Blog

Yesterday (April 17th) 100 farmers and growers from the Landworkers’ Alliance travelled to London from around the country to protest outside the head offices of DEFRA and the National Farmers Union. Under the leadership of Owen Patterson over the past two years, DEFRA has strengthened its support of large-scale industrial agriculture and marginalized smaller producers, […]

This video demonstrates how a community is trying to save their water and wetlands and reduce the impact of an unnecessary freeway. Save Little Lake Valley http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/ members are requesting that the California Water Quality Control Board order Caltrans, the Department of Transportation in CA., to cease and desist construction on the Willits Bypass. In […]

Let your future organic farmers know. The CCOF Foundation, in collaboration with partner organizations UNFI Foundation, Driscoll’s, Organic Valley, Bradmer Foods, and National Cooperative Grocers Association will be making grants in three educational categories in 2014. Categories and requirements are: Kindergarten through Eighth Grade: Grants for in-classroom organic projects in California $1,000 grants available for 10 […]

The White House will be hosting a Champions of Change event to celebrate local agriculture leaders who are taking innovative approaches to support American farming and ranching—both now and in the future.  These leaders will be invited to the White House to celebrate their accomplishments and showcase their actions to support the future of agriculture. […]

1940 vocational guidance film targeting teenagers. The film was made at a time when America was starting to rebuild its workforce after the depression years. Various careers and the skills required for them are discussed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I90Z2pC_0AY  

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, has spawned a new generation of superweeds that are spreading rapidly across the United States. Since farmers planting Monsanto's genetically engineered Roundup Ready crops no longer need to worry about overdosing their crops with herbicide, they tend to spray more of it. And just as antibiotic overuse […]

Live and work in Immokalee! TheStudent/Farmworker Alliance (SFA), Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida (IA), and Just Harvest USA (JH) are currently seeking full-time interns for Summer and Fall 2014. Summer applications are due Friday, April 25, 2014. Applications for the fall are due Friday, June 20, 2014. Applicants should be flexible to organize with each of the […]

Fayetteville, Arkansas July 21 – July 25 Join us for the Native Youth in Agriculture Summit and become a part of the next generation of food and agriculture leaders throughout Indian Country. Fifty selected students will travel to Fayetteville to participate in a week long education and leadership summit designed to provide comprehensive training in […]

'Another Way of Looking at the World' Arundhati Roy in conversation on writing, politics and her latest: 'Capitalism: A Ghost Story.' By Derrick O'Keefe and Jahanzeb Hussain, 1 Apr 2014  

Sterling College’s continuing education courses are inspired by the artisans and the landscape of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and by our philosophy of a liberal arts edcuation through the lens of ecology. Our two-week and four-week short courses offer unparalleled opportunities in ecology, outdoor education, sustainable agriculture, environmental humanities, and sustainable food systems. These […]

Less than two weeks away! April 26th & 27th:  http://agrariantrust.org/symposium/ Gary Paul Nabhan is one of the speakers. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYPdRZG52fI&w=420&h=315]  

Agrarian Trust has an upcoming negotiation training workshop in the Hudson Valley. The workshop will be held at the beautiful Carey Conference Center, located on an historic 100-acre estate overlooking Lake Myosotis in Rensselaerville, New York. Experts from NYS Agricultural Mediation Program and the New York State Dispute Resolution Association will provide the negotiation and business communication training. This […]

via Quivera Coalition: New Agrarian Program apprenticeships Other Great Opportunities Please note, the opportunities listed below are not through the Quivira Coalition; if you would like more information on any of them, please look for the appropriate contact information for each opportunity below… Working Ranch Manager Opportunity (Colorado): Seeking working manager for large-scale bison, cattle […]

http://realranchers.com Usually the FB stuff is lame, but these ranchers have the right flavor saltlick. Check it out, communications majors.

Stone Soup Institute is a small non-profit organization teaching sustainable/rural living skills, located in Harpswell Maine. Our program is project based, and hands-on. We are offering the Spring/Summer semester with a focus on building a mobile Tiny House.  We will be building with lumber sawn from trees salvaged from storm damage, as well as materials […]

Registration is currently open for the 2014 year of Cascade Mountain School. Five programs for middle and high school students run from June to August. Need-based scholarships are available on a case-by-case basis. This year’s course offerings are: Sustainable Agriculture Course: June 21-July 3. This for-credit course for students age 15-18 is based in Trout Lake, Wash., […]

2012 and 2013 were tough years for planting/growing anything in much of the US.  If it wasn't flooding, it was a drought.   Trees died.  The FSA office of USDA is here to help (with cash to recoup your losses). Even for losses you may have had two years ago! The Details The farm bill […]

During the summer of 2013, Land Stewardship Project Farm Beginnings journalism intern Alex Baumhardt interviewed families in Minnesota and Wisconsin that were in various stages of farm transitions. The following five “Farm Transition Profiles” are the result of those interviews. Ryan Batalden Profile: A Return to the Community Lauren & Caleb Langworthy Profile: Teeming with […]

Trevor Newman of Roots to Fruits Ecological Design leads the way in this practical instructional video on how to take one currant bush and turn it into many (for FREE)! Check it out!

