Politics & Activism
such fun, these scots!
[vimeo 121573942 w=500 h=281] “How do you sow the seeds of a better food system?”
dph: cool information directory
The idea of the dph database of experiences was born in 1986 from the desire to link people and groups working towards the construction of a responsible world of solidarities. We hope to make both memory and experiential reflection available on this resource site. We also hope to enhance the analysis and the experiences through […]
kale, racial justice, and reclaiming our collective right to the earth
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StygQm6YlwQ] A beautiful walk around Soul Fire Farm with the thoughtful, insightful, and fiercely passionate Leah Penniman. This film was produced by The Next System Project and the Laura Flanders Show, as part of their series on gender, race, and the next system. I'd write more about the farm, but my paraphrasing would never be as powerful […]
sweet little info video on efficiency on large v. small scale farms
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN9gni4dXlE?list=PLXsLLGSaYdqLz7duVQeLQs1TkkUBHvaEW] This video was release in the build-up to last weekend's World Forum on Access to Land in Spain. March 30-April 2, 400 participants from 70 countries discussed the human, economic & ecological impacts of land grabs. Was anyone out there in attendance. We'd love to hear your stories and feedback in the comments section!
free webinar on collaborative trade and fair markets
Yellow Seed, a nonprofit organization that facilitates connections between farmers and fair markets, recently partnered with Impact Hub Berkley, a social impact working hub out of the Bay Area, to host six curated working groups to focus on Collaborative Trade. The project was called From the Ground Up: Change Accelerator and aimed to "design healthy, global food supply chains […]
rachel's war
In the Spring of 1962, The New Yorker published Rachel Carson’s anti-pesticide manifesto, Silent Spring, in three installments. Carson’s message quickly transcended the magazine’s readership, eliciting a national response that would eventually lead to a federal ban on DDT for agricultural use and the creation of the EPA. In honor of Carson’s legacy and Women’s […]
the thing sanders, trump, and clinton agree on
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is slated for an up-or-down vote in Congress. Proponents say it’s about free trade. But it looks more like corporate colonization. One issue unites three U.S. presidential candidates from quite different positions on the political spectrum. Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders all oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP […]
mexican farmworkers strike over low wages, blocking harvest
by Richard Marosi Veronica Zaragoza grew up in these coastal fields, picking berries and tomatoes and watching an industry being transformed.She saw new greenhouses erected, irrigation lines spread through the fields, packing plants expanded and produce piled onto ever-larger trucks. Everything in this fertile agricultural region 200 miles south of San Diego has changed, it seemed, […]
a french tool box of farmer-driven technologies and practices...now in english!
http://latelierpaysan.org/IMG/jpg/whoweare2.jpg We are a French-speaking collective of small-scale farmers, employees and agricultural development organisations, gathered together as a cooperative named l’Atelier Paysan. Based on the principle that farmers are themselves innovators, we have been collaboratively developing methods and practices to reclaim farming skills and achieve self-sufficiency in relation to the tools and machinery […]
multicultural food porn from los angeles
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2uT1cZWkY] City of Gold Now In Select Theaters
power north adirondack harvest festival!
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfl1/t31.0-8/s960x960/981194_10154639552550410_6993809548193316428_o.jpg For more information, check out the Facebook Page!!
