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'Trees of life' are vital food source Miranda Spitteler BBC News The "famine food" of trees can keep drought-hit communities alive when all other food crops fail, says Miranda Spitteler. In this week's Green Room, she argues that policy makers need to recognise the important role trees play in providing emergency food aid. Food insecurity […]

As farmers age, plans match aspirants with pros By Sharon Cohen The Associated Press RICHLAND, Iowa — He quit his job and drove his wife and their four young daughters across country, a 21st-century pioneer lured to these faraway farm fields by the promise of a life-changing deal with an older stranger. Isaac Phillips always […]

An ‘agri-intellectual’ talks back by Tom Philpott for Grist 14 Aug 2009 A lot of folks have asked what I think of the essay “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals,” by Missouri corn/soy farmer Blake Hurst, published in The American, the journal of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. My first reaction is that I’m thrilled […]

but it seems that farming, and interfacing with the wildness, is good for our psyches. Slow Down: How Our Fast-Paced World Is Making Us Sick By Linda Buzzell, AlterNet. Posted July 2, 2009. Not so very long ago, humans -- like the rest of the animals and plants on earth -- moved through our natural […]

Greenhorn & artist Miranda Currie sent us some of her whimsical artwork recently, and we love it.  Here's a note from Miranda about her work and inspiration. I currently work as a farm apprentice and artist-in-residence at a small farm in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California. My step-sister, Willow Hein, began […]

Teen greenhorns in Kentucky, recipients of Rural Youth Loans from the Farm Service Agency. Working hard for the moo-la By Katheran Wasson July 19, 2009 published in The State Journal Leaning against a green metal farm gate, Tyler Grimes, 16, and Evan Sandlin, 17, looked over the cattle-filled field that rolled in front of them. […]

we love it when zoe gets airtime. and particuarly since she lived on credit cards for the past year after being turned down for a Loan from the local farm credit. Maybe some of these capitalists will get together a fund for young farmer micro loans? Fortune Magazine: Look Who's Farming Now The rancher's daughter […]

Our only comment: Boys! Get some Land! Drive Through: A Truck Farm Grows in Brooklyn by Curt Ellis When my buddy Ian suggested we turn his ’86 Dodge half-ton into a planter, I thought the pickup had finally blown its engine. When Ian said he intended to keep the old truck on the road in […]

Our friend Chandler Briggs, a greenhorn at Island Meadow Farm on Vashon Island, sent us this great article on some rad young farmers in Texas at Windy Hill Organics. Organic Veggies Grown in Area, Sold in Abilene By Celinda Emison (Contact) Saturday, June 27, 2009 COMANCHE, Tx — Ty Wolosin loves Mother Earth, which is […]

Click here to download the March 2008 Farm Country Magazine (a publication of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation) highlighting Mississippi's young farmers. Scroll past the Beef Council ads and the plug for NAIS and there's some interesting commentary. Any Missippi greenhorns out there care to comment? There are some questionable statements in the "President's Message", […]

interesting commentary on one farm's struggles, celebrations and learnings with regards to land. Check out their blog: Red Planet Vegetables These first five years at Red Planet have been exciting for us. Sometimes a little too exciting. For one thing, we’ve had to change location three times! It’s hard to keep the details straight, but […]

these rules they have about riparian areas, they are rules designed by the folks who farm with lazers. Crops, ponds destroyed in quest for food safety Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau Monday, July 13, 2009 Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville […]

you probably know of This I Believe, a "public dialogue on belief".  Listen to this one, by Mary Seton Corboy of Greensgrow, a pioneer in urban gardening in Philadelphia. http://www.whyy.org/podcast/thisibelieve/tib20090213.mp3 and while we're talking about pennsylvania... if any of you out there in the blogosphere have contact with some folks at Landslide Farm in Pittsburgh--we're […]

we like this manifesto! m is for movement, and meaningful stuff that matters the most. The Generation M Manifesto Dear Old People Who Run the World, My generation would like to break up with you. Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world — and what we want from […]

