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"bio": "\u003ca href=\"http://www.sarahhenrywriter.com/\">Sarah Henry\u003c/a> hails from Sydney, Australia, where she grew up eating lamingtons, Vegemite, and prawns (not shrimp) on the barbie (barbecue). Sarah has called the Bay Area home for the past two decades and remembers how delighted she was when a modest farmers' market sprouted in downtown San Francisco years ago. As a freelance writer Sarah has covered local food people, places, politics, culture, and news for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Latina-entrepreneurs-share-wealth-knowledge-2693764.php\">San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/food-wine/ci_21619882/good-eggs-pie-subscriptions-and-seafood-deliveries\">San Jose Mercury News\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/fall-2011-good-fight/justice%E2%80%94and-good-grub%E2%80%94-all\">California\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.diablomag.com/Diablo-Magazine/November-2012/Artisan-Eats/\">Diablo\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ediblecommunities.com/eastbay/fall-2012/school-lunch-20.htm\">Edible East Bay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ediblecommunities.com/marinandwinecountry/summer-2012-issue-14/getting-wild-at-a-west-marin-supper-club.htm\">Edible Marin & Wine Country\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>. A contributor to the national food policy site \u003ca href=\"http://civileats.com/\">Civil Eats\u003c/a>, her stories have also appeared in \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/sarah-henry/\">The Atlantic\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.afar.com/highlights/kamal-mouzawaks-beirut-lebanon\">AFAR\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/5207-a-family-tied-together-by-apron-strings\">Gilt Taste\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.lhj.com/community/your-stories/whats-for-dinner-dude/?page=1\">Ladies' Home Journal\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://grist.org/author/sarah-henry/\">Grist\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.shareable.net/users/sarah-henry\">Shareable\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.eatingwell.com/food_news_origins/green_sustainable/host_a_diy_food_swap\">Eating Well\u003c/a>. An epicurean tour guide for \u003ca href=\"http://edibleexcursions.net/\">Edible Excursions\u003c/a>, Sarah is the voice behind the blog \u003ca href=\"http://lettuceeatkale.com/\">Lettuce Eat Kale\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/lettuceeatkale\">tweets\u003c/a> under that moniker too.",
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"bio": "Maria Finn lives on a floating houseboat in Sausalito, where she grows a rooftop container garden, despite the salty winds. She’s the author of the book, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bookpassage.com/book/9780789320278\">“A Little Piece of Earth, How to Grow Your Own Food in Small Spaces\u003c/a>” (Rizzoli, 2010), and the memoir, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bookpassage.com/book/9781565125179\">“Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home”\u003c/a> (Algonquin Books, 2010) , which is in development for a television series with Fox Studios. Her novel-in-progress, “Sea Legs and Fish Nets,” loosely based on her experiences working on an all female fishing boat in Alaska, is a finalist for the Pen/Bellwether Prize, founded by Barbara Kingsolver for novels that address issues of social justice. She writes for Sunset Magazine, Afar Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Visit her website at \u003ca href=\"http://www.mariafinn.com/\">mariafinn.com\u003c/a> and follow her on Twitter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/mariafinn\">@mariafinn\u003c/a>.",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58054\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 667px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggs.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggs.jpg\" alt=\"Employees of Good Eggs deliver produce, meat and other local foods from producers in the Bay area of California. Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\" width=\"667\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58054\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employees of Good Eggs deliver produce, meat and other local foods from producers in the Bay area of California.\u003cbr>Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Post by Beth Hoffman\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/06/173635185/startup-wants-to-redefine-how-local-foods-get-to-your-door\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (3/7/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rising consumer demand for local foods has changed the job description for ranchers like Doniga Markegard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Markegard, co-owner of \u003ca href=\"http://markegardfamily.com/\">Markegard Family Grass-Fed\u003c/a> in San Gregorio, Calif., loves working with cattle, but she's not fond of the hours of phone calls and emails it can take to sell directly to a customer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What I want to be doing is the part I love — working with the animals and raising my kids on the ranch,\" says Markegard. \"But I also need to be marketing our product, going to markets and talking with customers. There are a lot of administrative aspects to running a small family ranch, and they are time consuming.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a San Francisco startup is looking to act as the middleman, handling the logistics of gathering and delivering local goods to consumers' doorsteps so small farmers like Markegard don't have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.goodeggs.com/welcome\">Good Eggs\u003c/a> began a year ago as a place where local food producers could sell their foods directly to consumers online, says CEO Rob Spiro. But producers needed more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We kept hearing the same thing from the producers,\" Spiro tells The Salt. \"'This is great,' they told us, 'but as I become more successful, I'm becoming a full-time distributor.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Spiro and his business partners decided to step in. \"What we need is a last-mile delivery system for our producers,\" says Spiro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem is that whether you live in San Francisco or Des Moines, Dallas or Wichita, the modern food system is based on economies of scale: To keep food inexpensive and delivered predictably, regardless of the season, you need mass production and the mass movement of goods from large-scale farm to national distributor to superstore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But similar networks for moving locally produced foods to market are sorely lacking, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ngfn.org/resources/ngfn-database/knowledge/USDAReportFoodHub2013.pdf\">2010 report\u003c/a> from the USDA's Economic Research Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To that end, Good Eggs acquired three trucks and a warehouse and, as of last Thursday, it will now deliver fresh local fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood and prepared foods right to consumers' doors throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It plans to create a similar food hub in Brooklyn this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Good Eggs system works like this: Consumers order from a wide variety of locally made, artisanal products online — from baby food to cheese, oranges to muffins. Items are then baked or harvested fresh to order and sent to the Good Eggs' warehouse, where each individual order is put together manually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is to keep costs down by using an Amazon warehouse model of efficient distribution — except nothing is stored there. The warehouse is used instead for aggregating goods on delivery days. By bringing all the products together in one location and distributing them together, Good Eggs hopes to relieve producers of the logistical headache of direct sales, while earning them higher profit margins than they get from grocery stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58053\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggsshots.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggsshots-290x217.jpg\" alt=\"Good Eggs lets consumers order a variety of locally made, artisanal products online: from meat and produce to baked goods and even baby foods. Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\" width=\"290\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-58053\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Good Eggs lets consumers order a variety of locally made, artisanal products online: from meat and produce to baked goods and even baby foods. Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And while the price of jam on the Good Eggs site is far higher than a jar of Smuckers at Safeway, the cost of most goods is comparable to those at boutique markets like Whole Foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, other companies have tried, with some success, to deliver groceries to homes and offices. Giant grocers like Safeway now offer home delivery. Fresh Direct makes home deliveries in the New York area, and Spud will drop off items to your front door in cities across the U.S. and Canada. But all of these companies function as full-scale grocers, and keep fully stocked warehouses full of non-local and non-food items.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More similar is \u003ca href=\"http://www.farmigo.com/\">Farmigo\u003c/a>, with a mission to also deliver only local produce and meats directly to consumers in New York and California. But Farmigo only delivers to offices and other group drop-off points. Home delivery, the company found, was too costly to make it work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Good Eggs is looking to get around that problem by charging $3.99 for home deliveries. Depending on whether a customer orders from the Good Eggs site or from a producer's own website, the company also takes a percentage cut from each sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An impressive team of investors and advisers are working with Good Eggs, including Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, Michael Dearing of Stanford and Damon Horowitz of Google.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, the challenges of reconstructing a 21st century local food delivery system are formidable. How the company will deal with the logistical complexity of coordinating 120-plus producers and potentially hundreds of drop-off points, and how consumers will react to limited drop-off days and times, remains to be seen. (Some also question how far a food can travel while still being \"local.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Creating new distribution channels between farmers and consumers is no easy feat,\" says Melanie Cheng of Berkeley, Calif., author of \u003cem>Building Regional Produce Supply Chains\u003c/em> and founder of \u003ca href=\"http://www.farmsreach.com/welcome/\">FarmsReach\u003c/a>, a community-driven platform for improving business operations on-the-farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picky shoppers, low profit margins and complex distribution logistics are inherent challenges in the system. \"Good Eggs,\" she says, \"have their work cut out for them.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58054\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 667px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggs.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggs.jpg\" alt=\"Employees of Good Eggs deliver produce, meat and other local foods from producers in the Bay area of California. Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\" width=\"667\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58054\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employees of Good Eggs deliver produce, meat and other local foods from producers in the Bay area of California.\u003cbr>Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Post by Beth Hoffman\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/06/173635185/startup-wants-to-redefine-how-local-foods-get-to-your-door\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (3/7/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rising consumer demand for local foods has changed the job description for ranchers like Doniga Markegard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Markegard, co-owner of \u003ca href=\"http://markegardfamily.com/\">Markegard Family Grass-Fed\u003c/a> in San Gregorio, Calif., loves working with cattle, but she's not fond of the hours of phone calls and emails it can take to sell directly to a customer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What I want to be doing is the part I love — working with the animals and raising my kids on the ranch,\" says Markegard. \"But I also need to be marketing our product, going to markets and talking with customers. There are a lot of administrative aspects to running a small family ranch, and they are time consuming.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a San Francisco startup is looking to act as the middleman, handling the logistics of gathering and delivering local goods to consumers' doorsteps so small farmers like Markegard don't have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.goodeggs.com/welcome\">Good Eggs\u003c/a> began a year ago as a place where local food producers could sell their foods directly to consumers online, says CEO Rob Spiro. But producers needed more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We kept hearing the same thing from the producers,\" Spiro tells The Salt. \"'This is great,' they told us, 'but as I become more successful, I'm becoming a full-time distributor.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Spiro and his business partners decided to step in. \"What we need is a last-mile delivery system for our producers,\" says Spiro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem is that whether you live in San Francisco or Des Moines, Dallas or Wichita, the modern food system is based on economies of scale: To keep food inexpensive and delivered predictably, regardless of the season, you need mass production and the mass movement of goods from large-scale farm to national distributor to superstore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But similar networks for moving locally produced foods to market are sorely lacking, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ngfn.org/resources/ngfn-database/knowledge/USDAReportFoodHub2013.pdf\">2010 report\u003c/a> from the USDA's Economic Research Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To that end, Good Eggs acquired three trucks and a warehouse and, as of last Thursday, it will now deliver fresh local fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood and prepared foods right to consumers' doors throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It plans to create a similar food hub in Brooklyn this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Good Eggs system works like this: Consumers order from a wide variety of locally made, artisanal products online — from baby food to cheese, oranges to muffins. Items are then baked or harvested fresh to order and sent to the Good Eggs' warehouse, where each individual order is put together manually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is to keep costs down by using an Amazon warehouse model of efficient distribution — except nothing is stored there. The warehouse is used instead for aggregating goods on delivery days. By bringing all the products together in one location and distributing them together, Good Eggs hopes to relieve producers of the logistical headache of direct sales, while earning them higher profit margins than they get from grocery stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58053\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggsshots.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/goodeggsshots-290x217.jpg\" alt=\"Good Eggs lets consumers order a variety of locally made, artisanal products online: from meat and produce to baked goods and even baby foods. Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\" width=\"290\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-58053\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Good Eggs lets consumers order a variety of locally made, artisanal products online: from meat and produce to baked goods and even baby foods. Photo: Courtesy of Good Eggs\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And while the price of jam on the Good Eggs site is far higher than a jar of Smuckers at Safeway, the cost of most goods is comparable to those at boutique markets like Whole Foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, other companies have tried, with some success, to deliver groceries to homes and offices. Giant grocers like Safeway now offer home delivery. Fresh Direct makes home deliveries in the New York area, and Spud will drop off items to your front door in cities across the U.S. and Canada. But all of these companies function as full-scale grocers, and keep fully stocked warehouses full of non-local and non-food items.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More similar is \u003ca href=\"http://www.farmigo.com/\">Farmigo\u003c/a>, with a mission to also deliver only local produce and meats directly to consumers in New York and California. But Farmigo only delivers to offices and other group drop-off points. Home delivery, the company found, was too costly to make it work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Good Eggs is looking to get around that problem by charging $3.99 for home deliveries. Depending on whether a customer orders from the Good Eggs site or from a producer's own website, the company also takes a percentage cut from each sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An impressive team of investors and advisers are working with Good Eggs, including Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, Michael Dearing of Stanford and Damon Horowitz of Google.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, the challenges of reconstructing a 21st century local food delivery system are formidable. How the company will deal with the logistical complexity of coordinating 120-plus producers and potentially hundreds of drop-off points, and how consumers will react to limited drop-off days and times, remains to be seen. (Some also question how far a food can travel while still being \"local.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Creating new distribution channels between farmers and consumers is no easy feat,\" says Melanie Cheng of Berkeley, Calif., author of \u003cem>Building Regional Produce Supply Chains\u003c/em> and founder of \u003ca href=\"http://www.farmsreach.com/welcome/\">FarmsReach\u003c/a>, a community-driven platform for improving business operations on-the-farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picky shoppers, low profit margins and complex distribution logistics are inherent challenges in the system. \"Good Eggs,\" she says, \"have their work cut out for them.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "A Tour through the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mexican asparagus, young coconuts from Thailand, stiffly frilled kale and fuschia-stemmed chard grown in Winters or Watsonville, edible purple pansies babied in a backyard in Oakland: Do you ever think about how they get to the shelves of Mollie Stone’s, onto your $11 salad in the Marina, or your $18 pizza in the Mission? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer is down on this chilly, pre-dawn corner of Jerrold Avenue, where the moon, fat and round as a pomelo, is sinking behind the hodgepodge cluster of warehouses, coolers, and trucking bays that make up the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfproduce.org\">\u003cstrong>San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>, stretched over old streetcar tracks, crisscrossing worn brick-lined streets in one of the city’s last rumbling, remaining districts of light industry. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CooksCo1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CooksCo1000.jpg\" alt=\"Cook's Company\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57783\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cook's Company\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While you were sleeping or dancing, drinking or downloading, buyers from \u003ca href=\"http://www.biritemarket.com/\">Bi-Rite\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.canyonmarket.com/\">Canyon Market\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.yelp.com/biz/good-life-grocery-san-francisco\">Good Life\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleybowl.com/\">Berkeley Bowl\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.rainbow.coop/\">Rainbow Grocery\u003c/a> and hundreds of corner groceries and fresh produce stores all around the city spent the night's darkest hours in close communion with the food you’ll be eating today, judging and bargaining to get the best stuff at the cheapest price. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57784\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Grass1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Grass1000.jpg\" alt=\"Asparagus from Mexico\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57784\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Asparagus from Mexico\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s a working market that’s been part of the city’s fabric since the early 1960s, when the old downtown produce market was razed to make room for what’s now the Embarcadero complex. Working with the city, the vendors and merchants built a new market near where Bernal Heights flattened out past Bayshore, north of Silver Terrace not far from Bayview. Stretched over 20 acres, it provides over 650 jobs, fills more than 300,000 square feet of warehouse space and moves millions of dollars of food from growers to distributors to buyers annually. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57788\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/VegDisplay1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/VegDisplay1000.jpg\" alt=\"Vegetable Display\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57788\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vegetable Display\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And yet, few San Franciscans know of it. In its full swing at 2 or 3 in the morning, busy as a trading floor, the market exists to move product, this colorful money stacked up in the shape of snow peas and eggplants, radishes and apples. The daunting maze of trucks and loading bays is no place for sleepy civilians: Stand still for a moment, anywhere, and you’re bound to be in several someones’ way as they barrel past you, pushing a hand cart or maneuvering a forklift stacked high with boxes, filled with oversized red peppers from Mexico, big and shiny as shoes, or bristling bunches of parsley, dozens to a case. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Peppers1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Peppers1000.jpg\" alt=\"Oversized red peppers from Mexico\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57786\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oversized red peppers from Mexico\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you have to be there, stay close to the sides of general manager Michael Janis and his colleague, business development representative Eddie Kapper. Genial, dedicated, fast-moving men, they slide through the market as if strolling through their offices, greeting workers by name, shaking hands with buyers. The market is made up of more than two dozen independent businesses, each with its own specialty, many still family run. There’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonvegetable.com/\">Washington Vegetable\u003c/a>, carrying a full line of vegetables but specializing in greens. \u003ca href=\"http://www.earlsorganic.com\">Earl’s Organic Produce\u003c/a>, in business since the 1970s, sells only organic produce from its spacious new warehouse, where the coolers are adjusted to the optimal needs of the produce: one cold and moist, another cold and dry. (Bananas long for one climate, Meyer lemons another.) \u003ca href=\"http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/\">Whole Foods\u003c/a> has its own huge warehouse here, which it has since outgrown; it’s moving to a new, dedicated distribution facility in Richmond soon. Some businesses, like Yuet Cheong Produce, focus on the Asian market, others in Latino products. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57789\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Washington1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Washington1000.jpg\" alt=\"Washington Vegetable\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57789\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Greens and more at Washington Vegetable\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Skirt around an impromptu wall of limes in ten-pound boxes, then hustle past a levee of net sacks, fifty-pounders of red and yellow onions, hundredweights of potatoes destined for French-fry cutters from the Excelsior to the Richmond. At Cook’s Company and \u003ca href=\"http://www.greenleafsf.com/\">Greenleaf\u003c/a>, the boxes are smaller, the products—edible flowers, exotic mushrooms—daintier. The clientele here are chefs, caterers, and artisans, who buy in smaller quantities and are notoriously picky about quality and consistency. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, not everyone comes with a truck. A trio of young men—caterers from the East Bay--are packing a black Mini Cooper with pillowcase-sized bags of greens until every inch is stuffed, a clown car of mizuna and tatsoi. At another loading bay, Fontaine McFadden, bright-eyed even at this bleak hour, wedges boxes into her hatchback. She's buying for her three-month-old venture, \u003ca href=\"http://www.strongtablesf.com/\">Strong Table\u003c/a>, a paleo-diet meal delivery. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57785\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/PaleoMeals1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/PaleoMeals1000.jpg\" alt=\"Fontaine McFadden of Strong Table at the Produce Market\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57785\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fontaine McFadden of Strong Table at the Produce Market\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s a tricky business, dealing in perishables. In a thick blue sweatshirt, hands sheathed in heavy rubber gloves, a worker scoops crushed ice like snow over waxy boxes lettered in red Chinese characters. Broccoli likes it cold. Too warm and the stems flop into rubber, once-tight blue-green florets yawning open into sunny yellow flowers no one will buy. Brassicas like these--Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli--are the greens of winter. Cabbage will grow through snow. A good frost sweetens the kale crop, nature producing its own antifreeze in the leaves. Aphids, who love to huddle in these vegetables' nooks and crannies, can't survive the cold. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Broccoli1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Broccoli1000.jpg\" alt=\"Produce worker with boxes of broccoli\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57781\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Produce worker with boxes of broccoli\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Selling wholesale like this isn't for every farmer. Earl's owner Earl Herrick, just back from visiting an avocado and citrus grower in the Pauma Valley, lays out what a distributor needs: quality, consistency, and reliable supply. He liked the man's fruit, he says, but his avocados were too small, his grapefruits not heavy enough. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boxes are packed and labeled by size, every piece inside graded to meet a certain standard. A 20-count peach is one size, a 16-count another. Don't try to mix them in the same box. Anything too small or too light risks getting the whole box \"kicked,\" or sent back on the truck to the farmer. There's also a matter of shelf life. Selling wholesale means the product has to last at least a week off the farm--a day or two for packing and shipping, another day or two on site at the warehouse, a day or two in the market, then however long the customer waits to use it once she gets it home. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CitrusSeason1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CitrusSeason1000.jpg\" alt=\"Winter Produce at Earl's - Citrus Season\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57782\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winter Produce at Earl's - Citrus Season\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once, the market had bars, a hofbrau, a handful of restaurants. They’re gone now, swallowed up by the need for more space for vendors. Only the J&V remains, opening at one a.m., closing up by 10 a.m. Started by a couple of former produce workers, it's two businesses now, a café for market workers by night, a catering kitchen by day. By daybreak, even as the café empties out, the big back kitchen is in full swing busy prepping meals for businesses downtown. Order sheets for banks, tech firms and brokerages are taped to the wall. A man fills bowls with identical cubes of melon in tri-colored rows. A row of women stand making dozens of sandwiches, lining them up on plastic trays. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The market’s moving with the times. It’s just signed a new 60-year lease with the city. There are long-term, multi-million-dollar reinvestment and capital improvement plans in development, focusing on a complete overhaul and rebuilding of the vendor spaces, with a lot more room and more up-to-date, energy-efficient cooling facilities. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the new \u003ca href=\"http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-02/californias-newest-business-craze-homemade-food\">cottage food law\u003c/a> comes into effect, Kapper tells us how he hopes more small food businesses will see the market as a resource. Every day, says Eddie, he gets calls from people wanting to start up some kind of new business—niche caterers, jam or salsa makers, someone with a great idea for an herb salt or a juice-cleanse biz. He’ll talk to any potential new clients, walk them through, introduce them to the right vendors, try to get them what they need from the market. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's part of a vision of community revitalization for Earl Shaddix, too. A longtime member of the San Francisco professional food community as a chef and trainer for All-Clad Metalcrafters, Shaddix recently bought a house in Bayview, and wants to show residents of the community how they can take advantage of the market's offerings to start their own small food businesses. He hopes to start a series of free food-business classes for people in the surrounding neighborhoods. He'd also like to encourage food makers around the city to start renting their kitchen space in the southeastern end of the city, where commercial rents are still reasonable. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pushing brooms, men at the end of their shifts sweep wilted lettuce into green bins. (The market has one of the city’s highest levels of waste-diversion compliance, with a composting program for green waste and a recycling program for nearly everything else it uses, from cardboard and shrink wrap down to the tough plastic straps used to bundle stacks of boxes together.) At Whole Foods, at Safeway, the day’s produce is being arranged in green stacks, red pyramids, orange piles. The misting jets come on, hissing gently. On Jerrold Avenue, it’s quiet, until the sun goes down and the trucks arrive again, disgorging what will feed the city. \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mexican asparagus, young coconuts from Thailand, stiffly frilled kale and fuschia-stemmed chard grown in Winters or Watsonville, edible purple pansies babied in a backyard in Oakland: Do you ever think about how they get to the shelves of Mollie Stone’s, onto your $11 salad in the Marina, or your $18 pizza in the Mission? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer is down on this chilly, pre-dawn corner of Jerrold Avenue, where the moon, fat and round as a pomelo, is sinking behind the hodgepodge cluster of warehouses, coolers, and trucking bays that make up the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfproduce.org\">\u003cstrong>San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>, stretched over old streetcar tracks, crisscrossing worn brick-lined streets in one of the city’s last rumbling, remaining districts of light industry. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CooksCo1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CooksCo1000.jpg\" alt=\"Cook's Company\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57783\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cook's Company\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While you were sleeping or dancing, drinking or downloading, buyers from \u003ca href=\"http://www.biritemarket.com/\">Bi-Rite\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.canyonmarket.com/\">Canyon Market\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.yelp.com/biz/good-life-grocery-san-francisco\">Good Life\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleybowl.com/\">Berkeley Bowl\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.rainbow.coop/\">Rainbow Grocery\u003c/a> and hundreds of corner groceries and fresh produce stores all around the city spent the night's darkest hours in close communion with the food you’ll be eating today, judging and bargaining to get the best stuff at the cheapest price. