Blog

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHwJ6PoE19s] Following a successful theatrical release in fifty cities nationwide, the acclaimed documentary OCCUPY THE FARM is now available to stream or download on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant Video and VUDU.

Mettabee Farm and Arts in Hillsdale, NY is hiring for multiple positions in 2016! Metabee is a Buddhist-minded educational center in the beautiful Berkshires that practices and teaches organic farming, homesteading, and the arts. Mettabee Farm & Arts is hiring two positions for the 2016 season, a farm manager & one crew member. Farm Manager […]

California's Grange Farm School provides programs designed for "practical people who are ready to make a difference in the real world. Students with a desire to enter a career in agriculture equipped with essential skills, knowledge, and resources. Students who want to be among the million new farmers, ranchers, and small businesses this country needs in […]

NPR's The Salt: "Alaskan Farmer Turns Icy Patch of Tundra Patch into a Breadbasket." But tapping that ultra-rich soil takes time. To prepare the land for farming, Meyers starts in June when the permafrost ground begins to melt a bit. He uses a tractor to clear the low-lying mossy lichen and other tundra plantlife that act […]

The Gold Medal Orchard, located in Montezuma County, Colorado, started in the 1890s. The name "Gold Medal Orchard" comes from the gold medal its fruits won at the the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Many of the varieties of fruits grown in the orchard have long since vanished from the farmers markets--that is until […]

http://garynabhan.com/i/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Jeff-Smith_Heritage-Foods-Mission-Garden_Edible-Baja-Arizona_03-1-480x320.jpg Tucson has always been a city of gastronomy. Today, it was designated a World City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), becoming the first city in the United States to receive such a designation. The designation adds Tucson to UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, created in 2004 to promote […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX9yvEp3zGM

‘Three Acres And A Cow’ connects the Norman Conquest and Peasants’ Revolt with current issues of fracking and the housing crisis via the Enclosures, English Civil War, Irish Land League and Industrial Revolution, drawing a compelling narrative through the radical people’s history of Britain in folk song, stories and poems. Part TED talk, part history […]

By Casey C. Sullivan, Esq. If I'm going to spend extra on organic produce and products, they better well be fully organic. We're talking pesticide-free, earth-friendly, non-synthetic organic here. If I get a product labeled organic that doesn't meet those standards, I'm going to feel cheated. And, as of today, I could sue. In an […]

Farmerama is a new podcast brought together by sourcing various clips from farmers across Europe. In one episode you'll hear from dairy farmers protesting in the UK and then get transported to a vineyard in Italy to discuss the happiness of grape vines and how that brings about a sustainability of taste.  This is a […]

A nature story is unfolding above San Francisco's chaotic Market Street. The Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly and its allies – Peregrine Falcons, Red-masked Parakeets, Bumblebees, Echo Blues, Red Rock Skimmers, and other urban creature – are making habitat along San Francisco’s civic spine. This accidental ecosystem is missing something: nectar-producing flowers to feed adult butterflies and other wildlife.  But you can help: sponsor a […]

This is the first Brunch & Bellow since the last time we had one and we are very excited. So very excited that we wanted to invite you right on over here to celebrate said excitement with us. Come on by, you fun farm animal, you. Bring yourself some tunes. Bring some songs. Bring a […]

[vimeo 147375088 w=500 h=281] To ensure that soil continues to be a vital natural resource for generations to come, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and Farm Foundation, NFP, today announce the formation of the Soil Health Institute. The announcement coincides with World Soil Day (Dec. 5) and celebrates the 2015 International Year of Soils. The […]

Somaliland's harshest drought is decimating the herder way of life and displacing thousands. By Ashley Hamer Hargeisa, Somaliland  - Swaths of Somaliland, a fragile, internationally unrecognised nation-state in the Horn of Africa, have been racked by one of the harshest droughts in two decades which is destroying livelihoods and pushing families into destitution. When a […]

Apparently for a brief time in California, it was illegal for consumers to file suits alleging that growers were falsely advertising as organic. This week, however, the Supreme Court of California overturned a ruling by a district court that barred consumers from filing lawsuits of the kind, and Californians once again have the right to question […]

Shiny New Tool Library at farmhack.org! After receiving a SARE grant in partnership with UVM this past spring to improve functionality of our Tool documentation platform, this summer has been a big web development push for Farm Hack.  We have just launched a re-design of the Tools section of the website. The new version is intended to make both […]

Oregon-based young farmer and photographer Nolan Caldish takes beautiful photographs, often pertaining to agricultural subjects. Several of the projects up on his website, both independent and commissioned feature vegetables, fruits, and land use issues. The three images above come the from "A Land Built By Gravity," which explores America with stark realism, the intersection of the […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing its decision to deregulate the Monsanto Company’s corn genetically engineered (GE) for increased ear biomass. This notice also announces the availability of our written determination and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  APHIS is […]

Widespread Malus has compiled data on the USDA collection of Malus sieversii (Central Asia- genetic homeland of apples) that might be useful in selecting accessions (scions or budwood) to request from USDA. We are collecting a ‘core diversity collection’ from the USDA collection that is especially diverse. Our goals are to make this diversity available […]

http://explorewithjoseph.com/images/jospeh-simcox-nara-melon%20acanthosicyos%20horridus%20namibia.jpg Are you are interested in working with Joseph Simcox, The Botanical Explorer, as a select gardener to share in his special seed grow-outs? Do you wish to participate in this coast to coast effort to stitch America together with garden networks? Are you good at keeping a garden journal or documenting your progress with […]

http://www.technologyreview.com/sites/default/files/images/monsanto.beesx299.jpg In 2011 Monsanto, the maker of herbicides and genetically engineered seeds, bought an Israeli company called Beeologics, which had developed an RNA interference technology that can be fed to bees through sugar water. The idea is that when a nurse bee spits this sugar water into each cell of a honeycomb where a queen […]

