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Animal rights activists are behind the burning of cattle trucks at the Harris Ranch truck lot early Sunday, according to a statement from the purported arsonists. The statement, released Monday, describes how the fire, which heavily damaged 14 tractors and several trailers, was set and says the attack was aimed at "the horrors of factory farming." Spokeswoman Nicoal R. Sheen of the Animal Liberation Press Office, which released the statement, said the office doesn't take part in illegal actions but distributes communiqués from those who do. Fresno County sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said detectives are looking into the claim. He...

You can now add peanut butter, a long-time recession staple food item, to the list of things that "the 99 percent" may no longer be able to afford. Thanks to droughts, the price of peanut butter has gone up from $450 a ton to $1,150 a ton in just one year and now peanut butter makers are about to pass on the increased costs to consumers. The Wall Street Journal reports that wholesale prices for Jif are going up 30 percent beginning in November. Peter Pan will increase its prices by as much as 24 percent in a couple of...

The head of the world's biggest food company Nestle said on Friday that rising food prices have created conditions "similar" to 2008 when hunger riots took place in many countries. "The situation is similar (to 2008). This has become the new reality," the Swiss giant's chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe told the Salzburger Nachrichten daily in his native Austria in an interview. "We have reached a level of food prices that is substantially higher than before. It will likely settle down at this level. "If you live in a developing country and spend 80 percent of your income on food then of...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told members of the National Restaurant Association on Monday that Americans need to “adjust” their tastes so that they like the kind of food the government believes they should eat—and “we have to make sure that what we do is create the appropriate transition.”

… Beef, veal, pork, eggs and such dairy products as butter, milk and cheese have seen the biggest increases in the past year, said Richard Volpe, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The price of groceries rose 5.4 percent from July 2010 to this July, according to the USDA's latest report. ... Now the rising cost of energy, the weaker dollar and growing global food demand are driving the price. Beef and veal prices are expected to increase as much as 8 percent this year, with pork projected to go up as much as 7.5 percent. Beef prices...

Food and stability in North Korea Deprive and rule Why does North Korea’s dictatorship remain so entrenched despite causing such hunger and misery? Sep 17th 2011 | SEOUL | IF NOBODY else, at least Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s leader, appears to have found something to fill his belly with during the annual Chuseok harvest festival in North Korea this week. “His face beaming with a smile,” as his propaganda machine put it, he dropped into a shop in Pyongyang selling pancakes stuffed with meat. Outside the capital there are few such treats. Much of the rest of the country...

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) – You may see fewer peanuts on grocery store shelves this year and will likely pay more for peanut butter. The US Department of Agriculture estimates this year's peanut crop could be 13 percent smaller than last year's because many farmers in Georgia and Texas have lost their crops to dry and hot weather conditions. Many farmers in our area believe the demand for peanuts could help the local economy, despite also suffering a loss. Some peanut butter companies have already raise their prices by a least 50 cents.

When someone says “survival food preps” or “stockpiling survival food“, what do you think of? Do you think of tons of dried rice and beans stored in mylar bags? How about a basement full of #10 cans, does that come to mind? Or is it a combination of several things? When I was thinking of writing an article about survival food preps, the first thing that popped into my head was – MREs, canned goods and garden seeds. But where does perishable goods fit into that narrow picture? For the first week or so people are going to be eating...

The severe drought started in Texas and now ranges up to southeast Iowa. Hay sought by farmers and ranchers for their cattle, and by homesteaders and horse lovers. Those people who have a horse or two or a handful of cattle, goats, or sheep are suffering as bad as the large producers. Why? Small hay bales that used to be $3.00 are selling for up to $9.50 in southeast Iowa. Large bales are well over $100.00 in places.

It is possible to create jobs, have healthier diets and improve the local economy by re-birthing local agriculture on small plots of land. Each pound of lettuce or eggs or beef shipped from California, Latin America or Mexico raises our dependency on foreign oil. And buying food from far away costs us jobs locally. Some communities have figured out a new path forward that fixes all that. North Carolina’s Rutherford County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Yet some 6,000 families own between 5 and 20 acres of land, and chefs in nearby Charlotte are in...