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57784\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Grass1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Grass1000.jpg\" alt=\"Asparagus from Mexico\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57784\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Asparagus from Mexico\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s a working market that’s been part of the city’s fabric since the early 1960s, when the old downtown produce market was razed to make room for what’s now the Embarcadero complex. Working with the city, the vendors and merchants built a new market near where Bernal Heights flattened out past Bayshore, north of Silver Terrace not far from Bayview. Stretched over 20 acres, it provides over 650 jobs, fills more than 300,000 square feet of warehouse space and moves millions of dollars of food from growers to distributors to buyers annually. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57788\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/VegDisplay1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/VegDisplay1000.jpg\" alt=\"Vegetable Display\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57788\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vegetable Display\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And yet, few San Franciscans know of it. In its full swing at 2 or 3 in the morning, busy as a trading floor, the market exists to move product, this colorful money stacked up in the shape of snow peas and eggplants, radishes and apples. The daunting maze of trucks and loading bays is no place for sleepy civilians: Stand still for a moment, anywhere, and you’re bound to be in several someones’ way as they barrel past you, pushing a hand cart or maneuvering a forklift stacked high with boxes, filled with oversized red peppers from Mexico, big and shiny as shoes, or bristling bunches of parsley, dozens to a case. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Peppers1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Peppers1000.jpg\" alt=\"Oversized red peppers from Mexico\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57786\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oversized red peppers from Mexico\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you have to be there, stay close to the sides of general manager Michael Janis and his colleague, business development representative Eddie Kapper. Genial, dedicated, fast-moving men, they slide through the market as if strolling through their offices, greeting workers by name, shaking hands with buyers. The market is made up of more than two dozen independent businesses, each with its own specialty, many still family run. There’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonvegetable.com/\">Washington Vegetable\u003c/a>, carrying a full line of vegetables but specializing in greens. \u003ca href=\"http://www.earlsorganic.com\">Earl’s Organic Produce\u003c/a>, in business since the 1970s, sells only organic produce from its spacious new warehouse, where the coolers are adjusted to the optimal needs of the produce: one cold and moist, another cold and dry. (Bananas long for one climate, Meyer lemons another.) \u003ca href=\"http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/\">Whole Foods\u003c/a> has its own huge warehouse here, which it has since outgrown; it’s moving to a new, dedicated distribution facility in Richmond soon. Some businesses, like Yuet Cheong Produce, focus on the Asian market, others in Latino products. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57789\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Washington1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Washington1000.jpg\" alt=\"Washington Vegetable\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57789\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Greens and more at Washington Vegetable\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Skirt around an impromptu wall of limes in ten-pound boxes, then hustle past a levee of net sacks, fifty-pounders of red and yellow onions, hundredweights of potatoes destined for French-fry cutters from the Excelsior to the Richmond. At Cook’s Company and \u003ca href=\"http://www.greenleafsf.com/\">Greenleaf\u003c/a>, the boxes are smaller, the products—edible flowers, exotic mushrooms—daintier. The clientele here are chefs, caterers, and artisans, who buy in smaller quantities and are notoriously picky about quality and consistency. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, not everyone comes with a truck. A trio of young men—caterers from the East Bay--are packing a black Mini Cooper with pillowcase-sized bags of greens until every inch is stuffed, a clown car of mizuna and tatsoi. At another loading bay, Fontaine McFadden, bright-eyed even at this bleak hour, wedges boxes into her hatchback. She's buying for her three-month-old venture, \u003ca href=\"http://www.strongtablesf.com/\">Strong Table\u003c/a>, a paleo-diet meal delivery. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57785\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/PaleoMeals1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/PaleoMeals1000.jpg\" alt=\"Fontaine McFadden of Strong Table at the Produce Market\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57785\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fontaine McFadden of Strong Table at the Produce Market\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s a tricky business, dealing in perishables. In a thick blue sweatshirt, hands sheathed in heavy rubber gloves, a worker scoops crushed ice like snow over waxy boxes lettered in red Chinese characters. Broccoli likes it cold. Too warm and the stems flop into rubber, once-tight blue-green florets yawning open into sunny yellow flowers no one will buy. Brassicas like these--Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli--are the greens of winter. Cabbage will grow through snow. A good frost sweetens the kale crop, nature producing its own antifreeze in the leaves. Aphids, who love to huddle in these vegetables' nooks and crannies, can't survive the cold. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Broccoli1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/Broccoli1000.jpg\" alt=\"Produce worker with boxes of broccoli\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57781\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Produce worker with boxes of broccoli\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Selling wholesale like this isn't for every farmer. Earl's owner Earl Herrick, just back from visiting an avocado and citrus grower in the Pauma Valley, lays out what a distributor needs: quality, consistency, and reliable supply. He liked the man's fruit, he says, but his avocados were too small, his grapefruits not heavy enough. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boxes are packed and labeled by size, every piece inside graded to meet a certain standard. A 20-count peach is one size, a 16-count another. Don't try to mix them in the same box. Anything too small or too light risks getting the whole box \"kicked,\" or sent back on the truck to the farmer. There's also a matter of shelf life. Selling wholesale means the product has to last at least a week off the farm--a day or two for packing and shipping, another day or two on site at the warehouse, a day or two in the market, then however long the customer waits to use it once she gets it home. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CitrusSeason1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/CitrusSeason1000.jpg\" alt=\"Winter Produce at Earl's - Citrus Season\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57782\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winter Produce at Earl's - Citrus Season\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once, the market had bars, a hofbrau, a handful of restaurants. They’re gone now, swallowed up by the need for more space for vendors. Only the J&V remains, opening at one a.m., closing up by 10 a.m. Started by a couple of former produce workers, it's two businesses now, a café for market workers by night, a catering kitchen by day. By daybreak, even as the café empties out, the big back kitchen is in full swing busy prepping meals for businesses downtown. Order sheets for banks, tech firms and brokerages are taped to the wall. A man fills bowls with identical cubes of melon in tri-colored rows. A row of women stand making dozens of sandwiches, lining them up on plastic trays. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The market’s moving with the times. It’s just signed a new 60-year lease with the city. There are long-term, multi-million-dollar reinvestment and capital improvement plans in development, focusing on a complete overhaul and rebuilding of the vendor spaces, with a lot more room and more up-to-date, energy-efficient cooling facilities. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the new \u003ca href=\"http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-02/californias-newest-business-craze-homemade-food\">cottage food law\u003c/a> comes into effect, Kapper tells us how he hopes more small food businesses will see the market as a resource. Every day, says Eddie, he gets calls from people wanting to start up some kind of new business—niche caterers, jam or salsa makers, someone with a great idea for an herb salt or a juice-cleanse biz. He’ll talk to any potential new clients, walk them through, introduce them to the right vendors, try to get them what they need from the market. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's part of a vision of community revitalization for Earl Shaddix, too. A longtime member of the San Francisco professional food community as a chef and trainer for All-Clad Metalcrafters, Shaddix recently bought a house in Bayview, and wants to show residents of the community how they can take advantage of the market's offerings to start their own small food businesses. He hopes to start a series of free food-business classes for people in the surrounding neighborhoods. He'd also like to encourage food makers around the city to start renting their kitchen space in the southeastern end of the city, where commercial rents are still reasonable. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pushing brooms, men at the end of their shifts sweep wilted lettuce into green bins. (The market has one of the city’s highest levels of waste-diversion compliance, with a composting program for green waste and a recycling program for nearly everything else it uses, from cardboard and shrink wrap down to the tough plastic straps used to bundle stacks of boxes together.) At Whole Foods, at Safeway, the day’s produce is being arranged in green stacks, red pyramids, orange piles. The misting jets come on, hissing gently. On Jerrold Avenue, it’s quiet, until the sun goes down and the trucks arrive again, disgorging what will feed the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Wild Bees Are Good For Crops, But Crops Are Bad For Bees",
"title": "Wild Bees Are Good For Crops, But Crops Are Bad For Bees",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 889px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/bees.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/bees.jpg\" alt=\"Wild bees, such as this Andrena bee visiting highbush blueberry flowers, play a key role in boosting crop yields. Left photo by Rufus Isaac/Right photo by Daniel M.N. Turner\" width=\"889\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57667\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wild bees, such as this Andrena bee visiting highbush blueberry flowers, play a key role in boosting crop yields. Left photo by Rufus Isaac/Right photo by Daniel M.N. Turner\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Listen to the Story on\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/01/173167125/wild-bees-are-good-for-crops-but-crops-are-bad-for-bees\">Morning Edition:\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n [audio src=\"http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2013/03/20130301_me_13.mp3\"] \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/01/173167125/wild-bees-are-good-for-crops-but-crops-are-bad-for-bees\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (3/1/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the most healthful foods you can think of — blueberries, cranberries, apples, almonds and squash — would never get to your plate without the help of insects. No insects, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers who grow these crops often \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/14/146872577/why-california-almonds-need-north-dakota-flowers-and-a-few-billion-bees\">rely on honeybees\u003c/a> to do the job. But scientists are now \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/02/27/science.1230200\">reporting\u003c/a> that honeybees, while convenient, are not necessarily the best pollinators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A huge collaboration of bee researchers, from more than a dozen countries, looked at how pollination happens in dozens of different crops, including strawberries, coffee, buckwheat, cherries and watermelons. As they report in the journal \u003cem>Science,\u003c/em> even when beekeepers installed plenty of hives in a field, yields usually got a boost when wild, native insects, such as bumblebees or carpenter bees, also showed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The surprising message in all of this is that honeybees cannot carry the load. Honeybees need help from their cousins and relatives, the other wild bees,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.entomology.umn.edu/People/GradFaculty/Spivak/\">Marla Spivak\u003c/a>, a professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota. \"So let's do something to promote it, so that we can keep honeybees healthy and our wild bee populations healthy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, a second \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/02/27/science.1232728\">study\u003c/a>, also released in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> this week, makes it clear that wild bees aren't having an easy time of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That study essentially follows in the century-old footsteps of \u003ca href=\"http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/25037.aspx\">Charles Robertson\u003c/a>, \"one of America's great scientists that nobody knows about,\" says Laura Burkle, an ecologist at Montana State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robertson taught biology and Greek at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Ill., and he was fascinated by the close connection between insects and flowers. He spent years in the forests around Carlinville, carefully noting which insects visited which wild flowers at what time of year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burkle and \u003ca href=\"http://www.biology.wustl.edu/faculty/knight/knightcv.html\">Tiffany Knight\u003c/a>, a colleague at Washington University in St. Louis, went back to Carlinville to see how much of the ecosystem that Robertson observed still exists today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the forested area around the town has been converted into fields of corn and soybeans — or suburbs. In the fragments of forest that remain, Burkle and Knight found all of the flowering plants that Robertson recorded in his notes a century ago. Of the 109 species of bees that Robertson saw, though, just over half seemed to have disappeared from that area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We don't know why,\" says Burkle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One possibility might be a loss of nesting sites for these bees. But a changing climate may also play a role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bees that disappeared tended to be species that depended on just a few kinds of flowers for food. For those bees to survive, their preferred flowers have to be blooming when the bees start flying and need food. The warming trend might have thrown off that timing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57668\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/beekeepers.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/beekeepers-290x217.jpg\" alt=\"Hired beekeepers work to pollinate an almond orchard near Snelling, Calif. Wild bees play a critical role in helping honeybees pollinate crops, but they often can't survive on modern monoculture farms. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\" width=\"290\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57668\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hired beekeepers work to pollinate an almond orchard near Snelling, Calif. Wild bees play a critical role in helping honeybees pollinate crops, but they often can't survive on modern monoculture farms. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In fact, Burkle says, if you map the interactions between flowers and bees, they seem more tenuous now. Some flowers may get visited by just one or two kinds of bees, and maybe just for one week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't know that these systems can take a lot more environmental change without something drastic happening,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many bee researchers are trying to figure out how to help those native bees — and how to help farmers who benefit from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://nature.berkeley.edu/kremenlab/\">Claire Kremen\u003c/a>, a conservation biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who's a co-author of the first study in \u003cem>Science,\u003c/em> says one of the biggest problems for wild bees is the agricultural specialization that has produced huge fields of just one crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The almond groves of California, for example, are a sea of blossoms in February. It's a feast, as far as the eye can see, for honeybees that come here from all over the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"But for the rest of the year, there's nothing blooming,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means there are no bees. \"In fact, in places where we have very large monocultures of almond, we don't find any native bees anymore,\" Kremen says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Planting other flowers in and around these almond groves, maybe as hedgerows, blooming all summer long, would help, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even better would be farms with smaller fields, and lots of different crops flowering at different times. Wild bees, Kremen says, need diversity.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nCopyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "When it comes to pollinating our favorite crops — from coffee to watermelon — honeybees can't do it alone. Wild bees in the field play a critical role in creating bumper crops, a massive new study reports. But these bees are disappearing, and scientists say the rise of crop monocultures is partly to blame.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 889px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/bees.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/bees.jpg\" alt=\"Wild bees, such as this Andrena bee visiting highbush blueberry flowers, play a key role in boosting crop yields. Left photo by Rufus Isaac/Right photo by Daniel M.N. Turner\" width=\"889\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57667\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wild bees, such as this Andrena bee visiting highbush blueberry flowers, play a key role in boosting crop yields. Left photo by Rufus Isaac/Right photo by Daniel M.N. Turner\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Listen to the Story on\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/01/173167125/wild-bees-are-good-for-crops-but-crops-are-bad-for-bees\">Morning Edition:\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/01/173167125/wild-bees-are-good-for-crops-but-crops-are-bad-for-bees\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (3/1/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the most healthful foods you can think of — blueberries, cranberries, apples, almonds and squash — would never get to your plate without the help of insects. No insects, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers who grow these crops often \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/14/146872577/why-california-almonds-need-north-dakota-flowers-and-a-few-billion-bees\">rely on honeybees\u003c/a> to do the job. But scientists are now \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/02/27/science.1230200\">reporting\u003c/a> that honeybees, while convenient, are not necessarily the best pollinators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A huge collaboration of bee researchers, from more than a dozen countries, looked at how pollination happens in dozens of different crops, including strawberries, coffee, buckwheat, cherries and watermelons. As they report in the journal \u003cem>Science,\u003c/em> even when beekeepers installed plenty of hives in a field, yields usually got a boost when wild, native insects, such as bumblebees or carpenter bees, also showed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The surprising message in all of this is that honeybees cannot carry the load. Honeybees need help from their cousins and relatives, the other wild bees,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.entomology.umn.edu/People/GradFaculty/Spivak/\">Marla Spivak\u003c/a>, a professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota. \"So let's do something to promote it, so that we can keep honeybees healthy and our wild bee populations healthy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, a second \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/02/27/science.1232728\">study\u003c/a>, also released in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> this week, makes it clear that wild bees aren't having an easy time of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That study essentially follows in the century-old footsteps of \u003ca href=\"http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/25037.aspx\">Charles Robertson\u003c/a>, \"one of America's great scientists that nobody knows about,\" says Laura Burkle, an ecologist at Montana State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robertson taught biology and Greek at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Ill., and he was fascinated by the close connection between insects and flowers. He spent years in the forests around Carlinville, carefully noting which insects visited which wild flowers at what time of year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burkle and \u003ca href=\"http://www.biology.wustl.edu/faculty/knight/knightcv.html\">Tiffany Knight\u003c/a>, a colleague at Washington University in St. Louis, went back to Carlinville to see how much of the ecosystem that Robertson observed still exists today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the forested area around the town has been converted into fields of corn and soybeans — or suburbs. In the fragments of forest that remain, Burkle and Knight found all of the flowering plants that Robertson recorded in his notes a century ago. Of the 109 species of bees that Robertson saw, though, just over half seemed to have disappeared from that area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We don't know why,\" says Burkle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One possibility might be a loss of nesting sites for these bees. But a changing climate may also play a role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bees that disappeared tended to be species that depended on just a few kinds of flowers for food. For those bees to survive, their preferred flowers have to be blooming when the bees start flying and need food. The warming trend might have thrown off that timing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57668\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/beekeepers.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/03/beekeepers-290x217.jpg\" alt=\"Hired beekeepers work to pollinate an almond orchard near Snelling, Calif. Wild bees play a critical role in helping honeybees pollinate crops, but they often can't survive on modern monoculture farms. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\" width=\"290\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57668\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hired beekeepers work to pollinate an almond orchard near Snelling, Calif. Wild bees play a critical role in helping honeybees pollinate crops, but they often can't survive on modern monoculture farms. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In fact, Burkle says, if you map the interactions between flowers and bees, they seem more tenuous now. Some flowers may get visited by just one or two kinds of bees, and maybe just for one week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't know that these systems can take a lot more environmental change without something drastic happening,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many bee researchers are trying to figure out how to help those native bees — and how to help farmers who benefit from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://nature.berkeley.edu/kremenlab/\">Claire Kremen\u003c/a>, a conservation biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who's a co-author of the first study in \u003cem>Science,\u003c/em> says one of the biggest problems for wild bees is the agricultural specialization that has produced huge fields of just one crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The almond groves of California, for example, are a sea of blossoms in February. It's a feast, as far as the eye can see, for honeybees that come here from all over the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"But for the rest of the year, there's nothing blooming,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means there are no bees. \"In fact, in places where we have very large monocultures of almond, we don't find any native bees anymore,\" Kremen says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Planting other flowers in and around these almond groves, maybe as hedgerows, blooming all summer long, would help, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even better would be farms with smaller fields, and lots of different crops flowering at different times. Wild bees, Kremen says, need diversity.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nCopyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Oxfam Gives Big Food Companies Bad Behavior Grades",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 890px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/supermarket.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/supermarket.jpg\" alt=\"Oxfam's "report card" evaluates giants of the supermarket aisle on their commitment to social and environmental issues. Photo: iStockphoto.com\" width=\"890\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57454\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oxfam's \"report card\" evaluates giants of the supermarket aisle on their commitment to social and environmental issues. Photo: iStockphoto.com\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/25/172892327/oxfam-gives-big-food-companies-bad-behavior-grades\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (3/26/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do failing grades inspire more effort? \u003ca href=\"http://www.oxfamamerica.org/\">Oxfam\u003c/a> hopes so. The activist group on behalf of the poor has just handed out \u003ca href=\"http://www.oxfamamerica.org/behindthebrands\">report cards\u003c/a> to 10 of the world's top food companies, grading their commitments to protect the environment and treat people fairly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam doesn't grade on the curve, evidently. Every company flunked. But two European-based companies, Nestle and Unilever, were at least better than the others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both companies have policies that are supposed to ensure that workers around the globe are treated fairly, for instance, and they're better than average at trying to limit greenhouse gas emissions. \u003ca href=\"http://www.nestle.com/brands\">Nestle\u003c/a> (Taster's Choice; Perrier) got especially high grades for its efforts to conserve water. \u003ca href=\"http://www.unileverusa.com/brands-in-action/\">Unilever\u003c/a> (Lipton Tea; Hellman's mayonnaise) got extra credit for policies aimed at helping small farmers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam also assigned grades for how companies protect women's rights, contribute to climate change and provide information about their suppliers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.abf.co.uk/about_us/our_group/our_grocery_brands\">Associated British Foods\u003c/a> (Mazola corn oil; Twinings Tea) came in at the bottom of Oxfam's rankings, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/our-brands.html\">Kellogg's\u003c/a> (Pop Tarts) and \u003ca href=\"http://www.generalmills.com/Brands.aspx\">General Mills\u003c/a> (Cheerios, Yoplait) weren't much better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These grades, it should be noted, are based on official policies, not actual behavior. Neither Oxfam nor any other independent group has the resources to travel the globe to see firsthand how these policies are implemented on, say, tea plantations in remote corners of Sri Lanka and Mozambique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam calls its new campaign \"Behind the Brands.\" This strategy — targeting companies that own popular consumer brands — is increasingly popular among environmentalists and other groups devoted to social change. \u003ca href=\"http://worldwildlife.org/experts/jason-clay\">Jason Clay\u003c/a>, a vice president of the World Wildlife Fund, laid out the reasons a couple of years ago in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_clay_how_big_brands_can_save_biodiversity.html\">TED talk\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes down to what's practical, Clay said. We could try to convince millions of farmers to work differently. We could try to persuade billions of consumers to buy different products. But it's a lot easier to put pressure on a few dozen companies — huge conglomerates that order commodities from every corner of the globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those companies are extraordinarily sensitive when it comes to the image of their consumer brands. They already have very specific rules for their suppliers when it comes to quality and safety. How about associating those brands with environmental quality and worker well-being?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam says it will be happy to revise its grades when companies improve their performance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 890px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/supermarket.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/supermarket.jpg\" alt=\"Oxfam's "report card" evaluates giants of the supermarket aisle on their commitment to social and environmental issues. Photo: iStockphoto.com\" width=\"890\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57454\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oxfam's \"report card\" evaluates giants of the supermarket aisle on their commitment to social and environmental issues. Photo: iStockphoto.com\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/25/172892327/oxfam-gives-big-food-companies-bad-behavior-grades\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (3/26/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do failing grades inspire more effort? \u003ca href=\"http://www.oxfamamerica.org/\">Oxfam\u003c/a> hopes so. The activist group on behalf of the poor has just handed out \u003ca href=\"http://www.oxfamamerica.org/behindthebrands\">report cards\u003c/a> to 10 of the world's top food companies, grading their commitments to protect the environment and treat people fairly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam doesn't grade on the curve, evidently. Every company flunked. But two European-based companies, Nestle and Unilever, were at least better than the others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both companies have policies that are supposed to ensure that workers around the globe are treated fairly, for instance, and they're better than average at trying to limit greenhouse gas emissions. \u003ca href=\"http://www.nestle.com/brands\">Nestle\u003c/a> (Taster's Choice; Perrier) got especially high grades for its efforts to conserve water. \u003ca href=\"http://www.unileverusa.com/brands-in-action/\">Unilever\u003c/a> (Lipton Tea; Hellman's mayonnaise) got extra credit for policies aimed at helping small farmers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam also assigned grades for how companies protect women's rights, contribute to climate change and provide information about their suppliers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.abf.co.uk/about_us/our_group/our_grocery_brands\">Associated British Foods\u003c/a> (Mazola corn oil; Twinings Tea) came in at the bottom of Oxfam's rankings, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/our-brands.html\">Kellogg's\u003c/a> (Pop Tarts) and \u003ca href=\"http://www.generalmills.com/Brands.aspx\">General Mills\u003c/a> (Cheerios, Yoplait) weren't much better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These grades, it should be noted, are based on official policies, not actual behavior. Neither Oxfam nor any other independent group has the resources to travel the globe to see firsthand how these policies are implemented on, say, tea plantations in remote corners of Sri Lanka and Mozambique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam calls its new campaign \"Behind the Brands.\" This strategy — targeting companies that own popular consumer brands — is increasingly popular among environmentalists and other groups devoted to social change. \u003ca href=\"http://worldwildlife.org/experts/jason-clay\">Jason Clay\u003c/a>, a vice president of the World Wildlife Fund, laid out the reasons a couple of years ago in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_clay_how_big_brands_can_save_biodiversity.html\">TED talk\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes down to what's practical, Clay said. We could try to convince millions of farmers to work differently. We could try to persuade billions of consumers to buy different products. But it's a lot easier to put pressure on a few dozen companies — huge conglomerates that order commodities from every corner of the globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those companies are extraordinarily sensitive when it comes to the image of their consumer brands. They already have very specific rules for their suppliers when it comes to quality and safety. How about associating those brands with environmental quality and worker well-being?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oxfam says it will be happy to revise its grades when companies improve their performance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "A Cuban-American Chez Panisse Chef Explores Her Culinary Roots",
