Is dairy farming cruel to cows? [New York Times]
… The effort to turn Americans against dairy is gaining traction at a time when many of the nation’s farms are struggling to turn a profit. … Among those caught in the battle to win the hearts and minds of dairy consumers is a small group of animal welfare scientists quietly working to answer knotty questions: Are cows that spend their entire lives confined indoors unhappy? Does the separation of a newborn calf from its mother result in quantifiable anguish? And are there ways to improve the life of a dairy cow that are both scientifically sound and economically viable?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/science/dairy-farming-cows-milk.html
Federal spending bill includes funding for dam repairs, snow measurement technology [KRCR TV, Redding]
The proposed federal spending bill for 2021 includes funding for the Oroville Dam, Sites Reservoir Project and new snow measurement technology. If passed by Congress, part of the massive omnibus spending bill would allocate $1 billion towards restoration projects and drought relief efforts. In the Northstate, $7.5 million is expected to fund ongoing repair work at the Oroville Dam. … Additional funding will go towards pre-reconstruction work and designing the Sites Reservoir, which will be a major off-stream surface storage project in Colusa County.
New U.S. dietary guidelines reject recommendation to cut sugar, alcohol intake limit [Wall Street Journal]
The federal government on Tuesday issued new dietary guidelines that keep current allowances for sugar and alcohol consumption unchanged, rejecting recommendations by its scientific advisory committee to make significant cuts. … The new guidelines do include the scientific committee’s recommendation that children under age 2 consume no added sugars at all. … The dietary guidelines, which are updated every five years, have a wide impact: They shape school lunch programs, mold state and local health-promotion efforts, and influence what food companies produce.
Eight ways wine will change in 2021 [Bloomberg]
… Covid-19 upended all our oenophile habits, shifting how we buy wine (online more than ever), how we taste and learn about it (virtually), and where we end up drinking it. … Expect many of 2020’s trends to evolve in 2021—the health and wellness alcohol-free drinks boom, the canned and boxed wine movement, vino from extreme regions—helped along by new digital and AI technology innovations, even if everyone really dreams of returning to sharing wine with others outside their homes.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/28/eight-ways-wine-will-change-in-2021/
Amigo Bob Cantisano, a towering figure in the West Coast’s organic farming movement, dies at 69 [Los Angeles Times]
Amigo Bob Cantisano, a ninth-generation Californian, put his life’s work into the state’s very soil — beginning, fittingly enough, on the first Earth Day in 1970. … Cantisano, who battled cancer for several years, died Saturday at his North San Juan farm, Heaven and Earth, which he revered as both. … Cantisano started California’s first natural foods distribution company and its first organic farm supply company, as well as the state’s first — and for many years only — organic crop consulting agency. In 1973, he helped found California Certified Organic Farmers, setting organic standards.
Fired boss at Tyson Iowa pork plant says COVID-19 betting pool was a ‘morale boost’ [Associated Press]
One of the Tyson Foods managers fired for betting on how many workers would contract COVID-19 at an Iowa pork plant said the office pool was spontaneous fun and intended to boost morale. Don Merschbrock, former night manager at the plant in Waterloo, said he was speaking in an attempt to show that the seven fired supervisors are “not the evil people” that Tyson has portrayed.
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