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Giving all geeks the opportunity to amend for spawning a generation of sedentary screen-junkies, First Lady Michelle Obama is offering a chance at both money and fame to software developers and game designers who create tools and games that get kids moving. The Apps for Healthy Kids Challenge opened this week and will accept submissions through June 30, with a first prize of $40,000.

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Just Saying No to GMOs Over 200,000 voiced their opposition to genetically modified alfalfa during the USDA comment period, which ended Wednesday.
Not So Dynamite After All In what he described as perhaps his most important blog post ever, Tom Philpott lays out the problems with synthetic nitrogen.
This Doesn’t Sound Any Better The city of San [...]

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These days, not surprisingly, Monsanto is the subject of a number of growing controversies. A series of “workshops” organized by the USDA and the Department of Justice (part of an investigation into possible antitrust behavior) start later this month, and at least two states – Iowa and Texas – are holding independent investigations in the anticompetitive realm, as well. At a meeting with the Kellogg Foundation back in December, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan called the DOJ investigation “long overdue.”

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That’s Not Really a Bake Sale, Then Here in New York City, some strict rules came down this week on public schools’ longtime fundraising go-to, the bake sale.  Home-baked goods are now a no-no, while foods approved for school vending machines, like Doritos and Pop-Tarts, are ok.
Pre-emptive Lawmaking In Idaho, lawmakers are revamping animal cruelty [...]

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The 2010 season has begun — in small starts — at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, where the first seeds have been sown indoors while seasoned farmer Annie Novak waits for the frozen rooftop soil to thaw.  Novak returns to the rooftop to grow for its popular restaurant and market sales, adding to [...]

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So you know that Bode Miller won Olympic gold last weekend.  Maybe you also know that the last Olympics didn’t go so well for Miller, on or off the slopes.  But did you know that he’s also an organic farmer and a lifelong vegetarian?  Stonyfield farm, corporate sponsor of Miller’s nonprofit, Turtle Ridge Foundation, produced [...]

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Long Time Coming The Obama Administration agreed yesterday to pay $1.25 billion to 80,000 African American farmers over long-standing discrimination charges after being denied loans that  in some cases, may have saved them from losing their farms.  The deal now moves to Congress for approval.  According to the LA Times, Obama’s USDA has “sharpened its [...]

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Which is to say, she asks some tough questions that probably shouldn’t be so tough to answer.  Couric’s recent series on the use of antibiotics in industrial livestock production – which she refers to several times as factory farming – made a splash in the food issue blogosphere, but what folks [...]

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A Grassier (and More Level) Playing Field This just in: the USDA is beefing up organic dairy regulations, especially grazing requirements.  Will the big guys go “all-natural?”
On the Move This week, First Lady Michelle Obama officially launched Let’s Move, her campaign against childhood obesity.
On Board The FLOTUS isn’t the only one who’s worried about the [...]

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No More Mr. NAIS Guy The USDA is announcing plans today to kill the National Animal Identification System proposed by the Bush Administration in 2004, which was widely criticized by groups like the American Farm Bureau.  Secretary Vilsack is expected to announce work on an alternative tracing system today.
Who Ya Gonna Call? Speaking of the [...]

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