"title": "A Cuban-American Chez Panisse Chef Explores Her Culinary Roots",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.chezp3_.naomifiss1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.chezp3_.naomifiss1000.jpg\" alt=\"Danielle Alvarez cooks Dungeness crab downstairs at Chez Panisse. Photo: Naomi Fiss\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57413\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Alvarez cooks Dungeness crab downstairs at Chez Panisse. Photo: Naomi Fiss\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When a contingent from \u003ca href=\"http://www.chezpanisse.com/reservations/\">Chez Panisse\u003c/a> went to Cuba last December, their visit was duly reported in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Chez-Panisse-chefs-visit-Havana-4110402.php\">press\u003c/a>. A crew of \u003ca href=\"http://www.chezpanisse.com/about/alice-waters/\">Alice Waters\u003c/a> devotees was poised to foment \u003ca href=\"http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/12/chez-panisse-havana-cuba.html\">a food revolution in Havana\u003c/a> -- or at least feed people well for a few days. \u003ca href=\"http://acmebread.com/the_company\">Steve Sullivan\u003c/a> baked bread. \u003ca href=\"http://www.pizzaiolooakland.com/about/founders/\">Charlie Hallowell\u003c/a> grilled pork on a \u003cem>parrilla \u003c/em>in the streets of Havana. \u003ca href=\"http://www.chezpanisse.com/about/our-chefs/\">Jerome Waag\u003c/a> plated polenta for Cuban dignitaries at dinners designed to showcase the Chez way of cooking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missing from the coverage: Any word from either of the Chez Panisse line cooks on the \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/08/01/chez-panisse-contingent-head-to-cuba-public-welcome-too/\">culinary diplomacy mission\u003c/a> who are of Cuban-American heritage. Danielle Alvarez and Melissa Fernandez both have roots in the island nation and Alvarez, who set foot on Cuban soil for the first time, spoke with Bay Area Bites about her recent visit. The 28-year-old says she went on the trip with an open mind and exploratory spirit, wanting to learn more about the land her family calls home, despite \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/opinion/sunday/bridging-the-cuban-generation-gap.html\">bittersweet memories common to a generation of exiles\u003c/a> in the aftermath of the revolution. She came away, though, with an overwhelming sadness, she says, for what has been lost from Cuba's culture and cuisine, despite encountering a few bright spots on the food and farming front and hope among besieged residents for better times ahead. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let's be frank: Nobody goes to Cuba, widely regarded as a culinary backwater, for the food. And nothing about growing, selling, buying, cooking, or eating food -- whether at home or in restaurants -- in Cuba is easy. The lack of variety of fresh ingredients alone would make a farmers' market-loving Northern Californian cry. Food is still rationed in Cuba and much of it is imported (about 70 percent) or frozen, the result of a survivalist mentality born out of scarcity. An agriculture exchange which sprouted in 2011 after the Cuban government loosened up restrictions on a range of small businesses would suggest greater freedoms on the farming front. But such shifts are both an indication of just how much the country has changed, according to a recent \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/world/americas/changes-to-agriculture-highlight-cubas-problems.html?pagewanted=all\">New York Times\u003c/a>\u003c/em> story, and the political and practical limitations that continue to thwart this Caribbean country flirting with capitalism. By most measures, Cuba's free-enterprise farm experiment has failed, writes journalist Damien Cave, with many Cuban residents actually seeing \u003cem>less\u003c/em> locally-grown food at private markets. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Alvarez was encouraged by first-hand accounts from Waters' personal assistant, Varun Mehra, a man mad for all things Cuban, who was instrumental in organizing the recent \"Planting Seeds\" edible expedition, the first of what he hopes will be an ongoing U.S.-Cuba dialogue around food and farming. “Havana’s food scene is changing rapidly and the Cuban government is phasing out its system of rations and cautiously allowing private restaurant ownership,” Mehra notes in \u003ca href=\"http://www.papermag.com/arts_and_style/2012/05/off-the-eaten-path-havana-cuba.php\">his recent travelogue for \u003cem>Paper Magazine\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “As a result, the population is rediscovering its own pre-revolution culinary history — a delicious mix of Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences.” Mehra refers in his piece to \u003cem>paladars\u003c/em>, home-based private eating establishments popping up in Cuba in recent years, that some say could revolutionize -- and spice up -- Cuba's dining options. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 715px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/havana_final.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/havana_final.jpg\" alt=\"Snapshots from Cuba's farm and food scene. Photos: Varun Mehra\" width=\"715\" height=\"720\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57415\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snapshots from Cuba's farm and food scene. Photos: Varun Mehra\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alvarez was eager to see for herself. She grew up in Miami, dining in on the vivid stories her relatives told about a magical place they left behind. Her mom's family owned a sugar plantation in Cuba's eastern Oriente Province, her father's family hailed from Havana; they both moved to the U.S. as young children shortly after the revolution. Alvarez grew up eating Cuban food: White rice, red or black beans cooked with \u003cem>sofrito\u003c/em> (aromatics like garlic, onions, and peppers) and a little sugar and apple cider vinegar, which, she says, made her mom's version special. Her mother and grandmother cooked peasant food that could feed many, Cuban classics like \u003cem>ropa vieja\u003c/em>, (shredded skirt steak stewed in a tomato sauce) and \u003cem>Moros y Cristianos\u003c/em> (\"Moors and Christians,\" a rice and beans dish elevated in flavor by the addition of pork fat or bacon.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was dismayed by what she encountered on her ten-day trip. \"The food culture has largely been lost there, they just don't have a lot of ingredients,\" says Alvarez, who has worked at Chez Panisse for more than two years. \"We were told we couldn't get seafood, which is incredible to me because it's a Caribbean island surrounded by the sea. My mom has stories about live crab walking around the kitchen but now there's no fishing industry to speak of.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57421\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/danielle.alvarez.chezpanisse1.naomifiss.1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/danielle.alvarez.chezpanisse1.naomifiss.1000.jpg\" alt=\"Back in Berkeley, Alvarez finds an abundance of seafood. Photo: Naomi Fiss\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57421\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Back in Berkeley, Alvarez finds an abundance of seafood. Photo: Naomi Fiss\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And Alvarez was stunned by the limitations in the kitchen -- from a lack of oils, vinegars, and spices to a narrow range of fresh food. \"There's no variety in what type of produce they have – they have one type of lettuce and it's really beautiful, but it's all they have. One lettuce, one type of tomato, and one type of eggplant. We asked the farmers and were told that the state supplies the seeds and that's all they have to work with. Since there are no seasons a lot of the plants don't even go to seed, so it's not like they can harvest their own.\" Likewise, while beef might be on the menu at many local restaurants, it was never available to order during Alvarez's stay; pork was the only meat of choice on offer at most places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raw ingredients weren't the only limited resource on the island. \"It broke my heart because at the culinary school and other restaurants we visited they had so little equipment,\" says Alvarez, a graduate of \u003ca href=\"http://www.jwu.edu/culinary/\">Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts\u003c/a> in Miami. \"I found it difficult just to do what we do, as simple as it is, not having pots to cook in or basic equipment like spoons.\" Everyone she encountered asked if they could have a pan or a knife, including the tour group's guide and driver. The Chez Panisse team brought pots and pans with them with the intention of leaving them with local chefs. Dinners were held at Old Havana's \u003ca href=\"http://www.fodors.com/world/caribbean/cuba/havana/review-39914.html\">El Patio\u003c/a> restaurant, a state run enterprise, and at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/havana/restaurants/french/paladar-le-chansonnier\">Le Chansonnier\u003c/a>, a popular \u003cem>paladar\u003c/em>. \u003ca href=\"http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/11/mariela_castro_daughter_of_cuban_president\">Mariela Castro\u003c/a>, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, made an appearance at both events and \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/12/31/tom-bates-and-loni-hancock-visit-sister-city-in-cuba/\">State Senator Loni Hancock and her husband Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates\u003c/a> also attended the dinners, as part of the \"Planting Seeds\" entourage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57417\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/salad.chezpcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/salad.chezpcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\" alt=\"Chez Panisse chefs foraged fresh food for their trademark salads served at Cuban dinners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57417\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chez Panisse chefs foraged fresh food for their trademark salads served at Cuban dinners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alvarez observed other hardships that aren't typical in North American kitchens. One of the restaurants the contingent cooked at didn't have electricity or running water until the afternoon. \"I couldn't tell if that was a regular thing or just happened once in a while, but it seemed like they knew it would come on at four,\" explains Alvarez, a native Spanish speaker, who has done stints at \u003ca href=\"http://www.bouletteslarder.com/\">Boulette's Larder\u003c/a> in San Francisco's Ferry Building and landed an internship at the Wine Country's \u003ca href=\"http://www.frenchlaundry.com/\">French Laundry\u003c/a> straight out of cooking school. \"We lost electricity several times while we were there in different places. Just very basic things that make things difficult that we take for granted here.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One trip highlight: A sourcing excursion to a farm to find pigs and rabbits for the dinners. The family who ran the farm gathered for a big pot of boiled yucca, a root vegetable similar to potatoes, and the visitors were brought a bowl of steaming yucca to share, accompanied by \u003cem>mojo\u003c/em>, a local marinade of garlic, onion, lime juice, and spices. \"I grew up eating yucca, it's a favorite, and that was probably the most delicious thing we ate on our trip,\" says Alvarez, who made yucca ceviche for one dinner cooked by the Chez Panisse chefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.cuba_.ninawolpow.640.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.cuba_.ninawolpow.640.jpg\" alt=\"Danielle Alvarez gives plates a final look before sending them out to Cuban diners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57414\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Alvarez gives plates a final look before sending them out to Cuban diners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Overall, though, Alvarez found the local food disappointing. \"So much of our philosophy at Chez is about fresh food that's cooked very little. But in Havana much of the food we encountered was frozen, canned, and cooked a lot,\" she says. \"I realized, too, that the limited fresh produce they have doesn't really make it to the people because they can't afford it.\" She did pick up some tips, however, from a local chef on the fine art of braising pork belly in an oven that crisped the skin to perfection while keeping the meat tender and moist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/melissafernandez.chespcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/melissafernandez.chespcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\" alt=\"Fellow Cuban-American Melissa Fernandez plates dishes before serving Cuban dignitaries. Photo: Nina Wolpow\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57416\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fellow Cuban-American Melissa Fernandez plates dishes before serving Cuban dignitaries. Photo: Nina Wolpow\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She also discovered that pizza and pasta (local chefs made pasta from scratch at a cooking demonstration at a local cooking school) are becoming go-to foods in Havana, which intrigued the visiting chefs, known for cooking such dishes to critical acclaim in the Bay Area. \"A lot of people have these little businesses now where they sell pizza out of a window in their homes,\" explains Alvarez. \"It's not like it's great pizza – it's just doughy, oily bread with I don't know what kind of cheese, and a smear of tomato sauce.\" Still, such scenes -- residents dispensing savory pies out of decaying colonial buildings -- would have been unheard of even a few years ago. But as the \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sunday-review/how-capitalist-are-the-cubans.html?pagewanted=all\">New York Times\u003c/a>\u003c/em> notes in recent Cuba coverage: Havana's growing pizza peddlers are one indication of the entrepreneurial spirit of a country long schooled in socialism and the state. These government-sanctioned edible entrepreneurs are viewed by some as a desperate move by the ruling party to kick start the country's flagging economy. Could culinary endeavors be a pathway to prosperity for some Cubans?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's tough for Alvarez to consider such questions, since her family was doing well before the revolution. At the end of her trip, Alvarez added on a couple of days to visit with the few remaining relatives who never left the island. \"I went to the family farm and that was just hugely emotional for me. I was sobbing. I got to see the daily struggles of every day life,\" she says. \"I had pictures with me about how it used to be; buildings that were once there are now just a pile of rubble. The old houses my family lived in were gone. There were just little wooden, thatched-roof shacks on the property.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez is still processing her visit and how to make sense of it to her family in the States, none of whom have returned to the homeland in more than 40 years. And she wants to focus on the positive things she encountered in a country that bombards newcomers on the ride from the airport with billboards covered in socialist propaganda. True to country stereotype, two in the Chez Panisse crew who needed health care -- Jerome Waag badly burned his hand behind the stove and \u003ca href=\"http://www.cosechacafe.com/\">Cosecha's Dominica Rice\u003c/a> endured an inexplicably swollen ankle -- reported that they received excellent medical services, at the same hospital where \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/hugo-chavez-returns-home-to-venezuela-after-more-than-2-months-of-cancer-treatment-in-cuba/2013/02/18/812b30a6-79b0-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html\">Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez\u003c/a> was receiving cancer treatment. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, Alvarez was drawn to people's enduring spirit in the face of adversity. \"I'd be such a miserable person if I had to live there. Cubans just persevere and try so hard in difficult circumstance,\" she says. \"And still it's hopeful. People feel change is coming, little by little. As bad as things are they love their country so much.\" (Proving, perhaps, \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/where-is-cuba-going.html?pagewanted=all\">where one person sees a prison another sees paradise\u003c/a>.) \"One of the consultants on our tour who went to the University of Miami, as I did, has come back to Cuba and says there is nowhere else he would want to live,\" says Alvarez, who adds: \"I understand, it's home.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A Cuban-American Chez Panisse chef talks about her recent trip to Cuba as part of a culinary diplomacy tour in a story by BAB's Sarah Henry.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.chezp3_.naomifiss1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.chezp3_.naomifiss1000.jpg\" alt=\"Danielle Alvarez cooks Dungeness crab downstairs at Chez Panisse. Photo: Naomi Fiss\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57413\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Alvarez cooks Dungeness crab downstairs at Chez Panisse. Photo: Naomi Fiss\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When a contingent from \u003ca href=\"http://www.chezpanisse.com/reservations/\">Chez Panisse\u003c/a> went to Cuba last December, their visit was duly reported in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Chez-Panisse-chefs-visit-Havana-4110402.php\">press\u003c/a>. A crew of \u003ca href=\"http://www.chezpanisse.com/about/alice-waters/\">Alice Waters\u003c/a> devotees was poised to foment \u003ca href=\"http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/12/chez-panisse-havana-cuba.html\">a food revolution in Havana\u003c/a> -- or at least feed people well for a few days. \u003ca href=\"http://acmebread.com/the_company\">Steve Sullivan\u003c/a> baked bread. \u003ca href=\"http://www.pizzaiolooakland.com/about/founders/\">Charlie Hallowell\u003c/a> grilled pork on a \u003cem>parrilla \u003c/em>in the streets of Havana. \u003ca href=\"http://www.chezpanisse.com/about/our-chefs/\">Jerome Waag\u003c/a> plated polenta for Cuban dignitaries at dinners designed to showcase the Chez way of cooking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missing from the coverage: Any word from either of the Chez Panisse line cooks on the \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/08/01/chez-panisse-contingent-head-to-cuba-public-welcome-too/\">culinary diplomacy mission\u003c/a> who are of Cuban-American heritage. Danielle Alvarez and Melissa Fernandez both have roots in the island nation and Alvarez, who set foot on Cuban soil for the first time, spoke with Bay Area Bites about her recent visit. The 28-year-old says she went on the trip with an open mind and exploratory spirit, wanting to learn more about the land her family calls home, despite \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/opinion/sunday/bridging-the-cuban-generation-gap.html\">bittersweet memories common to a generation of exiles\u003c/a> in the aftermath of the revolution. She came away, though, with an overwhelming sadness, she says, for what has been lost from Cuba's culture and cuisine, despite encountering a few bright spots on the food and farming front and hope among besieged residents for better times ahead. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let's be frank: Nobody goes to Cuba, widely regarded as a culinary backwater, for the food. And nothing about growing, selling, buying, cooking, or eating food -- whether at home or in restaurants -- in Cuba is easy. The lack of variety of fresh ingredients alone would make a farmers' market-loving Northern Californian cry. Food is still rationed in Cuba and much of it is imported (about 70 percent) or frozen, the result of a survivalist mentality born out of scarcity. An agriculture exchange which sprouted in 2011 after the Cuban government loosened up restrictions on a range of small businesses would suggest greater freedoms on the farming front. But such shifts are both an indication of just how much the country has changed, according to a recent \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/world/americas/changes-to-agriculture-highlight-cubas-problems.html?pagewanted=all\">New York Times\u003c/a>\u003c/em> story, and the political and practical limitations that continue to thwart this Caribbean country flirting with capitalism. By most measures, Cuba's free-enterprise farm experiment has failed, writes journalist Damien Cave, with many Cuban residents actually seeing \u003cem>less\u003c/em> locally-grown food at private markets. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Alvarez was encouraged by first-hand accounts from Waters' personal assistant, Varun Mehra, a man mad for all things Cuban, who was instrumental in organizing the recent \"Planting Seeds\" edible expedition, the first of what he hopes will be an ongoing U.S.-Cuba dialogue around food and farming. “Havana’s food scene is changing rapidly and the Cuban government is phasing out its system of rations and cautiously allowing private restaurant ownership,” Mehra notes in \u003ca href=\"http://www.papermag.com/arts_and_style/2012/05/off-the-eaten-path-havana-cuba.php\">his recent travelogue for \u003cem>Paper Magazine\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “As a result, the population is rediscovering its own pre-revolution culinary history — a delicious mix of Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences.” Mehra refers in his piece to \u003cem>paladars\u003c/em>, home-based private eating establishments popping up in Cuba in recent years, that some say could revolutionize -- and spice up -- Cuba's dining options. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 715px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/havana_final.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/havana_final.jpg\" alt=\"Snapshots from Cuba's farm and food scene. Photos: Varun Mehra\" width=\"715\" height=\"720\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57415\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snapshots from Cuba's farm and food scene. Photos: Varun Mehra\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alvarez was eager to see for herself. She grew up in Miami, dining in on the vivid stories her relatives told about a magical place they left behind. Her mom's family owned a sugar plantation in Cuba's eastern Oriente Province, her father's family hailed from Havana; they both moved to the U.S. as young children shortly after the revolution. Alvarez grew up eating Cuban food: White rice, red or black beans cooked with \u003cem>sofrito\u003c/em> (aromatics like garlic, onions, and peppers) and a little sugar and apple cider vinegar, which, she says, made her mom's version special. Her mother and grandmother cooked peasant food that could feed many, Cuban classics like \u003cem>ropa vieja\u003c/em>, (shredded skirt steak stewed in a tomato sauce) and \u003cem>Moros y Cristianos\u003c/em> (\"Moors and Christians,\" a rice and beans dish elevated in flavor by the addition of pork fat or bacon.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was dismayed by what she encountered on her ten-day trip. \"The food culture has largely been lost there, they just don't have a lot of ingredients,\" says Alvarez, who has worked at Chez Panisse for more than two years. \"We were told we couldn't get seafood, which is incredible to me because it's a Caribbean island surrounded by the sea. My mom has stories about live crab walking around the kitchen but now there's no fishing industry to speak of.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57421\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/danielle.alvarez.chezpanisse1.naomifiss.1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/danielle.alvarez.chezpanisse1.naomifiss.1000.jpg\" alt=\"Back in Berkeley, Alvarez finds an abundance of seafood. Photo: Naomi Fiss\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57421\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Back in Berkeley, Alvarez finds an abundance of seafood. Photo: Naomi Fiss\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And Alvarez was stunned by the limitations in the kitchen -- from a lack of oils, vinegars, and spices to a narrow range of fresh food. \"There's no variety in what type of produce they have – they have one type of lettuce and it's really beautiful, but it's all they have. One lettuce, one type of tomato, and one type of eggplant. We asked the farmers and were told that the state supplies the seeds and that's all they have to work with. Since there are no seasons a lot of the plants don't even go to seed, so it's not like they can harvest their own.\" Likewise, while beef might be on the menu at many local restaurants, it was never available to order during Alvarez's stay; pork was the only meat of choice on offer at most places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raw ingredients weren't the only limited resource on the island. \"It broke my heart because at the culinary school and other restaurants we visited they had so little equipment,\" says Alvarez, a graduate of \u003ca href=\"http://www.jwu.edu/culinary/\">Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts\u003c/a> in Miami. \"I found it difficult just to do what we do, as simple as it is, not having pots to cook in or basic equipment like spoons.\" Everyone she encountered asked if they could have a pan or a knife, including the tour group's guide and driver. The Chez Panisse team brought pots and pans with them with the intention of leaving them with local chefs. Dinners were held at Old Havana's \u003ca href=\"http://www.fodors.com/world/caribbean/cuba/havana/review-39914.html\">El Patio\u003c/a> restaurant, a state run enterprise, and at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/havana/restaurants/french/paladar-le-chansonnier\">Le Chansonnier\u003c/a>, a popular \u003cem>paladar\u003c/em>. \u003ca href=\"http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/11/mariela_castro_daughter_of_cuban_president\">Mariela Castro\u003c/a>, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, made an appearance at both events and \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/12/31/tom-bates-and-loni-hancock-visit-sister-city-in-cuba/\">State Senator Loni Hancock and her husband Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates\u003c/a> also attended the dinners, as part of the \"Planting Seeds\" entourage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57417\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/salad.chezpcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/salad.chezpcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\" alt=\"Chez Panisse chefs foraged fresh food for their trademark salads served at Cuban dinners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57417\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chez Panisse chefs foraged fresh food for their trademark salads served at Cuban dinners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alvarez observed other hardships that aren't typical in North American kitchens. One of the restaurants the contingent cooked at didn't have electricity or running water until the afternoon. \"I couldn't tell if that was a regular thing or just happened once in a while, but it seemed like they knew it would come on at four,\" explains Alvarez, a native Spanish speaker, who has done stints at \u003ca href=\"http://www.bouletteslarder.com/\">Boulette's Larder\u003c/a> in San Francisco's Ferry Building and landed an internship at the Wine Country's \u003ca href=\"http://www.frenchlaundry.com/\">French Laundry\u003c/a> straight out of cooking school. \"We lost electricity several times while we were there in different places. Just very basic things that make things difficult that we take for granted here.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One trip highlight: A sourcing excursion to a farm to find pigs and rabbits for the dinners. The family who ran the farm gathered for a big pot of boiled yucca, a root vegetable similar to potatoes, and the visitors were brought a bowl of steaming yucca to share, accompanied by \u003cem>mojo\u003c/em>, a local marinade of garlic, onion, lime juice, and spices. \"I grew up eating yucca, it's a favorite, and that was probably the most delicious thing we ate on our trip,\" says Alvarez, who made yucca ceviche for one dinner cooked by the Chez Panisse chefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.cuba_.ninawolpow.640.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/daniellealvarez.cuba_.ninawolpow.640.jpg\" alt=\"Danielle Alvarez gives plates a final look before sending them out to Cuban diners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57414\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Alvarez gives plates a final look before sending them out to Cuban diners. Photo: Nina Wolpow\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Overall, though, Alvarez found the local food disappointing. \"So much of our philosophy at Chez is about fresh food that's cooked very little. But in Havana much of the food we encountered was frozen, canned, and cooked a lot,\" she says. \"I realized, too, that the limited fresh produce they have doesn't really make it to the people because they can't afford it.\" She did pick up some tips, however, from a local chef on the fine art of braising pork belly in an oven that crisped the skin to perfection while keeping the meat tender and moist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/melissafernandez.chespcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/melissafernandez.chespcuba.ninawolpow.1000.jpg\" alt=\"Fellow Cuban-American Melissa Fernandez plates dishes before serving Cuban dignitaries. Photo: Nina Wolpow\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57416\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fellow Cuban-American Melissa Fernandez plates dishes before serving Cuban dignitaries. Photo: Nina Wolpow\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She also discovered that pizza and pasta (local chefs made pasta from scratch at a cooking demonstration at a local cooking school) are becoming go-to foods in Havana, which intrigued the visiting chefs, known for cooking such dishes to critical acclaim in the Bay Area. \"A lot of people have these little businesses now where they sell pizza out of a window in their homes,\" explains Alvarez. \"It's not like it's great pizza – it's just doughy, oily bread with I don't know what kind of cheese, and a smear of tomato sauce.\" Still, such scenes -- residents dispensing savory pies out of decaying colonial buildings -- would have been unheard of even a few years ago. But as the \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/sunday-review/how-capitalist-are-the-cubans.html?pagewanted=all\">New York Times\u003c/a>\u003c/em> notes in recent Cuba coverage: Havana's growing pizza peddlers are one indication of the entrepreneurial spirit of a country long schooled in socialism and the state. These government-sanctioned edible entrepreneurs are viewed by some as a desperate move by the ruling party to kick start the country's flagging economy. Could culinary endeavors be a pathway to prosperity for some Cubans?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's tough for Alvarez to consider such questions, since her family was doing well before the revolution. At the end of her trip, Alvarez added on a couple of days to visit with the few remaining relatives who never left the island. \"I went to the family farm and that was just hugely emotional for me. I was sobbing. I got to see the daily struggles of every day life,\" she says. \"I had pictures with me about how it used to be; buildings that were once there are now just a pile of rubble. The old houses my family lived in were gone. There were just little wooden, thatched-roof shacks on the property.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez is still processing her visit and how to make sense of it to her family in the States, none of whom have returned to the homeland in more than 40 years. And she wants to focus on the positive things she encountered in a country that bombards newcomers on the ride from the airport with billboards covered in socialist propaganda. True to country stereotype, two in the Chez Panisse crew who needed health care -- Jerome Waag badly burned his hand behind the stove and \u003ca href=\"http://www.cosechacafe.com/\">Cosecha's Dominica Rice\u003c/a> endured an inexplicably swollen ankle -- reported that they received excellent medical services, at the same hospital where \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/hugo-chavez-returns-home-to-venezuela-after-more-than-2-months-of-cancer-treatment-in-cuba/2013/02/18/812b30a6-79b0-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html\">Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez\u003c/a> was receiving cancer treatment. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, Alvarez was drawn to people's enduring spirit in the face of adversity. \"I'd be such a miserable person if I had to live there. Cubans just persevere and try so hard in difficult circumstance,\" she says. \"And still it's hopeful. People feel change is coming, little by little. As bad as things are they love their country so much.\" (Proving, perhaps, \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/where-is-cuba-going.html?pagewanted=all\">where one person sees a prison another sees paradise\u003c/a>.) \"One of the consultants on our tour who went to the University of Miami, as I did, has come back to Cuba and says there is nowhere else he would want to live,\" says Alvarez, who adds: \"I understand, it's home.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "One In Three Fish Sold At Restaurants And Grocery Stores Is Mislabeled",
