Blog

The Faith-based, Trickle-down Model of Conservation 4.0 — Michael Soulé Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.                                           – - Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Wildness.  Recently my wife and I spied on endangered female Leatherback Turtles depositing their ping-pong ball-size eggs at Grande Riviére, Trinidad, […]

Mentor, relisher of life.  Les Blank, Filmmaker of America’s Periphery, Dies at 77By Bruce Weber, Published: April 7, 2013 Les Blank, whose sly, sensuous and lyrical documentaries about regional music and a host of other idiosyncratic subjects, including Mardi Gras, gaptoothed women, garlic and the filmmaker Werner Herzog, were widely admired by critics and other […]

An example of excellent journalism. You can only read the original Harper's Magazine Piece, The Way of All Flesh, if you are a subscriber.  But here is  Ted Conover being interviewed about the story on NPR's On the Media: http://www.onthemedia.org/2013/apr/19/going-undercover-industrial-slaughterhouse/. And here is a post he wrote on the Harper's Blog: http://harpers.org/blog/2013/04/on-meeting-our-meat/

for our Grange event in Keeseville, NY! Pocatello. Listen to some songs HERE

Op-Ed: To Recruit a New Generation of Farmers, We’ve Got to Get the Story Right The National Young Farmers Coalition wants to set straight the economic facts of local food production. By Lindsey Lusher Shute, April 16, 2013 In the past year, the mainstream media featured more than a few stories critiquing America’s local and […]

Here's a sneak peak at an exciting new book, Regenerative Enterprise: Optimizing for Multi-Capital Abundance, by our friend Ethan Roland. Download the excerpt  

from The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development Special Topic Call for Papers:        Land for Food: A Focus on Farmland Protection and Land Grabbing Deadline for manuscripts: May 15, 2013, for publication in the fall 2013 issue Sustainable and equitable food systems require adequate volumes of high quality and affordable farmland. Many farmers invest heavily in their […]

Rebecca Gayle Howell.  Preorder her newest book, Render/An Apocolypse. How to Plant by the Signs When the ground is lit when your back, hands, intent are lit full well full dawn of dark when the tide swells (forget sea) when the tide swells in soil unseen root stem leaf when the moon is in its […]

via Little City Gardens.  A public hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.  CA greenhorns, take action! Access to land is a crucial issue for small scale farming, both urban and rural, and as we’ve previously talked about here, insecure land tenure has been one of the biggest obstacles we’ve come across in our three years of […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIKCjQdxtO0] "For more than 150 years, logging techniques remained the same. Men cut trees by hand and loaded them on horse-drawn sleds to be hauled over snow to the river. Skilled river drivers maneuvered the logs downstream, risking their limbs and lives every day. This film survives as a record of the long log business. […]

Agriculture Department mapping Montana’s food system A new interactive online map created by Montana’s Department of Agriculture paints a picture of the potential for improving Montana’s food system infrastructure and providing new economic opportunities for agriculture and locally-grown food products. Based on the outcome of a 2011 economic analysis commissioned by Lake County’s Community Development […]

Cooked A Natural History of Transformation In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth— to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, […]

Around the turn of the century, the Salvation Army founded three intentional communities in Colorado, Ohio, and California in an effort to relieve urban poverty that followed in the wake of rapid industrialization. Conceived by founder William Booth, the project was organized by his son-in-law Frederick Booth-Tucker, commander of the Salvation Army in the United […]

The End of the World In pages that crackle with the lightning of an electric storm, the Reverend Billy, messianic leader of the Church of Stop Shopping, thunders from his pulpit, sounding the tocsin on the toxins that are poisoning our planet. The Mayan calendar points to the final apocalypse descending on us in December […]

Trailer for Godfrey Reggio movie "the holy see" [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIcpOm8tyY] "The Crisis of Civilization Watch", is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system. [vimeo http://vimeo.com/32074939]

On March 25, 2013, we on Just Peace (WRFG-Atlanta 89.3FM) interviewed urban farmer Rashid Nuri on the recent Congressional passage of what is referred to as the Monsanto Protection Act and about the NAACP opposition to New York Mayor Blumberg's efforts to curb the sale of huge bottles of soft drink. Listen to this interesting […]

"The Future of Farming in America" featuring greenhorns director, severine vT fleming In this farm podcast you will learn: The power of proving how serious you are. How to use stunts to tell your story and get your message across. The future of American agriculture Farmer retirement plans. How to be braver, stronger, calmer, and more […]

Obama Signs Monsanto Protection Act Into Law After Promising GMO Labeling in 2007 By Anthony Gucciardi, via NationofChange.org President Obama has signed into law the notorious Monsanto Protection Act legislation hidden inside of the Continuing Resolution spending bill, which protects Monsanto and its genetically modified creations from federal courts. Passing up the chance to veto the bill […]

meet Patrick Diedrich, a young farmer working on a family farm near DeWitt, IA [youtube=http://youtu.be/EHjRiOVwvok]

  http://www.smillswriter.com/works.htm

"Visit a village in Rwanda and hear from small farmers telling their story of how their lives have changed since they received a title to their own plot of land." [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd8hnxTblcc] more information here

