• People

Interview of the Week: Danielle Leoni, Sustainable Chef and Restaurant Owner

• food
• sustainability
• The Breadfruit & Rum Bar
• The James Beard Foundation

Danielle Leoni is the Co-Owner and Chef of The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix and a leader in the sustainability movement in the food world.  She is also a nominee for the 2020 Best Chef, Southwest from the James Beard Foundation.

• Food

Will The Pandemic “Cure” America’s Addiction to Cheap Meat?

• Beyond Burgers
• COVID-19
• food
• meat
• meatpacking plants
• plant-based meat

Eating meat is as American as apple pie, so baked into our culture and identity that President Trump declared meatpacking plants so essential that he ordered them to stay open. Some grocery chains such as Costco and Kroger are limiting the amount of meat consumers can buy, and prices are spiking too.  Meanwhile, plant-based meats are flying off the shelves.

Why This Matters:  Thanks to the virus, Americans may now be forced to learn how to eat less meat and why that might be good for them.

• Food

Will COVID-19 Lead to A Global “Hunger Games”?

• conservation
• crabmeat
• food
• food insecurity
• Indonesia
• science
• supply chain
• Walton Family Foundation

Global leaders are warning that breaks in the global supply chain for food imports to the U.S. could have devastating impacts in developing countries.

Why This Matters:  Thanks to the President ordering meat plants to re-open, we are focused on food supply chains here at home, but there many people around the world supplying us necessary food items (like fresh fruits and vegetables and seafood that can’t be grown here now) as well.

• Animals

Animal Farm: COVID Crisis Slaughtering the Meat Industry

• #conservationist
• CAFOs
• cattle
• chickens
• environment
• food
• livestock
• pigs

Tens of thousands of pigs, chickens, and cattle are stuck on large livestock farms due to processing plant closures because of COVID outbreaks among plant workers.  Consequently, the President yesterday ordered the plants to remain open despite the fact that thousands of workers have tested positive or have been exposed to the virus and the plants have not taken the necessary precautions to protect them from contracting the virus.

Why This Matters:  The President’s order cannot change the course of the virus nor will it solve the problems caused by giant industrial hog and chicken farms, and unsafe slaughterhouses that the virus is exposing.

• Food

The Food Industry Begins to Struggle with the Effects of COVID-19

• agribusiness
• conservation
• COVID-19
• environment
• farms
• food
• food waste

Farmers are being forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of fresh food because of COVID-19’s impact on their usual markets, according to the New York Times.  Producers are depending on $9.5 billion from the CARES Act stimulus package for their farms to survive this pandemic.

Why This Matters: As the unemployment rates sky-rocket due to national shutdowns, it’s hard to imagine food going to waste.

• Food

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Food of Environmental Activism

• farming
• food
• food waste
• produce

by Zoey Shipley and Miro Korenha In America, 30-40% (by weight) of food goes to waste each day–which also wastes water and creates needless GHG emissions. One solution that’s been floated to combat food waste is selling more “ugly” produce to consumers. As Vox explained, venture capital-backed companies like Imperfect Produce, Full Harvest, Hungry Harvest, […]