.(importance of corporate investing in environment)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... Konar and Cohen write that, "The primary objective of [our] study is to explore the relationship between firm-level environmental performance and [the value of] intangible assets. After controlling for the effect of a number of variables on...

THE RURAL HOSPITAL.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Sharon Avery, executive director of the California Health Care's Rural Healthcare Center says, "The hospital tends to be the No. 1 employer in a small community in terms of numbers of people that it employs -- and it's an attraction for...

CONVERTING TO ORGANIC.(agricultural industry research, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... O'Riordan and Cobb say, "So far we have sought to calculate the comparative environmental burdens associated with organic and non-organic agriculture. The best guess is a differential in favour of the organic farm of some [pound]15 to [pound]25...

ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE AND WOOL.(economic policy failure in textile industry, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Richardson says: "Agricultural economists cannot entirely escape a share of the blame for large-scale policy failure in the wool industry and some appear to have contributed to it. People who were prominent members of the profession at some...

UTOPIAN VISIONS.(developing countries joining the world economy)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... Dani Rodrik says, "Joining the world economy is no longer a matter simply of dismantling barriers to trade and investment. Countries must also comply with a long list of admission requirements, from new patent rules to more rigorous banking...

CHOICES APOLOGIZES.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
March 22, 2001... The cover of the First Quarter 2001 issue of CHOICES should have included a photo of Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), at that time Chairman, now ranking Republican member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry . Through...

Agricultural Development Assistance In the New Millennium.(economic infrastructure and developing countries)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2001... In a world of increasing global trade, falling world grain prices, 800 million chronically hungry people, and a world awash in grain, it seems self-evident that redistribution of food, not more food production is needed. Why continue...

Purpose and Necessity in Science Policy and Public Opinion.(cows and ethics)
March 22, 2001... What's the purpose of innovations such as BST and biotech crops? Are they necessary? Uncertainty regarding purpose and necessity drives food-related public health scares. While much attention has been devoted to the controversy over GMOs...

Hit or Miss?(federal aid to farmers)
March 22, 2001... Congress approved emergency supplemental payments to farmers in 1998, 1999, and 2000. Were they prudent responses to unusually tough times, or do they signal a fundamental flaw in current farm policy? government payments have long been...

Carbon.(environmental aspects)
March 22, 2001... The next big cash crop? With the release of the Intergovernmental-Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) revised forecast predicting even greater global warming effects than previously believed, the interest in methods to reduce the atmospheric...

The Law of Unintended Consequences.(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... The FAIR Act was to introduce market-driven efficiencies to farming. Did it introduce policy-driven inefficiencies instead -- or is it a matter of perspective? The Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR) eliminated...

Grapnicauy Speaking.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... Research Expenditures by Science Area in Agriculture and Natural Resources The CRIS data base tracks research expenditures for agricultural experiment stations, forestry labs and veterinarian schools at the U.S. Land Grant Universities....

BRANDED BEEF IS IT "What's for Dinner?".(marketing beef)
March 22, 2001... SOME BEEF PRODUCERS ARE BEGINNING TO ATTEMPT TO DIFFERENTIATE THEIR PRODUCTS IN ORDER TO COMMAND PRICE PREMIUMS. WILL THE MONEY BUY IT? Beef is an oddity in today's grocery stores. Most consumers do not know where the product came from or...

Public research universities and the preivate sector: Engine of Economic Growth... Or Captive of Special Interests?(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... The relationship between public universities, taxpayer-supported research, and the private sector is undergoing profound change. Universities are entering into agreements with private firms. Examples include the UC-Berkeley/Novartis agreement...

Harnessing the Internet for Farmers.(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... The Internet is transforming the marketplace for goods and services. But Internet access among farmers has lagged behind other sectors. INTERNET ACCESS by farmers was only 13 percent in 1997 and 29 percent in 1999 (Figure 1). The...

BSE Anatomy of A Crisis.(bovine spongiform encephalopathy)(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... Around 180,000 cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease," have been confirmed in cattle since it was first identified in 1986 in Great Britain. Making matters worse, in 1996 BSE was linked to an invariably fatal...

Abandoned Products and Consumer Waste: How DID THAT GET INTO THE PANTRY?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2001... Nearly everyone is guilty of purchasing grocery products they never use. The money and effort spent on these products is not trivial -- we have found that 12 percent of the grocery products we purchase are never used and are wasted (Wansink,...

Fast Food Nation.(Review)
March 22, 2001... by Eric Schlosser. Published by Houghton Muffin Co., New York, 2001. 288 pages. $25.00. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser doesn't just settle for writing a book about fast food. His book is fast food. Begun as a magazine article,...