"title": "One In Three Fish Sold At Restaurants And Grocery Stores Is Mislabeled",
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"content": "\u003cp>Post by Eliza Barclay, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/21/172589997/one-in-three-fish-sold-at-restaurants-and-grocery-stores-is-mislabeled\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57265\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-fraud.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-fraud-290x162.jpg\" alt=\"Escolar, right, is often substituted for more expensive Albacore tuna (left), a report on mislabeled seafood found. Photo: Yoon S. Byun/Boston Globe via Getty Images\" width=\"290\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57265\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Escolar, right, is often substituted for more expensive Albacore tuna (left), a report on mislabeled seafood found. Photo: Yoon S. Byun/Boston Globe via Getty Images\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are so many fish in the sea. But from a diner's viewpoint, peering down at a sliver of white fish atop a bed of sushi rice, a lot of them look the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a \u003ca href=\"http://oceana.org/en/news-media/publications/reports/oceana-study-reveals-seafood-fraud-nationwide\">report\u003c/a> from the ocean conservation group Oceana confirms that there's a pretty decent chance that fish on the plate or on ice in the seafood case is not what it's labeled to be. That means that seafood wallet cards designed by conservation groups to help steer consumers towards \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/series/171717418/the-meaning-of-sustainable-labeled-seafood\">sustainable\u003c/a> choices may not be doing much good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2010 and 2012, Oceana took 1,215 seafood samples from 674 retail outlets in 21 states. When they tested the \u003ca href=\"http://barcoding.si.edu/dnabarcoding.htm\">DNA\u003c/a>, they found that 33 percent were mislabeled. Sushi vendors and grocery stores were the most likely outlets to sell mislabeled food, though Oceana says the fraud can happen before it reaches them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/12/11/166981454/seafood-sleuthing-reveals-pervasive-fish-fraud-in-new-york-city?ft=1&f=139941248\">investigations\u003c/a> by Oceana and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/12/01/dnasidebar/maoPlTvCRdnKmzKdmhHxpO/story.html?p1=News_links\">Boston Globe\u003c/a> revealed that seafood mislabeling is common in cities like New York and Boston, where people eat a lot of fish. But the report out Thursday shows it's happening across the country, and is as bad or worse in places like Texas and Colorado. Some 49 percent of the retail outlets sampled in Austin and Houston sold mislabeled seafood, while 36 percent in Colorado did so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what's the big deal with fish sold under a pseudonym? Well, for one, it's often just a form of swindling – a cheap fish like tilapia sold as red snapper. But Oceana says the practice also can put consumers at health risk when species like king mackerel, which is high in mercury, or escolar, which contains a naturally occurring toxin than can cause gastrointestinal problems, are marketed as grouper and white tuna, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oceana's also concerned that substituting cheaper, easier-to-find fish for rarer, more valuable ones gives consumers a distorted sense of the market. Of the fish types most heavily sampled by Oceana, those sold as snapper and tuna had the highest mislabeling rates — 87 and 59 percent. Only seven of the 120 samples of red snapper purchased nationwide were actually red snapper, the report found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The majority of fraud is various fish standing in for snapper – it's used as catch-all name for all kinds of white fleshed fish,\" says Oceana senior scientist \u003ca href=\"http://oceana.org/en/about-us/people-partners/oceana-staff/kimberly-warner\">Kimberly Warner\u003c/a>. \"But there are real conservation concerns when you slip in things in place of the real thing. People think snapper must be doing great because it's everywhere, but it's overfished.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumers using wallet cards from groups like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and NRDC could end up buying exactly the species they're trying to avoid, Warner says, because mislabeling is so prevalent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason mislabeling has gotten so rampant is that the U.S. now imports 90 percent of its seafood and less than 2 percent is inspected for fraud. That means would-be fraudsters have a lot new options for substitutions.The Food and Drug Administration regularly updates \u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Seafood/ucm313510.htm\">its list\u003c/a> of seafood approved for sale – in 2012 alone, 19 new species were added to the list, including cornetfish, sampa and claresse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what's the government or a consumer to do about all this? Oceana would like to see an international traceability system where retailers would be required to tell consumers where and when a fish was caught and what gear was used. Requirements like these would help the industry — one of the least transparent in the food system — more accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Fisheries Institute argues that the problem is one of enforcement — the FDA needs to do a better job of enforcing laws that are already on the books to discourage fraud. And they encourage consumers to seek out retailers through the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aboutseafood.com/about/about-nfi/better-seafood-board\">Better Seafood Board\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Fish fraud is often just a form of swindling when a cheap fish, like tilapia, is sold as pricy red snapper. But a conservation group says it also puts consumers at risk of health issues and makes it harder to avoid buying fish that are being overfished.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Post by Eliza Barclay, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/21/172589997/one-in-three-fish-sold-at-restaurants-and-grocery-stores-is-mislabeled\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57265\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-fraud.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-fraud-290x162.jpg\" alt=\"Escolar, right, is often substituted for more expensive Albacore tuna (left), a report on mislabeled seafood found. Photo: Yoon S. Byun/Boston Globe via Getty Images\" width=\"290\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57265\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Escolar, right, is often substituted for more expensive Albacore tuna (left), a report on mislabeled seafood found. Photo: Yoon S. Byun/Boston Globe via Getty Images\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are so many fish in the sea. But from a diner's viewpoint, peering down at a sliver of white fish atop a bed of sushi rice, a lot of them look the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a \u003ca href=\"http://oceana.org/en/news-media/publications/reports/oceana-study-reveals-seafood-fraud-nationwide\">report\u003c/a> from the ocean conservation group Oceana confirms that there's a pretty decent chance that fish on the plate or on ice in the seafood case is not what it's labeled to be. That means that seafood wallet cards designed by conservation groups to help steer consumers towards \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/series/171717418/the-meaning-of-sustainable-labeled-seafood\">sustainable\u003c/a> choices may not be doing much good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2010 and 2012, Oceana took 1,215 seafood samples from 674 retail outlets in 21 states. When they tested the \u003ca href=\"http://barcoding.si.edu/dnabarcoding.htm\">DNA\u003c/a>, they found that 33 percent were mislabeled. Sushi vendors and grocery stores were the most likely outlets to sell mislabeled food, though Oceana says the fraud can happen before it reaches them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/12/11/166981454/seafood-sleuthing-reveals-pervasive-fish-fraud-in-new-york-city?ft=1&f=139941248\">investigations\u003c/a> by Oceana and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/12/01/dnasidebar/maoPlTvCRdnKmzKdmhHxpO/story.html?p1=News_links\">Boston Globe\u003c/a> revealed that seafood mislabeling is common in cities like New York and Boston, where people eat a lot of fish. But the report out Thursday shows it's happening across the country, and is as bad or worse in places like Texas and Colorado. Some 49 percent of the retail outlets sampled in Austin and Houston sold mislabeled seafood, while 36 percent in Colorado did so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what's the big deal with fish sold under a pseudonym? Well, for one, it's often just a form of swindling – a cheap fish like tilapia sold as red snapper. But Oceana says the practice also can put consumers at health risk when species like king mackerel, which is high in mercury, or escolar, which contains a naturally occurring toxin than can cause gastrointestinal problems, are marketed as grouper and white tuna, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oceana's also concerned that substituting cheaper, easier-to-find fish for rarer, more valuable ones gives consumers a distorted sense of the market. Of the fish types most heavily sampled by Oceana, those sold as snapper and tuna had the highest mislabeling rates — 87 and 59 percent. Only seven of the 120 samples of red snapper purchased nationwide were actually red snapper, the report found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The majority of fraud is various fish standing in for snapper – it's used as catch-all name for all kinds of white fleshed fish,\" says Oceana senior scientist \u003ca href=\"http://oceana.org/en/about-us/people-partners/oceana-staff/kimberly-warner\">Kimberly Warner\u003c/a>. \"But there are real conservation concerns when you slip in things in place of the real thing. People think snapper must be doing great because it's everywhere, but it's overfished.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumers using wallet cards from groups like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and NRDC could end up buying exactly the species they're trying to avoid, Warner says, because mislabeling is so prevalent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason mislabeling has gotten so rampant is that the U.S. now imports 90 percent of its seafood and less than 2 percent is inspected for fraud. That means would-be fraudsters have a lot new options for substitutions.The Food and Drug Administration regularly updates \u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Seafood/ucm313510.htm\">its list\u003c/a> of seafood approved for sale – in 2012 alone, 19 new species were added to the list, including cornetfish, sampa and claresse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what's the government or a consumer to do about all this? Oceana would like to see an international traceability system where retailers would be required to tell consumers where and when a fish was caught and what gear was used. Requirements like these would help the industry — one of the least transparent in the food system — more accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Fisheries Institute argues that the problem is one of enforcement — the FDA needs to do a better job of enforcing laws that are already on the books to discourage fraud. And they encourage consumers to seek out retailers through the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aboutseafood.com/about/about-nfi/better-seafood-board\">Better Seafood Board\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57119\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/organictomatoes.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/organictomatoes-1024x767.jpg\" alt=\"Organic tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes. Photo: Chiot's Run/via Flickr\" width=\"1024\" height=\"767\" class=\"size-large wp-image-57119\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organic tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes. Photo: Chiot's Run/via Flickr\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by Allison Aubrey, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/19/172416458/smaller-but-better-organic-tomatoes-may-pack-more-nutritional-punch\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (2/20/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new \u003ca href=\"http://www.plos.org/media/press/2013/pone-08-02-oliveira.pdf\">study\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>PLOS ONE \u003c/em>finds that tomatoes grown on organic farms were about 40 percent smaller than conventionally grown tomatoes. The upside? They pack more of a nutritional punch. The researchers found the organic tomatoes had significantly higher levels of vitamin C, sugar and lycopene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, while the extra sugar may improve the taste, it's the lycopene that could amp up organic tomatoes' health profile. Lycopene — a compound that gives tomatoes their red coloring — has been linked to a \u003ca href=\"%20%20%20http:/www.health.harvard.edu/blog/lycopene-rich-tomatoes-linked-to-lower-stroke-risk-201210105400\">decreased risk of stroke\u003c/a> in people who consume a lot of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what explains the increase in healthy compounds in the organic fruit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, researchers say the organic system of agriculture tends to \"stress out\" the tomato plants. For instance, when tomato plants fend off pests without the use of heavy-duty pesticides, they produce more stress compounds — such as vitamin C and lycopene — to defend themselves. It's similar to the way we humans make antibodies to fight off a disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is not the first study to find that organic methods lead to higher levels of potentially beneficial compounds. As we've \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90914182\">reported\u003c/a>, researchers at the University of California, Davis found that organic tomatoes had almost double the concentration of two flavonoids, quercetin and kaempferol, which have potent antioxidant activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not everyone is convinced that studies like these prove that organic tomatoes are better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I would be very shocked if the differences can actually be attributed\" to organic techniques alone, says \u003ca href=\"http://hos.ufl.edu/kleeweb/\">Harry Klee\u003c/a>, a tomato researcher at the University of Florida. The tomato variety being planted is also key, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The modern varieties [of tomatoes] are designed to produce very large numbers of fruits,\" explains Klee. And as a result, the nutrients get diluted, because the plant \"can't keep up with the huge load of fruit.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another factor is how the plants are fertilized. Conventional farming tends to use a lot of quick-release, nitrogen fertilizer — which provides a burst of growth. By comparison, organic methods focus on enriching the soil, but the nutrients are released more slowly. This means the fruit grows slower, and the plant has more time to make compounds like flavonoids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Klee says it's possible to limit fertilizer within a conventional system and get the same results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If I take two plants on conventional farms and reduce the fertilizer levels on one, I'll get 40 percent smaller fruits with higher nutrient content,\" says Klee. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tomatoes grown on organic farms contained significantly higher levels of vitamin C, sugar and lycopene than their conventionally grown counterparts, a study finds. Turns out, organic farming techniques \"stress out\" the plants in ways that make them more nutrient dense.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57119\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/organictomatoes.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/organictomatoes-1024x767.jpg\" alt=\"Organic tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes. Photo: Chiot's Run/via Flickr\" width=\"1024\" height=\"767\" class=\"size-large wp-image-57119\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organic tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes. Photo: Chiot's Run/via Flickr\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by Allison Aubrey, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/19/172416458/smaller-but-better-organic-tomatoes-may-pack-more-nutritional-punch\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (2/20/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new \u003ca href=\"http://www.plos.org/media/press/2013/pone-08-02-oliveira.pdf\">study\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>PLOS ONE \u003c/em>finds that tomatoes grown on organic farms were about 40 percent smaller than conventionally grown tomatoes. The upside? They pack more of a nutritional punch. The researchers found the organic tomatoes had significantly higher levels of vitamin C, sugar and lycopene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, while the extra sugar may improve the taste, it's the lycopene that could amp up organic tomatoes' health profile. Lycopene — a compound that gives tomatoes their red coloring — has been linked to a \u003ca href=\"%20%20%20http:/www.health.harvard.edu/blog/lycopene-rich-tomatoes-linked-to-lower-stroke-risk-201210105400\">decreased risk of stroke\u003c/a> in people who consume a lot of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what explains the increase in healthy compounds in the organic fruit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, researchers say the organic system of agriculture tends to \"stress out\" the tomato plants. For instance, when tomato plants fend off pests without the use of heavy-duty pesticides, they produce more stress compounds — such as vitamin C and lycopene — to defend themselves. It's similar to the way we humans make antibodies to fight off a disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is not the first study to find that organic methods lead to higher levels of potentially beneficial compounds. As we've \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90914182\">reported\u003c/a>, researchers at the University of California, Davis found that organic tomatoes had almost double the concentration of two flavonoids, quercetin and kaempferol, which have potent antioxidant activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not everyone is convinced that studies like these prove that organic tomatoes are better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I would be very shocked if the differences can actually be attributed\" to organic techniques alone, says \u003ca href=\"http://hos.ufl.edu/kleeweb/\">Harry Klee\u003c/a>, a tomato researcher at the University of Florida. The tomato variety being planted is also key, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The modern varieties [of tomatoes] are designed to produce very large numbers of fruits,\" explains Klee. And as a result, the nutrients get diluted, because the plant \"can't keep up with the huge load of fruit.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another factor is how the plants are fertilized. Conventional farming tends to use a lot of quick-release, nitrogen fertilizer — which provides a burst of growth. By comparison, organic methods focus on enriching the soil, but the nutrients are released more slowly. This means the fruit grows slower, and the plant has more time to make compounds like flavonoids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Klee says it's possible to limit fertilizer within a conventional system and get the same results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If I take two plants on conventional farms and reduce the fertilizer levels on one, I'll get 40 percent smaller fruits with higher nutrient content,\" says Klee. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Pictures Don't Lie: Corn And Soybeans Are Conquering U.S. Grasslands",
"title": "Pictures Don't Lie: Corn And Soybeans Are Conquering U.S. Grasslands",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Bites | KQED Food",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/cornfield.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/cornfield-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"A corn field is shrouded in mist at sunrise in rural Springfield, Neb. Photo: Nati Harnik/AP\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\" class=\"size-large wp-image-57070\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A corn field is shrouded in mist at sunrise in rural Springfield, Neb. Photo: Nati Harnik/AP\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/14/172021095/pictures-dont-lie-corn-and-soybeans-are-conquering-u-s-grasslands\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, I've been hearing stories about the changing agricultural landscape of the northern plains. Grasslands are disappearing, farmers told me. They're being replaced by fields of corn and soybeans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, those stories got a big dose of scientific, peer-reviewed validation. A \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/13/1215404110.abstract?sid=6beb2b07-ff9f-4090-a5dc-ec4811e46f7a\">study\u003c/a> published in the \u003cem>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003c/em> shows actual pictures — derived from satellite data — of that changing landscape. The images show that farmers in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska converted 1.3 million acres of grassland into soybean and corn production between 2006 and 2011.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is kind of the worst-kept secret in the Northern Plains. We just put some numbers on it,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://globalmonitoring.sdstate.edu/people.php?view=6&a=show&id=69\">Christopher Wright\u003c/a>, from South Dakota State University, who got funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy to take a close look at this phenomenon. Earlier studies from the \u003ca href=\"http://static.ewg.org/pdf/plowed_under.pdf\">Environmental Working Group\u003c/a> and the USDA's \u003ca href=\"http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/128019/err120.pdf\">Economic Research Service\u003c/a> have also looked at it, each using slightly different methods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57071\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 279px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/map.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/map-279x290.jpg\" alt=\"Hot spots of grassland conversion: This map shows the percentage of existing grasslands that were converted into corn or soybean fields between 2006 and 2011. Photo: Christopher K. Wright/South Dakota State University\" width=\"279\" height=\"290\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57071\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hot spots of grassland conversion: This map shows the percentage of existing grasslands that were converted into corn or soybean fields between 2006 and 2011. Photo: Christopher K. Wright/South Dakota State University\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Wright's images are striking, and these changes are having profound effects on the environment of this region. For instance, it's bad news for wildlife, because corn fields are much less inviting habitat for a wide range of wild creatures, from ground-nesting birds to insects, including \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/14/146872577/why-california-almonds-need-north-dakota-flowers-and-a-few-billion-bees\">bees\u003c/a>. Corn and soybean fields are increasingly encroaching into the Prairie Pothole region of the Dakotas and Minnesota, the most important breeding habitat for waterfowl in North America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In southern Iowa, Wright says, much of the land conversion is taking place on hillsides. The soil of those fields, without permanent grass to hold it in place, is now much more likely to wash into streams and ponds. And on the western edge of this region, farmers are taking a chance on corn and soybeans in places that sometimes don't get enough rainfall for these thirsty crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? There's one very simple reason: Corn and soybean prices are high, so farmers can earn a lot of money growing those crops. Meanwhile, funding has been declining for one important alternative — the government's \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4736044\">Conservation Reserve Program\u003c/a>, which pays farmers to protect wildlife and water quality by keeping land in grass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason, however, is getting increasing attention: crop insurance. The government subsidizes private insurance policies that cover the risks of poor harvests, or even that prices will fall. Because farmers don't pay for the full cost of this insurance, critics of crop insurance say that it encourages risky behavior: planting crops in areas that don't drain well, where rainfall is unreliable, or on hillsides where soil erosion is a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say that the government should drastically reduce its subsidies for such insurance. Not only is it \u003ca href=\"http://www.card.iastate.edu/policy_briefs/display.aspx?id=1154\">fiscally irresponsible\u003c/a>, they say. It's encouraging farmers to \u003ca href=\"http://static.ewg.org/pdf/plowed_under.pdf\">destroy the grasslands\u003c/a> of the northern plains, a priceless and increasingly scarce natural treasure.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nCopyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Farmers in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska converted 1.3 million acres of grassland into soybean and corn production between 2006 and 2011. Images derived from satellite data confirmed that changing landscape, which spells bad news wildlife and for soil integrity in some parts.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/cornfield.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/cornfield-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"A corn field is shrouded in mist at sunrise in rural Springfield, Neb. Photo: Nati Harnik/AP\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\" class=\"size-large wp-image-57070\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A corn field is shrouded in mist at sunrise in rural Springfield, Neb. Photo: Nati Harnik/AP\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/14/172021095/pictures-dont-lie-corn-and-soybeans-are-conquering-u-s-grasslands\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, I've been hearing stories about the changing agricultural landscape of the northern plains. Grasslands are disappearing, farmers told me. They're being replaced by fields of corn and soybeans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, those stories got a big dose of scientific, peer-reviewed validation. A \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/13/1215404110.abstract?sid=6beb2b07-ff9f-4090-a5dc-ec4811e46f7a\">study\u003c/a> published in the \u003cem>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003c/em> shows actual pictures — derived from satellite data — of that changing landscape. The images show that farmers in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska converted 1.3 million acres of grassland into soybean and corn production between 2006 and 2011.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is kind of the worst-kept secret in the Northern Plains. We just put some numbers on it,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://globalmonitoring.sdstate.edu/people.php?view=6&a=show&id=69\">Christopher Wright\u003c/a>, from South Dakota State University, who got funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy to take a close look at this phenomenon. Earlier studies from the \u003ca href=\"http://static.ewg.org/pdf/plowed_under.pdf\">Environmental Working Group\u003c/a> and the USDA's \u003ca href=\"http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/128019/err120.pdf\">Economic Research Service\u003c/a> have also looked at it, each using slightly different methods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_57071\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 279px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/map.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/map-279x290.jpg\" alt=\"Hot spots of grassland conversion: This map shows the percentage of existing grasslands that were converted into corn or soybean fields between 2006 and 2011. Photo: Christopher K. Wright/South Dakota State University\" width=\"279\" height=\"290\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57071\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hot spots of grassland conversion: This map shows the percentage of existing grasslands that were converted into corn or soybean fields between 2006 and 2011. Photo: Christopher K. Wright/South Dakota State University\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Wright's images are striking, and these changes are having profound effects on the environment of this region. For instance, it's bad news for wildlife, because corn fields are much less inviting habitat for a wide range of wild creatures, from ground-nesting birds to insects, including \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/14/146872577/why-california-almonds-need-north-dakota-flowers-and-a-few-billion-bees\">bees\u003c/a>. Corn and soybean fields are increasingly encroaching into the Prairie Pothole region of the Dakotas and Minnesota, the most important breeding habitat for waterfowl in North America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In southern Iowa, Wright says, much of the land conversion is taking place on hillsides. The soil of those fields, without permanent grass to hold it in place, is now much more likely to wash into streams and ponds. And on the western edge of this region, farmers are taking a chance on corn and soybeans in places that sometimes don't get enough rainfall for these thirsty crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? There's one very simple reason: Corn and soybean prices are high, so farmers can earn a lot of money growing those crops. Meanwhile, funding has been declining for one important alternative — the government's \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4736044\">Conservation Reserve Program\u003c/a>, which pays farmers to protect wildlife and water quality by keeping land in grass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason, however, is getting increasing attention: crop insurance. The government subsidizes private insurance policies that cover the risks of poor harvests, or even that prices will fall. Because farmers don't pay for the full cost of this insurance, critics of crop insurance say that it encourages risky behavior: planting crops in areas that don't drain well, where rainfall is unreliable, or on hillsides where soil erosion is a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say that the government should drastically reduce its subsidies for such insurance. Not only is it \u003ca href=\"http://www.card.iastate.edu/policy_briefs/display.aspx?id=1154\">fiscally irresponsible\u003c/a>, they say. It's encouraging farmers to \u003ca href=\"http://static.ewg.org/pdf/plowed_under.pdf\">destroy the grasslands\u003c/a> of the northern plains, a priceless and increasingly scarce natural treasure.