By Gene Hall

Bad news, meat lovers: We’ll all be vegetarians by the year 2050 because we’ll run out of water to produce livestock. That’s the theory in this article on Yahoo.

 These sweeping and absolute statements can be a lot more about someone’s agenda than futuristic forecasting. When you see something like this, you should ask, “Who doesn’t want anyone eating meat?” Or, “Who wants a grant to study livestock and water supplies?”

By Mike Barnett

With all the hoopla over genetically-modified Tifton-85 bermuda grass killing cows in Texas last week—which by the way was totally false, because there is no such thing as genetically-modified Tifton-85 bermuda grass—you might have missed some important news from the American Medical Association (AMA) regarding bioengineered food.

That august body of physicians said in a policy statement, adopted at their annual meeting in Chicago, that there is no need to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

That jives nicely with my reasoning that bioengineered food and food that uses conventionally bred crops are pretty much one and the same.

Science should trump sensationalism when it comes to food.

I don’t disagree. I’m just smart enough to know that doesn’t happen. And it’s not going to.

Americans enjoy the most abundant and affordable food supply in the world. But that message doesn’t sell because we take food for granted. I’ve never seen an empty grocery shelf.

There are small groups of people, however, who want to change the way we eat. And they don’t care much how they do it.

“Pink slime” anyone? Sensationalism ruled over common sense and facts and a safe, efficient and healthy product called Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB) was torpedoed.

By Mike Barnett

Administrator’s note: This blog post originally ran in Texas Agriculture Talks on Aug. 24, 2009 and was named Best Editorial in recent American Farm Bureau Federation Awards competition (large state Farm Bureaus). Enjoy.

Industrial” and “sustainable” are words thrown around freely when discussing agriculture in the ongoing food debate.

Here’s what those words mean to me.

By Gene Hall

Among those that believe the U.S. food supply is a great evil, depriving us of health and happiness, high fructose corn syrup has become a particular demon.  It is said to be making us fat in unprecedented numbers.  This is a lie that has turned several laps around the world before the truth gets its boots on. 

Here are some facts –

From SweetScam.com – “Some people mistakenly believe that some sweeteners are healthier than others. But the facts don’t add up. Whether it’s sugar from cane, beets, or corn, all sweet treats have the same number of calories.”