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Try planting something different! a radical suggestion by conservative farm service providers. Grow something different! http://americanagriculturist.com/story.aspx/cornplanting/season/past/now/what/9/50153

the need for health insurance for young farmers is a hot topic - learn more by reading this article from the Center for Rural Affairs: http://www.cfra.org/node/3384        

I'm not the hugest fan of this paper, but he references a lot of historical texts that I've begun digging into. Currently on the bed: Agricultural Discontent in the Middle West  It is a history of American Populism (which was born in the farmer cooperatives and state level leadership of Wisconsin, Iowa, etc). The galvanizing […]

an interview with the lovely debra eschmeyer in the faster times: http://thefastertimes.com/foodpolitics/2011/05/27/tft-interview-debra-eschmeyer-of-foodcorps/ + learn more about her latest groundbreaking undertaking - FoodCorps.

        RFD is a reader written journal for gay people which focuses on country living and encourages alternative lifestyles. It fosters community building and networking, explore the diverse expressions of our sexuality, care for the environment, radical faerie consciousness, nature-centered spirituality, and share experiences of our lives. Quarterly issues are 64 pages, […]

Greetings,There has been some discussion expressing concerns about the concept of food sovereignty possibly being used to deny food to those who really need it. Actually, that would be a fundamental violation of food sovereignty since this concept defends access to healthy, nutritious, culturally appropriate food as a human right, and is opposed to the […]

I may be a cloudy eyed springtime mud hopper, but these sharky speculators pushing buttons on wall street with our nation's food supply get me all riled up and FURIOUS. Hedge Farm! The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedgies into Survivalists By Foster Kamer, May 17, 2011 for the New York Observer On the rare […]

Here’s a Great Place to Cut from NY Times It seems hard to believe, but the federal farm subsidy program — wasteful, inefficient and virtually indestructible — may at last be headed for serious downsizing. Our hopes have been dashed before, most recently when the farm lobby and its Congressional patrons shredded admirable reforms proposed […]

You'd think that milking upwards of a hundred cows a day would be enough to keep a man in professional pay. Sadly, the milk situation in this nation is pitiful. (See The Milkweed). Young Wattsburg farmer happy to buck trend By Jim Martin for the Erie Times-News; May 15, 2011 You'll find Evan Nickerson scrambling […]

Here's a great article passed on to us by greenhorn Emma Young. The Savory Institute: Healing the World’s Grasslands, Rangelands and Savannas This is the first of a two-part interview with Allan Savory, President and Co-Founder of The Savory Institute, an organization based in Zimbabwe that works with farmers, pastoralists, and ranchers to restore degraded lands […]

Women and farming: A nurturing nature By Dan Pilar for the Des Moines Register, May 7 2011 Here's a Mother's Day question for Mom: Is there a maternal instinct that makes women, long the caregivers in most cultures, better suited than men to care for Iowa's 24 million acres of rich farmland? The question and […]

The festival  just wrapped up, but here's a nice piece about the event by current Hudson Valley Seed Library intern Alison Baitz. The Art of Food and Farming The New Museum may be known to most thanks to its impressive architecture – the cool translucent-stacked-boxes-like building is a welcome visual treat on the Bowery. But […]

On Small Farms, Hoof Power Returns from NY Times By TESS TAYLOR Published: May 3, 2011 ON a sunny Sunday just before the vernal equinox, Rich Ciotola set out to clear a pasture strewn with fallen wood. The just-thawed field was spongy, with grass sprouting under tangled branches. Late March and early April are farm-prep […]

read up: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/weekinreview/24food.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=kim%20severson&st=cse

An essay from her blog Brown. Girl. Farming. Her hands are cracked, reeling from the whipping wind. Split, torn and dotted with splinters, numb to the impact of the wooden shovel. Cuts fade and reappear, garnishing her knuckles. Her palms tell the story of the day’s work, etching out the lines with black soil to […]

Life On The Farm Attracts Green-Spirited Entrepreneurs 26 Apr 2011 | 12:06 PM ET A growing interest in small-scale agriculture is beginning to reverse a decades-long flight from the farm. For nearly 70 years, the number of US farms has been declining, while the average age of farmers has been rising — it's now 57 […]

these farmers aim to reintroduce Aronia berries to America!  Intrigued?  Here's some great coverage from The Atlantic. Aronia Berries: The Next Acai? by James McWilliams The aronia berry is a dark purplish fruit that grows in clusters of 12 on handsome green shrubs. When eaten off the vine it’s bitter—for good reason, many call it […]

severine boardrooming it for young farmers in albany with baseball cap american farmland trust lobby day recorded by anna mumford http://newyork.farmland.org/no-farms-no-food/no-farms-no-food-rally-lobby-day-multimedia

here, a few states are passing laws to prevent media from penetrating factory farms http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/opinion/27wed3.html?_r=1&ref=editorials

There are ways for individuals to build their wealth. These strategies would pay particular benefits in rural America. http://www.dailyyonder.com/building-wealth-rural-america/2011/04/18/3282

Greenhorn Olivia Sargent just wrote this piece for Civil Eats.  How do you fit into our food economy? Changing Roles in the Local Food Economy The DIY craze has shacked up with the local food movement to produce some inspiring examples of entrepreneurialism: Mason jar magic made by suburban fruit salvagers powered by pedals; workshops […]