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nCopyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56991\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman.jpg\" alt=\"Vernon Hugh Bowman lives outside the small town of Sandborn, Ind. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\" width=\"624\" height=\"393\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56991\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vernon Hugh Bowman lives outside the small town of Sandborn, Ind. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Listen to the Story on\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/18/171896311/farmers-fight-with-monsanto-reaches-the-supreme-court\">Morning Edition:\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n [audio src=\"http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2013/02/20130218_me_10.mp3\"] \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, The Salt at NPR Food (2/18/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the Supreme Court will take up a classic David-and-Goliath \u003ca href=\"http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/bowman-v-monsanto-co/\">case\u003c/a>. On one side, there's a 75-year-old farmer in Indiana named Vernon Hugh Bowman; on the other, the agribusiness giant Monsanto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The farmer is fighting the long reach of Monsanto's patents on seeds — but he's up against more than just Monsanto. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/briefs-v2/11-796_resp_amcu_biotech.authcheckdam.pdf\">biotech\u003c/a> and computer \u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/briefs-v2/11-796_resp_amcu_bsa.authcheckdam.pdf\">software\u003c/a> industries are taking Monsanto's side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman also is battling a historic shift that's transformed the nation's seed business over the past 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite all that, Bowman seems remarkably cheerful about his situation. \"Confrontation does not take a toll on me!\" he says. \"You and me can argue about the Bible; we can argue about religion. I'll pound my fist and we can argue all day, and I won't lose a bit of sleep at night!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman is leaning back in an easy chair, where he says he also sleeps at night. He lives alone in a modest white frame house outside the small town of Sandborn, in southwestern Indiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out back, there's an array of old farm equipment collected during decades of growing corn and soybeans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman is wearing a Monsanto hat. It's probably an ironic gesture, but in fact, he's been a pleased and loyal customer of the company's seeds. He thinks the genes that Monsanto inserted into soybeans are just great. They let soybeans survive the country's most popular weedkiller: \u003ca href=\"http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/dienochlor-glyphosate/glyphosate-ext.html\">glyphosate\u003c/a>, also known as Roundup. He can spray that one chemical to get rid of the weeds without harming his crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It made things so much simpler and better. No question about that,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman uses these \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.monsanto.com/weedmanagement/Pages/roundup-ready-system.aspx\">Roundup Ready\u003c/a>\" soybeans for his main crop, which he plants in the spring, and he signs a standard agreement not to save any of his harvest and replant it the next year. Monsanto demands exclusive rights to supply that seed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56992\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman-grainelevator.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman-grainelevator-290x216.jpg\" alt=\"Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\" width=\"290\" height=\"216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56992\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But here's where Bowman got into trouble: He also likes to plant a second crop of soybeans, later in the year, in fields where he just harvested wheat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those late-season soybeans are risky. The yield is smaller. Bowman decided that for this crop, he didn't want to pay top dollar for Monsanto's seed. \"What I wanted was a cheap source of seed,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in 1999, he bought some ordinary soybeans from a small grain elevator where local farmers drop off their harvest. \"They made sure they didn't sell it as seed. Their ticket said, 'Outbound grain,\" says Bowman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He knew that these beans probably had Monsanto's Roundup Ready gene in them, because that's mainly what farmers plant these days. But Bowman didn't think Monsanto controlled these soybeans anymore, and in any case, he was getting a motley collection of different varieties, hardly a threat to Monsanto's seed business. \"I couldn't imagine that they'd give a rat's behind,\" he snorts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman told his neighbors what he was doing. It turned out that Monsanto did, in fact, care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"He wanted to use our technology without paying for it,\" says David Snively, Monsanto's general counsel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monsanto took Bowman to court, and Bowman was ordered to pay Monsanto $84,000 for infringing the company's patent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman appealed. To the surprise of many, the highest court in the land agreed to hear his case. \"I'm not a-gonna give in! Because I think I've done nothing wrong!\" says Bowman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His lawyers, who are representing him for free, have come up with a legal argument for why he did nothing wrong. If they succeed in persuading the court, it could pull the rug out from under Monsanto, and some other industries, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman's lawyer, \u003ca href=\"http://www.flhlaw.com/professionals/xprAttorneyDetails2.aspx?xpST=AttorneyDetail&attorney=227\">Mark Walters\u003c/a> from the firm of Frommer Lawrence and Haug, says there's a very old principle in patent law: If you buy something that's covered by a patent — let's say it's a cell phone — you own it, outright. \"You're allowed to put it on Craigslist and sell it, you're allowed to use it for your 'ordinary pursuits of life' is the quote from some of the old cases that we're relying on.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a valuable principle, Walters says. \"Imagine how commerce would work if patents owners could come out of nowhere and surprise purchasers and tell them, 'Oh, you need to pay me a royalty, because I own a patent on this thing that you just bought.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So according to this principle of \"patent exhaustion,\" Bowman bought that seed and can do with it what he wants. Patent holders have no right to stop him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monsanto's \u003ca href=\"http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/Pages/david-snively-bio.aspx\">David Snively\u003c/a>, for his part, says this argument completely misses the point. Yes, we can buy an iPhone and do whatever we want with it, \"but we're not going to go out and make copies of the iPhone and put Apple out of business,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's what Bowman did, says Snively. When he planted this patented seed, he made copies of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, he says, if farmers were allowed to do this with patented seeds, the patents would be worthless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of industry organizations have come to Monsanto's defense, including the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bio.org/\">Biotechnology Industry Organization\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hans Sauer, deputy general counsel at BIO, says many biotech products are a lot like seeds. \"They are easily replicated. They are difficult to make, but once created they are relatively easy to reproduce.\" The same is true of computer software.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56990\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-nels-kasey.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-nels-kasey-290x216.jpg\" alt=\"Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR \" width=\"290\" height=\"216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56990\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But these are new technologies. Farmers' seeds are old; they're the original self-replicating technology, and for centuries, nobody tried to claim them as intellectual property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's one reason why Monsanto's patents and lawsuits against farmers have stirred up so much \u003ca href=\"http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf\">anger\u003c/a> and received so much attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What's less well known, however, is that the practice of patenting seeds has moved far beyond Monsanto and other biotech companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's standard practice now even among small companies like \u003ca href=\"http://www.greatheartseed.com/\">Great Heart Seed\u003c/a>, in Paris, Ill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Great Heart Seed's warehouse is filled to the rafters with white bags of soybean seed. The company sells 45 different varieties in all. Some grow better in the south, others in the north. Most have Monsanto's Roundup resistance genes, while others do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet all of these varieties are patented. \"Nearly everything out there has a patent on it now,\" says Nels Kasey, one of the Great Heart's owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty years ago, that wasn't the case. Many seed dealers sold \"public\" varieties that came from breeders at universities like Iowa State or Purdue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, most new varieties come from private companies, and even universities acquire patents on most of the varieties that they do release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers aren't supposed to save and replant those seeds, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kasey says, the new system gives soybean breeders and seed companies more profits, and a stronger incentive to create and sell even better plant varieties. \"I'm really proud of the varieties that we have today. When I started in this company, you had a handful of varieties. Today, there's more money in it, more profit in it, so I can support 45 lines,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those seeds, though, are also more expensive. Soybean seeds have tripled in price over the past 20 years. And a farmer like Bowman who just wants some cheap, generic seeds can't easily find them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman can see towering bins filled with soybeans all around southwestern Indiana, but according to the seed companies, he can't plant any of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, after Monsanto took Bowman to court, his search for unrestricted seeds took him all the way to Ohio, one of the very few places in the country where the state still \u003ca href=\"http://www.ohseed.org/downloads/NonGmoSoybeans2.pdf\">distributes\u003c/a> non-patented soybean varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman acquired some of that seed — a variety called Dennison — and grew it last year. He saved part of his harvest. Those soybeans are now sitting in an old combine in a shed behind his house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the Supreme Court rules against him, Bowman can still use those beans for seed this year. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "On its surface, the case is about whether farmers can use seeds derived from patented crops. But the bigger question is, how much control does a company have over its patented products once they're in the hands of consumers?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56991\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman.jpg\" alt=\"Vernon Hugh Bowman lives outside the small town of Sandborn, Ind. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\" width=\"624\" height=\"393\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56991\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vernon Hugh Bowman lives outside the small town of Sandborn, Ind. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Listen to the Story on\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/18/171896311/farmers-fight-with-monsanto-reaches-the-supreme-court\">Morning Edition:\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/143160021/daniel-charles\">Dan Charles\u003c/a>, The Salt at NPR Food (2/18/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the Supreme Court will take up a classic David-and-Goliath \u003ca href=\"http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/bowman-v-monsanto-co/\">case\u003c/a>. On one side, there's a 75-year-old farmer in Indiana named Vernon Hugh Bowman; on the other, the agribusiness giant Monsanto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The farmer is fighting the long reach of Monsanto's patents on seeds — but he's up against more than just Monsanto. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/briefs-v2/11-796_resp_amcu_biotech.authcheckdam.pdf\">biotech\u003c/a> and computer \u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/briefs-v2/11-796_resp_amcu_bsa.authcheckdam.pdf\">software\u003c/a> industries are taking Monsanto's side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman also is battling a historic shift that's transformed the nation's seed business over the past 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite all that, Bowman seems remarkably cheerful about his situation. \"Confrontation does not take a toll on me!\" he says. \"You and me can argue about the Bible; we can argue about religion. I'll pound my fist and we can argue all day, and I won't lose a bit of sleep at night!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman is leaning back in an easy chair, where he says he also sleeps at night. He lives alone in a modest white frame house outside the small town of Sandborn, in southwestern Indiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out back, there's an array of old farm equipment collected during decades of growing corn and soybeans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman is wearing a Monsanto hat. It's probably an ironic gesture, but in fact, he's been a pleased and loyal customer of the company's seeds. He thinks the genes that Monsanto inserted into soybeans are just great. They let soybeans survive the country's most popular weedkiller: \u003ca href=\"http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/dienochlor-glyphosate/glyphosate-ext.html\">glyphosate\u003c/a>, also known as Roundup. He can spray that one chemical to get rid of the weeds without harming his crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It made things so much simpler and better. No question about that,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman uses these \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.monsanto.com/weedmanagement/Pages/roundup-ready-system.aspx\">Roundup Ready\u003c/a>\" soybeans for his main crop, which he plants in the spring, and he signs a standard agreement not to save any of his harvest and replant it the next year. Monsanto demands exclusive rights to supply that seed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56992\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman-grainelevator.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-bowman-grainelevator-290x216.jpg\" alt=\"Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\" width=\"290\" height=\"216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56992\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But here's where Bowman got into trouble: He also likes to plant a second crop of soybeans, later in the year, in fields where he just harvested wheat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those late-season soybeans are risky. The yield is smaller. Bowman decided that for this crop, he didn't want to pay top dollar for Monsanto's seed. \"What I wanted was a cheap source of seed,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in 1999, he bought some ordinary soybeans from a small grain elevator where local farmers drop off their harvest. \"They made sure they didn't sell it as seed. Their ticket said, 'Outbound grain,\" says Bowman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He knew that these beans probably had Monsanto's Roundup Ready gene in them, because that's mainly what farmers plant these days. But Bowman didn't think Monsanto controlled these soybeans anymore, and in any case, he was getting a motley collection of different varieties, hardly a threat to Monsanto's seed business. \"I couldn't imagine that they'd give a rat's behind,\" he snorts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman told his neighbors what he was doing. It turned out that Monsanto did, in fact, care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"He wanted to use our technology without paying for it,\" says David Snively, Monsanto's general counsel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monsanto took Bowman to court, and Bowman was ordered to pay Monsanto $84,000 for infringing the company's patent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman appealed. To the surprise of many, the highest court in the land agreed to hear his case. \"I'm not a-gonna give in! Because I think I've done nothing wrong!\" says Bowman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His lawyers, who are representing him for free, have come up with a legal argument for why he did nothing wrong. If they succeed in persuading the court, it could pull the rug out from under Monsanto, and some other industries, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman's lawyer, \u003ca href=\"http://www.flhlaw.com/professionals/xprAttorneyDetails2.aspx?xpST=AttorneyDetail&attorney=227\">Mark Walters\u003c/a> from the firm of Frommer Lawrence and Haug, says there's a very old principle in patent law: If you buy something that's covered by a patent — let's say it's a cell phone — you own it, outright. \"You're allowed to put it on Craigslist and sell it, you're allowed to use it for your 'ordinary pursuits of life' is the quote from some of the old cases that we're relying on.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a valuable principle, Walters says. \"Imagine how commerce would work if patents owners could come out of nowhere and surprise purchasers and tell them, 'Oh, you need to pay me a royalty, because I own a patent on this thing that you just bought.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So according to this principle of \"patent exhaustion,\" Bowman bought that seed and can do with it what he wants. Patent holders have no right to stop him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monsanto's \u003ca href=\"http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/Pages/david-snively-bio.aspx\">David Snively\u003c/a>, for his part, says this argument completely misses the point. Yes, we can buy an iPhone and do whatever we want with it, \"but we're not going to go out and make copies of the iPhone and put Apple out of business,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's what Bowman did, says Snively. When he planted this patented seed, he made copies of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, he says, if farmers were allowed to do this with patented seeds, the patents would be worthless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of industry organizations have come to Monsanto's defense, including the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bio.org/\">Biotechnology Industry Organization\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hans Sauer, deputy general counsel at BIO, says many biotech products are a lot like seeds. \"They are easily replicated. They are difficult to make, but once created they are relatively easy to reproduce.\" The same is true of computer software.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56990\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-nels-kasey.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/monsanto-nels-kasey-290x216.jpg\" alt=\"Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR \" width=\"290\" height=\"216\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56990\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bowman bought ordinary soybeans from this small grain elevator and used them for seed. Photo: Dan Charles/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But these are new technologies. Farmers' seeds are old; they're the original self-replicating technology, and for centuries, nobody tried to claim them as intellectual property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's one reason why Monsanto's patents and lawsuits against farmers have stirred up so much \u003ca href=\"http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf\">anger\u003c/a> and received so much attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What's less well known, however, is that the practice of patenting seeds has moved far beyond Monsanto and other biotech companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's standard practice now even among small companies like \u003ca href=\"http://www.greatheartseed.com/\">Great Heart Seed\u003c/a>, in Paris, Ill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Great Heart Seed's warehouse is filled to the rafters with white bags of soybean seed. The company sells 45 different varieties in all. Some grow better in the south, others in the north. Most have Monsanto's Roundup resistance genes, while others do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet all of these varieties are patented. \"Nearly everything out there has a patent on it now,\" says Nels Kasey, one of the Great Heart's owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty years ago, that wasn't the case. Many seed dealers sold \"public\" varieties that came from breeders at universities like Iowa State or Purdue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, most new varieties come from private companies, and even universities acquire patents on most of the varieties that they do release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers aren't supposed to save and replant those seeds, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kasey says, the new system gives soybean breeders and seed companies more profits, and a stronger incentive to create and sell even better plant varieties. \"I'm really proud of the varieties that we have today. When I started in this company, you had a handful of varieties. Today, there's more money in it, more profit in it, so I can support 45 lines,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those seeds, though, are also more expensive. Soybean seeds have tripled in price over the past 20 years. And a farmer like Bowman who just wants some cheap, generic seeds can't easily find them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman can see towering bins filled with soybeans all around southwestern Indiana, but according to the seed companies, he can't plant any of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, after Monsanto took Bowman to court, his search for unrestricted seeds took him all the way to Ohio, one of the very few places in the country where the state still \u003ca href=\"http://www.ohseed.org/downloads/NonGmoSoybeans2.pdf\">distributes\u003c/a> non-patented soybean varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman acquired some of that seed — a variety called Dennison — and grew it last year. He saved part of his harvest. Those soybeans are now sitting in an old combine in a shed behind his house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the Supreme Court rules against him, Bowman can still use those beans for seed this year. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable? ",
"title": "Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable? ",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56694\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blue-shark.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blue-shark.jpg\" alt=\"Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark that was caught during a research trip in Nova Scotia. Scientists are studying the impact of swordfish fishing methods on the shark population. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"624\" height=\"416\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56694\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark that was caught during a research trip in Nova Scotia. Scientists are studying the impact of swordfish fishing methods on the shark population. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Listen to the Story on \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable\">All Things Considered:\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[audio:http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2013/02/20130211_atc_06.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1150&aggIds=171717418&ft=3&f=171376509 |titles=Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable?]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/4173096/daniel-zwerdling\">Daniel Zwerdling\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/139449124/margot-williams\">Margot Williams\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable\">NPR Special Series\u003c/a> (2/11/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Part one of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/series/171717418/the-meaning-of-sustainable-labeled-seafood\">three-part series\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Weel pushes a baby stroller with her 18-month-old up to the seafood case at Whole Foods, near ground zero in New York. As she peers at shiny fillets of salmon, halibut and Chilean sea bass labeled \"certified sustainable,\" Weel believes that if she purchases this seafood, she will help protect the world's oceans from overfishing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some leading environmentalists have a different take: Consumers like Weel are being misled by a global program that amounts to \"greenwashing\" — a strategy that makes consumers think they are protecting the planet, when actually they are not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Whole Foods, the seafood counter displays blue labels from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.msc.org/\">Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/a> (MSC), an international, nonprofit organization. The MSC is a prime example of an economic trend: Private groups, not the government, are telling consumers what is good or bad for the environment. The MSC says its label guarantees that the wild seafood was caught using methods that do not deplete the natural supply. It also guarantees that fishing companies do not cause serious harm to other life in the sea, from coral to dolphins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is spreading fast throughout the food industry. Megachains like Target, Costco and Kroger are selling seafood with the MSC label. McDonald's says you are munching on \"certified sustainable\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=058E2W21Wl0\" target=\"_blank\">wild Alaskan pollock\u003c/a> every time you eat a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. The fast-food company has used MSC-certified fish since 2007 in the U.S., and as of February, they are putting the MSC logo on their fish sandwich boxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56697\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 256px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-poll.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-poll.jpg\" alt=\"Poll results from a recent survey of 3,000 Americans, conducted on behalf of NPR, by Truven Health Analytics. Questions were asked — in general — about sustainable seafood and labeling. Source: Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll; margin of error +/- 1.8 percentage points Credit: Matt Stiles\" width=\"256\" height=\"643\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56697\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poll results from a recent survey of 3,000 Americans, conducted on behalf of NPR, by Truven Health Analytics. Questions were asked — in general — about sustainable seafood and labeling.\u003cbr>Source: Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll; margin of error +/- 1.8 percentage points\u003cbr>Credit: Matt Stiles\u003cbr>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Consumers like Weel say the labels help them feel better about the products they buy. \"I want to feel that I'm doing the right thing,\" says Weel, a pediatrician, as her 4 1/2-year-old daughter bolts into the vegetable aisle in neon-colored boots. When Weel shops for seafood, she says, she wants to make choices \"that will help preserve the wild fish populations in the oceans.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Executives at Whole Foods say they are helping consumers do exactly that, by pledging in recent years to sell as many MSC-certified products as possible. Seafood is the last major food that people catch in the wild, and \"we can't just go out and find more fish to catch,\" says Carrie Brownstein, global seafood quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brownstein cites a \u003ca href=\"http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2727e/i2727e00.htm\" target=\"_blank\">2012 United Nations report\u003c/a> that warned that almost 30 percent of the world's wild fisheries are \"overexploited,\" and more than 57 percent of wild fisheries are \"at or very close\" to the limit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other groups have devised ranking systems for seafood. The Monterey Bay Aquarium labels products like a traffic light — green, yellow or red — to urge shoppers to buy or avoid a particular fish. The Blue Ocean Institute has a similar system. The MSC reports it has labeled roughly 8 percent of the global seafood catch, worth more than $3 billion. That makes it the most widespread and best-known rating scheme around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent survey of 3,000 Americans, conducted on behalf of NPR, suggests that a majority of consumers want to feel good about the seafood they buy. The poll by Truven Health Analytics found that almost 80 percent of the people who eat seafood regularly said it is \"important\" or \"very important\" that their seafood is sustainably caught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they buy MSC-labeled seafood, they may be paying a premium. Brownstein says Whole Foods charges more for some of its seafood labeled \"certified sustainable,\" although she wouldn't give numbers. Some fishing industry executives told NPR that they are getting roughly 10 percent more for their MSC-labeled products than for seafood that's not certified sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's one reason why many environmentalists who supported the MSC in the past say you might be troubled to know what the MSC and supermarkets like Whole Foods are not telling you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We would prefer they didn't use the word \u003cem>sustainable\u003c/em>,\" says Gerry Leape, an oceans specialist at the Pew Environment Group, one of the major foundations working on oceans policies. Leape has supported the MSC for more than a decade as a member of its advisory Stakeholder Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he and other critics say that the MSC system has been certifying some fisheries despite evidence that the target fish are in trouble, or that the fishing industry is harming the environment. And critics say the MSC system has certified other fisheries as sustainable even though there is not enough evidence to know how they are affecting the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a customer sees the MSC's sustainable label at the supermarket, \"the consumer looks at the fish and says, 'Oh, it has the label on it, it must be sustainable,' \" Leape says. \"And in some fisheries that the MSC has certified, that's not necessarily the case.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologist Susanna Fuller, co-director of marine programs at Canada's Ecology Action Centre, agrees. \"We know ... that blue stamp doesn't mean that you're sustainable,\" she says. When asked if consumers should choose MSC-labeled seafood, Fuller pauses. \"It's a gamble,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, even the MSC's sharpest critics say they support the broad ideas behind the organization and its stated goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Originally I thought it was a good idea,\" says Jim Barnes, director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a network of dozens of environmental groups around the world. \"The world needed something like this to help steer consumer decisions, and so I wasn't against it at all at the beginning. And I'm not totally against it now.