1. Minneapolis Public Schools makes new food waste plan (Twitter)
- Partnership with Natural Resources Defense Fund, which paid for the development of the plan
- Three-year implementation
- Lists ways MPS already works to reduce wasted food
2. Supreme Court will decide whether to keep companies' SNAP sales secret (New Food Economy)
- The case was brought by the Argus Leader (South Dakota paper) to obtain data on how much grocery store revenue is from the federal food stamps program
- Supreme Court said it will hear the case
- Opposition to releasing the data says it'll compromise competition among grocery stores, but it's not clear what advantage knowing SNAP revenue would give competitors.
- Bigger report on the case from August
3. President Trump's extravagant $3,000, 300-sandwich celebration of Clemson University (WaPo)
- Just need to save this link because this level of analysis on such a silly thing is inspiring
4. Shutdown tests farmers' loyalty as Trump visits their annual convention (POLITICO)
- "Farmers" equals the farm bureau. It's their 100th annual convention.
- The reporter found voices on both sides of that loyalty question, but it's hard to know what the majority feels. In ag, as in anything, it depends on the echo chamber you walk into.
5. The sobering details behind the latest seed monopoly chart (Civil Eats)
- The chart is an update from a 2008 version published by Phillip Howard of Michigan State University. He started tracking in 1998 – two years after genetically engineered seed varieties were introduced
- Article suggests weak anti-trust law enforcement, which allowed a few companies to take over the global seed supply
- Historical impact: fewer choices and higher prices for farmers; less innovation;
- Article includes list of "seed stewards"
