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What’s in a prize? The politics of distribution versus growth. On October 14th in Des Moines, Iowa, the Food Sovereignty Prize will be awarded to the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, […]

But we don't think that we're the only reason that you should pre-order it. The cover (like a good cover should) speaks for itself: ffreelancing co-ops, abandoning the perpetual growth […]

As the Union of Concerned Scientists unveiled in their July 2015 report, The Climate Deception Dossiers, Exxon internally recognized climate change as fact in 1981-- right before they went on to […]

Excerpt from: How Pope Francis is Reviving Radical Catholic Economics- Some Catholics have been quietly practicing them all along. By Nathan Schneider September 9, 2015 My friend Ryan Patrico, a […]

New farmland-mapping research shows that up to 90 percent of Americans could be fed entirely by food grown or raised within 100 miles of their homes. Professor Elliott Campbell, with […]

Many in the food world were shocked by this week’s announcement of the sale of Niman Ranch to poultry giant Perdue. As one of the go-to brands behind Chipotle’s antibiotic-free […]

Because, as George Monbiot writes, "Activists are treated unfairly by the press more often than any other group of people except gypsies, travellers and asylum seekers,"we are delighted to link […]

Scientists at the Climate/Energy Design and Research institute (CEDAR) have just announced the discovery of an astounding new energy source that promises to solve several of humanity’s thorniest dilemmas at […]

We know that our microbiome (or the collective bacteria in and on the human body) has been shown to play important roles in our digestion, metabolism, and possibly even our […]

Iowa photographer Marji Guyler-Alaniz gets it. She just gets it. In her own words, "Too often in our world, the beauty of a woman; of an image, is judged by a face. These […]

Schematic of farm environment using co-management approach for food safety and environment. In 2006, a deadly Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in bagged spinach was traced to California’s Central Coast region, […]

MARCH 1978 http://www.downeast.com/march-1978/  Features Maine’s Surprising Legislature Lawmakers in Augusta are getting younger and more independent. And more and more of them are women. By Bill Caldwell. Bringing Her Down East […]

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has funded a number of projects evaluating ways to extend the growing season and crop options for high tunnel farmers in Clinton, Essex, […]

  RESILIENCE http://waldenlabs.com/about/ WaldenLabs.com is a community where people who pursue self-reliance and freedom come to get ideas on: Growing and Preserving Food Capturing, Storing and Purifying Water Generating Your […]

Herbivorous Solar Conversion and Sequestration in the Shenandoah Valley By Joeal Salatin, Rural America, August 16th, 2015 Soil is a world. A community of beings as unbelievable as you can […]

NPR's The Salt on "Why 500 Million Seafood Meals Get Dumped in the Sea." Because I am willing to bet that-- at least when it comes to the readers of this blog-- […]

American History, it's not boring. (And it's worth knowing.) Just ask J.L. Bell, a historian who writes on his well-curated blog about the start of the American Revolution in and […]

Americans eat more seafood than just about anyone else. Most of it is imported from abroad. And a lot of it — perhaps 25 percent of wild-caught seafood imports, according […]

Excerpted from Ronnie Collins's essay Regeneration: Global Transformation in Catastrophic Times: We must begin to connect the dots between fossil fuels, global warming and related issues, including world hunger, poverty, unemployment, […]

Watch this short interview: Tree Hive Bees- Scientific Research to Save the Honeybees For those who are concerned about the plight of the honeybees, here's a recent interview with a bee […]

'Sea Slaves': The human misery that feeds pets and livestock Men who have fled servitude on fishing boots recount beating and worse as nets are cast for the catch that […]

Read this article: The Shale Industry Could Be Swallowed By Its Own Debt An well pump near Sweetwater, Texas. Photographer: LM Otero/AP Photo Response to article courtesy of  Debbie Baron, Secretary of the Mendo […]

Flemish shepherd breathes life into old practice, and moorland by Toon Lambrechts   SUMMARY: With the help of 200 sheep and a couple of herding dogs, Leen Ricour is helping the former […]

http://bionutrient.org/  

New sea-level rise forecast is alarming: Here are 10 maps showing how Maine’s coastline could change This computer-generated image shows what Portland’s Back Cove would look like after a rise […]

   Here's some good evidence about how NAFTA undermines farmers, not only  domestically, but also in the countries where we " free trade" This article from The Nation focuses on pigs, […]

Op-Ed: Is farming a public service? By LIZ CARLISLE (published in the LA Times July 9, 2015) A bill recently introduced in Congress, the Young Farmer Success Act, would make […]

  Orion Magazine Presents: Buying the Farm Photo courtesy of Mark Renz Dean Kuipers dives into Wall St's speculative invasion of farm country and talks about alternatives that seek to […]

On July 20th, as part of Maine Sail Freight events, the Greenhorns are hosting a training on the secret trade deal TTP and TTIP (Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) at a public […]

In a recent NYT opinion piece about gluten, the author ends with the following advice: Maybe we should stop asking what’s wrong with wheat, and begin asking what’s wrong with […]

2015 is the International Year of Soils, so in celebration of one of our most important natural resources, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Lexicon of Sustainability are hosting the […]

photo from EdiblePortland Anthony said: Look at this bean. We need several things from this bean. We need this bean to stand up straight, to be interested in climbing the […]

The Food Revolution and the War for Our Minds BY JONATHAN R. LATHAM, Rural America In These Times By conventional wisdom it was excellent news. Researchers at Iowa State University […]

On one hand you have an established order that, while quick to conjure its Populist origins, appears threatened by the kind of grassroots change it once championed. On the other, […]

photo credit: Donagh Heffernan/ Irish Farmer Calendar How Do Real Farmer's Feel About Their Industry Being Sexed Up? By Lori Rotenberk, Grist, 4 Jun 2015 Donagh Heffernan was living his life, running […]

A commons cannot survive within conventional structures, which are highly permeable and designed for ease of buying, selling, and profit-maximization […] How do we structure commons governance to prevent corruptions, […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Agriculture Department has developed a new government certification and labeling for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients. USDA's move comes as some consumer groups […]

Well-meaning people have, for a good many years now, been forming a “consciousness” about where their food comes from, who produces it, and how. This gets tedious. But it’s also […]

Mark Bittman's article in the New York Times, Nov. 25, 2014. There are four basic ways to change the food system. I talk about three of them a lot: The […]

Greenhorns, in partnership with Organic Consumers Association were in attendance last month at the national gathering of the FFA. The FFA National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, saw a sea of 60,000 students representing every nook and cranny of America (and its territories) gathered together for fellowship, belonging, education and scholarly competition. Between the ages of 13 and 18, many of these students are next-in-line to the family farm and occupy a strategically powerful position in the future of American Agriculture; they are kids with land. With a self-confidence rarely seen in teenagers and impeccable public speaking skills, these students in their blue corduroy jackets cut quite the impressive figure, particularly in a stadium context.
They are team-spirited, motivated and articulate, and most of them credit these qualities to the organization that brought them together, the FFA. The FFA is turning these next-in-line farmers, agriscientists, ag teachers and farm sympathizers into successful leaders, fierce entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans...for Big Ag.
This polished youth constituency at the FFA sing the praises, almost exclusively, of Big Ag. How did this happen? Lets start with the obvious place; let’s follow the money.