Blog

It's June, there are more things to be done than can ever be finished, and the Senate is taking critical votes that will affect our farms for the next 5 years. That means it's time to multitask. Today, whether you're feeding the chickens, hoeing the carrots or milking the cows, we ask you to grab your […]

What Do the World's Most Powerful Pesticide Honchos Eat for Dinner? By Tom Philpott on Wed. May 23, 2012 I've made a career of sorts writing about the "big six" agrichemical companies—Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, DuPont, Syngenta, and BASF—that produce the great bulk of the world's pesticides and, increasingly, seeds. But last week, I did something […]

Greenhorns has just signed on to this important new alliance, NY GRASS, (GrassRoots Alliance to Save our State) to fight for an ABSOLUTE BAN on fracking, and all its related activities.   Here is an announcement and information on how to sign on yourself: NY GRASS.  You can also contact Clare at clare at saneenergyproject.org for […]

USDA at 150: Farms, food, jobs By Val Dolcini One hundred and fifty years ago, in the midst of a great Civil War, President Lincoln signed legislation to establish a Department of Agriculture to “acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture … and to […]

Volunteers across California are making history. On May 2nd, the California Right to Know campaign turned in nearly 1 million signatures to place a ballot initiative to label GMOs on the November 2012 ballot. But this is only the beginning. We know that Monsanto and their minions will do everything in their power to spread lies and […]

Save the date: July 2 – 14, 2012 TIME TO REGISTER NOW! DETROIT 2012: Re-Imagine the World, Transform Ourselves & Fight for the Future… The old economy is failing. A new economy is sprouting like shoots after a forest fire. This transition to new ways of understanding and organizing work is as significant as the […]

What's stopping you? The current draft is up for debate today. Here are some resources: http://farmbillprimer.org/maps/ http://www.farmbillfacts.org/ http://sustainableagriculture.net/category/2012-farm-bill/ http://agriculture.house.gov/farmbill_feedback.html Call the senators at the Capitol at (202)224-3121 Senate Ag Committee Members. Check here for a complete congressional listing including phone numbers.

San Francisco Chronicle: Activists raise stakes with renegade farm BerkeleySide: UC Berkeley calls for peaceful end to Occupy the Farm ElCerrito Patch: UC Threatens Gill Tract Occupiers With Arrest, Fines Youtube video of Day 1: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8QzFUmii58&feature=youtu.be]

"The farm bill, being debated in the Senate this month, is felt far beyond the cornfields of Iowa. It’s about what we grow, but it’s also about what we eat and how we live. On the potato chip aisle, Americans are seeing the farm bill’s market pressures. On the scale at the doctor’s office, we are […]

U.S. Senate Ag Committee on Fast Track with Farm Bill: Support for New Farmer Training & Assistance In Peril The U.S. Senate version of the 2012 Farm Bill will be introduced by Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow in the next few days, and immediately following its introduction it will be marked up and voted on by the Senate […]

“High premium subsidies have hurt small and beginning farmers because the subsidies themselves have distorted the market,” Mr. Coburn said.  “For instance, high subsidies have artificially increased the value of land and have created other barriers to entry and expansion.” and But lawmakers on the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are opposed to any adjustments […]

U.S. Senate Ag Committee on Fast Track with Farm Bill:Support for New Farmer Training & Assistance In Peril The U.S. Senate version of the 2012 Farm Bill will be introduced by Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow in the next few days, and immediately following its introduction it will be marked up and voted on by the Senate […]

more work by FERN. New Report Highlights Ubiquity of Controversial Chemicals in Food System Emerging Science Reveals Chemicals From Myriad Sources Show Up in Food and May Be Harmful at Lower Amounts New York, NY–On the heels of the decision last month by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to allow continued use of […]

Over 1000, 1-percenters are meeting at Waldorf Astoria (April 23-25), for a major farmland investment event  that will decide the fate of millions of Africans. Dubbed as “the next big thing in finance” some of the largest hedge funds, private equity groups, university endowment managers, and other high rollers will meet to discuss how to […]