Don’t Bank On It – the product of a collaborative effort between Farm Aid, Food & Water Watch, the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) and the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA). As you know, the past few years presented the country with an economic downturn that strained the financial health of American households and dramatically tightened credit […]

But she's a little off if she thinks all those farms are small businesses... http://news.thehandthatfeedsus.org/e_article002073711.cfm?x=bjld4nP,bgBrJVB4 "Can we feed a growing world population, fuel our economy, and still offer wholesome food choices to Americans? Sure, just as long as we avoid weakening the very infrastructure that makes it all possible. As I write this, America has […]

grow up. show up. dress up. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/wanted-frack-busters-costume-preferred/

From Ancient Giants, Finding New Life to Help the Planet By JESSE McKINLEY,  April 9, 2011 in the New York Times FORT DICK, Calif. — Shooting skyward like a jagged knife, the giant stump in a cul-de-sac in this Northern California town is by all appearances dead and gone: ashen gray, hollowed by fire and […]

Vilsack seeks biotech/organic co-existence, not a USDA-dictated solution By Jon H. Harsch © Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. WASHINGTON, April 6 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told organic producers Wednesday that changes are needed to protect farmers' ability to farm they way they like, whether using biotech, conventional, or organic practices. Speaking at an Organic Trade […]

An interesting letter to The Telegraph, with some comments following.  Do you have thoughts on this issue?  Write an essay. we'll post it. Young farmers with nowhere to farm The reality of farming. SIR – It is easy to see farming through rose-tinted glasses but, as a member of the National Federation of Young Farmers’ […]

Here's a well written and insightful piece by 2 students at Tufts' Friedman School. The New American Farming Movement, and Why It’s Here to Stay by Marisol Pierce-Quinonez and Jeff Hake, March 31, 2011, for The Friedman Sprout The burgeoning new farming movement in the US is characterized by a bevy of young farmers, craftspeople, homesteaders […]

Prosperous Farmers move to Iowa, and fail massively original piece: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=marketplace/pm/2011/03/23/marketplace_cast1_20110323_64&starttime=00:22:19.0&endtime=00:26:39.0 follow up and commentary. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=marketplace/pm/2011/03/30/marketplace_cast1_20110330_64&starttime=00:19:28.0&endtime=00:21:22.0

oldest future farmers of america program. This is a place where urban youth are beginning their careers . An old article, but a good one. Whole student body eats their gourmet vegetables BY Peter Kadushin, October 5th 2007 for the Daily News Gourmet vegetables such as butternut squash, plum tomatoes and osmin purple basil, usually […]

The Serfs of Arkansas Immigrant farmers are flocking to the poultry industry -- only to become 21st-century sharecroppers for companies like Tyson. by Monica Potts | March 9, 2011 Shane Tawr doesn't remember exactly why he first decided to try his hand at chicken farming. Tawr had a government job in Milwaukee but wanted relief […]

Gigi Stafne sent us this article that she recently wrote.  Have a read, greenhorns. Food Insecurity.  Maybe I should call it Homeland Food Insecurity. This is the precarious state of disrepair that occurs decades after voracious corporate agriculture has taken big bites out of local communities, leaving behind a trail of economic fallout, poor nutrition […]

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/food-six-things-to-feel-good-about/ we got a call out! from mark bittman: Farming is becoming hip | The number of farms is at last increasing, although it’s no secret that farmers are an endangered species: the average age of the principal operator on farms in the United States is 57. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently noted that our […]

looking for some good reading?  greenhorn Janna Berger is compiling a stellar list of "pages to turn with calloused fingers" and has written a nice essay to accompany the list. Farming the Library When I brainstorm my dream farm I oscillate between ambition and a daunted daze. 'So, we're going to grow apples and keep […]

there's a difference! for all you looking for farmwork this season, be sure to check out this article from civil eats

BY: Ian Fitzpatrick guardian.co.uk. March 12 2011 "When Gerrard Winstanley and 14 fellow Diggers declared, in April 1649, that "England is not a Free People, till the Poor that have no Land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the Commons", little could they have known how poignant their message would still be more than […]

Making it: Organic farming a natural choice for young entrepreneurs by Mary Albino Visitors to the Young-Carey home tend to express envy. You commute only into the backyard! You lunch on baked squash that tastes like pumpkin pie and smoked meat that’s better than grandmas! In the evening, if you feel like it, you can […]

starting new farmers markets  can be hard on the farmers especially when aggresive-local-foodies and affluent markets are still abundant. but with EBT swipers and doubling of food stamp dollars-- the game changes.  http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2011/02/11/bronx/bronxtimes-yn_bronx_front_page-4-green.txt

In New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges By ISOLDE RAFTERY CORVALLIS, Ore. — For years, Tyler Jones, a livestock farmer here, avoided telling his grandfather how disillusioned he had become with industrial farming. After all, his grandfather had worked closely with Earl L. Butz, the former federal secretary of agriculture who was […]

  Ag antibiotic use: Risky — but also sloppy and wasteful by Maryn McKenna So, antibiotics. Given to farm animals. (Yeah, that again.) How does that work, anyway? Pills? Injections? Daily massage with specially compounded creams? Not quite. Farm animals overwhelmingly get antibiotics in their feed. (You knew that.) And a new paper in the […]