5@5: Climate change upends growing seasons | American net farm income hits five-year high
Each day at 5 p.m. we collect the five top food and supplement headlines of the day, making it easy for you to catch up on today's most important natural products industry news.
November 13, 2019
In California, farmers are facing sunburned apples and frozen greens
Increasingly unpredictable fluctuations in temperature and precipitation has California's farmers in panic mode. Fruits and vegetables are ripening at different times of the year now, which means that small organic that farmers who avoid monocropping are somewhat better able to handle this new normal. On the flip side, commercial growers have begun spraying chemical protectants that can shield their fruit from some forms of extreme weather. Read more at New Food Economy…
Government bailouts are the only thing bringing farm incomes up
News regarding unpredictable weather, trade wars and a pressurized commodity market might lead one to assume that American net farm income would be down in 2019–but that's completely wrong. In fact, it's forecast to reach a five-year high. The reason? According to one senior economist, the Trump administration's trade policy on the farm economy is "distorting natural outcomes" by giving immense sums of government money and high insurance payments to farmers. Read more at Civil Eats…
Instacart customers and workers are revolting against the app
Following a three-day strike last week, Instacart's employees and customers are banding together against the company's latest "act of intimidation and retaliation." Instacart eliminated a bonus fee that can account for as much as 40% of workers' pay, and as a result most of its workers are now making less than minimum wage. Read more at Vice…
Food addictions are real addictions–and more and more people are getting hooked
Compulsive eating can easily become a full-blown addiction, and in some ways an unhealthy dependency on food is harder to shirk than an addiction to real drugs. This is largely because food is a necessary part of everyone's life and common additives including sugar, fat and salt can trigger addictive behavior. Read more at Time…
Vodka made from captured carbon dioxide? That's the spirit
Air Company has discovered a way to turn waste gases from beverage manufacturing plants that would otherwise pollute the air into vodka–and vodka's just the beginning, according to the company's CEO Gregory Constantine. Carbon upcycling is on the rise, and products that "can turn carbon from a liability to an asset can play a really critical role" in meeting climate goals. Read more at Grist…
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