\" But Barnes worries that the MSC is straying from its mission and needs a dramatic overhaul. \"It can be a force for good. If it continues on the path that it's on, however, and doesn't solve a lot of these issues that have been raised,\" he says, \"I don't think it will be.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Protecting The Oceans And The Bottom Line\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MSC was born because of a crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Sutton, one of its founders, says that he and his colleagues dreamed up the idea after the cod industry collapsed off the Nova Scotia coast in 1992. Cod fishing had been the foundation of the region's economy and culture, worth an estimated $700 million each year. But when the cod population plunged to a fraction of previous levels, the Canadian government banned cod fishing — putting thousands of people out of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56699\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/ruperthowes-MSC.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/ruperthowes-MSC-290x217.jpg\" alt='Rupert Howes is CEO of the Marine Stewardship Council. \"We want to see the global oceans transformed onto a sustainable basis,\" he tells NPR. Photo: Tim Lofthouse/Courtesy of the Marine Stewardship Council' width=\"290\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56699\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rupert Howes is CEO of the Marine Stewardship Council. \"We want to see the global oceans transformed onto a sustainable basis,\" he tells NPR. Photo: Tim Lofthouse/Courtesy of the Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"It was so bad in some of these coastal communities, the government had to send in suicide-prevention teams,\" recalls Sutton, who was then vice president of the World Wildlife Fund. \"We were not only trashing our marine environment, but we were ruining the character of coastal communities that had existed on fisheries for centuries,\" Sutton says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutton and other environmental advocates, and many scientists, warned that the cod collapse taught the world a sobering lesson: Government agencies that were supposed to monitor and regulate fishing were often doing a lousy job. Cod weren't the only fish in trouble. Studies showed that populations of major species like swordfish, marlin and tuna were plunging too. \"So we needed to do something drastic,\" Sutton says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and colleagues decided to convince industry executives that protecting the oceans would also protect their bottom line. Sutton made a pilgrimage to the Unilever conglomerate, then one of the largest producers of frozen seafood — including fish sticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My pitch to Unilever was, 'The future of their frozen fish business is at stake,' \" Sutton remembers. \"Overfishing is not only bad for the environment, but it's really bad for business, because it means that they're not going to have fish in the future the way they have them today.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unilever and the World Wildlife Fund joined hands in 1997, and set up the MSC. Unilever eventually sold its seafood subsidiary and left the program, but the founding partner left its mark: From the day the MSC opened its doors in London, it has been a balancing act between industry and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the MSC has more than 100 employees worldwide, including about 60 at its headquarters in a renovated building down the street from St. Paul's Cathedral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"MSC has a global vision,\" says Rupert Howes, the organization's chief executive officer. \"We want to see the global oceans transformed onto a sustainable basis.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MSC's System Of Certification\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56701\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 218px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swordfish.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swordfish-218x290.jpg\" alt=\"Swordfish from Canada are marked with a label from the Marine Stewardship Council at a Whole Foods in Washington, D.C. The MSC says its label means the fish were caught by a sustainable fishery, but critics says it's not always so clear. Photo: Margot Williams/NPR\" width=\"218\" height=\"290\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56701\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Swordfish from Canada are marked with a label from the Marine Stewardship Council at a Whole Foods in Washington, D.C. The MSC says its label means the fish were caught by a sustainable fishery, but critics says it's not always so clear. Photo: Margot Williams/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Here's the MSC's basic idea: Executives of a growing number of food companies want to be \"green.\" Some genuinely want to protect the environment; others may be mainly seeking a marketing edge. But when it comes to seafood, those executives don't have the time or knowledge to figure out which fishing companies are plundering the ocean and which ones are doing a good job. So the MSC does the work for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MSC does not certify fisheries itself. Instead, a fishery that wants the label hires one of roughly a dozen commercial auditing companies to decide whether its practices comply with the MSC's definition of \"sustainable.\" The MSC's standard for sustainability includes dozens of items, but they're designed to assess whether the population of a fishery's target species is healthy; if the fishing practices don't cause serious harm to other life in the sea — including by accidentally catching other animals, which is called bycatch; and if the fishery has good management. If the commercial auditors give the fishery a passing score, then the fishery gets the right to use the blue \"Certified Sustainable Seafood\" label. It can be a long and expensive process. Some certifications have taken years, and the fisheries have paid the auditing firms up to $150,000 or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes says that when a store sells MSC-certified seafood, the label announces to consumers, \"We care where our fish comes from.\" He adds that as a growing number of food companies sell MSC-labeled seafood, executives of fisheries that don't have it are motivated to join the program. That catalyzes \"real and lasting change in the way the oceans are fished,\" Howe says.\u003cstrong> \u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the MSC's first decade, there wasn't much demand for sustainable seafood by the U.S. food industry, and the MSC \"almost went bankrupt,\" Sutton says. And that put the spotlight on the MSC's financial model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The way that executives structured it, MSC's budget comes partly from foundation grants. But some revenue comes from the licensing fees that MSC charges businesses for the right to sell seafood with the MSC label. So as long as many supermarket chains were not promoting it, the MSC wasn't getting much money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2006, everything changed. The MSC and its supporters had sent a series of delegations to Bentonville, Ark., world headquarters of Wal-Mart. The delegations helped convince Wal-Mart executives to promise that all the seafood they sell in the U.S. would be MSC-certified by 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We had to get Wal-Mart,\" Sutton says. \"The significance of their commitment, of course, is that once Wal-Mart made a commitment to the Marine Stewardship Council, every other major retailer had to follow suit, because none of them wanted to be less progressive than Wal-Mart.\" Sure enough, other discount chains promised to go sustainable, too. \"Overnight, the demand far outstripped the supply,\" says Sutton, \"and so the suppliers had to catch up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Wal-Mart made its pledge in 2006, the MSC system has certified seven times as many fisheries as it did during the same period before, according to NPR's analysis. Still, the MSC system has not been able to certify enough seafood for Wal-Mart to meet its 2012 deadline, according to Bob Fields, a senior buyer for Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The explosion in sales of MSC-labeled products at leading chain stores has transformed the organization's finances. The year that Wal-Mart pledged to promote MSC-labeled seafood, the MSC received most of its income from foundation grants — 75 percent, according to the MSC annual report. Meanwhile, it received only 7 percent of its income from label licensing fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, those licensing fees generate more than half of the MSC's revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And since Wal-Mart executives embraced sustainable seafood, the MSC has also received millions of dollars in grant money from the Walton Family Foundation, which was created by Wal-Mart's founder and is governed by his descendants. The Walton Family Foundation has become one of the MSC's largest donors, according to financial reports. The director of the foundation's environment programs, Scott Burns, served on the MSC's board of directors before he went to Walton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56698\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fisheries-certifications.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fisheries-certifications.jpg\" alt=\" Source: Marine Stewardship Council documents, NPR research Credit: Matt Stiles, Margot Williams\" width=\"800\" height=\"352\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56698\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Marine Stewardship Council documents, NPR research\u003cbr>Credit: Matt Stiles, Margot Williams\u003cbr>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Critics say that the day Wal-Mart embraced sustainable seafood, it was a blessing for the MSC system — and a curse. The critics charge that the MSC system has compromised its standards to keep up with the booming demand from Wal-Mart and other chains that followed suit. Fuller, of the Ecology Action Centre, says she has watched the MSC system \"struggling with meeting the demands of the system that they helped create ... They have ended up having to lower the bar.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ocean specialist Daniel Pauly, a fisheries professor at the University of British Columbia, talks about the MSC today, he sounds dispirited. Pauly took part in early meetings in London that helped create the MSC and now says he has lost faith in the system. \"The MSC is doing the business of the business community,\" Pauly says, not the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56695\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-bottom.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-bottom.jpg\" alt=\"Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark caught off the coast of Nova Scotia during a research outing. Studies show that 35 percent of sharks caught by swordfish boats die either on the hook or within days of release. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"624\" height=\"416\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56695\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark caught off the coast of Nova Scotia during a research outing. Studies show that 35 percent of sharks caught by swordfish boats die either on the hook or within days of release. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Balancing 'Sustainable' Swordfish With At-Risk Sharks\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Some environmentalists and scientists say if you want to understand why they're losing faith in the MSC, look at the battle over certifying Canadian swordfish. Next time you buy swordfish at a store like Whole Foods, it might come from a controversial fishery off the coast of Nova Scotia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fishermen have known for ages that when they go swordfishing in some parts of the Atlantic, they will accidentally catch sharks — lots of sharks, says Steve Campana, who runs the Canadian government's Shark Research Laboratory, near Halifax, Nova Scotia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56700\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/stevecampana-CSRL.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/stevecampana-CSRL-290x193.jpg\" alt=\"Steve Campana runs the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory. He works to tag sharks with satellite transmitters to find out how long they survive after being caught and released. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"290\" height=\"193\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56700\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Campana runs the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory. He works to tag sharks with satellite transmitters to find out how long they survive after being caught and released. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When NPR caught up with Campana one morning, he and his research crew were heading into the Atlantic on a 34-foot trawler, the Dig It. They were planning to attach sophisticated satellite transmitters to blue sharks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"On average, from what we've seen over the years, the swordfishermen catch about five blue sharks for every one swordfish,\" Campana said, holding onto a metal strut as the Dig It bounced through the waves. Add it up, \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/shark/english/document/campana%20et%20al%202011%20shark%20discard%20Res%20Doc.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">studies suggest\u003c/a>, and Canada's long-line swordfish boats — so named because they typically let out 30 or 40 miles of fishing line, dangling more than 1,000 hooks — accidentally catch tens of thousands of sharks every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This touches on one of MSC's three fundamental rules, even though studies show swordfish are plentiful. The second rule says that a fishery is not sustainable if it does not maintain \"the integrity of ecosystems\" — which means, in part, that it's not sustainable if there is too much bycatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which is funded and appointed by the Canadian government, has warned that the main kinds of sharks that swordfishermen accidentally catch are \"threatened\" or \"endangered\" or \"of special concern.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swordfishermen generally release the sharks. But there had been few studies on what happens to those sharks after fishermen let them off the hooks — until Campana and his colleagues came along. About six years ago, they started tagging sharks with satellite transmitters before fishermen set them free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56696\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 749px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-satellite.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-satellite.jpg\" alt=\"Shark charter operator Art Gaeten (right) and recreational shark fisherman Shawn Knowles struggle to hold a blue shark in position while shark biologist Anna Dorey attaches a satellite tag to its back. Researchers say about five blue sharks are caught for every one swordfish. Scientists are trying to determine what happens to the sharks after they are released. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"749\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56696\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shark charter operator Art Gaeten (right) and recreational shark fisherman Shawn Knowles struggle to hold a blue shark in position while shark biologist Anna Dorey attaches a satellite tag to its back. Researchers say about five blue sharks are caught for every one swordfish. Scientists are trying to determine what happens to the sharks after they are released.\u003cbr> Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During one outing, the crew showed how they do it: They snagged a 5-foot blue shark on a hook baited with mackerel, reeled it in, and then pinned the thrashing shark against the boat's broad, flat railing. They jabbed a satellite transmitter, which looks like a turkey baster with a barb on one end, into the shark's leathery skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then they let the shark go, the transmitter protruding like an unsightly growth. The device is equipped with a computer chip that records data every 10 seconds, including where the shark goes, how deep it goes, and how long it stays there. After about 10 months, the tube pops off the shark and floats to the surface, beaming all the information via satellite to Campana. When the transmitter shows that a shark went to the deepest part of the sea and just stayed there, Campana knows when and where the shark died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campana and his colleagues published some of their first findings based on these studies in July 2009, in the journal \u003cem>Marine Ecology Progress Series.\u003c/em> Their studies showed that up to 35 percent of the sharks caught by swordfish boats die, either right on the hook or within days after the fishermen set them free. The \u003ca href=\"http://dev.atlanticsharks.biology.dal.ca/papers/campana%20et%20al%202009.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">findings\u003c/a> suggested that Canadian swordfish boats accidentally kill almost two sharks for every swordfish they catch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campana says that when you put these findings in context, it is troubling. Other studies suggest that the populations of major kinds of sharks in the North Atlantic have plunged as much as 40 to 60 percent in just the past few decades. \"Any time you see consistent declines like that, and the fact that all of these large sharks seem to have declined all over the world,\" Campana says, \"it's just a worrisome pattern.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The president of Canada's swordfish industry, the Nova Scotia Swordsfishermen's Association, dismisses Campana's conclusions. Campana's report on shark deaths could not have come at a worse time for Canada's swordfish industry. Only months before the report was published, the association, which catches most of Canada's commercial swordfish, had applied to the MSC for certification. The industry sells much of its swordfish to Whole Foods and other stores in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those conclusions \"were not close to what the industry felt was reality,\" Troy Atkinson, president of the association, says while sitting in his store, crammed with giant spools of plastic fishing line and boxes of heavy metal hooks. He runs the main business that supplies equipment to Canada's swordfishing fleet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're sometimes portrayed as a bunch of cowboys out to harvest the last buffalo,\" he says. \"We're portrayed as some of the worst in the world. And it's just not correct.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atkinson cites reports by other researchers that conclude that the population of blue sharks off the coast of Canada is healthy – especially \u003ca href=\"http://www.iccat.es/Documents/Meetings/Docs/SCRC2011-Report-ENG.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">reports\u003c/a> by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which represents dozens of governments whose nations fish the Atlantic. So, Atkinson says, Canada's swordfishermen could catch and kill even more sharks without hurting the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other studies suggest the evidence is contradictory, and that scientists don't know for sure what is happening to sharks across the Atlantic. For example, the optimistic ICCAT researchers whom Atkinson cites acknowledge that their conclusions are \"highly uncertain\" because they're based on unproven assumptions and incomplete data. However, studies showing that blue sharks have sharply declined focus on a limited region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So scientists and environmentalists were dumbfounded in early 2012 when the MSC system decided that Canada's swordfish industry can use the label \"Certified Sustainable Seafood.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That is absolutely the kind of fishery that should not be certified,\" says Leape of Pew Environment Group. \"That fishery is outrageous.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certifying Canadian swordfish \"is the worst thing they can do, says Fuller, of the Ecology Action Centre. \"That is not at all the way it should go.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Program Based On 'Science And Evidence'\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Ecology Action Centre and dozens of other environmental groups denounced the MSC. The groups said in a letter to the MSC system that roughly 10 percent of Canada's swordfish are caught with harpoons — a method environmentalists support because there is hardly any bycatch. But the long-line boats that supply most of the swordfish catch a \"staggering\" number of sharks, as the environmentalists put it. \"Certifying [Canada's long-line swordfish boats] compromises the credibility of the MSC,\" the groups warned, \"and the sustainable seafood movement as a whole.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes, from the MSC, disagrees. He says the controversy over Canadian swordfish \"illustrates a key feature of the MSC program, which is the fact that the program is premised on science and evidence. That fishery has met the MSC standard.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysts who evaluated the fishery for the MSC system agreed that the swordfish boats do kill large numbers of sharks. They acknowledged that the optimistic studies on sharks that the swordfish industry cites are uncertain, but they concluded that the weight of evidence suggests it is \"highly likely\" there are plenty of blue sharks left in the sea. The analysts also stressed that, by all accounts, other countries kill far more sharks than Canada's swordfishermen do. So, they said, Canada causes only a small part of the bycatch problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We are not saying that shark bycatch doesn't matter,\" says Howes. \"What we're saying implicit within the labeling of that fishery is, the shark bycatch of that unique individual certified fishery is safe. It's within ecological limits.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes, of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, says the controversy over Canadian swordfish illustrates why the booming demand for sustainable seafood actually threatens to hurt the movement more than help it. \"The bottom line is that there are not enough truly sustainable fisheries on the earth to sustain the demand,\" Barnes says. \"The retailers and wholesalers all want access to this kind of label because they're trying to ... make money with their consumers. There's nothing wrong with that; that's how the world works.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Barnes charges that the MSC is labeling some fisheries as sustainable — even when they are not — partly to fill the seafood counters at Wal-Mart and other large chains. \"I'm not down on Wal-Mart at all, don't get me wrong,\" he says. \"But to get on line with big chains as your goal leads you down a path that I don't think the originators of the MSC intended.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes could hardly disagree more. \"If you really want to contribute to the transformation of our economic systems more generally, you've got to engage with the big guys. And therefore, I absolutely welcome Wal-Mart's commitment,\" he says. \"That will drive change.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes continues: \"Will that overload the MSC system? No.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He argues that there's no way the MSC could label problem fisheries sustainable just to satisfy demand, because, he says, the certifiers evaluate each fishery based only on scientific evidence. But he adds, \"We want to see oceans fished sustainably forever. We're not going to achieve that by becoming a small niche organization that engages with a handful of perfect fisheries.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Researcher Barbara Van Woerkom contributed to this story.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cstrong>Web Resources\u003c/strong>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Additional studies and information on sustainable fishing and labeling.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.msc.org/\">The Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://oceanrep.geomar.de/14215/\">Evaluation And Legal Assessment Of Certified Seafood\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0043765\">Reliable Information on Fish Stock Health to Seafood Consumers\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/viewArticle/1055\">Beyond Duplicity And Ignorance In Global Fisheries\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.fni.no/publ/marine.html#msc\">The Emergence and Effectiveness of the Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Industry demand for the \"sustainable seafood\" label, issued by the Marine Stewardship Council, is increasing. But some environmentalists fear fisheries are being certified despite evidence showing that the fish population is in trouble — or when there's not enough information to know the impact on the oceans.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56694\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blue-shark.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blue-shark.jpg\" alt=\"Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark that was caught during a research trip in Nova Scotia. Scientists are studying the impact of swordfish fishing methods on the shark population. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"624\" height=\"416\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56694\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark that was caught during a research trip in Nova Scotia. Scientists are studying the impact of swordfish fishing methods on the shark population. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Listen to the Story on \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable\">All Things Considered:\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/4173096/daniel-zwerdling\">Daniel Zwerdling\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/people/139449124/margot-williams\">Margot Williams\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable\">NPR Special Series\u003c/a> (2/11/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Part one of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/series/171717418/the-meaning-of-sustainable-labeled-seafood\">three-part series\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Weel pushes a baby stroller with her 18-month-old up to the seafood case at Whole Foods, near ground zero in New York. As she peers at shiny fillets of salmon, halibut and Chilean sea bass labeled \"certified sustainable,\" Weel believes that if she purchases this seafood, she will help protect the world's oceans from overfishing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some leading environmentalists have a different take: Consumers like Weel are being misled by a global program that amounts to \"greenwashing\" — a strategy that makes consumers think they are protecting the planet, when actually they are not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Whole Foods, the seafood counter displays blue labels from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.msc.org/\">Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/a> (MSC), an international, nonprofit organization. The MSC is a prime example of an economic trend: Private groups, not the government, are telling consumers what is good or bad for the environment. The MSC says its label guarantees that the wild seafood was caught using methods that do not deplete the natural supply. It also guarantees that fishing companies do not cause serious harm to other life in the sea, from coral to dolphins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is spreading fast throughout the food industry. Megachains like Target, Costco and Kroger are selling seafood with the MSC label. McDonald's says you are munching on \"certified sustainable\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=058E2W21Wl0\" target=\"_blank\">wild Alaskan pollock\u003c/a> every time you eat a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. The fast-food company has used MSC-certified fish since 2007 in the U.S., and as of February, they are putting the MSC logo on their fish sandwich boxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56697\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 256px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-poll.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fish-poll.jpg\" alt=\"Poll results from a recent survey of 3,000 Americans, conducted on behalf of NPR, by Truven Health Analytics. Questions were asked — in general — about sustainable seafood and labeling. Source: Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll; margin of error +/- 1.8 percentage points Credit: Matt Stiles\" width=\"256\" height=\"643\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56697\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poll results from a recent survey of 3,000 Americans, conducted on behalf of NPR, by Truven Health Analytics. Questions were asked — in general — about sustainable seafood and labeling.\u003cbr>Source: Truven Health Analytics-NPR Health Poll; margin of error +/- 1.8 percentage points\u003cbr>Credit: Matt Stiles\u003cbr>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Consumers like Weel say the labels help them feel better about the products they buy. \"I want to feel that I'm doing the right thing,\" says Weel, a pediatrician, as her 4 1/2-year-old daughter bolts into the vegetable aisle in neon-colored boots. When Weel shops for seafood, she says, she wants to make choices \"that will help preserve the wild fish populations in the oceans.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Executives at Whole Foods say they are helping consumers do exactly that, by pledging in recent years to sell as many MSC-certified products as possible. Seafood is the last major food that people catch in the wild, and \"we can't just go out and find more fish to catch,\" says Carrie Brownstein, global seafood quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brownstein cites a \u003ca href=\"http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2727e/i2727e00.htm\" target=\"_blank\">2012 United Nations report\u003c/a> that warned that almost 30 percent of the world's wild fisheries are \"overexploited,\" and more than 57 percent of wild fisheries are \"at or very close\" to the limit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other groups have devised ranking systems for seafood. The Monterey Bay Aquarium labels products like a traffic light — green, yellow or red — to urge shoppers to buy or avoid a particular fish. The Blue Ocean Institute has a similar system. The MSC reports it has labeled roughly 8 percent of the global seafood catch, worth more than $3 billion. That makes it the most widespread and best-known rating scheme around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent survey of 3,000 Americans, conducted on behalf of NPR, suggests that a majority of consumers want to feel good about the seafood they buy. The poll by Truven Health Analytics found that almost 80 percent of the people who eat seafood regularly said it is \"important\" or \"very important\" that their seafood is sustainably caught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they buy MSC-labeled seafood, they may be paying a premium. Brownstein says Whole Foods charges more for some of its seafood labeled \"certified sustainable,\" although she wouldn't give numbers. Some fishing industry executives told NPR that they are getting roughly 10 percent more for their MSC-labeled products than for seafood that's not certified sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's one reason why many environmentalists who supported the MSC in the past say you might be troubled to know what the MSC and supermarkets like Whole Foods are not telling you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We would prefer they didn't use the word \u003cem>sustainable\u003c/em>,\" says Gerry Leape, an oceans specialist at the Pew Environment Group, one of the major foundations working on oceans policies. Leape has supported the MSC for more than a decade as a member of its advisory Stakeholder Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he and other critics say that the MSC system has been certifying some fisheries despite evidence that the target fish are in trouble, or that the fishing industry is harming the environment. And critics say the MSC system has certified other fisheries as sustainable even though there is not enough evidence to know how they are affecting the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a customer sees the MSC's sustainable label at the supermarket, \"the consumer looks at the fish and says, 'Oh, it has the label on it, it must be sustainable,' \" Leape says. \"And in some fisheries that the MSC has certified, that's not necessarily the case.