Is Big Ag squelching research showing its new RNAi GMOs may be dangerous? By Caitlin Rockett After nearly 30 years studying how plants use their genes to defend against viruses, Vicki Vance, a professor at the University of South Carolina, doesn’t see genetically modifying plants as a malevolent or arrogantly God-like endeavor. “There’s DNA in […]

Making It Happen: Profitability and Success Join YFN, The Carrot Project, and New Entry Sustainable Farming Project for a full day workshop on MONDAY DEC 7th at the Anawan Grange Hall in Rehoboth MA.   AM session.. basic farm accounting and tax preparation with Carolyn Huff from Farm Credit East. Lunch provided. PM session.. Benneth […]

December 12, 9:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. The Arts Block, 4 Court Square, Greenfield, MA 01301 youngfarmers.org/winter-gathering Join the Northeast New Agrarian Network—a new coalition of farm organizations with a focus on young and beginning farmers—at the First Northeast New Farmer Winter Gathering on December 12 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The convergence will bring together farmers […]

This video is hiding a LOT of information. We greenhorns ask the viewing audience to question the motives of National Geographic for posting this video about the "blue revolution."  It's an input-intensive industrial fish farm which spells out: Antibiotics Sea Lice Genetic Pollution Dead Zones Several pounds of wild-caught fish go into feeding every pound […]

The evidence base is growing: strengthening women’s land rights contributes to women’s empowerment and household welfare. Evidence is also showing that women who have more secure land tenure are more likely to plant trees or make other investments to improve the land and generate ecosystem services. This means efforts to improve women’s land rights can […]

Earlier this year, 45 year-old Matt Black embarked from Santa Maria, Calif., his birthplace, and drove 18,000 miles across the country and back again, stopping every 200 miles to photograph cities, towns, and rural areas, where like Santa Maria, more than 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. That is the point […]

From: John Brown Lives! The research is clear: Education reduces recidivism, improves job prospects for individuals once they leave prison and strengthens communities. Since 1995, though, New York has blocked incarcerated individuals from receiving this aid. Our goal is to restore it.​ You can help - sign this petition today! Next month, John Brown Lives! will […]

November 30, 2015 The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) in collaboration with IBERS, has sequenced and assembled the DNA of red clover to help breeders improve the beneficial traits of this important forage crop. The genome is published in Scientific Reports, a journal from the Nature publishing group. Before industrial nitrogen fertiliser production (from fossil fuels), […]

Gotta love sexy seed close ups ! Check them out right here  

As we approach the holidays ever deeper, we must question what we are buying and gifting to our loved ones. Where did your gift come from? Who made it? Does it have a story? Is it a story that you want to be telling? I went to The Mall yesterday with my mother, bless her, […]

Sit back, friends. I've got a story for you. (Spoiler alert, it involves pesticides, pollinators, USDA protection of Big Ag interests, and the failure of the US government to protect whistleblowers.) “Politics inside USDA have made entomology a high risk specialty.” In early 2015, USDA scientist, Dr. Jonathon Lundgren submitted his research on pesticides and pollinators […]

Applications are currently being accepted for UVM's farmer training program! The six-month program offers a certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and provides students with a combination of classroom learning and hands-on experience managing the school's 10-acre education farm. Each year, 25 students are accepted and learn everything from crop rotation to marketing. If you're looking for an learning […]

“E.P.A. can no longer be confident that Enlist Duo will not cause risks of concern to nontarget organisms, including those listed as endangered, when used according to the approved label,” the agency said in its filing to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Read more at the New […]

[vimeo 142048712 w=500 h=281] Farm Hack 2015 from Sylvie Planel on Vimeo.

Imagine if all the young farmers who scale up their pop corn, millet, broom corn, chestnuts or filbert crops could find a buyer that adds value, champions our diversity, and guarantees a great price… Yes, I think this can happen! Ventura-based Patagonia, a brand best known for its outdoor apparel, is getting into the buffalo […]

The beauty of the land cannot mask the brutality of a farm town. As harvest draws near, Betty confronts a terrifying new reality and will go to desperate lengths to save her family when they are threatened with being forced from their land. An old friend, struggling to keep his own farm profitable by any […]

The last antibiotics begin to fail... http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/files/2015/11/Clemson-pig-e1448140337896.jpg   On Thursday, researchers from several Chinese, British and US universities announced in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases that they have identified a new form of resistance, to the very last-ditch drug colistin—and that it is present in both meat animals and people, probably comes from agricultural use of […]

Narrated by Michael Pollan, this four minute piece is expository in nature and is aimed at a general audience who may have no idea that there is any relationship between soil carbon and climate.

Common Roots Urban Farm is seeking a farm operations partner with a strong interest in farming in an urban setting.  You should have experience growing diversified crops for at least one season and be serious about growing a well organized, bountiful organic vegetable and fruit operation. We would be working on all aspects of the […]