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The Edmund Hillary Fellowship just published this great article about Severine!  There is a question we need to ask when talking about food production. The question is, “Who is telling what story, and on whose behalf?” Is it a story that goes with dinner? Or does it perhaps focus on the “We feed the world” […]

Journalist Kate Bolick recently wrote about her experience in visiting artist Andrea Zittel in the Californian desert. Zittel has spent the past 20 years of her career exploring solitude and this path has led her to create her "Experimental Living Cabins" at A-Z West near Joshua Tree National Park. "Zittel sees herself as part of the 20th-century tradition […]

New Entry Sustainable Farming Project & the Conservation Law Foundation are teaming up to hold a workshop that will provide an overview of key employment issues that farmers need to know. The workshop will be presented by Mary O'Neal, Partner at Conn Kavanaugh, and employment law expert. From apprenticeships to agricultural minimum wage, the workshop will cover […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhUd1X_Ni58?ecver=1&w=640&h=360] Discover the hidden power soil has to reverse climate change, and how a regenerative farming diet not only delivers us better health and wellness, but also rebuilds our most precious resource—the very ground that feeds us. Josh Tickell, one of America’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers and director of Fuel, has dedicated most of his […]

The following article was submitted to the Greenhorns by Freya Yost. Freya is Director of Operations at Cloudburst Foundation, an Italian-based non-profit working closely with the Commonwealth to address climate change and meet the UN SDGs. Her background is in information science, specializing in areas of government information and policy, open source technologies, and digital rights […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR3QU2UYMIM&w=563&h=374] Penn State Extension are running a best milking practice course for professionals in the dairy industry who want to learn about problems on dairy farms that result from mastitis. "Best Milking Practices" is a self-paced course primarily designed for dairy producers, employees and managers that teaches concepts to help them measure and reduce levels of mastitis, and […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=669minzpICI&w=610&h=458] We found this worksong among a wonderful collection of other songs on worksongs.org, which is run by Maine farmer-musician Bennett Konesni. It's kind of a digital soundbook and Bennett has created a collection of songs used to aid labor and has included lyrics on many of the songs. His long term goal is to have recordings, […]

[vimeo 222514975 w=640 h=360] How do you choose the land or the sea? Longtime deep sea fisherman turned goat farmer, Gabriel Flaherty of Aran Islands Goats Cheese​, doesn't have to, the sea surrounds him and runs through his veins.

  As winter approaches, research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has identified cold weather strategies for attention by regional dairy calf managers. “Winter weather poses a natural challenge to raising young animals. Respiratory illness in calves can negatively impact weight gain, age at their first calving, first lactation milk production, […]

You have have read about our upcoming Faith Lands conference in our newsletter during the week. The purpose of the gathering is to connect landowning faith groups with landless young farmers. We want to help create a network that will help nativiate some of the complex issues that can arise in these situations. We are […]

  ETC Group and the Heinrich Böll Foundation have produced an interactive map of geoengineering projects around the world in an attempt to shed light on the worldwide state of geoengineering. The map is the first of it's kind that is publically available that  shows the scope of research and experimentation. This latest addition to the […]

The owners of this property, John and June Strothenke are selling in the most unusual way - an essay contest! It costs $1000 to enter but they are only accepting 420 applicants so that odds that you could win are relatively high! 

EarthWorks Urban Farm are looking for a Community Outreach Specialist who will be responsible for supporting the work of the CSK EarthWorks Urban Farm team by interacting with and supporting the local community by informing those in the community of EarthWorks services, scheduling volunteer opportunities, and providing valuable information regarding initiatives within EW and the […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6fHA9R2cKI?ecver=1&w=640&h=360] A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling adventure to document the disappearance of the world's coral reefs, this documentary is the result of 3 years work and hundreds of hours of underwater footage. Corals are a fundamental part of the planetary and oceanic ecosystem (supporting 25% of marine […]

1,500 miles apart, two rivers flow. One alongside rolling hills and blue skies of the North Dakota high plains, the other tumbles past volcanoes, down narrow gorges, and through rugged mountain terrain. Beyond the distance and difference that separates these rivers is a similar story that begins over 500 hundred years ago, with their shared […]

The Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC), a grassroots non-profit land trust, is a growing "community of practice" linking gardeners across greater Boston to permaculture projects. Neighbors come together, creating food forest gardens in their neighborhoods, and these open spaces engage and strengthen communities, producing food, hosting cultural events, and sharing experiences and skills with all […]

ReGroup.Farm is the tale and reality of a group of Boomers, Gen X-er's and Millennials found themselves on a farm in the Midwest. They recognized that something very interesting was happening in society at large, that in spite of all the division and decay of rural towns, that these phenomena can be reversed. In fact this […]

[vimeo 231744267 w=640 h=360] New and exciting things are happening at the Permaculture Skills Center. The Eco-Landscape Mastery Course is already underway! It couldn't be a more opportune time to continue our work educating our communities and ourselves!  It's a degraded world out there. So many acres/hectares of landscapes have been destroyed and it's having negative consequences […]

Check out this awesome rice growing project in Maine by Wild Folk Farm. Their goal is to get as many farmers and folks eating and growing rice throughout Maine, the Maritimes, and the Northeast. They are developing an educational, research and commercialized rice operation as currently there are no commercial rice growers in the state, and […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQgkIrf21w0?ecver=1&w=640&h=360] Allegheny Mountain Institute (AMI) is seeking applicants for its fully-funded Fellowship program. Now in its seventh year, the 18-month Fellowship prepares and empowers individuals to become teachers and ambassadors for a more vibrant and accessible local food system. Selected Fellows spend six months in immersive training on their mountain farm campus (Phase I) […]

