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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, run by African-American farmers of the southern United States and to OFRANEH—the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña). The next day, hundreds […]

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 model, and a fascinating look at the potential of abandoned villages in Southern Europe and the diverse communities they might encompass. STIR Magazine is a "quarterly […]

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 spent $30 million on research that would support climate change denial. Are we surprised? No. Is it important? Yes. Read more at The Leap.

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 doctoral
student in history at Yale, noticed something curious while studying the German nuns whose convents wound up in Protestant regions in the early, bloody days […]

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 the University of California, Merced, School of Engineering, discusses the possibilities in a study entitled "The Large Potential of Local Croplands to Meet Food Demand […]

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 pledge, and a relatively accessible alternative to industrially-produced meat, Niman Ranch has carved out an important niche in a market where demand for antibiotic-free and […]

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 you, today, to An Activist's Guide to Exploiting the Media." "Reaching the media is as time-consuming, as demanding and as necessary as building lock-ons or […]

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 once. “This is a paradigm-shifting moment,” says Dawn O’Newday, the engineer in charge of the project. “Whatever your game is, this changes it. Big time.” […]

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 sleep cycles. But recent research is revealing that it also might profoundly affect our psychological disposition. In a June article in the New York Times (feature below), […]

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 are beautiful women, doing beautiful work and my goal is to bring an appreciation to what they do." The photographs in FarmHer, Guyler-Alaniz's long term […]

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, where >70% of the salad vegetables sold in the United States are produced. Although no definitive cause for the outbreak could be determined, wildlife was […]

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 A greenhorn learns the ropes on the Gazela Primeiro. By W.B. Leavenworth. Good News for the Countryside A new breed of health practitioner is bringing improved […]

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, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties; photo: Michael Davis, Willsboro Agricultural Research Farm. Can cucumbers, basil, ginger, green beans and zucchini be more profitable […]

  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 Own Energy Building Your Mortgage-Free Home (On or Off-Grid) Appropriate Technology & Tools for Self-Reliance Getting Resilient and Prepared for the Unexpected

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 imagine. If you could go out right now and look at the soil through an electron microscope you’d see this kind of 4-legged-aqueous-cow creature walking […]

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-- the woman quoted at the end of the article is wrong. "People don't want to know all this," she says. "In general, they just want […]

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 around Boston. How can we sell you on studying up on your American history? Well, we could give you the 3 a.m. infomercial-style pragmatic sales […]

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 to fisheries experts — is illegally caught. The White House is now drafting recommendations on what to do about that. Fisheries experts say they hope […]

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, toxic food and farming, extractivism, land grabbing, biodiversity, ocean destruction, deforestation, resource wars, and deteriorating public health. As we regenerate the soil and forests, and […]

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 researcher who is doing novel work to try and find solutions. This may be a timely video given that there are still groups out there […]

'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 will become pet food and livestock feed. By Ian Urbina Read the riveting article the the New York Times here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/world/outlaw-ocean-thailand-fishing-sea-slaves-pets.html?_r=0

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 Alcohol Fuel Group "According to this article, the shale oil industry is in big debt and is having trouble paying off its interest on its […]

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 moorlands of a nature reserve in East Flanders recover – one munch at a time.

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 in sea level (Natural Resources Council of Maine). According to a report this week in Slate, a team led by the former lead NASA scientist […]

   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, who eat corn.  For nearly two decades, Smithfield has used NAFTA and the forces it unleashed to become the world’s largest packer and processor of […]

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 farmers eligible for federally subsidized student loan forgiveness — just as teachers and nurses are now — on the grounds that agriculture is a public […]

  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 improve farmers' land tenure, not shake it up, projects like Iroquois Valley Farms, which are, he says, "...a radical alternative to institutional investors—a radically profitable […]

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 waterfront park in Portsmouth’s Strawberry Banke. If you can't make it, this is your required reading: Maine Agriculture and Food Systems in the Transatlantic Trade and […]

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 us. Turns out, this, in part, could be due to the amount of poo we breathe, swallow, let seep into our pores. There's a town […]

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 “Voices of Soil” Essay and Video Contest for young farmers, agricultural students, or any young person who appreciates the value of healthy soil. CONTEST CATEGORIES […]

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 pole like it’s supposed to. Not, I’ll climb the pole some years, and other years, it’s too much work. We need this bean to be […]

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 demonstrated in 2012 that organic farming methods can produce yields almost as high as pesticide-intensive methods. Other researchers, at the University of California—Berkeley, reached a similar conclusion. Indeed, […]

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, a contingent of rogue Grangers—progressives decidedly less interested in nostalgia than their national counterpart—attempting to breathe new life into an aging system that doesn’t seem […]

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 dairy farm in Ireland’s scenic Philipstown Cappawhite County Tipperary, when he got a call informing him that he was sexy. Ciara Ryan, the voice […]

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, to serve all stakeholders, and to function efficiently? Read On lawyers and sea urchins, a sidebar for the latest edition of STIR magazine! You can pre-order […]

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 push for mandatory labeling of the genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. The certification is the first of its kind, would be voluntary — and companies […]

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 sensible, given how important food is in our lives. Computers, it would seem, deserve similar attention. They are constant companions; they shape our experience. Many […]

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 first is to eat differently, focusing on good food and especially plants; the second is to bring change to your work, whether that means becoming […]

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.