La Vida Locavore: Sampler Platter

... assorted food news and links from across the internet

I realize the big news right now is Japan. And just behind Japan are Wisconsin and Libya. So it feels totally tonedeaf to post a bunch of food news. But the funny thing about news is that it doesn't stop happening, even when there's much bigger news happening somewhere else. So get your Libya, Japan, and Wisconsin updates from Amy Goodman or Al Jazeera English, and read the Tonedeaf Edition of the Sampler Platter, below, for food news...

• A bill in Florida would make it a felony to take a picture of a farm without the written consent of the owner.

• Alternet asks: "Why are California regulators turning a blind eye to massive groundwater pollution from dairies?"

• Perhaps the best coverage I've seen yet on the UN report on agroecology: "Africa: Save Climate and Double Food Production With Eco-Farming" And Tom Philpott's piece on this is so good that I'm afraid I have to assign it as required reading.

• Here's a great idea: food swaps! OMG, what a GREAT way to go! What will you give me for a pint of lemon marmalade? I'm definitely in the market for some homemade tomato sauce.

• The Nation has a piece that features San Diego's City Heights farmers' market. Very cool! This market was absolutely a labor of love by the people at the IRC. Better yet, the impact of making this market accept food stamps is that once the managers realized the value of doing that and learned how to do it, they now made several other markets in San Diego accept food stamps too. (H/t to Daniel Bowman Simon for sending me this one.)

• Sam Fromartz takes on GMOs and the myth of feeding the world.

• From Marion Nestle: Once again, kids prefer food in packages with cartoons. You need research to tell you that?

• I have no words for this. But I could think of a nice use for that napkin, one that would involve being in a bathroom with your pants down.

• The blog US Food Policy takes on agricultural subsidies. On Civil Eats, the wonderful and talented Brian Depew takes on the same issue here. And rural resident Steph Larsen demands her subsidy check :)

• Marion Nestle provides an industry view of food allergies.

• Barry Estabrook tells about recent actions by farmworkers and their allies with the group Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

• Also from Estabrook: "Co-opting an Unsustainable Food System: Student-Run Collectives Replace Junk Food Franchises on College Campuses"

• In the world of GMO's: "China to promote GMO planting over the next 5 years;" after massive protest kept Bt eggplant out of India, it may be it may be introduced in the Philippines; Mexico approved a GE corn pilot project; Ugandans are working on GM bananas; the EU made its rules more permissive on GE animal feed; and here at home, lawmakers urge FDA to go slow on GE salmon.

via lavidalocavore.org