Whole Foods is trying to buy Wild Oats, but the FTC is looking at preventing the merger because it might limit competition. The idea is that it would limit the options for organic foods.

I know my mother would prefer they not merge. She doesn’t like Whole Foods, and is concerned about how that would impact the Henry’s (owned by Wild Oats) in her area. I’m less concerned.

The director of the F.T.C.’s Bureau of Competition, Jeffrey Schmidt, said in a statement: “Whole Foods and Wild Oats are each other’s closest competitors in premium natural and organic supermarkets, and are engaged in intense head-to-head competition in markets across the country. If Whole Foods is allowed to devour Wild Oats, it will mean higher prices, reduced quality and fewer choices for consumers.”

Honestly, this surprises me. Since seeing AT&T get back together it’s hard to picture why this is worse. But at the same time I can kind of see their point. There aren’t a lot of options for organic produce. I discount what regular grocery stores offer because frankly, it’s not that much. Not exactly competition for stores more focused on organic.

I have very mixed feelings about this. I like the prices at the Henry’s in my area. Love the selection. So I get the concern about how competition will be impacted, although the only Whole Foods I know of in my area is at least a 30-45 minute drive away.

Guess we’ll just have to see how things go.

Technorati Tags: whole foods, wild oats, merger, organic

Straight Dope has a great look at the reality of the problem of Colony Collapse Disorder. It calls into question just exactly how much of a problem it really is.

No, it doesn’t deny that there has been an unusual number of die offs, but it does question how severe and how unusual the problem is. They note that the same phenomenon has been recorded since the 1890s, only under a different name.

Obviously, European honey bees are still around.

It is also a very good point that European honey bees are the one species having a problem and they account for 30% of world agricultural pollination. There are 2000 other pollinating species out there.

Of course, one cannot help but think that 30% is a huge number. But if this is merely a periodic problem, it is perhaps less urgent. Something to watch, pesticides to maybe reconsider if they are contributing to the current problem, but not quite so urgent.

In reading about colony collapse disorder, one thing that really struck me was the sheer occasional ignorance. On one forum I saw someone wonder what the big deal was… after all, the only thing we get from bees is honey, right??? Other people quickly set him straight, but still, that they had such a complete lack of understanding is amazing.

Technorati Tags: colony collapse disorder, bees, european honey bees

I read over on EcoGeek that they’re making some progress on the disappearance of the bees. It now appears to be possible that the problem is caused by a fungus. But that’s not certain yet. It could still prove to be a variety of factors.

While these results are highly preliminary, I find them encouraging. It’s a relief to see a cause other than cell phones, which would be very hard to change, and find a fungus related to one they know how to handle.

The trouble is that this may not be the sole cause. The odds are still good that a number of factors are involved, and that the problem relates to the cumulative effect. So we can’t relax just yet and say that it’s not something that will involve big changes. If this fungus is only doing so much damage because the bees are weakened by a different factor, obviously there’s more to work on.

Just the fact that about a quarter of the commercial bee colonies have been lost in the United States is astounding. If this isn’t the solution, more work is going to need to be done fast to figure out what is wrong. A disruption like this to the food chain is no minor problem.

Technorati Tags: colony collapse disorder, bees, disappearing bees, environment