By Tom Philpott Tue Apr. 10, 2012 from Mother Jones The farm bill—that vast, byzantine, twice-a-decade plan for federal food, ag, and hunger policy—expires on Sept. 30, just weeks before what promises to be an epically contested presidential election. Under normal circumstances, getting Congress to agree on such complex and expensive legislation at a politically charged juncture […]

Death knell may sound for Canada's GMO pigs Mon Apr 2, 2012 By Rod Nickel, from Reuters Canada:   http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCABRE83110320120402 WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Pigs that might have become the world's first genetically modified animals approved for human consumption may instead face an untimely end, as key backers of Canada's "Enviropig" project withdrew their support for the controversial […]

Official: US needs more young farmers, ranchers By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan sees an epidemic of sorts sweeping across America's farmland. It has little to do with the usual challenges, like drought, rising fuel and feed prices or crop-eating pests. The country's farmers […]

In Search of Common Ground Monday, April 16th from 9-4, on Lundberg Family Farms, a state-wide event/conversation will be launched in hopes of starting and achieving a 'paradigm shift' in addressing broad and specific food and farm issues Download the brochure here: IN SEARCH OF COMMON GROUND and let's pack the room with greenhorns! Joel Salatin is the […]

 an exhibit, a book, an ipad app.  About the explosion of community spirit, institution building, and autonomous-thinking that characterized the free speech movement, and beyond.  http://museumca.org/exhibit/all-us-or-none-social-justice-posters-san-francisco-bay-area More images HERE The “All Of Us Or None” (AOUON) archive project was started by Free Speech Movement activist Michael Rossman in 1977 to gather and document posters of […]

The Just Label It (JLI) Campaign announced today (March 27) that a record-breaking one million Americans have called on the FDA to label genetically engineered foods. Today, March 27, is the date that the FDA is required to respond to the petition. It took JLI and its more than 500 partner organizations less than 180 days […]

Here is a letter from Monte & Laura Bledsoe of Quail Hollow Farm to their dinner guests after a "health department inspection" and crackdown on their farm last fall.  Dearest Guests, (You have all become dear to us!) What an evening we had this last Friday night! It had all the makings of a really […]

the press release is great - how was the action?  If you were there we'd love tohear from you - send testimonials and photos to [email protected] Occupy-Monsanto to Wear Bio-Hazmat Suits as They Protest a Genetically Modified Congress On Friday, March 16, 2012, Occupy Monsanto’s agents of change with the Genetic Crimes Unit (GCU), a group […]

but then there are these lovely campaigners, who are championing it. On June 22, U.N. delegates from around the world will gather in Rio at the Earth Summit to define priorities of action in support of sustainable development. Food has been identified as one of the 7 critical issues to be discussed.   In fact, a coalition […]

If you are in the district of one of these folks-- AR: Rep. Crawford, Sen. Boozman IL:  Rep. Johnson IN: Rep. Stutzman IA: Sen. Grassley ME: Sen. Snowe, Sen. Collins MT: Sen. Baucus NE: Sen. Johanns, Sen. Nelson NC: Rep. Ellmers, Rep. Kissel OH: Rep. Gibbs PA: Rep. Thompson, Rep. Holden SD: Rep. Noem, Sen. Thune TN: Sen. Corker consider reading up on Beginning farmer and rancher opportunity act, […]

You'll never guess! Interesting story/podcast from NPR's Planet Money.

