Category Archives: agriculture

Labour in the Food Industry

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Chris MacDonald

Check out this piece by Stephen Lurie, writing for Vox: You care about where your food comes from. Shouldn’t you care about who grew and picked it? Lurie is arguing that the food you consume embodies a certain set of … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, choice, ethics, fairtrade, labour | Comments Off on Labour in the Food Industry

Ethics of the World’s First Synthetic Burger

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Chris MacDonald

So, the world’s first synthetic burger has been cultured, minced, fried and consumed. (Mark Post, the scientist who conceived of and grew the synthetic burger, had announced a year and a half ago his near-term intention to produce and test … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, biotechnology, ethics, factory farms, meat, natural, science | 4 Comments

Bigger Birds

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

Innovation isn’t always good for everyone. See this blog entry about how artificial insemination has allowed the turkey industry to triple the average size of a turkey over the last 50 years: Give Thanks? Science Supersized Your Turkey Dinner. (The … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, animal welfare, breeding, factory farms, meat, science | Comments Off on Bigger Birds

Corporate Dilution of the Meaning of “Organic”

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

A few days ago there was an exceptionally interesting article in the NY Times on the corporatization of organic foods. See Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized?, by Stephanie Strom. The story outlines the controversy over the composition of the US board … Continue reading →

Posted in Additives, agriculture, certifiction, organic, regulation | Comments Off on Corporate Dilution of the Meaning of “Organic”

Could GMO Technology Make Tomatoes More Authentic?

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

The LA Times ran an interesting piece a couple of days ago about Why supermarket tomatoes tend to taste bland. It turns out, according to new scientific research, that the hybridization carried out by tomato breeders over the last several … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, biotechnology, genes, genetic modification, GMO, natural, values | Comments Off on Could GMO Technology Make Tomatoes More Authentic?

Ethics of Eating Meat

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

A recent Toronto Star piece on the ethics of eating meat quotes me, briefly, on the topic of lab-grown meat (something I’ve blogged about before). The main point of the article, however, is to make an attempt to marshall a … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, animal rights, animal welfare, choice, health, kids, meat, nutrition | 3 Comments

Who Wants Test-Tube Meat?

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

Sonja Puzic, for CTVNews.ca, asks: Would you eat meat grown in a test tube? When a Dutch scientist declared last month that he could have the world’s first lab-grown hamburger on the grill by October, the Internet was abuzz with … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, animal welfare, biotechnology, genetic modification, GMO, industrial, meat, science, synthetic meat, values | Comments Off on Who Wants Test-Tube Meat?

The Complex Politics of Food Ethics

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

Here’s a useful short piece by James McWilliams, writing for The Atlantic: Meat: What Big Agriculture and the Ethical Butcher Have in Common I’ve repeatedly argued that supporting alternatives to the industrial production of animal products serves the ultimate interest … Continue reading →

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Backyard Chicken Ethics

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Chris MacDonald

As far as food goes, you can’t get much more “local” than raising chickens in your own backyard. But many cities forbid the practice. Zoning laws generally prescribe where you can and cannot raise animals for food. But such laws … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, kids, law, local, urban farming, values | 2 Comments

Is Smaller More Ethical, or Less?

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Chris MacDonald

The food world’s fascination with small-scale production of bespoke edibles shows no sign of waning. See, for example, this piece by Emma Sturgess, for The Guardian: From small seeds grow big ideas There are David and Goliath battles in all … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ethics, factory farms, farmers, industrial, sustainability, values | Comments Off on Is Smaller More Ethical, or Less?