Double Red Alert Posted by Ann Barnhardt - June 24, AD 2011 9:01 AM MST Two HUGE intel leads in my email box this morning from way-back contacts that I've had for years, that are actually somewhat connected concepts. 1. File this one under "Now It All Makes Sense". A Missouri farming and ranching contact just got off a conference call wherein he was informed that the federal government is sending out letters to all of the flooded out farmers in the Missouri River flood plain and bottoms notifying them that the Army Corps of Engineers will offer to BUY...

HAVRE — Wet weather has left wheat crops in north-central Montana vulnerable to fungal diseases, officials say. Hill County Extension Agent Joe Broesder said the main battle is with stripe rust fungal infection, but tan spot and powdery mildew are also prevalent. "If the weather would straighten out, it would help with the others," Broesder said told the Havre Daily News. Arleen Rice of Taylor Aviation said the company has had to bring in more planes for aerial spraying. "You can walk out in the fields right now and the bottom of your boots turn red," she said. "We have...

The world grain inventories were already depleted from truly terrible weather in 2010. Now we are seeing even worse weather so far this year. China is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years. The government says this weather is decimating a major grain belt, and it is leaving livestock without water. Fish farms have been ruined. Who knows the long term effects? More than 4.3M people are having trouble finding drinking water. Actually this last is a much bigger problem throughout China, which has a long term drinking water problem. The Chinese have released extra water from the Three Gorges...

he Obama Administration is getting ready to ditch the Food Pyramid, a symbol of healthy eating for the last two decades. In its place, officials are "dishing up" a simple, plate-shaped symbol, sliced into wedges for basic food groups and half-filled with fruits and vegetables. Beside the plate is a smaller circle for dairy, suggesting a glass of low-fat milk or perhaps a yogurt cup. The revised pyramid is part of the administration's crusade against obesity, led by first lady Michelle Obama.

With drought threatening food production in the EU, US and China, analysts at Renaissance Capital believe the next 8-10 weeks will be crucial to prices in 2011 and 2012. “The food price threat for 2011-2012 is very significant, but may disappear in August. It depends entirely on the weather over May to July,” said Renaissance Capital’s Charles Robertson. “If we do not get the right mix of rain and sun in the coming 8-10 weeks, then later this year we will see record price levels for the most important cereal in the world today – corn,” he said. If this...

The Mississippi River has topped a levee north of Lake Providence in extreme northeast Louisiana, flooding croplands as an effort by farmers to shore up the 100-year-old structure was thwarted by the rising river. About 12,000 acres behind the 18-mile-long levee, mostly planted in corn and soybeans, were flooding Thursday morning though no homes appeared to be in danger in the thinly populated area. Maintenance on the levee was abandoned years ago after another, higher levee was built farther back off the river.

Tiny downstate Cairo, already battling the still-rising Ohio and Mississippi rivers, has been drawn into a controversial flood-relief plan that could put thousands of acres of farmland in neighboring Missouri under water. The plan calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to burst a Mississippi River levee to provide relief to little Cairo, population 2,800, as well as relief for a series of pumping stations, flood walls and levees. But the relief action will trigger flooding in southeastern Missouri, as opening the levee will allow water to flow over some 130,000 acres of Missouri land, mostly farms. The state...

(snip) What triggered the upswing? In part: ethanol. President George W. Bush "came forward with—what do you call?—the edict that we were going to mandate 36 billion gallons of alternative fuels" by 2022, of which corn-based ethanol is "a substantial part." Companies that blend ethanol into fuel get a $5 billion annual tax credit, and there's a tariff to keep foreign producers out of the U.S. market. Now 40% of the corn crop is "directed to ethanol, which equals the amount that's going into livestock food," Mr. Pope calculates. (snip) Food price inflation isn't a problem confined to America's shores....

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - A federal judge is giving the go-ahead to the Army Corps of Engineers' plan to intentionally break a Mississippi River levee in southeastern Missouri. The break could happen as early as this weekend to spare a flood-threatened Illinois town just upriver. Friday's ruling in Cape Girardeau turns back Missouri's bid to block the corps from blasting a hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, just south of Cairo, Ill. Missouri argued the floodwaters would ruin farmland and damage about 100 homes.