Farming's New Faces by Daniel Looker published March 20, 2013 on Agriculture.com They are different, yet united by a toughness that farming demands. They are among the newest faces on the nation’s landscape, yet many have a long heritage in growing food. Laurie Schmidt of Nemaha, Iowa, is one. By midsummer of 2012, her face […]

America: Becoming a Land Without Farmers by Evaggelos Vallianatos published May 2, 2013 in Independent Science News The plutocratic remaking of America has a parallel in the countryside. In rural America less than 3 percent of farmers make more than 63 percent of the money, including government subsidies. The results of this emerging feudal economy […]

behold! an epic teaching moment by greenhorns friend, neil: below are a bunch of links to videos related to succession agroforestry or multi-strata agroforestry. Most are in Spanish or Portuguese often with subtitles. If you don't understand the words just observe the systems and planting style. Please pass these links around as a mini education […]

brought to you by The Land Magazine Demands to “make poverty history”, and the responses from those in power, revolve around money: less debt, freer and fairer trade, more aid. Rarely will you hear someone with access to a microphone mouth the word “land”.That is because economists define wealth and justice in terms of access […]

Published on Monday, March 11, 2013 by The Asian Age Tilling the Soil with Pesticides by Vandana Shiva The ministry of agriculture had organised a conference on Doubling Food Production from February 1-3. The “eminent speakers” invited were not members of International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) or top Indian scientists. Rather they […]

Boone documents the journey of three young farmers in Southern Oregon risking land, business and friendship to confront the United States Department of Agriculture. This is an experiential film: there are no interviews with farmers or agricultural experts.  The goal is the experience; dealing with the realities of a season of farming and the physical […]

  The Greenhorns  WHEN: Thursday March 28th WHERE: 767 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY   Please join us for a screening of THE GREENHORNS, a documentary about young farmers in America. Panel discussion to follow the movie, featuring representatives from the Brooklyn Grange, the Urban Farm at Battery Park, The Fort Greene Park Vegetable Garden, and […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdsePauUORM] http://southernhues.com

Immigrant Farmers Breaking Barriers in US Midwest In the Midwest, where the immigrant population has soared in recent years, Latino farmers are breaking through cultural and language barriers to operate their own farms. A new US government project is also supporting their efforts. Reporter Anna Boiko-Weyrauch reports on two immigrant farmers’ journeys. Every evening after […]

Wheat Trials, On-farm Biofuel, Winter Hardy Bees and more. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJy5jmG6_Iw] Check out the full vault  HERE

Flooded rice field is tested as salmon nursery in Yolo Bypass By Matt Weiser Decades of experience have proved that Sacramento Valley rice farmers can use their fields to grow healthy ducks. Now, research under way in the Yolo Bypass aims to find out if they can grow salmon, too. On Tuesday, researchers from UC […]

Martin Crawford of the UK’s Agroforestry Research Trust is one of the world’s best recognised practitioners of the art of "forest gardens". [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFbcn06h8w4] Martin’s forest garden has an enormous diversity of plants. Most, but not all, are edible. Those that are not edible would be regarded as a waste of space to most farmers or […]

Hi Friends of Futurefarmers, Michael and Amy are debuting a line of aprons and props for their project in Oslo (http://www.flatbreadsociety.net) Saturday, March 23rd, 2013, from 12pm to 4pm @ the Workshop Residence We would love to see you: (kids under 13 get in free) Sign up here: (space is limited to 20) http://theworkshopresidence.myshopify.com/collections/workshops-and-lectures/products/future-farmers-flatbread-society-workshop

In the Midwest, where the immigrant population has soared in recent years, Latino farmers are breaking through cultural and language barriers to operate their own farms. A new US government project is also supporting their efforts. Reporter Anna Boiko-Weyrauch reports on two immigrant farmers’ journeys. read + listen to learn more: http://www.theworld.org/2013/02/immigrant-farmers-midwest/ brought to you by […]

GROWING FARMERS, a documentary highlighting the new generation of farmers on Long Island and the struggles and triumphs of the farming community, premiered at the 2012 Hamptons International Film Festival and won the audience award for Best Short Film.  The film includes interviews with Long Island farmers including Sylvester Manor Board Member and Quail Hill Farm […]

[vimeo=https://vimeo.com/46262890] http://thepeopleandtheolive.com

In Wired: Analyze This: Design Contest Seeks Your Cheap, Open Source Spectrometers By Nathan Hurst, 03.07.13 Spectral analysis might not really be your thing, but nonprofit science network Public Lab thinks it should be. Formed to provide a community for citizen scientists who want to monitor the health and quality of their surroundings, Public Lab […]

compiled by Huey Johnson, legendary activist http://theforcesofnature.com/videos/ [vimeo http://vimeo.com/47021801]

via Catskill Mountainkeeper Two Year Fracking Moratorium Introduced in both NYS Senate and Assembly Yesterday, I joined Senators Diane Savino and David Carlucci at a press conference with other environmental leaders at the Capitol Building in Albany to announce that the Senate's five-member Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) had unveiled legislation that would stop the clock […]