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Showing posts from February, 2014

Are You Doing Your Share?

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I was simply delighted to find the National Agricultural Library (NAL) collection of War-era Food Posters  available online. The physical collection was on display a couple years ago.  Beans Were Bullets was an exhibit that "examined the evolution of poster styles, propaganda messages, and advertising history" from the World War I and II periods. On the website, NAL has the posters divided chronologically and based on the theme of the period, with a helpful Introduction provided. "Wartime posters in this collection conveyed messages about the vital need for food conservation, rationed goods, meatless and wheatless days, home gardening and canning.  For farmers, who performed a distinct role on the homefront, posters called attention to the need for increased agricultural output and proper storage methods of surplus grain. Posters also instructed farmers to grow crops in their specific regions to best serve a nation at war. In addition to these wartime subjects, many of

Kara Newman, The Secret Financial Life of Food

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Agricultural Law is pleased to have received a copy of Kara Newman, The Secret Financial Life of Food: From Commodities Markets to Supermarkets . Columbia University Press describes this breezy, nifty volume in these terms: One morning while reading Barron's , Kara Newman took note of a casual bit of advice offered by famed commodities trader Jim Rogers. "Buy breakfast," he told investors, referring to the increasing value of pork belly and frozen orange juice futures. The statement inspired Newman to take a closer look at agricultural commodities, from the iconic pork belly to the obscure peppercorn and nutmeg. The results of her investigation, recorded in this fascinating history, show how contracts listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange can read like a menu and how market behavior can dictate global economic and culinary practice. The Secret Financial Life of Food reveals the economic pathways that connect food to consumer, unlocking the mysteries behind culin