A surge in global food prices has prompted fresh criticism of US subsidies for ethanol, which diverts massive amounts of corn from global food supplies for energy. Senators Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, and Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, introduced a measure last month to scrap the tax credit of 45 cents per gallon for ethanol in gasoline. "The ethanol tax credit is bad economic policy, bad energy policy and bad environmental policy. The $6 billion we waste every year on corporate welfare should instead stay in taxpayers' pockets where it can be used to spur innovation, stimulate growth...

To those who think that buying food in the corner deli is becoming a luxury, we have five words: you ain't seen nuthin' yet. U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. operations warned Wednesday talking to USA Today. And if Wal-Mart which is at the very bottom of commoditized consumer retail, and at the very peak of avoiding reexporting of US inflation by way of China is concerned, it may be time to panic, or at least cancel those plane tickets to Zimbabwe, which is soon coming...

Look out! From Huggies diapers to Nike shoes, Americans are about to get less bang for their buck on some of the biggest brands. This week, paper-products maker Kimberly-Clark announced plans to raise prices on diapers and toilet paper later this summer. Nike said it would increase prices on their shoes. And food companies Kraft, Smuckers and Heinz recently announced price hikes on some of their brands. "The increases are necessary to offset inflationary pressure from higher raw material and energy costs," Kimberly-Clark (KMB, Fortune 500) said in a press release. Huggies diapers and Pull-Ups prices will rise by 3%...

Terror threats appear to be on the rise as FEMA has rushed a $1 Billion order of dehydrated food in the event of attacks on domestic targets in the US. This is also coming on the heels of one of the largest terror drills performed by the US Navy on American soil, as Operation Solid Curtain is taking place this week. In an article Tuesday from the Beaufort Observer, many of the largest suppliers of dehydrated foods in the country are dropping their distributors and customers to dedicate their resources to supplying a billion dollar FEMA request and purchase.

Ugh. Hong Kong's English daily South China Morning Post has a distinctly unsavory dispatch from the Chinese media this morning: Government scientists have released research that millions of acres of Chinese agricultural land and over 12 million tons of Chinese grain are contaminated by toxic metal pollution, according to this week's edition of the China Economic Weekly, a state-run magazine. Last week, a separate article reported that 10% of Chinese rice contained excess cadmium, a heavy metal known to cause cancer.

Here's an announcement to its customers that I'm told came directly from Sysco Foods. ALL OF OUR GROWERS HAVE INVOKED THE ACT OF GOD CLAUSE ON OUR CONTRACTS (Force majuere) DUE TO THE FOLLOWING RELEASE. WE WILL BE CONTACTING YOU PERSONALLY TO REVIEW HOW THIS WILL AFFECT OUR CONTRACTED ITEMS WITH YOU GOING FORWARD. THE DEVASTATING FREEZE IN MEXICO IS WORST FREEZE IN OVER 50 YEARS... THE EXTREME FREEZING TEMPERATURES HIT A VERY BROAD SECTION OF MAJOR GROWING REGIONS IN MEXICO, FROM HERMOSILLO IN THE NORTH ALL THE WAY SOUTH TO LOS MOCHIS AND EVEN SOUTH OF CULIACAN. THE EARLY...

The company reported Thursday that price increases it made to cope with higher ingredient costs are not going to be enough to sustain its profitability and it plans further hikes this year

World food prices rose to an all-time high in January, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO's Food Price Index measures the cost of a basket of basic food supplies -- sugar, cereals, dairy, oils and fats and meat -- across the globe. The index rose by 3.4% in January -- the seventh monthly increase in a row -- to its highest level since records began in 1990. The cost of sugar, cereals, dairy and oils and fats all went up last month, while meat prices remained steady. FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian said high prices were...

U.S. cattle and hog futures are expected to hit record highs this year, a Reuters Polls showed, setting the stage for less meat on the dining table. The expected higher prices could make it harder for many countries to tamp down surging inflation and calm citizens angered by record high food prices. Already, there have been riots and protests in some North African countries. Grain prices have been forecast to remain stubbornly high as well this year, with two straight years of high prices seen as the latest sign in the end of cheap food. "There is going to be...

U.S. cereal giant Kellogg Co. said it would raise prices 3 percent in 2011, the same increase it reported for its profits in 2010. Fourth-quarter profits rose 7 percent over the third quarter and annual profits were up 3 percent, The Detroit News reported Friday. Revenues for the year dropped 1 percent to $12.4 billion. John Bryant, the company's new chief executive officer, said Kellogg would raise prices due to the rising cost of commodities. "The price increases are merely passing on a portion of those higher costs," he said.

