Hidden Subsidies for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)

Various forms of agriculture in the United States receive government support or subsidies. For example, it is well established that production of ethanol from corn would not be economically feasible in the absence of government support. This used to come in the form of a subsidy of $0.45/gallon of ethanol. What is interesting, however, is that this subsidy expired in 2012. Did anyone hear a gigantic howl or protest from corn farmers in Iowa? Right, neither did I. The reason that corn lobby let this subsidy expire is because President Obama signed the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) into law. The RFS mandates that more than one third of the U.S. corn crop be converted to ethanol, which is then blended with gasoline. This mandate effectively creates an artificial demand for corn that props up the price, making it economical for farmers to grow corn for ethanol production. Now, corn is not the issue at hand. Ethanol production from corn is economical because the government mandates that it be so. However misguided, whether direct or indirect, this type of subsidy is obvious, measurable and lawful.

CAFO buildings and manure "lagoon"

Let me turn your attention to large animal feeding operations, or CAFOs as they are known. Animal production was concentrated in such a manner from smaller individual farms over the last 20-30 years, allegedly for reasons of economy. Whether this is true is doubtful, and something that can be discussed separately.

In these operations, such as the facility shown, animals are housed in large, cement-floored buildings. They are fed automatically, and their manure and urine is flushed from the floor into a holding tank below the facility, and then into a large reservoir or "lagoon." Simplistically, the economics of running a CAFO would seem to be the cost of the facility (land, buildings and infrastructure), food, animals, labor, electricity, fuel, and waste disposal, relative to the financial gains obtained from selling the animals. Sales minus costs equals profit. Business 101.

On the Importance of Ingredient Quality in Cooking

As a synthetic chemist, one learns that the quality of one's starting materials is directly related to both the success of a chemical reaction and to the quality of the products of that reaction. As is often said: "garbage in, garbage out." I once had a student who was struggling with a reaction involving copper. I asked him if he had dried the copper cyanide (CuCN) he used in the reaction. He asked me, "why, is it wet?" I responded that I didn't know whether or not the CuCN was wet, but that it certainly would NOT be wet if he dried it. Since the reaction he was attempting was exquisitely sensitive to water, good practice would be to ensure all reagents were scrupulously pure and dry. Not surprisingly, after he dried the CuCN, the reaction worked beautifully.

Yesterday, I cooked a big batch of salsa Bolognese (ragú alla Bolognese). This is a very simple meat-based pasta sauce, which gets all its flavor without using spices or herbs. It tastes of the ingredients from which it is made. It takes all day to prepare, but the majority of that time is waiting for liquids to evaporate from the simmering sauce. I started by dicing about 1/2 cup each of onion, celery, and carrot purchased from The Greener Grocer in the North Market. These were sauteed in 1/4 cup of homemade butter and some sea-salt until they were soft. To this, I added 1 lb. each of ground beef, pork, and veal that I had purchased from Blues Creek Meats, also in the North Market. These people raise all their own meat on their family-owned farm and butcher it themselves. You cannot find higher quality or more ethically raised meat in Columbus. I sauteed the meats together with some salt until they were no longer pink, breaking it up with a potato masher as much as possible, then added 4 cups of whole milk from Snowville Creamery. This mixture was simmered over medium low heat for about one hour until all the milk had evaporated and the white color was gone. At this point, I added a bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (I know I should have used an Italian white wine, but I went with what I had in the cellar). The mixture was simmered until all the wine had evaporated, which took another hour. A big 100 oz. can of chopped, imported San Marzano tomatoes with their juice was added, the heat was reduced to low, and this mixture was simmered for about three hours, with occasional stirring. Part of the way through, I used an immersible blender to more finely divide the meat and tomatoes. This is ragú alla Bolognese. It was outstanding over homemade fettuccine made with our own eggs, served with grated Parmesan cheese and a Ridge Zinfandel.

Preliminary 2013 Garden Plans

January is the month to plan your summer garden. All the seed companies send out catalogs, and looking at the pictures of the vegetables and fruit is food porn. The biggest changes I plan to make to the 2013 garden are to plant another 25 asparagus plants, expand the tomato plantings to include Roma paste tomatoes, and plant garden peas more extensively. Most of the rest of the veggies will be the same: potatoes, cabbage, beans, beets, peppers, etc. I will move the potatoes to an area less prone to flooding, plant two more rhubarb plants, start shallot bulbs alongside the garlic from last fall, and plant kale and chard with the cabbages. The raspberries will be in their third year, and should start to produce, and the first asparagus plantings will be three years old and be ready to harvest. And cucumbers, which will be trellised this year to save space. No squash, as it really isn't a very efficient use of the limited space I have (35 'x 70').