Chinese adultery...

The tainted feed problem is demonstrating to producers everywhere that a new level of transparency is becoming standard operating procedure around the globe. There are few places that your actions are not leaving a record, and we are becoming CSI experts in tracking stuff back to its original sin.

One of the consequences of the protein-testing swindle perpetrated by Chinese feed ingredient con men could be an acceleration of the "eating local" fad. And in the process, many finicky eaters are getting an education.

This is a legitimate point: Those who defend the pleasures and economies of modern life against the romanticizers of a zero-impact, local eating, fresh fruits and veggies past often overemphasize the soul-numbing drudgery of rural life. Picking berries and turning them into jam while chatting with a friend has been one of womankind's great pleasures for centuries. But just because it isn't awful doesn't mean that it isn't time-consuming labor. And in modern times, laying a hand on local berries in the first place can be pricey, U-Pick or not. [More]

I think the eating local concept is one of the best food and agricultural developments to arise in recent years. It will educate distant consumers and apply immense pressure to industrial food processors to source raw materials more carefully, and handle them even more scrupulously.

I will be blogging more about the ramifications of this trend when planting slows. (70% done with corn).

Thanks for your patience. And for reading.