I know that there are some Freepers who buy from Honeyville Grains, so have any of you brought Honeyville Meals? [IMG]http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/images/products/display/84%20SERVING%20Grab%20and%20Go.jpg[/IMG] http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/84servingfoodbucket.aspx They are on sale right now for $159.99 and with the present %10 coupon that would make it $144.00. That's just a bit less than $1.75 a meal!

I got this e-mail today from Honeyville Farms: As many of you know we have been out of stock on our #10 cans of Powdered Whole Eggs and Egg Whites for about 3 months. This has been as a result of working with the USDA on plant and label approval with new stricter requirements with respect to eggs. We've endured numerous delays and setbacks throughout the process. About a week ago we had received approval to begin Production. We did so and even had product on UPS trailers ready to be picked up. We got a call from the USDA...

"Two hundred years ago, this was prairie covered with six-foot-high switchgrass. Winnebago Indians lived here, and then white settlers … Now 50 wind turbines that were erected over the winter and the (VeraSun) ethanol plant, have brought new energy to a town that long lived off the ground God created with glaciers, and laid down here."

Events have moved briskly since a Tunisian fruit vendor set fire to himself six weeks ago, and thereby lit the fuse that has detonated Egypt and threatens to topple the political order of the Maghreb, Yemen, and beyond. As Al-Jazeera broadcasts authority crumbling in the cultural and political capital of the Arab world, exhilaration can turn quickly to foreboding. Whatever the aspirations of those on the streets of Cairo, such uprisings are easy prey for tight-knit organizations – known in the revolutionary lexicon as Leninist vanguard parties. In Egypt this means the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is a different kettle...

Rocketing prices of fruit juice in commodity markets could soon make apple and orange juice an unaffordable "luxury," a trade publication says. The Grocer magazine says a series of bad harvests from Florida to China, combined with increased demand from Asian countries, has pushed the price of orange and apple juices up on the world market, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Friday. Industry experts say prices could increase by as much as 80 per cent for orange juice and 60 per cent for apple juice in 2011, the newspaper said. In the past year, the price of a one-quart carton of...

[T]he company said it expects food cost will rise 2 to 2.5 percent in the U.S. and 3.5 to 4.5 percent in Europe during the year. McDonald's has already raised some prices in the United Kingdom to cover higher costs. The company said as prices for beef and other ingredients and other cost pressures in the U.S. become more pronounced throughout the year, it will likely increase prices to offset some, but not all, of its higher costs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four previously abundant species of bumblebee are close to disappearing in the United States, researchers reported Monday in a study confirming that the agriculturally important bees are being affected worldwide. They documented a 96 percent decline in the numbers of the four species, and said their range had shrunk by as much as 87 percent. As with honeybees, a pathogen is partly involved, but the researchers also found evidence of inbreeding caused by habitat loss. We provide incontrovertible evidence that multiple Bombus species have experienced sharp population declines at the national level," the researchers reported in the...

“I hate to be an alarmist, but I have to tell you: there is a time for urgency, and the time is right now.” That’s how Kevin Murphy, founder and owner of Food-Chain Communications LLC (truthinfood.com), prefaced his remarks to cattlemen attending last month’s Feeding Quality Forum in Grand Island, Neb., and Amarillo, Texas. Murphy says production and economic issues won’t matter if agriculture is regulated out of business by the activist groups that he says are leading “an attack on agriculture that is literally unrelenting.

Wikileaks continues to rock the political world by shedding light on conspiracies, corruption and cover-ups. The latest batch of diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks reveals what can only be characterized as a U.S.-led conspiracy to force GMOs onto European countries by making those countries pay a steep price if they resist. The cable reveals the words of Craig Stapleton, the US ambassador to France, who was pushing the commercial interests of the biotech industry by attempting to force GMOs into France. In his own words (below), he expresses his frustration with the idea that France might pass environmental laws that...

The Shelbyville chief of police and a former Tyson employee confirmed that threatening messages surfaced this week, leading to extra security at the plant. "A couple days ago, they had a terrorist threat that was written on the bathroom walls that said 'all Americans must die,'" said a woman, who said she wanted to remain anonymous to protect her relative, who works inside the plant. She said that she didn't see the writing herself but is aware of what's going on from others. "One day last week, someone set the women's bathroom on fire, and they finally put a security...