From OUR LAND presenter Eric Holt-Gimenez, of Food First

April 17, Noon - 1 pm EDT We need these farming partners to pollinate our fruit and vegetable crops, yet our native pollinators and honey bees are struggling from multiple threats of pesticide exposure, habitat loss, parasites and diseases.  John Hayden from The Farm Between in Jeffersonville, VT will present on who the native pollinators […]

Across the northern plains, native grassland is being turned into farmland at a rate not seen since the 1920s. The environmental consequences could be disastrous.  Article by Jocelyn C. Zuckerman On a rainy Monday in mid-October, six middle-aged men in denim and camouflage sat bent over coffee mugs at the Java River Café, in Montevideo, […]

  Springtime Greetings to the Citizens of Earthalujahville! This spring we run our parallel performances - our nonviolent dramatic activism and our run at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater on May and June Sunday afternoons in New York.  The outside and inside stages feed off each other, with information, arrests and whoops of "Earthalujah!" Buzz with […]

Hi there Greenhorns blog community. Things are moving fast and furious in the Greenhorns basement kitchen. Yes, we have many projects. We have about sixteen pots on the stove, some on a copper bottomed double boiler with wise, experienced cooks, some with only a thrift-store aluminum pot, half-watched by young interns. Its a loud kitchen! […]

An important article.  Is there Atrazine in your drinking water? By Allison Vuchnich and Gil Shochat For more than 50 years farmers across North America have been spraying atrazine, a pesticide, on crops, mainly corn, applying millions of pounds a year. That widespread use of the weed killer has also led to runoff. Atrazine can […]

For any young farmers with the ability to travel, this would be a great experience.  As part of its biennial conferences, IUFN is happy to invite you to a new international workshop, LAND FOR FOOD. It will address a central question : How can we reconcile land use policies with local food policies?  Held over two days in the […]

featuring our friends at the Hudson Valley Seed Library among others. First chance to see it will be on Earth Day in NYC- but ONLY if they pre-sell enough tickets on Gathr. About 60 tickets left to go before they guarantee the screening. Sign up! http://gathr.us/screening/7636 http://www.opensesamemovie.com/

Anyone thinking about visiting a GMO free zone in Europe? These MAPS will lead the way.

  Excerpts taken from the Pesticide Action Network Dow and USDA are hoping to quietly approve a new genetically engineered corn seed that basically swaps RoundUp (glyphosate) for a worse weedkiller (2,4-D). As with Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready lines, the herbicide with which these seeds are engineered to be used (2,4-D) will surge in use. Dow aims […]

April 26th, 2014, Little Rock, AR   The Central Arkansas New Agrarian Society (CANAS) is hosting a day-long series of workshops devoted to backyard gardening, food security, skill sharing, and community food culture.  Participants in this first conference will learn to plan, grow, source, and use the freshest food and products in Central Arkansas. Join us […]

Calling all greenhorns, sustainable farmers, and local food groups... BRING THE INSPIRATION OF GROWING CITIES TO YOUR COMMUNITY! From rooftop farmers to backyard beekeepers, Americans are growing food like never before. A new documentary film, Growing Cities, tells the inspiring stories of these urban farmers, food justice advocates, and everyday city-dwellers who are challenging the way this country […]

Management Intensive Grazing School

A VALUABLE REPUTATION After Tyrone Hayes said that a chemical was harmful, its maker pursued him. By Rachel Aviv for The New Yorker; February 10, 2014 In 2001, seven years after joining the biology faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, Tyrone Hayes stopped talking about his research with people he didn’t trust. He instructed the students […]

Dear Community, Eliot Coleman suggests that we educate ourselves about this issue at the National Organic Program to allow for "soil-less" organics. He is one of  dozens of elders in the farm world who are concerned about this issue.  Read up on the issue and sign the petition here: Keep the Soil in Organic.org.  There […]

Journey to the heart of coca country where United States tax dollars have financed the aerial fumigation of 2.6 million acres of land in Colombia – the world's second most biodiverse country. See cropdusters target coca plants, the main ingredient of cocaine, with concentrated herbicide as part of the U.S. war on drugs. Listen to […]

  Cartography Portfolio   We enlisted the imaginations of artists to realize the aesthetic, visualize the psycho-geography and describe the terrain, landscape, characters and stories of The House of Fairy Tales. This portfolio is a collection of works that aim to describe the lay of the land. Much like the worlds encompassed in the great […]

SARE's Library of Publications is Now Available on USB Drives. Whether you are in the field, on a flight or simply without an internet connection, SARE's library of publications is just one click away. Now available on convenient USB drives, all of SARE's publications, program materials, videos and selected regional materials can be easily accessed […]

Comment HERE. The public comment period ends Monday, March 31st!  From the Bangor Daily News: America’s booming brewing industry and farmers alike are bothered and befuddled by a proposed U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule change that could alter a partnership that dates back to Neolithic times. To the farmer, spent grains are a valuable […]

"Small Farm Equipment" covers many facets of equipment use and maintenance on the small- to mid-size farm. Topics include the following: Mechanical concepts and terminology Best practices and safety around farm equipment Tools for maintenance Tips for shop work Regular maintenance tasks Troubleshooting start-up problems Common small equipment Tractor operation and safety Written to be […]