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Episode 394: Why Taxpayers Pay For Farmers' Insurance In spite of the drought, many U.S. farmers will do just fine this year. They are, after all, covered by crop insurance — a program that costs U.S. taxpayers $7 billion a year. On today's show, we travel to Fairbury, Illinois. We meet three generations of farmers […]

there are lots more Australians in our ranks. Check out this post from some Australian greenhorns: http://milkwood.net/2012/07/29/greenhorns-stickers-and-badges-and-kerchiefs-and/  

New breed of ranchers shapes a sustainable West by Todd Wilkinson for the Christian Science Monitor harlowton, mont. Zachary Jones is a saddle-hardened fifth-generation rancher even though, on the surface, he may not look like one. As he threads his pickup truck through the back pasture of a quintessential Western expanse – one carpeted in […]

Monday, July 16, 2012 Colombia: Putumayo farmers build a better future by planting cocoa The ICRC supports a cocoa-farming project being spearheaded by farmers in the San Miguel region of Putumayo department. For the families taking part in the project, cocoa is a livelihood alternative, enabling them to support themselves and strengthen their foothold in […]

For young farmers: No land but plenty of climate change to go around by Jared Flesher, cross-posted from Grist & Edible Jersey We desperately need more young farmers in this country. “If we do not repopulate our working lands, I don’t know where to begin to talk about the woes,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture […]

via FERN We're happy to share our latest report, on how the American Farm Bureau leads the charge against efforts to limit industrial-scale food production as the single most powerful farm lobby in the US, out today on TheNation.com. Here's the story:   http://www.thenation.com/article/168913/whose-side-american-farm-bureau#   Please share it with your networks! You can also follow us […]

Meet Your Makers Vermont hackers, artists and inventors are sharing ideas — and solving problems By Megan James [07.03.12] Remember when geeks were uncool? John Cohn does. The 52-year-old IBM fellow recalls the disapproving look people shot him when, growing up, he told them he wanted to be an engineer. “I’ve spent my whole adult […]

Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized? By STEPHANIE STROM Published: July 7, 2012 ANN ARBOR, Mich. Michael J. Potter is one of the last little big men left in organic food. More than 40 years ago, Mr. Potter bought into a hippie cafe and “whole earth” grocery here that has since morphed into a major organic foods […]

The Truth about GMOs Plant Pathologist Don Huber Reveals the Risks interview by Melinda Hemmelgarn for Natural Awakenings At least 70 percent of processed foods in supermarkets contain genetically modified (GMO) ingredients, mainly from corn, soy, canola, sugar beets and cottonseed oil. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require GMO food […]

At 9:40 AM on July 7, 2012, urban farm activists re-entered the Gill Tract in Albany, CA to harvest crops planted during the 3-week occupation earlier this spring. The action came in response to UC and Albany City officials organizing an invite-only harvest party of the same crops. This date marks the first re-entry of […]

NY Times Editorial A Mediocre Farm Bill Published: June 24, 2012 The farm bill approved by the Senate last week makes significant changes in existing farm programs, some for the better. But it takes a disproportionate whack from environmental programs, needlessly trims food stamps and does not fundamentally alter the program’s bias toward relatively well-off […]

npr radio+article coverage of farm hack iowa read up, tune in ! http://harvestpublicmedia.org/article/1283/farmers-engineers-farm-hack-iowa/5

BY: Max Freund The Gazette / 20 June 2012 IOWA CITY — Carolyn Scherf wants to harvest her peas while lying down. On Wednesday, the Solon-based vegetable farmer and 20 other local farmers and engineers attended the first day of Farm Hack Iowa — a two-day event at the Iowa Memorial Union — to discuss simple solutions […]

Dear Mr. Obama, I heard you're looking for ways to decrease the unemployment rate. Have you considered ag? Sincerely, A farmer

a thoughtful article and a survey request from Matthew Hoffman on the National Young Farmer's Coalition blog: Is there a special connection between women and sustainable agriculture? People sometimes talk about the masculinization of agriculture since WWII or about women being more nurturing and less inclined toward machines and chemicals. But the fact is that […]

The Guardian - May 30, 2012 Pah, pah, pah. This is how Chinese farmers have described the dreadful sound of watermelons exploding in their fields. Last summer, the overuse of growth chemicals led to acres of spoiled watermelons in Jiangsu province. Around the same time, hundreds of guests at a village wedding were hospitalized after […]

Farmers to benefit from health insurance reform By AMY MORENO-SILLS For the Capital Press I love the simple pleasures of farming, from seeing a child's face light up with wonder as she discovers that carrots grow in the ground, to tasting the first juicy strawberries of summer. And it inspires me to work for a […]

New Family Farm, bridge to a simpler past By ANDREA GRANAHAN / West County Correspondent The young farmers at New Family Farm were not born to their trade. They chose it with a great deal of thought in a way that is reminiscent of the Back to the Land movement of the 1970s. But in […]

First Super Weeds, Now Super Insects -- Thanks to Monsanto May 30, 2012 by Dr. Mercola A new generation of insect larvae is eating the roots of genetically engineered corn intended to be resistant to such pests.  The failure of Monsanto's genetically modified Bt corn could be the most serious threat ever to a genetically […]