just food? conference, march 25-26, cambridge
JUST FOOD? FORUM ON LAND USE, RIGHTS AND ECOLOGY A CONFERENCE EXPLORING LAND AND THE FOOD SYSTEM: HOW LAND AFFECTS WHAT WE EAT, WHO WE ARE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT WE LIVE IN March 25–26, 2016 Wasserstein Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts This year's Just Food? conference will examine the relationship between people and land, primarily […]
the king of beers wants to push craft brews out of your supermarket
LunaseeStudios/Shutterstock The world's largest brewer in Dec. 2015 introduced a new incentive program that could offer some independent distributors in the U.S. annual reimbursements of as much as $1.5 million if 98% of the beers they sell are AB InBev brands, according to two distributors who requested confidentiality because they were asked not to discuss […]
eating organic grain is more important than ever
Richardson Milling says: Richardson Milling, the largest oat miller in North America, has no intention of changing its policies on glyphosate. In fact, they recently said that: IT'S OK FOR FARMERS TO SPRAY ROUNDUP ON THEIR CROPS BEFORE HARVEST IN ORDER TO GET THE CROP TO DRY UNIFORMLY. Tracey Shelton, director of corporate communications with […]
sustainable (documentary trailer)
America is facing a food crisis driven by profitability and a lack of consumer education. While the window to transforming our heartland continues to shrink, passionate individuals have emerged who provide hope that the health of our nation might still remain within our grasp. Sustainable is a documentary film that weaves together expert analysis of […]
labor rights/ the history of this idea in america
A series of short films dealing with different aspects of the systemic challenge our country is facing. The first three—featuring PolicyLink’s Angela Glover Blackwell, MIT’s Phil Thompson, and Boston College’s Juliet Schor—have already been released, and we encourage you to view and share them. Additional films are forthcoming, and will eventually be gathered on a […]
prime act introduced in the senate
Washington, D.C.—March 10, 2016—Yesterday, Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the PRIME (Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption) Act, lending Senate support for Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Chellie Pingree’s (D-ME) bill (H.R. 3187) to make it easier for small farms and ranches to serve consumers. The bill (S. 2651) is identical […]
addressing harassment in the workplace
As geobiology professor A. Hope Jahren wrote in the New York Times last week, female scientists often receive emails from male colleagues that are leering, lascivious, and unwarranted: all examples of sexual harassment in the workplace. In an effort to make the best of this crappy situation, Temple-Wood decided that for every harassing email she […]
how to feed 9 billion in 2050? eat insects
Scientists have suggested eating of insects as a way to address food shortage and improve nutrition. Many edible species of crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars and termites are highly nutritious, according to scientists from the Lake Victoria region of Kenya. There are over 2,000 insect species being consumed by more than two billion people globally today. "We […]
tired of not being able to download those awesome scientific papers?
Never fear! Sci Hub is here! It's the first website in the world to provide mass & public access to research papers...FOR FREE. Check it out HERE.
the dark act has been introduced into the senate
Monsanto's Dream Bill (H.R. 1599) would prohibit any state efforts to require labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs) — and it already passed in the House of Representatives and was just introduced in the Senate. We have to stop this bill in the Senate! The Grocery Manufacturers Association, an industry group that represents Monsanto, Nestlé, […]
experts call on feds to reevaluate acceptable risks
Concerns over use of glyphosate-based herbicides and risks associated with exposures: a consensus statement February 17, 2016, Environmental Health The broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate (common trade name “Roundup”) was first sold to farmers in 1974. Since the late 1970s, the volume of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) applied has increased approximately 100-fold. In response to changing GBH use […]
is farming an act of public service? time to prove it.
Enter the Young Farmer Success Act, which would extend the student loan debt forgiveness granted to persons in public service by the Higher Education Act of 1965 to full time farmer and farm workers. It's in the senate now! What you think? Is farming an act of national service? Then join up with the folks […]
throw away the teflon, use cast iron
There have been several stories lately about the poisons of teflon and the down-right corruption from DuPont (influencing the EPA, among other agencies). There is currently a corporate lawyer battling it out with DuPont in order to get the many people affected by the manufacturing of teflon their settlement, but there's a long way to […]
scientific american chimes in on beyonce's "formation"
Beyoncé's "Formation" makes many statements about social and political realities in the U.S., but song and video perhaps speak especially strongly to black women in academia. Truly, Formation by Beyoncé is the hype track of Black Women everywhere, but Academia is such a special place that I feel it has an especially stark meaning to those of us […]
updates on tpp and ttip
The recent legal challenge brought by TransCanada seeking $15 billion in damages over the Obama Administration’s decision to reject the Keystone Pipeline, has raised new questions about the TPP. The suit was brought under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which grants corporations special rights to challenge U.S. laws and undermine climate policy. The […]
kerrygold ballymaloe litfest of food and wine!