Greenhorn Chandler Briggs of Island Meadow Farm, on Vashon Island in Puget Sound, passed on this little note about their first season, and some nice local press! It's a process & I'd say for our first year we're doing just fine. With the extra cabbage we made kimchi & sauerkraut, so we'll stock that in […]

hey, we're not saying it. It's CNN who has figured this out... Life on an Organic Farm by Jack Hamann Lynden, Washington (CNN) -- Jesse Williams' career as an organic farmer almost ended before it began. Rising with the sun, Jesse carefully collected his first harvest of organic lettuce and headed for the local farmer's […]

here is a re-post from the ethicurean...a bit dated, but important and serious stuff. We were wondering about this on the greenhorns radio show. Not milk: The ingredient behind the dairy crisis By Elanor @ 8:03 am on 10 March 2009. I have no idea what it would feel like to be a dairy farmer. […]

Do we approve of this trend in agri-burbia? Is working for a Home Owner's association better than working for the man? Do we think it offers hope to the young farmer movement? Please let us know your thoughts! Organic Farms as Subdivision Amenities By Alec Applebaum Published: June 30, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/energy-environment/01farm.html?_r=1&ref=business

young farmer ninjas have what it takes to survive the global warming blasts. real guts. real courage. real resilient diversified systems! here's the latest from our friend Nic Koontz of Native Hill Farm in Fort Collins, CO Hey Severine, Hoping all is well in your neck of the woods. Just taking a moment as I […]

We just got word from Greenhorn Talia Kahn-Kravis, who's busy spreading the good greenhorns vibes in the mountains of Spain!  Talia worked with us all of last year, maintaining databases and tending the geese and ducks among other valiant efforts for the cause.  Keep up the good work, Talia! i have been in the middle […]

we asked greenhorn Neysa King to tell us a bit about her experience transitioning to the farming life.  here's what she had to say... My fiancée Travis and I had no farming experience when we came to Ryder Farm last month—just an interest in organic food and a desire to make a change in our […]

State programs out to help young farmers Two beginning-farmer programs are helping a new generation of farmers and ranchers with below-market interest rates, fee reductions and other services by David Lester Yakima Herald-Republic PROSSER, Wash. -- Jon and Amy Martinez packed a lot into 2008 by anyone's standard.

Cargill, Bunge Win Most Export Aid Since 1992 as Credit Slows By Alan Bjerga May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Cargill Inc., Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Bunge Ltd. are benefiting from the most government support for farm exports since 1992 as the U.S. steps up loan guarantees for foreign buyers unable to get credit. About $4.35 […]

fresh stuff from greenhorn Trace Ramsey Farm or Die - A Revised Manifesto A few months ago I wrote an essay that became known as “A Young Farmer Manifesto” for this blog and also for Civil Eats. That piece spoke to many people and generated a lot of emails and comments and such from farmers, […]

some brilliant advice from a director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project to graduating students & their parents. Hey Mom, I Want to Farm Jun 5 2009, by Melina Shannon-DiPietro College graduations are wrapping up this week. There is no doubt that these graduates are heading into the worst economy of my lifetime, their lifetimes, […]

Almost two years after its founding in a basement in Berkeley, California, The Greenhorns has matured from an idea for a recruitment film into a widespread national community. We are now happily rooted on my first commercial farm, Smithereen, on rented land in the Hudson Valley of New York. In the autumn of 2007 we […]

here's a note from greenhorn hannah geller... Dear Fellow Greenhorns, We’d like to invite all of you to join us here at Fishkill Farms on Saturday, June 13 for our re-opening party. Festivities will include free samplings of locally made food, yummy crepes and omelets with produce from our garden, a photography show, children’s nature […]

here's a letter from a greenhorn in Gill, Colorado.  Front Rangers - take note, and head to the barn dance on tuesday! Hello Severine, I love your blog and the whole idea of the greenhorns project. It's nice to know we aren't alone out here in young sustainable farmer land. . .so, that being said, […]