[vimeo 236206538 w=640 h=360] The Detox Project reported on Tuesday that they along with MetricBio have launched the first ever Glyphosate Biobank. which is being funded by the public. The aim of the Biobank is to help shed further light on the levels of glyphosate in the U.S population in addition to helping researchers investigate […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V19fbaM4r_s&w=907&h=510] Northland Sheep Dairy in Marathon NY are seeking a teamster apprentice for the 2018 season. Northland is the oldest continuously operating sheep dairy in the United States. Their farm operates in a traditional pastoral style, making sheep milk cheeses seasonally from their small flock of 100% grass fed ewes. Their cheeses are truly […]

The seedcorn maggot is the larvae of a fly, says Eric Sideman, MOFGA's organic crop specialist, in the fall issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. He continues: This critter spends the winter as a pupa in the soil. Flies emerge very early in the spring from these pupae and lay eggs near decaying […]

We've written about his preposterous nomination before due to his sheer inadequacy for the job and thankfully Sam Clovis has finally withdrawn his nomination for chief scientist of the agriculture department. Clovis is a climate change sceptic and was just another cog in the anti-science Trump administration. However make no mistake, his lack of qualification for […]

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"We live and die by chemical agriculture". In the age of rampant use of chemicals such as the dreaded dicamba, truer words have perhaps never been spoken. Zachary Michael Jack, Iowa View contributor recently writes in the Des Moines Register about stark contrast between pesticide and herbicide spraying in the 80's during his childhood versus the […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gZF2_T8WeQ&w=468&h=266] Drumduan school, in the Scottish highlands, offers it's students a unique and emancipatory education experience free of any form from exams or standardised testing. It's educational focus is on participatory and practical education. Academic study is enhanced and balanced with movement, music and artistic work, with crafts, foraging  and outdoor activities. Students learn through […]

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Growing Magazine recently published a good examination of community finance, community resilience and community agriculture - the CSA model. They profile 3 different farms: Brookford Farm in NH, Norwich Meadows Farm NY, and Prairierth Farm IL, all of whom are practicing a modified, diversified form of CSA and are thriving! 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency have banned food replacer Soylent as it does not meet the criteria of real food as it does "not meet a select few of the CFIA requirements for a ‘meal replacement". The CFIA strongly recommends that it not be consumed and the meal replacement product manufactures do not understand the […]

The Common Friars are men and women, married and single, lay and ordained, of an emerging monastic order in the Episcopal Church, seeking to understand and live out what it means to be a Christian disciple today. They do this by placing the utmost importance on being connected to the land, to each other, and to […]

The Packer reports that yesterday the USDA  National Organic Standards Board voted 8 to 7 not to ban hydroponic and aquaponic production from being included under the organic umbrella. Lee Frankel, executive director for the Coalition for Sustainable Organics, shared the news today in an e-mail to members. The board did vote in favour of excluding aeroponics from […]

In 1926 J Russell Smith launched a contest to gather honey locust pods from across the country, the Savanna Institute are continuing what he started.  Contest Details & Instructions Step 1: Photograph the tree Photograph the tree before the pods have fallen from the tree, although preferably after leaves have dropped. Include the entire tree within the photo. Prior […]

The USDA recently made their final decision on GIPSA - to pull the pending Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rules designed to level the playing field for poultry and livestock producers. These rules have been languishing since the 2008 farm bill, and today’s action firmly places this administration on the side of large […]

A new documentary tells the tale of the hunters waging war against an invasive swamp rodent species, the nutria, in Louisiana. There is a government bounty on the heads (or tails) of the 20lb, orange-toothed critters - $5 for each severed 12-18in tail collected. Nutiva grazing habitats adds to coastal erosion in a region whose land […]

The Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program (NAP) is partnering with skilled ranchers and farmers to offer apprenticeships in regenerative agriculture. Together, they create opportunities for full-immersion learning from expert practitioners. This program is designed to support the next generation of food producers and targets those with a sincere commitment to life at the intersection of […]

The 5th annual perennial farm gathering is coming up! Farmers, scientists, and people with a general interest in perennial crops and pastured livestock will all find it valuable to learn what other farmers are doing, what’s working well, and what needs more work. This year, the Savannah Institute is teaming up with the Green Lands Blue […]

The NY Times published an interesting article recently about Kimbal Musk's (brother of Elon) foray into farming. Mr. Musk is promoting a philosophy he calls “real food,” which nourishes the body, the farmer and the planet. It doesn’t sound much different than what writers like Michael Pollan and everyone who has ever helped start a […]

Down to Earth is a podcast about hope. As climate change collides with our industrial food system, we focus not on doom but instead on people who are developing practical, innovative solutions. We invite you to meet farmers, ranchers, scientists, land managers, writers, and many others on a mission to create a world in which […]

This citizen science group at PublicLab is starting to corral expertise, team-craft and discover potential scientific inquiry methodologies to look at this terrifying trend of toxic and ever more toxic agrichemicals. Conventional farmers, as well as organic farmers, are profoundly concerned by this militarization of agronomy, it becoming a situation of “Spray or be Sprayed”. […]