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologist Susanna Fuller, co-director of marine programs at Canada's Ecology Action Centre, agrees. \"We know ... that blue stamp doesn't mean that you're sustainable,\" she says. When asked if consumers should choose MSC-labeled seafood, Fuller pauses. \"It's a gamble,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, even the MSC's sharpest critics say they support the broad ideas behind the organization and its stated goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Originally I thought it was a good idea,\" says Jim Barnes, director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a network of dozens of environmental groups around the world. \"The world needed something like this to help steer consumer decisions, and so I wasn't against it at all at the beginning. And I'm not totally against it now.\" But Barnes worries that the MSC is straying from its mission and needs a dramatic overhaul. \"It can be a force for good. If it continues on the path that it's on, however, and doesn't solve a lot of these issues that have been raised,\" he says, \"I don't think it will be.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Protecting The Oceans And The Bottom Line\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MSC was born because of a crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Sutton, one of its founders, says that he and his colleagues dreamed up the idea after the cod industry collapsed off the Nova Scotia coast in 1992. Cod fishing had been the foundation of the region's economy and culture, worth an estimated $700 million each year. But when the cod population plunged to a fraction of previous levels, the Canadian government banned cod fishing — putting thousands of people out of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56699\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/ruperthowes-MSC.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/ruperthowes-MSC-290x217.jpg\" alt='Rupert Howes is CEO of the Marine Stewardship Council. \"We want to see the global oceans transformed onto a sustainable basis,\" he tells NPR. Photo: Tim Lofthouse/Courtesy of the Marine Stewardship Council' width=\"290\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56699\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rupert Howes is CEO of the Marine Stewardship Council. \"We want to see the global oceans transformed onto a sustainable basis,\" he tells NPR. Photo: Tim Lofthouse/Courtesy of the Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"It was so bad in some of these coastal communities, the government had to send in suicide-prevention teams,\" recalls Sutton, who was then vice president of the World Wildlife Fund. \"We were not only trashing our marine environment, but we were ruining the character of coastal communities that had existed on fisheries for centuries,\" Sutton says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutton and other environmental advocates, and many scientists, warned that the cod collapse taught the world a sobering lesson: Government agencies that were supposed to monitor and regulate fishing were often doing a lousy job. Cod weren't the only fish in trouble. Studies showed that populations of major species like swordfish, marlin and tuna were plunging too. \"So we needed to do something drastic,\" Sutton says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and colleagues decided to convince industry executives that protecting the oceans would also protect their bottom line. Sutton made a pilgrimage to the Unilever conglomerate, then one of the largest producers of frozen seafood — including fish sticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My pitch to Unilever was, 'The future of their frozen fish business is at stake,' \" Sutton remembers. \"Overfishing is not only bad for the environment, but it's really bad for business, because it means that they're not going to have fish in the future the way they have them today.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unilever and the World Wildlife Fund joined hands in 1997, and set up the MSC. Unilever eventually sold its seafood subsidiary and left the program, but the founding partner left its mark: From the day the MSC opened its doors in London, it has been a balancing act between industry and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the MSC has more than 100 employees worldwide, including about 60 at its headquarters in a renovated building down the street from St. Paul's Cathedral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"MSC has a global vision,\" says Rupert Howes, the organization's chief executive officer. \"We want to see the global oceans transformed onto a sustainable basis.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MSC's System Of Certification\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56701\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 218px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swordfish.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swordfish-218x290.jpg\" alt=\"Swordfish from Canada are marked with a label from the Marine Stewardship Council at a Whole Foods in Washington, D.C. The MSC says its label means the fish were caught by a sustainable fishery, but critics says it's not always so clear. Photo: Margot Williams/NPR\" width=\"218\" height=\"290\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56701\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Swordfish from Canada are marked with a label from the Marine Stewardship Council at a Whole Foods in Washington, D.C. The MSC says its label means the fish were caught by a sustainable fishery, but critics says it's not always so clear. Photo: Margot Williams/NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Here's the MSC's basic idea: Executives of a growing number of food companies want to be \"green.\" Some genuinely want to protect the environment; others may be mainly seeking a marketing edge. But when it comes to seafood, those executives don't have the time or knowledge to figure out which fishing companies are plundering the ocean and which ones are doing a good job. So the MSC does the work for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MSC does not certify fisheries itself. Instead, a fishery that wants the label hires one of roughly a dozen commercial auditing companies to decide whether its practices comply with the MSC's definition of \"sustainable.\" The MSC's standard for sustainability includes dozens of items, but they're designed to assess whether the population of a fishery's target species is healthy; if the fishing practices don't cause serious harm to other life in the sea — including by accidentally catching other animals, which is called bycatch; and if the fishery has good management. If the commercial auditors give the fishery a passing score, then the fishery gets the right to use the blue \"Certified Sustainable Seafood\" label. It can be a long and expensive process. Some certifications have taken years, and the fisheries have paid the auditing firms up to $150,000 or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes says that when a store sells MSC-certified seafood, the label announces to consumers, \"We care where our fish comes from.\" He adds that as a growing number of food companies sell MSC-labeled seafood, executives of fisheries that don't have it are motivated to join the program. That catalyzes \"real and lasting change in the way the oceans are fished,\" Howe says.\u003cstrong> \u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the MSC's first decade, there wasn't much demand for sustainable seafood by the U.S. food industry, and the MSC \"almost went bankrupt,\" Sutton says. And that put the spotlight on the MSC's financial model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The way that executives structured it, MSC's budget comes partly from foundation grants. But some revenue comes from the licensing fees that MSC charges businesses for the right to sell seafood with the MSC label. So as long as many supermarket chains were not promoting it, the MSC wasn't getting much money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2006, everything changed. The MSC and its supporters had sent a series of delegations to Bentonville, Ark., world headquarters of Wal-Mart. The delegations helped convince Wal-Mart executives to promise that all the seafood they sell in the U.S. would be MSC-certified by 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We had to get Wal-Mart,\" Sutton says. \"The significance of their commitment, of course, is that once Wal-Mart made a commitment to the Marine Stewardship Council, every other major retailer had to follow suit, because none of them wanted to be less progressive than Wal-Mart.\" Sure enough, other discount chains promised to go sustainable, too. \"Overnight, the demand far outstripped the supply,\" says Sutton, \"and so the suppliers had to catch up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Wal-Mart made its pledge in 2006, the MSC system has certified seven times as many fisheries as it did during the same period before, according to NPR's analysis. Still, the MSC system has not been able to certify enough seafood for Wal-Mart to meet its 2012 deadline, according to Bob Fields, a senior buyer for Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The explosion in sales of MSC-labeled products at leading chain stores has transformed the organization's finances. The year that Wal-Mart pledged to promote MSC-labeled seafood, the MSC received most of its income from foundation grants — 75 percent, according to the MSC annual report. Meanwhile, it received only 7 percent of its income from label licensing fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, those licensing fees generate more than half of the MSC's revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And since Wal-Mart executives embraced sustainable seafood, the MSC has also received millions of dollars in grant money from the Walton Family Foundation, which was created by Wal-Mart's founder and is governed by his descendants. The Walton Family Foundation has become one of the MSC's largest donors, according to financial reports. The director of the foundation's environment programs, Scott Burns, served on the MSC's board of directors before he went to Walton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56698\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fisheries-certifications.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/fisheries-certifications.jpg\" alt=\" Source: Marine Stewardship Council documents, NPR research Credit: Matt Stiles, Margot Williams\" width=\"800\" height=\"352\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56698\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Marine Stewardship Council documents, NPR research\u003cbr>Credit: Matt Stiles, Margot Williams\u003cbr>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Critics say that the day Wal-Mart embraced sustainable seafood, it was a blessing for the MSC system — and a curse. The critics charge that the MSC system has compromised its standards to keep up with the booming demand from Wal-Mart and other chains that followed suit. Fuller, of the Ecology Action Centre, says she has watched the MSC system \"struggling with meeting the demands of the system that they helped create ... They have ended up having to lower the bar.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ocean specialist Daniel Pauly, a fisheries professor at the University of British Columbia, talks about the MSC today, he sounds dispirited. Pauly took part in early meetings in London that helped create the MSC and now says he has lost faith in the system. \"The MSC is doing the business of the business community,\" Pauly says, not the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56695\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-bottom.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-bottom.jpg\" alt=\"Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark caught off the coast of Nova Scotia during a research outing. Studies show that 35 percent of sharks caught by swordfish boats die either on the hook or within days of release. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"624\" height=\"416\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56695\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Capt. Art Gaeten holds a blue shark caught off the coast of Nova Scotia during a research outing. Studies show that 35 percent of sharks caught by swordfish boats die either on the hook or within days of release. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Balancing 'Sustainable' Swordfish With At-Risk Sharks\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Some environmentalists and scientists say if you want to understand why they're losing faith in the MSC, look at the battle over certifying Canadian swordfish. Next time you buy swordfish at a store like Whole Foods, it might come from a controversial fishery off the coast of Nova Scotia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fishermen have known for ages that when they go swordfishing in some parts of the Atlantic, they will accidentally catch sharks — lots of sharks, says Steve Campana, who runs the Canadian government's Shark Research Laboratory, near Halifax, Nova Scotia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56700\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/stevecampana-CSRL.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/stevecampana-CSRL-290x193.jpg\" alt=\"Steve Campana runs the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory. He works to tag sharks with satellite transmitters to find out how long they survive after being caught and released. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"290\" height=\"193\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56700\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Campana runs the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory. He works to tag sharks with satellite transmitters to find out how long they survive after being caught and released. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When NPR caught up with Campana one morning, he and his research crew were heading into the Atlantic on a 34-foot trawler, the Dig It. They were planning to attach sophisticated satellite transmitters to blue sharks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"On average, from what we've seen over the years, the swordfishermen catch about five blue sharks for every one swordfish,\" Campana said, holding onto a metal strut as the Dig It bounced through the waves. Add it up, \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/shark/english/document/campana%20et%20al%202011%20shark%20discard%20Res%20Doc.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">studies suggest\u003c/a>, and Canada's long-line swordfish boats — so named because they typically let out 30 or 40 miles of fishing line, dangling more than 1,000 hooks — accidentally catch tens of thousands of sharks every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This touches on one of MSC's three fundamental rules, even though studies show swordfish are plentiful. The second rule says that a fishery is not sustainable if it does not maintain \"the integrity of ecosystems\" — which means, in part, that it's not sustainable if there is too much bycatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which is funded and appointed by the Canadian government, has warned that the main kinds of sharks that swordfishermen accidentally catch are \"threatened\" or \"endangered\" or \"of special concern.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swordfishermen generally release the sharks. But there had been few studies on what happens to those sharks after fishermen let them off the hooks — until Campana and his colleagues came along. About six years ago, they started tagging sharks with satellite transmitters before fishermen set them free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_56696\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 749px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-satellite.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/blueshark-satellite.jpg\" alt=\"Shark charter operator Art Gaeten (right) and recreational shark fisherman Shawn Knowles struggle to hold a blue shark in position while shark biologist Anna Dorey attaches a satellite tag to its back. Researchers say about five blue sharks are caught for every one swordfish. Scientists are trying to determine what happens to the sharks after they are released. Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\" width=\"749\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56696\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shark charter operator Art Gaeten (right) and recreational shark fisherman Shawn Knowles struggle to hold a blue shark in position while shark biologist Anna Dorey attaches a satellite tag to its back. Researchers say about five blue sharks are caught for every one swordfish. Scientists are trying to determine what happens to the sharks after they are released.\u003cbr> Photo: Dean Casavechia for NPR\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During one outing, the crew showed how they do it: They snagged a 5-foot blue shark on a hook baited with mackerel, reeled it in, and then pinned the thrashing shark against the boat's broad, flat railing. They jabbed a satellite transmitter, which looks like a turkey baster with a barb on one end, into the shark's leathery skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then they let the shark go, the transmitter protruding like an unsightly growth. The device is equipped with a computer chip that records data every 10 seconds, including where the shark goes, how deep it goes, and how long it stays there. After about 10 months, the tube pops off the shark and floats to the surface, beaming all the information via satellite to Campana. When the transmitter shows that a shark went to the deepest part of the sea and just stayed there, Campana knows when and where the shark died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campana and his colleagues published some of their first findings based on these studies in July 2009, in the journal \u003cem>Marine Ecology Progress Series.\u003c/em> Their studies showed that up to 35 percent of the sharks caught by swordfish boats die, either right on the hook or within days after the fishermen set them free. The \u003ca href=\"http://dev.atlanticsharks.biology.dal.ca/papers/campana%20et%20al%202009.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">findings\u003c/a> suggested that Canadian swordfish boats accidentally kill almost two sharks for every swordfish they catch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campana says that when you put these findings in context, it is troubling. Other studies suggest that the populations of major kinds of sharks in the North Atlantic have plunged as much as 40 to 60 percent in just the past few decades. \"Any time you see consistent declines like that, and the fact that all of these large sharks seem to have declined all over the world,\" Campana says, \"it's just a worrisome pattern.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The president of Canada's swordfish industry, the Nova Scotia Swordsfishermen's Association, dismisses Campana's conclusions. Campana's report on shark deaths could not have come at a worse time for Canada's swordfish industry. Only months before the report was published, the association, which catches most of Canada's commercial swordfish, had applied to the MSC for certification. The industry sells much of its swordfish to Whole Foods and other stores in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those conclusions \"were not close to what the industry felt was reality,\" Troy Atkinson, president of the association, says while sitting in his store, crammed with giant spools of plastic fishing line and boxes of heavy metal hooks. He runs the main business that supplies equipment to Canada's swordfishing fleet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're sometimes portrayed as a bunch of cowboys out to harvest the last buffalo,\" he says. \"We're portrayed as some of the worst in the world. And it's just not correct.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atkinson cites reports by other researchers that conclude that the population of blue sharks off the coast of Canada is healthy – especially \u003ca href=\"http://www.iccat.es/Documents/Meetings/Docs/SCRC2011-Report-ENG.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">reports\u003c/a> by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which represents dozens of governments whose nations fish the Atlantic. So, Atkinson says, Canada's swordfishermen could catch and kill even more sharks without hurting the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other studies suggest the evidence is contradictory, and that scientists don't know for sure what is happening to sharks across the Atlantic. For example, the optimistic ICCAT researchers whom Atkinson cites acknowledge that their conclusions are \"highly uncertain\" because they're based on unproven assumptions and incomplete data. However, studies showing that blue sharks have sharply declined focus on a limited region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So scientists and environmentalists were dumbfounded in early 2012 when the MSC system decided that Canada's swordfish industry can use the label \"Certified Sustainable Seafood.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That is absolutely the kind of fishery that should not be certified,\" says Leape of Pew Environment Group. \"That fishery is outrageous.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certifying Canadian swordfish \"is the worst thing they can do, says Fuller, of the Ecology Action Centre. \"That is not at all the way it should go.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Program Based On 'Science And Evidence'\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Ecology Action Centre and dozens of other environmental groups denounced the MSC. The groups said in a letter to the MSC system that roughly 10 percent of Canada's swordfish are caught with harpoons — a method environmentalists support because there is hardly any bycatch. But the long-line boats that supply most of the swordfish catch a \"staggering\" number of sharks, as the environmentalists put it. \"Certifying [Canada's long-line swordfish boats] compromises the credibility of the MSC,\" the groups warned, \"and the sustainable seafood movement as a whole.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes, from the MSC, disagrees. He says the controversy over Canadian swordfish \"illustrates a key feature of the MSC program, which is the fact that the program is premised on science and evidence. That fishery has met the MSC standard.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysts who evaluated the fishery for the MSC system agreed that the swordfish boats do kill large numbers of sharks. They acknowledged that the optimistic studies on sharks that the swordfish industry cites are uncertain, but they concluded that the weight of evidence suggests it is \"highly likely\" there are plenty of blue sharks left in the sea. The analysts also stressed that, by all accounts, other countries kill far more sharks than Canada's swordfishermen do. So, they said, Canada causes only a small part of the bycatch problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We are not saying that shark bycatch doesn't matter,\" says Howes. \"What we're saying implicit within the labeling of that fishery is, the shark bycatch of that unique individual certified fishery is safe. It's within ecological limits.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes, of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, says the controversy over Canadian swordfish illustrates why the booming demand for sustainable seafood actually threatens to hurt the movement more than help it. \"The bottom line is that there are not enough truly sustainable fisheries on the earth to sustain the demand,\" Barnes says. \"The retailers and wholesalers all want access to this kind of label because they're trying to ... make money with their consumers. There's nothing wrong with that; that's how the world works.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Barnes charges that the MSC is labeling some fisheries as sustainable — even when they are not — partly to fill the seafood counters at Wal-Mart and other large chains. \"I'm not down on Wal-Mart at all, don't get me wrong,\" he says. \"But to get on line with big chains as your goal leads you down a path that I don't think the originators of the MSC intended.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes could hardly disagree more. \"If you really want to contribute to the transformation of our economic systems more generally, you've got to engage with the big guys. And therefore, I absolutely welcome Wal-Mart's commitment,\" he says. \"That will drive change.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howes continues: \"Will that overload the MSC system? No.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He argues that there's no way the MSC could label problem fisheries sustainable just to satisfy demand, because, he says, the certifiers evaluate each fishery based only on scientific evidence. But he adds, \"We want to see oceans fished sustainably forever. We're not going to achieve that by becoming a small niche organization that engages with a handful of perfect fisheries.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Researcher Barbara Van Woerkom contributed to this story.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cstrong>Web Resources\u003c/strong>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Additional studies and information on sustainable fishing and labeling.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.msc.org/\">The Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://oceanrep.geomar.de/14215/\">Evaluation And Legal Assessment Of Certified Seafood\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0043765\">Reliable Information on Fish Stock Health to Seafood Consumers\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/viewArticle/1055\">Beyond Duplicity And Ignorance In Global Fisheries\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.fni.no/publ/marine.html#msc\">The Emergence and Effectiveness of the Marine Stewardship Council\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Small Farmers Aren't Cashing In With Wal-Mart",
"title": "Small Farmers Aren't Cashing In With Wal-Mart",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Bites | KQED Food",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55938\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swanson_walmart.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swanson_walmart.jpg\" alt=\"Wal-Mart claims that 11 percent of the produce in its stores now comes from local farms.\" width=\"624\" height=\"350\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55938\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wal-Mart claims that 11 percent of the produce in its stores now comes from local farms.\u003cbr>Photo: Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.kbia.org/people/abbie-fentress-swanson\">Abbie Fentress Swanson\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/04/171051906/can-small-farms-benefit-from-wal-mart-s-push-into-local-foods\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (1/4/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Wal-Mart calls, Herman Farris always finds whatever the retailer wants, even if it's yucca root in the dead of winter. Farris is a produce broker in Columbia, Mo., who has been buying for Wal-Mart from auctions and farms since the company began carrying fruits and vegetables in the early 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the summer and fall, nearly everything Farris delivers is grown in Missouri. That's Wal-Mart's definition of \"local\" — produce grown and sold in the same state. In winter, it's a bit tougher to source locally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, Wal-Mart pledged to double its local produce sales from 4 to 9 percent by 2015, as part of a new sustainability program and a commitment to support small businesses. While the chain has exceeded that goal – it says 11 percent of its produce sold nationwide comes from local farms — there's little evidence of small farmers benefiting, at least in the Midwest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organic vegetable grower Jim Thomas, who grows organic vegetables and sells them at the Columbia farmers market, doesn't know anyone who has sold successfully to Wal-Mart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They tend to try to force people into lower prices than feasible,\" he says. \"My only concern is that they're willing to pay the price to get the quality that they get from local produce.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wal-Mart says they try to be as price competitive as possible, and that their local buyers draw up contracts with farmers a year out, laying out fixed prices for set amounts of crops. Ron McCormick, senior director of sustainable agriculture for Wal-Mart's U.S. division, says that the number of small farms supplying the company has grown since 2010. But there are challenges – like keeping track of growers, uncertainty about small farms delivering during bad-weather years, and the high costs of strict food safety audits, which are required to supply Wal-Mart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are ways to help the farmer with those costs ... but it's a matter of doing that 100 times over if you're working with small farmers,\" McCormick said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55939\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/herman-farris-walmart.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/herman-farris-walmart-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Produce broker Herman Farris, outside a Wal-Mart in Columbia, Mo., was heading to St. Louis to pick up a shipment of bananas for Wal-Mart.\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-55939\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Produce broker Herman Farris, outside a Wal-Mart in Columbia, Mo., was heading to St. Louis to pick up a shipment of bananas for Wal-Mart. Photo: Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wal-Mart claims its \u003ca href=\"http://www.ag.senate.gov/hearings/healthy-food-initiatives-local-production-and-nutrition\">emphasis on local\u003c/a> has saved customers over $1 billion while helping farmers. But Wyatt Fraas, of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cfra.org/\">Center for Rural Affairs\u003c/a> in Lyon, Neb., would like to see those benefits and cost savings broken down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Unfortunately, there's so little definition and transparency about how that happens that we don't really know if that happens or how that happens,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the eight farms highlighted on Wal-Mart's \u003ca href=\"http://instoresnow.walmart.com/food-center-locally-grown-farmers-market.aspx\">locally grown web site\u003c/a>, five are very large farms by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's definition, with annual sales in the millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there's the question of volume. The University of Missouri Extension's \u003ca href=\"http://extension.missouri.edu/directory/people.aspx?C=1837\">Jennifer Schutter\u003c/a>, who helps farmers sell produce to retailers, says many small farmers in Missouri simply can't grow enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They only have produce for four months out of the year,\" she says. \"Wal-Mart wants produce consistently from the same distributor pretty much all year long.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few small operations in the Midwest have had success working with Wal-Mart, including Divine Gardens, a tomato grower in western Kansas, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.missouriveg.com/\">Missouri Vegetable Farm,\u003c/a> a 200-acre farm 70 miles south of St. Louis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missouri Vegetable Farm was created in 2010 specifically to supply Wal-Mart by the Proffer family, which also owns Proffer Wholesale Produce. Proffer Produce has been a middleman for Wal-Mart since the 1990s, and delivers produce to distribution centers in 13 states. Overall, the company has sales of nearly $60 million a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its shipping facility, as workers in hairnets separated green peppers by quality, size and weight, food safety director Jason Landers said farms, regardless of their size, must adapt their business models to compete in the growing local foods market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If they want to continue to succeed, they have to modify their operations,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"http://www.iatp.org/about/staff/ladonna-redmond\">LaDonna Redmond\u003c/a>, a senior policy associate with the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, says it's a slippery slope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's the question: Will it actually benefit [farmers], or will the situation turn out to be one where the benefit really is transferred to Wal-Mart?