the world this week

There was some interesting coverage in the world of organics this week. Food and farming is a hot topic these days. Especially when, during last week's State of the Union Address, President Bush announced his goals to reduce the amount of gasoline usage by 20% in the next 10 years, replacing it with a dependency on ethanol.
To do this, Bush plans to increase investment in corn production. The demand for organic farming is rising, causing overhauls of land to make it arable for chemical-free farming, will there be room for a new mega-crop?
Bush has set some high expectations but it seems that we are just replacing one addiction with another. And the idea of a mass corn-planting scheme seems familiar... Didn't Kruschev have a similar idea... well, if it worked for the Soviet communists, I'm sure it will work for Americans.
Keeping with American news, there has been a new plan proposed to track all livestock in America by implanting a "15-digit tracking number to every cow, chicken, pig, turkey, goat, sheep and horse in the United States to trace animals' every move from birth until slaughter."
This is bad news for small-scale organic livestock farmers who already face added costs to keep up with organic regulations. Debbie Davis of the Seco Valley Ranch in Texas said:

"The proposal is that I report every animal I have, every time an animal is born, every time an animal dies, and every time I move an animal from my property. ... There's a lot of expense for everyone. The ones who are going to get impacted are the little guys."

It's a complex world out there, and definitely tough for the little guys.