Technology

Eating Green

• FCC announces “biggest and boldest step yet” to expand rural broadband October 30, 2020
  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday launched the first phase of its new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction, which will provide internet companies with $20 billion in subsidies over the next 10 years to build out broadband networks in underserved parts of the country. The funding will connect roughly 10 million Americans who don’t […]
  Sam Bloch
• Many food producers pivoted to online sales during the pandemic. Post office problems threw a wrench in their plans. October 30, 2020
  When the coronavirus pandemic shut down restaurants across the country this spring, Jeff Rieger of Penryn Orchard Specialties, a small fruit farm in Placer County, California, did what many small farmers did—he started selling directly to consumers. He updated the website, figured out new ways to pack his fruit for consumers, and invested in shipping […]
  Georgia Freedman
• Alaskan salmon fishers to Trump: Leave the Tongass National Forest alone October 29, 2020
  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday announced a final decision in exempting Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from the so-called Roadless Rule, clearing the way for logging and road construction in the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest. The decision, which comes nearly two years after Alaska petitioned the federal government for the exemption, was […]
  Sam Bloch
• The U.S. Army Corps opened up a controversial fish farm proposal for public comment. Just one problem: It directed people to a faulty email. October 29, 2020
  Since early October, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been collecting public comments on a controversial proposed fish farm off the Florida coast. There’s just one problem: It directed people to a faulty email for the first two weeks of the feedback period, the agency announced in an update last week. As a result, […]
  Jessica Fu
• After a brief ban, E.P.A. decides to allow controversial weed killer dicamba October 28, 2020
  Earlier this summer, a court ruling and subsequent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) order threatened to throw farmers for a loop: The government was banning dicamba, a controversial herbicide that drifted from farm to farm, damaging neighbors’ crops and local flora.  Trouble was, the decision came after many growers had already planted seeds that were genetically […]
  H. Claire Brown
• Why are British people protesting U.S. farm imports? October 28, 2020
  This weekend, lawmakers in the U.K. were greeted with a strange sight. Costumed demonstrators—one dressed like President Trump carrying a syringe, others dressed like farm animals—gathered in London to protest the passage of a new agriculture bill.  At issue was the government’s failure to codify British food standards as the country exits the European Union. […]
  H. Claire Brown
• What does it take to get your fish-fry batter sold at Whole Foods? October 28, 2020
  Toyin Kolawole sat at her desk in a suburban Chicago office, waiting to be let into a Zoom breakout room—where a panel of major retail buyers were ready to hear pitches for new products to stock on market shelves. Kolawole would have four minutes to sell them on her line of Nigerian-influenced gluten-free flours, spices, […]
  Anya Schultz
• Explore the subliminal messaging on your Halloween candy’s label October 27, 2020
  Next time you step into the grocery store, pay attention to the typeface. Look long enough, and patterns emerge. Sugary soda brands like Mountain Dew or Fanta love thick, heavy lettering, while wine companies play with handwritten script fonts to communicate their authenticity.  Turn to the candy aisle and the typeface gets rounder. Take Airheads. […]
  Michael Waters
• Whistleblower says JBS asked employees to pay $100 for Covid-19 tests. Shocker: few participated. October 27, 2020
  In April, as meatpacking plants across the country continued to stay open despite emerging Covid-19 outbreaks among their employees, JBS USA made an announcement: It would secure free Covid-19 tests for all of the workers in its Greeley, Colorado plant—one of the largest in the country at 3,000 employees. At the time, just 36 employees […]
  H. Claire Brown
• Two court rulings challenge Trump administration policies on SNAP, bolstering food stamp access October 26, 2020
  Early in the pandemic, as people were laid off from their jobs in massive numbers, Congress authorized the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to roll out a handful of temporary changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), designed to help keep it functioning throughout the pandemic.  Among those changes: an expansion of […]
  H. Claire Brown