Growing problems

 

Adding up the true cost of food

 

Conventional agriculture a growing problem

 

Chemical fertilizers: a losing proposition

 

Farm antibiotics harm human health

 

Rural areas don't benefit from healthy harvests

 

Healthy harvests

 

Healthy farms, healthy foods

 

Grazing benefits livestock and consumers

 

Allegheny Group promotes the new farm economy

 

Eating from the ground up

 

A buyer’s guide to eco-friendly food

 

Tracking food miles

 

How to locate the best local produce

 

The buzz on sustainable agriculture

 

We are what we eat. Americans consume more in the process of eating than any people anywhere—we use more fuel, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, antibiotics, and packaging. And after all that, we don’t even eat particularly well.

In these pages, you'll find articles on food from the ground up and explain how the choices we make affect our world. You will also find essays about the true cost of food and the toll of chemical fertilizers. You’ll also find stories about farmers and loggers who sustainably harvest what the earth provides, as well as information about how to buy eco-friendly foods.

About the photo: This frozen bee was captured on an early fall morning by photographer Don Gibbon. Remarkably, two hours later, as the sun rose in the sky, the bee thawed out and flew away.