California Foie Gras Ban Turns Into a New Fight

When meat is outlawed — in this case fatty livers of geese or ducks — only outlaws will eat meat.
Foodies are hoarding all the fatty geese or duck livers they can find, while new foie gras farmers may be setting up right across the border.
Chefs are flaunting the ban on the fatty livers by serving the very French dish known as foie gras.
And California’s restaurant industry is in federal court, asking to have the ban on serving the fatty livers struck down for a long list of reasons.

USPOULTRY announces 12th Annual Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award competition

U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is now accepting nominations for the 12th annual Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award. The award recognizes exemplary environmental stewardship by family farmers engaged in poultry and egg production. Those eligible for the award include any poultry grower or egg producer (family-owned) who supply product to a USPOULTRY member or an independent producer who is a USPOULTRY member. Nominations are due September 14, 2012.

Another successful CPF Summer Meeting

Another successful CPF Summer Board Meeting was was held this past Monday and Tuesday, June 25 and 26. The event was at The Cliffs Resort in Shell Beach, California. Monday’s scramble-format golf tournament was very popular and had more golfers than past years.

Farm bill splits produce growers, food activists

Five years ago, California farmers were a powerful ally of the new food movement’s crusade to get Washington to stop subsidizing corn and start promoting the fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts that are the mainstay of the state’s huge farm sector. This year, Bay Area food activists are on their own.

California foie gras ban ends farmer’s ‘American dream’

A looming foie gras ban in California is pitting animal rights protesters against high-end chefs. Squeezed in the middle is Guillermo Gonzalez, lamenting the end of his "American dream".

Gonzalez, the only foie gras producer in the famously liberal US state, claims ignorant activists and "special interests" are unfairly throttling the livelihood he has built since arriving from El Salvador in 1986.

From hens to crop payments, Senate farm bill laden with suggestions

The egg producers and animal rights advocates who once battled over animal housing in California see a new farm bill as a chance to put an unusual alliance into action. If lawmakers agree, the bill would phase in the first national standards to include larger cages for egg-laying hens, stricter egg labeling and limits on ammonia buildup.