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Earlybird registration for NESAWG's 2016 It Takes a Region Conference is now open. The Conference, now in its 23rd year, brings together practitioners and professionals from across the Northeast to explore ideas that move us towards a more sustainable and just farm and food system. This year's conference theme is Tackling Wicked Problems in Food […]

[vimeo 52870881 w=640 h=360] The Hand That Feeds trailer from Robin Blotnick, a film on reforming the food system by organizing from the ground up for fair wages, fair working conditions, and collective bargaining rights. This is a rare story in which workers, with tenacity beyond imagination, are actually able to defeat the giant. It is […]

In case you missed it, two weeks ago, our friends and allies at the Hawai'i Center for Food Safety took five cases through the 9th circuit appeals court focusing on the rights of local communities to regulate and legislate genetically engineered seed crops and pesticide use. The video embedded below has the live recording of court proceedings. […]

Have you been listening to Earth Matters?? This fabulous podcast series gives voice to indigenous activists, environmentalists, and people around the globe working for social justice. We cannot recommend it highly enough. Hailing from Australia's community radio station 3CR AM, Radical Radio, you can stream episodes online or download straight form iTunes. The link above will bring […]

Social obstacles faced by the youth of San Luis are many for a small town. