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Category: Agriculture

The Latest Green New Deal for Farmers Would Restructure Everything About How They Make Money

eclipse_images/Getty The Green New Deal, the climate-change-fighting policy framework proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) nearly a year ago, laid down bold goals for transforming agriculture: It called for a “10-year national mobilization” to “eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector” while “supporting family farming.” The plan…

The Rise and Fall of Ukraine’s Fertilizer King

Mother Jones illustration; Ronald Zak/AP; Getty Those paying close attention to President Donald Trump’s impeachment drama will have heard of the Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash. His story contains multitudes. In the 2000s, he rubbed shoulders with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair who’s now serving time for crimes linked to his work with the…

Presidential Candidates Wouldn’t Touch This Radical Idea to Transform Agriculture—Until Now

Mother Jones illustration; John Minchillo/AP; Getty Food and agriculture policies have been at best a fringe issues during the last few Democratic presidential primaries. Candidates tend limit their agricultural appeals to “broad value statements” rather than dive into the policy specifics “that would indicate they’ve given these issues the attention they deserve,” says Sarah Hackney,…