What Do the World's Most Powerful Pesticide Honchos Eat for Dinner? By Tom Philpott on Wed. May 23, 2012 I've made a career of sorts writing about the "big six" agrichemical companies—Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, DuPont, Syngenta, and BASF—that produce the great bulk of the world's pesticides and, increasingly, seeds. But last week, I did something […]

Op-Ed: Merrigan and O'Gorman - Lending a hand to veterans  By Kathleen Merrigan and Michael O'Gorman What would you do with $10,000? For a returning veteran, it could help launch a new career. Around the country, veterans are returning home from tours of duty and reintegrating into civilian life. Roughly 20 percent of our service […]

USDA at 150: Farms, food, jobs By Val Dolcini One hundred and fifty years ago, in the midst of a great Civil War, President Lincoln signed legislation to establish a Department of Agriculture to “acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture … and to […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NmELr58dxPY] SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 16, 2012) – The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) today honors four remarkable food visionaries for their trailblazing work to make our food systems healthier and more sustainable at the fourth annual “Growing Green Awards”. The winners, who are leaders in regenerative ranch management, farmworker justice, farm-to-school food, and making […]

please do check out NPR's Farmer of the Future series, via Harvest Public Media. where you can learn about the likes of William Powers and his Darby Springs Farm near Lincoln, NB !

This is a traveling exhibit about the young farmers of the Hudson Valley. Photos and narratives about how they succeeded. It is a hyper local WONDERFUL project that is directly working to change the local story about agriculture. What champions. New Farmer Narrative Project Kickoff!  Friday, May 18th, 4-7pm Opening Reception @ Chatham Real Food […]

Will this Farm Bill do enough for young farmers? By Lindsey Lusher Shute By the time the next Farm Bill expires in five years, 125,000 American farmers will have retired. This fact may well be the biggest threat to national food security, but you wouldn’t know it if you’ve been following this year’s Farm Bill hearings.Instead, the […]

Where Are All The Young Farmers? Posted on 06 May 2012 by Gary Truitt Have you ever had the experience of watching a television commercial; and, when it is over, you have no idea what it was for, what the message was, or even what product or company it was for? This is not due […]

Check out Occupy the Farm's website for updates and read on for some news! University of California Berkeley Professor Miguel Altieri is planting Gill Tract research crops this morning! When: Wednesday, May 9th – 8:30 AM Where: The Gill Tract; Albany, CA Dr. Miguel Altieri, UC Berkeley researcher, to proceed with research at Gill Tract […]

The question becomes: How do these luxury estates, in being re-booted, and re-vamped by philanthropies ( such as Doris Duke Foundation) provide the incubated farmers with equity, not just a bunk bed. How do we ensure that the adaptive re-use of pre-income-tax estates of the gilded age don't become shiny summer camps for ' agrarian […]

...among other things! Those of you who have not yet read any of her works have some good reading to look forward to  http://www.cookstr.com/users/naomi-duguid/profile + Naomi's blog !

Their Spring issue includes a special section devoted to food and food politics:   Introduction: Food and the Body Politic Sarah Leonard   Utopian Dream: A New Farm Bill Marion Nestle

Wendell E. Berry, noted poet, essayist, novelist, farmer, and conservationist, delivered the 41st Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, entitled “It All Turns on Affection" -- this lecture is most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. + read the lecture HERE + a video recording

By ANDREW POLLACK Published: April 25, 2012, NYtimes.com To Jody Herr, it was a telltale sign that one of his tomato fields had been poisoned by 2,4-D, the powerful herbicide that was an ingredient in Agent Orange, the Vietnam War defoliant. “The leaves had curled and the plants were kind of twisting rather than growing straight,” […]

Orion's May/June issue is now on newsstands re: the new farming movement ! + read the full issue online HERE + this video on the "lexicon of sustainability"

Should Young Farmers Be Exempt From a National Draft? by Jenna Woginrich for Huffington Post I remember hearing a friend complaining about the Amish once at a dinner party, saying in angry tones how "they don't pay taxes or fight for their country." I raised my eyebrow at this. The Amish do, of course, pay […]

Sugar Beet Industry's Opinion on Roundup Ready Sugar Beets and Frank Morton’s Response The pro-biotech web site “Truth About Trade & Technology” published an article written by a farmer named Noel Kjesbo, who is a sugar beet producer in the Red River Valley (North Dakota and Minnesota – he doesn’t say specifically which state he […]

Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area Albany, Calif., April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East […]

New Young Farmer Loan to help next generation of producers April 12, 2012 SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN--(Marketwire - April 12, 2012) - Young and beginning farmers will find it easier to start and grow their farm businesses with the help of a new $500 million loan program. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Farm Credit Canada (FCC) President […]

"The farm bill, being debated in the Senate this month, is felt far beyond the cornfields of Iowa. It’s about what we grow, but it’s also about what we eat and how we live. On the potato chip aisle, Americans are seeing the farm bill’s market pressures. On the scale at the doctor’s office, we are […]

U.S. Senate Ag Committee on Fast Track with Farm Bill: Support for New Farmer Training & Assistance In Peril The U.S. Senate version of the 2012 Farm Bill will be introduced by Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow in the next few days, and immediately following its introduction it will be marked up and voted on by the Senate […]