NY Times:  Organic Dairies Watch the Good Times Turn Bad If you are 35, capitalized, and looking to buy dairy equiptment--now might be a great time. If you are 17 and working barn chores on your parent's operation, chances are you are doing double shifts-- and probably don't have time for your friends. If you […]

Dear Severine, I've been following your blog for the past several months, as I finished one farm apprenticeship and started another. I had been meaning to send a note to you about the farm in Jacksonville where I spent most of the past year, but never got around to it. Today I'm relaxing on a […]

Buying farmland abroad: Outsourcing's third wave The Economist (London) | May 21st 2009 Rich food importers are acquiring vast tracts of poor countries' farmland. Is this beneficial foreign investment or neocolonialism? EARLY this year, the king of Saudi Arabia held a ceremony to receive a batch of rice, part of the first crop to be […]

Here's an uplifting story about West Oakland, urban farming and agricultural revival. Security, business drive small farm revival By Suzanne Bohan Contra Costa Times 05/16/2009 The din of a neighborhood gathering made it hard to hear Barbara Finnin as she strolled through a dense garden thriving on a once vacant lot in West Oakland.

Some light reading for a drizzly day... Seriously people. BUY MILK! not sodapop Young Dairy Farmers Worry About Future - Brattleboro Reformer, May 8 bootstrap optimism. but only to a point. we need to change the structures ( POLITICAL! EDUCATIONAL! CULTURAL! ECONOMIC!) that govern the American food system. Stubbornness and Optimism Drive Many Farmers - […]

Contamination is a crime against humanity.  And this piece is brilliant.  LONG, but worth the time. Immoral Maize: Extract from Don't Worry, It's Safe to Eat by Andrew Rowell I don’t want to be a martyr by any means, but I cannot avoid now realising that this is a very, very well concerted and coordinated […]

But she is Sexy. Liz Hurley shares her country "estate" with four labradors, two cats, three geese, eight chickens, 49 cows, 63 sheep and 82 pigs, and thinks people look "sexier in the country". here here! Sexier than the City: Liz Hurley reveals the naughty secrets of life in the country By Jo Clements Perhaps […]

via Comfood, some of Rodale's recent work... Carbon, Connections and Culture Toward an ecologically sound, greenhouse-gas reducing and socially just foodshed for New York City. Without factoring in farming systems work for the land and for farmers, big cities can’t develop healthy or sustainable regional food supplies.

If you have to read about Swine Flu, you might as well read this.  And then go eat some pastured pork. The swine flu crisis lays bare the meat industry's monstrous power Mike Davis, guardian.co.uk, Monday, 27 April 2009 The Mexican swine flu, a genetic chimera probably conceived in the faecal mire of an industrial […]

A re-post from the Green Fork blog, on greenhorns Kristen and Nate Johanson of Wolf Lake Farm in Pennsylvania. Starting Farming on the Cheap: An interview with Kristen and Nate Johanson of Wolf Lake Farm April 16th, 2009 As Kerry Trueman pointed out earlier this week in her post about young farmers (and would-be farmers), […]

The mainstream press is catching on: 'Natural patterns' of farming touted in documentary By Joshua Hatch, USA TODAY SWOOPE, Va. - The white metal sign over the desk at Polyface Farm reads, "Joel Salatin: Lunatic Farmer." Salatin is proud of that label. "I'm a third-generation lunatic," he boasts while standing in his lush, green central […]

Greenhorns & Sustainable Foodie Types across the country are harvest and savoring the first green growing things of the season - asparagus, fiddleheads, ramps, radishes.  Here's Greenhorn Zoe Bradbury's take on her first official harvest - Asparagus.  Via Edible Portland. The Asparagus Harvest By Zoë Bradbury April 13, 2009 I had my first official asparagus […]