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9ZEfvrgB78E] The Boston Tree Party is an urban agriculture project, a performative re-imagining of  American political expression, and a participatory public art project.  At its core, the Party is a diverse coalition of organizations, institutions, and communities from across the Greater Boston Area coming together in support of Civic Fruit. We call for the planting of fruit […]

The next three weeks are critical to the national Just Label It campaign for genetically engineered (GE) food labeling and here is an update: With only three weeks left until March 27, when the FDA must respond publicly to the petition calling for GE-foods labeling, the national Just Label It campaign is launching a major push to flood the FDA with an unprecedented one million comments.  As […]

Judge Sides With Monsanto: Ridicules Farmers’ Right to Grow Food Without Fear, Contamination and Economic Harm By Jane Ayers On February 24, Judge Naomi Buchwald handed down her ruling on a motion to dismiss in the case of Organic Seed Growers and Trade Assn et al v. Monsanto after hearing oral argument on January 31st […]

http://labelityourself.wordpress.com/ The Label It Yourself (#LIY) campaign empowers people to make educated decisions about what is in their food, without waiting for government or corporations to do it for them.

Here is an incredible opportunity to speak your mind about the 2012 Farm Bill.  The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture has scheduled only 4 field hearings to sit down with the general public about this major bill.  The meetings will take place in Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas and….Saranac Lake, NY!!  This is your chance […]

It's called Farm Policy.  To subscribe, send an email to: [email protected].  Here's their latest: Ag Economy (USDA Outlook Forum); Farm Bill; Regulations; and Political Notes Posted By Keith Good On February 24, 2012  Agricultural Economy (USDA Outlook Forum) Reuters writer Charles Abbott reported yesterday that, “Global crop prices will retreat sharply this year as farmers around the world expand production to bring […]

Do you own a fruit tree or arbor in Cambridge and Somerville and don't want to harvest all the fruit yourself? The League of Urban Canners (LUrC) will remove your unwanted fruit, can it into sauce, jam or butter and return 10% of the product to you.During fall 2011, LUrC canned over 70 pints of apple sauce and 50 pints of […]

do we dare to hope for a guilty verdict here? Monsanto found guilty of chemical poisoning in France French farmer Paul Francois says he suffered neurological problems after inhaling Monsanto's Lasso weedkiller A French court has declared the US biotech giant Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning of a French farmer, a judgment that could lend […]

We can't say enough about the importance of this California ballot initiative to label GMOs. Educate yourself!  The Committee for the Right to Know has developed an excellent website: labelgmos.org complete with FAQs, events, news and some compelling videos: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGuwkWci3Vg]

Occupy our Food Supply - February 27th. An unprecedented alliance of sustainable agriculture advocates and food justice networks, including over 60 Occupy Wall Street groups as well as environmental and corporate accountability organizations are joining together with a theme of creating local solutions and resisting Big Ag and its destructive practices of placing profits over people and the planet. Will […]

Join the Food Law Society as we present a debate covering the legal, health, and nutritional merits of raw milk. The participants are: Fred Pritzker, Pritzker & Olson Law Firm Dr. Heidi Kassenborg, Director, Dairy & Food Inspection Division, Minnesota Department of Agriculture vs. Sally Fallon Morell, President, Weston A. Price Foundation David Gumpert, Author, […]

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWtxqtRyDoA&feature=youtu.be] Peteh Muhammad Haroon, affectionally known as Brotha’ P is an inspirational Spoken Word Performance and recording artist and native of New Orleans, LA.  Brotha’ P has been performing his unique style of poetry since 1995 as a member of Nommo Literary Society. After leaving Louisiana in 2005, Brotha’ P moved to Jonesboro Arkansas, where he was reconnected […]

RSVP to attend A Citizen’s Assembly of Support for Family Farmers vs. Monsanto - January 31, 2012  On January 31, family farmers will take part in the first phase of a court case filed to protect farmers from genetic trespass by Monsanto’s GMO seed, which can contaminate organic and non-GMO farmers' crops and opens them […]

FOODCORPS RECRUITMENT BEGINS! FoodCorps Opens Applications for its Next Class of School Food Changemakers http://foodcorps.org/become-a-service-member New York, NY - January 10, 2012- Today, FoodCorps, a national organization that addresses childhood obesity and food insecurity in underserved communities, opens applications for its second annual class of service members. The selected emerging leaders will dedicate one year of […]

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