Pasture-Raised Dairy: Policy Considerations

While the sale of raw milk is the hot topic in the news these days, a far more important debate is ongoing in the dairy industry. Should the movement toward concentrated dairy operations be continued, or would a return to pasture-raised dairy production, improved through modern scientific research, offer better returns and environmental benefits? Daniel Klein's Pasture-Raised Dairy post on the HuffPost Food Blog offers an insightful interview with Dr. Francis Thicke.


The Perennial Plate Extras: Interview with Francis Thicke from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

Tilapia: The flip side of the perfect factory fish

Tilapia is traditionally regarded as the fish in the biblical story of Jesus feeding a multitude of five thousand. The question is the price we pay for farmed tilapia as part of the contemporary food supply. It is fish, to be sure, but it doesn't offer the same nutritional value as species far richer in omega 3 fatty acids. Tilapia is also one of the world's most destructively invasive fish species. What makes tilapia so destructive is its rapid feeding and growth cycle and its adaptability to a wide variety of habitats. Those are also the perfect traits for a factory fish.

As global aquaculture in tilapia booms, the words of Danilo Sosa, a technician with Nicanor Fish Farms in Nicaragua, bear remembering: “Nature is for maintaining species; what we do is make fillets.”

Osama Bin Laden - Pioneer Of Bioterrorism

It appears that Osama bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011.  Among his nefarious "accomplishments", bin Laden was the first internationally prominent proponent of bioterrorism. Worries about the deliberate misuse of biological agents have prompted the United States Federal government to set up new anti-bioterrorism facilities, such as the Center for Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Disease, to be located in Kansas.  Despite the demise of bin Laden, the threat of bioterrorism is likely to remain firmly fixed both in the public consciousness and in the wishlists of terrorists.

More agricultural law at LEXVIVO.