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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 […]

a good recipe suggestion out of the essex farm newsletter: "We’re forecasting the end of the root cellar produce in the next two months, looking forward to the green shoots of spring. The carrots and the cabbages should hold out until mid-June. If you’d like to put up some carrots to fill in the gap before the […]

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

Spoils: Extraordinary Harvest is a short documentary that captures intimate portraits of 3 New Yorkers on a journey through the culture of dumpster diving, illuminating a practice as old as agriculture. Support this project on kickstarter!

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Matthew Garrett, a 24-year-old farmer, is transitioning a 40 acre tobacco farm to organic produce. He's in the second year of the three-year transition requirement to certify a farm organic. In this process, Matthew is also finding ways to convert old tobacco farm equipment for his organic produce needs. Watch the video: http://vimeo.com/21811937

greenhorns are looking for a potter for a project at a very special museum Do you mix silicas with muds and have fun squishing them around? Do you dream of being a shepherdess in ancient greece carrying a staff and a clay lantern through nighttime cyprus groves? You might be just the one. please write [email protected]

The Sustainable Ag Tool Lending Library-- George Oneal, a young farm, started it, and it's ONLY for young, beginning farmers, none of which who could afford equipment on their own. So they formed the tool lending library in order to support each other. This video is about 4 minutes long-- they're all North Carolina.  http://vimeo.com/21811545

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’ […]

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Young farmers want pre-nups The Irish Farmers' Association has written to the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter asking that pre-nuptial agreements be given legal status and be taken into account in divorce cases involving farms. The farmer lobby group has outlined a draft agreement that could protect the family farm and prevent it being broken […]

Apartment Gardening: Plants, Projects, and Recipes for Growing Food in Your Urban Home from Powell's or your local bookstore.

The Garden Cycles Bike Tour Presents: Faces From The New Farm Liz Tylander, Lara Sheets and Kat Shiffler are the Garden Cycles Bike Tour. In the summer of 2007, these quirky ladies took off on bikes and filmed what would become a 35-minute film chronicling their 2,000 plus mile journey in search "the new American […]

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 […]

a work-in-progress documentary about a first generation farm family in Rollinsford, NH. This is good, important work, and you can support the project on kickstarter HERE.

This spring marks the fourth installation of the Daytrotter Barnstormer tour -we'll be hitting towns near Big Ten University cities on this run - April 26-30th - getting into Minnesota and Michigan for the first time, while finding a beautiful old barn in the suburbs of Chicago and heading back to two of our favorite barns […]

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

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbcqGjeNz7w] The Carolina Chocolate Drops offer a preview of their Nonesuch debut album, Genuine Negro Jig

Our friend Ella McSweeney of Home Grown Ireland sent us this beautiful video she shot of a farmer letting his cows out on the fresh grass of Spring for the first time since November.  Be sure to read her full post HERE.  If you're having trouble feeling spring-y, this is the ticket! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmPATi-QojM] "today is […]

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 […]

The text reads "There once was a farm..." and "...that became an airport" You don't really get an impression they have any regrets about that decision, do you? Photo sent to us by Amy Franceschini

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 […]

The Seed Circus is a series of four events, spanning late spring to fall 2010, that each explore an aspect of urban farming. The events have four themes—Sheep and Felt; Foraging; Pickling; and Fall Harvest—but they have a common ethos of sharing information and making and doing with one’s own hands. Seed Circus celebrates the […]

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 […]

check them out at the 18 Reasons community space in downtown San Fran: Greenhorns "A Sense of Place" - Contemporary Agrarian Photography Featuring New Works by Small Farmers from Across the Nation In the Gallery until March 31st! The images of farms that we, as consumers of media, are exposed to are often taken by outsiders […]

March 5, 2011 - The Just Food CSA in NYC Conference was an opportunity for CSA members and farmers from around the city to come together for a day of workshops, discussion, and good food. watch the vimeo video to see the awesomeness for yourself!

video from the MIT Global Challenge - Farm Hack! + a play-by-play blog from the weekend  

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

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From Matthew Moore & the Digital Farm Collective: I am a fourth generation farmer whose land and life are quickly being overcome by suburbia. Because of the encroachment I was inspired to create the ‘Digital Farm Collective’ to collect and share the images from the most important daily process of agriculture, the growth of our […]

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/19838162] http://www.freshfromzone7.com