Exclusive: The Dept. of Homeland Security Uncovered a Plot to Attack Hotels and Restaurants Over a Single Weekend In this exclusive story, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports the latest terror attack to America involves the possible use of poisons - simultaneous attacks targeting hotels and restaurants at many locations over a single weekend. A key Intelligence source has confirmed the threat as "credible." Department of Homeland Security officials, along with members of the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, have briefed a small group of corporate security officers from the hotel and restaurant industries about it. "We...

For the first time since 2008, inflation is hitting consumers in the stomach. Grocery prices grew by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation this year, outpaced only by costs of transportation and medical care, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists predict that this is only the beginning. Fueled by the higher costs of wheat, sugar, corn, soybeans and energy, shoppers could see as much as a 4 percent increase at the supermarket checkout next year.

The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists. The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that...

$1.6 Billion and 18,000 additional government employees for S.510, the Food Safety bill, are up for a vote in the Senate any time within the next 60 days. S.510 is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation thus far. Since 2008, the Obama administration has increased the FDA budget by 135% to an astounding $4.03 Billion and yet Senators want to add another $1.6 Billion and double the number of employees. Why? Is our government trying to institute fascist control over our nation’s food supply? You decide. “If accepted, [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own,...

I am posting this thread to see if Freepers can help break down Senate Bill 510. The original bill was 266 pages and full of legalese. I have been rallying friends, family and Facebook friends to call/email/fax the RINOs who are supporting this bill, but I am getting tons of questions about it. (Why is it so bad?) I can answer some, but I need help. I naturally gravitate to FR for answers. Could I get some help breaking it down into laymen terms? Perhaps some of you could help with the most damaging items using bullet points about the...

# Preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes. # It will more than likely make Michael Taylor (mentioned above) the Food Czar. # End U.S. sovereignty over its own food supply by forcing compliance with WTO guidelines.

It’s worse than your kids at the dinner table: the battle over food safety has gotten worse after the Senate voted to move forward on the bill Wednesday. With a 74-25 vote on the motion to begin debate, passage has all but cleared for the bill, which would impose significant regulations on big and small businesses in the food production industry. A complicated reconciliation process would have to take place in order for the bill to be sent to the President’s desk, but those will be addressed by the end of the week. One of the major hurdles – even...

Introduced by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the bill has moved through the usual phases of amalgamation and deal-making. The monstrosity advancing to the floor on Wednesday is not so much "food safety" as it is the decadence of the rights of small farmers, hobbyist food producers, garden-variety farmers markets, and your average small producer of foodstuffs. Under the rubric of safety, this Senate proposes a bill that establishes such new and sweeping powers over how you and I produce and consume foodstuffs that even the Pew Charitable Trusts are calling S510 a clear and present danger.

Plans to make European motorists use more biofuels could take an area the size of Ireland out of food production by 2020 and accelerate climate change, a study has found. The report by the independent Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is based on plans that countries have submitted to the EU detailing how they intend to meet their legal requirement to include 10% of renewable energy in all transport fuels by 2020. IEEP calculations suggest that the indirect effect of the switch will be to take between 4.1m and 6.9m hectares out of food production. In addition, say the...

Think fast: What ingredients were in the gasoline you bought last time you filled up your tank? Pure gasoline? A mix of gasoline and ethanol? What percentage of each? The one thing for sure is you probably didn't buy diesel, since you'd still be at the gasoline station, waiting for a tow truck, if you had. Chances are, the gasoline you bought was 10 percent ethanol, a fuel derived from corn. Ethanol reduces fuel economy and damages engine components. Your car would run better and more efficiently with pure gasoline, and its engine would last longer. It also would pollute...

The Obama administration wants to boost the amount of corn shoved into the gas tank of newer cars by 50 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made this happen on Wednesday by giving partial approval to E15, an automotive fuel blend containing 15 percent ethanol. This dirty deal will enrich the major ethanol producers represented by Growth Energy while impoverishing taxpayers and anyone else who cares about clean air. Technically, the agency only approved a waiver allowing the sale of E15 for vehicles from model year 2007 and later, but don't be fooled by this incremental approach. The EPA is...