20-22 May 2016 The Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine is a weekend filled with fascinating facts, inspirational stories, intriguing discussions, incredible knowledge, fantastic music, fabulous dancing and of course, delicious food and drinks. It is the only festival of its kind in Ireland and has created an important hub for food and […]
irish food art chick
Katie Sanderson is a chef on the move. For the past five years she’s been putting on imaginative food events in locations around Ireland: a café for artists in a Dublin gallery; raw food dinners in a forest in Wicklow; a seaweed-themed restaurant in a boatshed in Connemara. She’s nomadic in her home life too. […]
just food forum on land access, rights, and ecology: march 25-26, cambridge, ma
yeah baby! cover cropping makes the NYT front page
I can almost hear organic farmers across the country rolling their eyes, cover cropping: this is news? And, I know, I know, you've been doing this for years-- but, yes, actually there's some real good news here: New York Times writer Stephanie Strom's report, "Cover Cropping: A Farming Revolution with Deep Roots in the Past," indicates that the […]
from corn-fed to vegetarian to freegan to vegan to meat eater
Dustin's View, Jan. 31, 2016, Wreflective Writing Would you describe yourself as a long-time farmer and environmental activist? Not at all. I used to be a redneck. I used to race cars and motorcycles and snowmobiles… I was a motorhead. I don’t want people to think I was always like this, because then they’re like […]
the year that ended dangerously: the ETC's ireverant, snarky, and spot-on end of year review
Every year, our friends at the ETC (stands for Action Group on Erosion, Technology, and Concentration) puts out an, as they say, "irreverent," year-end recap-- and this year's is out now! We've compiled a brief list of the highlights from the 2015 edition of the ETC's yearly End of Year Review: Comparing itself to the […]
we are all flint
The same forces that have made the Flint disaster possible are the same ones that are bent on privatizing public water supplies and preventing a just resolution to the growing world climate disaster. The following is an excerpt from a Statement from SxSW Experiment about the water crisis in Flint, MI. The experiment is a powerful grassroots coalition of […]
for your pod bud ears
“And one of those farmer’s said, 'you know we can do this work. This is our lives. We have pride in what we do, this is hard work: building these terraces year after year for a thousand years. This is a part of our culture and that’s why we can do it.' Now, the whole […]
want to know why a large portion of the us doesn't trust big ag or government findings?
There are 60,000 unregulated chemicals in use by chemical companies right now and the EPA/FDA/USDA aren't regulating. This is a frightening David-vs-Goliath New York Times piece which is well worth the read. Here are a couple snippets: Bilott learned from the documents that 3M and DuPont had been conducting secret medical studies on PFOA for […]
federal action on insecticides harmful to bees
EPA is making moves again on neonicotinoid insecticides with report saying--- in a dramatic understatement typical of the agency that has rarely regulated agricultural chemicals with any rigor ----that the insecticide in question (imidacloprid): "Potentially poses risk to hives when the pesticide comes in contact with certain crops that attract pollinators." You have 60 days to […]
immigration impacts all of agriculture: learn more while watching movies!
[vimeo 129248739 w=500 h=281] Watch the trailer for The Line from Kent Bassett on Vimeo. You can rent the film for the very affordable cost of $1.00.
developing the grape cultivars of the future
With a focus on disease resistance and hardiness, researchers are hard at work developing the grape cultivars of the future. Through a multidisciplinary collaborative project called VitisGen, researchers are are working to decrease the time, effort, and cost of developing these new grapes. According to the VitisGen website, the project “incorporates cutting-edge genomics technology and […]
good example of citizen science
The Practical Farmers of Iowa have released their latest study on the effects of apple cider vinegar supplementation in feeder pigs. Apple cider vinegar is held to being a health tonic that promotes beneficial gut bacteria, improves digestion of feedstuffs, enhances performance, and helps decrease parasite load. PFI cooperator, Tom Frantzen, supplemented three groups of […]