\" Redmond says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She adds that until Wal-Mart builds the cost of producing local food into its prices, few small farms will truly benefit from the retailer's push to source more local food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Abbie Fentress Swanson reports from Missouri for Harvest Public Media, an agriculture-reporting project involving nine NPR member stations in the Midwest. For more stories about farm and food, check out\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://harvestpublicmedia.org/\">Harvest Public Media\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nCopyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The world's largest retailer says its investing in one of the fastest growing segments of American agriculture: local food. But small farmers say they aren't necessarily seeing the benefits.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55938\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 624px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swanson_walmart.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/swanson_walmart.jpg\" alt=\"Wal-Mart claims that 11 percent of the produce in its stores now comes from local farms.\" width=\"624\" height=\"350\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55938\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wal-Mart claims that 11 percent of the produce in its stores now comes from local farms.\u003cbr>Photo: Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Post by \u003ca href=\"http://www.kbia.org/people/abbie-fentress-swanson\">Abbie Fentress Swanson\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/04/171051906/can-small-farms-benefit-from-wal-mart-s-push-into-local-foods\">The Salt at NPR Food\u003c/a> (1/4/13)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Wal-Mart calls, Herman Farris always finds whatever the retailer wants, even if it's yucca root in the dead of winter. Farris is a produce broker in Columbia, Mo., who has been buying for Wal-Mart from auctions and farms since the company began carrying fruits and vegetables in the early 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the summer and fall, nearly everything Farris delivers is grown in Missouri. That's Wal-Mart's definition of \"local\" — produce grown and sold in the same state. In winter, it's a bit tougher to source locally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, Wal-Mart pledged to double its local produce sales from 4 to 9 percent by 2015, as part of a new sustainability program and a commitment to support small businesses. While the chain has exceeded that goal – it says 11 percent of its produce sold nationwide comes from local farms — there's little evidence of small farmers benefiting, at least in the Midwest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organic vegetable grower Jim Thomas, who grows organic vegetables and sells them at the Columbia farmers market, doesn't know anyone who has sold successfully to Wal-Mart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They tend to try to force people into lower prices than feasible,\" he says. \"My only concern is that they're willing to pay the price to get the quality that they get from local produce.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wal-Mart says they try to be as price competitive as possible, and that their local buyers draw up contracts with farmers a year out, laying out fixed prices for set amounts of crops. Ron McCormick, senior director of sustainable agriculture for Wal-Mart's U.S. division, says that the number of small farms supplying the company has grown since 2010. But there are challenges – like keeping track of growers, uncertainty about small farms delivering during bad-weather years, and the high costs of strict food safety audits, which are required to supply Wal-Mart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are ways to help the farmer with those costs ... but it's a matter of doing that 100 times over if you're working with small farmers,\" McCormick said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55939\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/herman-farris-walmart.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/02/herman-farris-walmart-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Produce broker Herman Farris, outside a Wal-Mart in Columbia, Mo., was heading to St. Louis to pick up a shipment of bananas for Wal-Mart.\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-55939\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Produce broker Herman Farris, outside a Wal-Mart in Columbia, Mo., was heading to St. Louis to pick up a shipment of bananas for Wal-Mart. Photo: Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wal-Mart claims its \u003ca href=\"http://www.ag.senate.gov/hearings/healthy-food-initiatives-local-production-and-nutrition\">emphasis on local\u003c/a> has saved customers over $1 billion while helping farmers. But Wyatt Fraas, of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cfra.org/\">Center for Rural Affairs\u003c/a> in Lyon, Neb., would like to see those benefits and cost savings broken down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Unfortunately, there's so little definition and transparency about how that happens that we don't really know if that happens or how that happens,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the eight farms highlighted on Wal-Mart's \u003ca href=\"http://instoresnow.walmart.com/food-center-locally-grown-farmers-market.aspx\">locally grown web site\u003c/a>, five are very large farms by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's definition, with annual sales in the millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there's the question of volume. The University of Missouri Extension's \u003ca href=\"http://extension.missouri.edu/directory/people.aspx?C=1837\">Jennifer Schutter\u003c/a>, who helps farmers sell produce to retailers, says many small farmers in Missouri simply can't grow enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They only have produce for four months out of the year,\" she says. \"Wal-Mart wants produce consistently from the same distributor pretty much all year long.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few small operations in the Midwest have had success working with Wal-Mart, including Divine Gardens, a tomato grower in western Kansas, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.missouriveg.com/\">Missouri Vegetable Farm,\u003c/a> a 200-acre farm 70 miles south of St. Louis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missouri Vegetable Farm was created in 2010 specifically to supply Wal-Mart by the Proffer family, which also owns Proffer Wholesale Produce. Proffer Produce has been a middleman for Wal-Mart since the 1990s, and delivers produce to distribution centers in 13 states. Overall, the company has sales of nearly $60 million a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its shipping facility, as workers in hairnets separated green peppers by quality, size and weight, food safety director Jason Landers said farms, regardless of their size, must adapt their business models to compete in the growing local foods market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If they want to continue to succeed, they have to modify their operations,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"http://www.iatp.org/about/staff/ladonna-redmond\">LaDonna Redmond\u003c/a>, a senior policy associate with the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, says it's a slippery slope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's the question: Will it actually benefit [farmers], or will the situation turn out to be one where the benefit really is transferred to Wal-Mart?\" Redmond says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She adds that until Wal-Mart builds the cost of producing local food into its prices, few small farms will truly benefit from the retailer's push to source more local food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Abbie Fentress Swanson reports from Missouri for Harvest Public Media, an agriculture-reporting project involving nine NPR member stations in the Midwest. For more stories about farm and food, check out\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://harvestpublicmedia.org/\">Harvest Public Media\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nCopyright 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Truffles for Locavores?",
"title": "Truffles for Locavores?",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Bites | KQED Food",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55643\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffles800.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffles800.jpg\" alt=\"Truffles: Napa and Sonoma Counties may be a hot spot for black truffle cultivation. Photo: Janna Waldinger/Art & Clarity\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55643\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truffles: Napa and Sonoma Counties may be a hot spot for black truffle cultivation. Photo: Janna Waldinger/Art & Clarity\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There is no food on earth that inspires obsession like edible wild mushrooms and the Holy Grail of these are truffles. Out of the thousands of species of truffles, two are prized above all others: the white truffle (Alba madonna) and the black Périgord truffle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Truffles cost more per ounce than many narcotics. They are auctioned off in markets in France and Italy or traded in back alleys. They are then shipped to chefs around the world who shave them over dishes like pasta or risotto in thin, aromatic slivers for well-heeled patrons. The white truffle costs up to $3,600 a pound and has not been successfully cultivated. The black Périgord truffle, named for a region in France but often called “a black diamond” costs up to $2000 a pound has been successfully grown in truffle orchards since the 1800s. Currently, wine producing regions in New Zealand and Australia are also planting and now harvesting black truffles and over 20 other countries have truffle orchards in the works. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma and Napa may very well be the next major truffle producing regions. This is due to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.americantruffle.com/\">American Truffle Company\u003c/a>. This business was formed by Robert Chang, an engineer from South Bay, and Dr. Paul Thomas, a mycologist from the United Kingdom. They set out to match the science of truffle cultivation with the ideal weather of California wine country. They are working to convince vineyard owners to plant orchards of trees inoculated with truffle spores. The interest is considerable: their town hall meetings in Napa have been sold out and standing room only. One orchard has been planted, four more contracted, and many other grape growers are considering it. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year they hosted the \u003ca href=\"http://napatrufflefestival.com/\">Third Annual Truffle Festival\u003c/a> in the town of Napa on January 18-21 where they rolled out their vision of truffle cultivation. Currently, most black truffles are grown in Europe, but Dr. Paul Thomas explained that black truffles like a climate with winters that range from 30 to 50 degrees and then very sunny summers: California wine country weather. The company provides young oaks and hazelnuts with roots that have been inoculated with truffle spores. They then give support through climatic reports, soil amending tips and irrigation advice. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Chang, co-founder and director of the company, assured future truffle orchard investors that truffle orchards are 7 to 12 times as profitable as vineyards and that the price of truffles will never drop on the world market. This is in part due to the fact that truffles have a very short shelf life, so the less time they have to travel, the better. Robert claims that their business model helps to allay cynicism. “We offer scientific support in exchange for a share of the harvest. And if growers desire, we will help market the truffles.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55638\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/michelinchefs600.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/michelinchefs600.jpg\" alt=\"Michelin chefs gather to prepare the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque left to right: Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia in Spello, Italy; Nico Chessa of Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica; Robert Chang, Managing Director of American Truffle Company (producer of the Napa Truffle Festival); Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa; and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco. Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55638\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelin chefs gather to prepare the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque\u003cbr>left to right: Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia in Spello, Italy; Nico Chessa of Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica; Robert Chang, Managing Director of American Truffle Company (producer of the Napa Truffle Festival); Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa; and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco. Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\u003cbr>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Truffle Festival helps the company to develop markets with chefs and create more knowledge and demand for truffles among diners. While vineyard owners who would be potential truffle growers needed a little convincing, diners did not. Every event sold out and visitors huddled around a pizza oven at Silver Oak Winery and watched chef Dominic Orsini shave truffles over sheep’s milk ricotta pizza. Later, he served a truffle luncheon, including black truffle and chicory salad with a quail egg croquette.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Robert Sinskey Vineyards, visitors toured the first truffle orchard planted in Napa, now just a little over a year old. Early adopter Robert Sinskey, who farms biodynamically, admits, \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“It’s a gamble. But so are grapes. I might have a truffle orchard one day, or maybe a shady grove to graze my sheep.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/rico-trufflehunter560.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/rico-trufflehunter560.jpg\" alt=\"Rico the truffle hunter with his owner, Bill Collins, a psychologist who works with depressed veterans in the San Francisco Bay area. Rico goes with Bill to work and is also a therapy dog for soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Photo: Maria Finn\" width=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55641\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rico the truffle hunter with his owner, Bill Collins, a psychologist who works with depressed veterans in the San Francisco Bay area. Rico goes with Bill to work and is also a therapy dog for soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.\u003cbr>Photo: Maria Finn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It takes approximately five to seven years for a truffle orchard to start producing, and the one at \u003ca href=\"http://www.robertsinskey.com/\">Robert Sinskey Vineyards\u003c/a> was planted in 2010. So to demonstrate how dogs sniff out truffles, a black truffle from Italy was buried into the ground so that Rico (short for Enrico Bacio il Tartufaio) the truffle-hunting dog could display his skills at finding it. Rico was born in Italy and is a Lagotto Romagnolo, a breed of water dog that dates back to Etruscan times. Truffle hunting pigs have fallen out of favor because they dig for and eat truffles with such gusto farmers have been known to lose digits when interfering. In Italy they have been outlawed because they damage the tree roots. And so Rico was a celebrity at the truffle festival. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Truffle sniffing dogs are critical to the operation. The best way to know a truffle is ripe and ready to harvest is from the aroma that it gives off. Any harvested before or after this aromatic time will have very little value. Black Périgord truffles contain the chemical compound androstenol, a sex hormone that beckons animals to it. Once unearthed, a truffle only has a short shelf life. According to Ken Frank, owner and executive chef at \u003ca href=\"http://latoque.com/\">La Toque\u003c/a>,\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp> “After four days, it loses 25 percent of its aroma and flavor. Over the next four days, another 25 percent. And you can’t store truffles,” he explained. “Truffle oil and truffle salt is all chemically made. It’s a steroided-out version of them and a palate killer. Their fleeting nature is an element that makes them special. The art to cooking with truffles is to keep it simple, and let their perfume shine. The challenge is cooking with them and not just shaving them onto stuff.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55747\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-cake-final.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-cake-final.jpg\" alt=\"Truffled Mascarpone Crepe Cake with Sherry Brown Butter Sauce Prepared by Deborah Yee-Henen, La Toque, and Nicole Plue, side show by Nicole Plue Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55747\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truffled Mascarpone Crepe Cake with Sherry Brown Butter Sauce Prepared by Deborah Yee-Henen, La Toque, and Nicole Plue, sideshow by Nicole Plue Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was the bar set for the Saturday night, Truffles and Wine dinner at La Toque Restaurant. Michelin Star Chefs created a truffle-tasting menu that included Fagotelli of Four story Hill Farm Sweetbread and Black Truffle by Michael Tusk at Quince paired with Pinot Noir by Robert Sinskey Vineyards. Even the dessert featured with a truffled mascarpone crepe cake with sherry brown butter sauce by Deborah Yee-Henen at La Toque and Sideshow by Nicole Plue. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/polenta-truffle800.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/polenta-truffle800.jpg\" alt=\"Just made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg and shaved truffle. Photo: Maria Finn\" width=\"800\" height=\"598\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Just made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg and shaved truffle. Photo: Maria Finn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, \u003ca href=\"http://www.beringer.com/\">Beringer Vineyards\u003c/a> hosted a cooking demonstration with Nico Chessa who brought the spirit of his native Italy in the dishes he prepared, like the just-made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg. At this lunch, I spoke with Gretchen and Dale Demmin, who traveled from Virginia wine country. They planted a truffle orchard on their farm in collaboration with the American Truffle Company. Gretchen had recently retired from the Army where she worked as a microbiologist. “Mushrooms are the next place we will find an antibiotic or cure. I’m convinced of this,” she explained. “I used to grow medicinal mushrooms, but it just got so hot where I lived, I need to grow underground mushrooms. So I’m making the transition from medicinal to luxury.” Also at the lunch was prospective truffle farmer David Mahaffey, winemaker and partner at \u003ca href=\"http://www.oliviabrion.com/index.html\">Olivia Brion\u003c/a>. “A truffle orchard is the sizzle on the steak,” he said “If I can grow world class Pinot Noir with truffles adjacent to them, that’s a great match, and a great story.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55639\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-oxbow560.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-oxbow560.jpg\" alt=\"Truffles for sale at the Oxbow Marketplace. Photo: Maria Finn\" width=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55639\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truffles for sale at the Oxbow Marketplace. Photo: Maria Finn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The final event took place at \u003ca href=\"http://www.oxbowpublicmarket.com/\">Oxbow Marketplace\u003c/a> in Napa, where crowds swamped vendors that each interpreted the truffle in their own way. \u003ca href=\"http://www.camomienoteca.com/\">Ca’ Momi\u003c/a> Enoteca had truffled pizza, The \u003ca href=\"http://themodelbakery.com/\">Model Bakery\u003c/a> served mushroom-truffle bread pudding, \u003ca href=\"http://www.picapicakitchen.com/\">Pica Pica Maize Kitchen\u003c/a> offered truffled yucca fries and \u003ca href=\"http://gotts.com/\">Gott’s Roadside\u003c/a> made truffled Niman Ranch sliders. And there were also truffles--both black and white, for sale by the ounce. Visitors all stopped to sniff the truffles: earthy, fruity, musky. Some found them irresistible and wanted to take home their own delicious black diamond. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The writer, Maria Finn, attended this event as a guest of the American Truffle Company.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Napa's next big thing: First it was wine grapes, and then olive orchards. Are black truffles next? ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55643\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffles800.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffles800.jpg\" alt=\"Truffles: Napa and Sonoma Counties may be a hot spot for black truffle cultivation. Photo: Janna Waldinger/Art & Clarity\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55643\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truffles: Napa and Sonoma Counties may be a hot spot for black truffle cultivation. Photo: Janna Waldinger/Art & Clarity\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There is no food on earth that inspires obsession like edible wild mushrooms and the Holy Grail of these are truffles. Out of the thousands of species of truffles, two are prized above all others: the white truffle (Alba madonna) and the black Périgord truffle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Truffles cost more per ounce than many narcotics. They are auctioned off in markets in France and Italy or traded in back alleys. They are then shipped to chefs around the world who shave them over dishes like pasta or risotto in thin, aromatic slivers for well-heeled patrons. The white truffle costs up to $3,600 a pound and has not been successfully cultivated. The black Périgord truffle, named for a region in France but often called “a black diamond” costs up to $2000 a pound has been successfully grown in truffle orchards since the 1800s. Currently, wine producing regions in New Zealand and Australia are also planting and now harvesting black truffles and over 20 other countries have truffle orchards in the works. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma and Napa may very well be the next major truffle producing regions. This is due to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.americantruffle.com/\">American Truffle Company\u003c/a>. This business was formed by Robert Chang, an engineer from South Bay, and Dr. Paul Thomas, a mycologist from the United Kingdom. They set out to match the science of truffle cultivation with the ideal weather of California wine country. They are working to convince vineyard owners to plant orchards of trees inoculated with truffle spores. The interest is considerable: their town hall meetings in Napa have been sold out and standing room only. One orchard has been planted, four more contracted, and many other grape growers are considering it. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year they hosted the \u003ca href=\"http://napatrufflefestival.com/\">Third Annual Truffle Festival\u003c/a> in the town of Napa on January 18-21 where they rolled out their vision of truffle cultivation. Currently, most black truffles are grown in Europe, but Dr. Paul Thomas explained that black truffles like a climate with winters that range from 30 to 50 degrees and then very sunny summers: California wine country weather. The company provides young oaks and hazelnuts with roots that have been inoculated with truffle spores. They then give support through climatic reports, soil amending tips and irrigation advice. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Chang, co-founder and director of the company, assured future truffle orchard investors that truffle orchards are 7 to 12 times as profitable as vineyards and that the price of truffles will never drop on the world market. This is in part due to the fact that truffles have a very short shelf life, so the less time they have to travel, the better. Robert claims that their business model helps to allay cynicism. “We offer scientific support in exchange for a share of the harvest. And if growers desire, we will help market the truffles.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55638\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/michelinchefs600.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/michelinchefs600.jpg\" alt=\"Michelin chefs gather to prepare the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque left to right: Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia in Spello, Italy; Nico Chessa of Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica; Robert Chang, Managing Director of American Truffle Company (producer of the Napa Truffle Festival); Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa; and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco. Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55638\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelin chefs gather to prepare the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque\u003cbr>left to right: Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia in Spello, Italy; Nico Chessa of Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica; Robert Chang, Managing Director of American Truffle Company (producer of the Napa Truffle Festival); Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa; and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco. Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\u003cbr>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Truffle Festival helps the company to develop markets with chefs and create more knowledge and demand for truffles among diners. While vineyard owners who would be potential truffle growers needed a little convincing, diners did not. Every event sold out and visitors huddled around a pizza oven at Silver Oak Winery and watched chef Dominic Orsini shave truffles over sheep’s milk ricotta pizza. Later, he served a truffle luncheon, including black truffle and chicory salad with a quail egg croquette.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Robert Sinskey Vineyards, visitors toured the first truffle orchard planted in Napa, now just a little over a year old. Early adopter Robert Sinskey, who farms biodynamically, admits, \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“It’s a gamble. But so are grapes. I might have a truffle orchard one day, or maybe a shady grove to graze my sheep.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/rico-trufflehunter560.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/rico-trufflehunter560.jpg\" alt=\"Rico the truffle hunter with his owner, Bill Collins, a psychologist who works with depressed veterans in the San Francisco Bay area. Rico goes with Bill to work and is also a therapy dog for soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Photo: Maria Finn\" width=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55641\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rico the truffle hunter with his owner, Bill Collins, a psychologist who works with depressed veterans in the San Francisco Bay area. Rico goes with Bill to work and is also a therapy dog for soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.\u003cbr>Photo: Maria Finn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It takes approximately five to seven years for a truffle orchard to start producing, and the one at \u003ca href=\"http://www.robertsinskey.com/\">Robert Sinskey Vineyards\u003c/a> was planted in 2010. So to demonstrate how dogs sniff out truffles, a black truffle from Italy was buried into the ground so that Rico (short for Enrico Bacio il Tartufaio) the truffle-hunting dog could display his skills at finding it. Rico was born in Italy and is a Lagotto Romagnolo, a breed of water dog that dates back to Etruscan times. Truffle hunting pigs have fallen out of favor because they dig for and eat truffles with such gusto farmers have been known to lose digits when interfering. In Italy they have been outlawed because they damage the tree roots. And so Rico was a celebrity at the truffle festival. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Truffle sniffing dogs are critical to the operation. The best way to know a truffle is ripe and ready to harvest is from the aroma that it gives off. Any harvested before or after this aromatic time will have very little value. Black Périgord truffles contain the chemical compound androstenol, a sex hormone that beckons animals to it. Once unearthed, a truffle only has a short shelf life. According to Ken Frank, owner and executive chef at \u003ca href=\"http://latoque.com/\">La Toque\u003c/a>,\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp> “After four days, it loses 25 percent of its aroma and flavor. Over the next four days, another 25 percent. And you can’t store truffles,” he explained. “Truffle oil and truffle salt is all chemically made. It’s a steroided-out version of them and a palate killer. Their fleeting nature is an element that makes them special. The art to cooking with truffles is to keep it simple, and let their perfume shine. The challenge is cooking with them and not just shaving them onto stuff.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55747\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-cake-final.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-cake-final.jpg\" alt=\"Truffled Mascarpone Crepe Cake with Sherry Brown Butter Sauce Prepared by Deborah Yee-Henen, La Toque, and Nicole Plue, side show by Nicole Plue Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55747\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truffled Mascarpone Crepe Cake with Sherry Brown Butter Sauce Prepared by Deborah Yee-Henen, La Toque, and Nicole Plue, sideshow by Nicole Plue Photo: Faith Echtermeyer\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was the bar set for the Saturday night, Truffles and Wine dinner at La Toque Restaurant. Michelin Star Chefs created a truffle-tasting menu that included Fagotelli of Four story Hill Farm Sweetbread and Black Truffle by Michael Tusk at Quince paired with Pinot Noir by Robert Sinskey Vineyards. Even the dessert featured with a truffled mascarpone crepe cake with sherry brown butter sauce by Deborah Yee-Henen at La Toque and Sideshow by Nicole Plue. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/polenta-truffle800.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/polenta-truffle800.jpg\" alt=\"Just made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg and shaved truffle. Photo: Maria Finn\" width=\"800\" height=\"598\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Just made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg and shaved truffle. Photo: Maria Finn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, \u003ca href=\"http://www.beringer.com/\">Beringer Vineyards\u003c/a> hosted a cooking demonstration with Nico Chessa who brought the spirit of his native Italy in the dishes he prepared, like the just-made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg. At this lunch, I spoke with Gretchen and Dale Demmin, who traveled from Virginia wine country. They planted a truffle orchard on their farm in collaboration with the American Truffle Company. Gretchen had recently retired from the Army where she worked as a microbiologist. “Mushrooms are the next place we will find an antibiotic or cure. I’m convinced of this,” she explained. “I used to grow medicinal mushrooms, but it just got so hot where I lived, I need to grow underground mushrooms. So I’m making the transition from medicinal to luxury.” Also at the lunch was prospective truffle farmer David Mahaffey, winemaker and partner at \u003ca href=\"http://www.oliviabrion.com/index.html\">Olivia Brion\u003c/a>. “A truffle orchard is the sizzle on the steak,” he said “If I can grow world class Pinot Noir with truffles adjacent to them, that’s a great match, and a great story.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_55639\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-oxbow560.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2013/01/truffle-oxbow560.jpg\" alt=\"Truffles for sale at the Oxbow Marketplace. Photo: Maria Finn\" width=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55639\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truffles for sale at the Oxbow Marketplace. Photo: Maria Finn\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The final event took place at \u003ca href=\"http://www.oxbowpublicmarket.com/\">Oxbow Marketplace\u003c/a> in Napa, where crowds swamped vendors that each interpreted the truffle in their own way. \u003ca href=\"http://www.camomienoteca.com/\">Ca’ Momi\u003c/a> Enoteca had truffled pizza, The \u003ca href=\"http://themodelbakery.com/\">Model Bakery\u003c/a> served mushroom-truffle bread pudding, \u003ca href=\"http://www.picapicakitchen.com/\">Pica Pica Maize Kitchen\u003c/a> offered truffled yucca fries and \u003ca href=\"http://gotts.com/\">Gott’s Roadside\u003c/a> made truffled Niman Ranch sliders. And there were also truffles--both black and white, for sale by the ounce. Visitors all stopped to sniff the truffles: earthy, fruity, musky. Some found them irresistible and wanted to take home their own delicious black diamond. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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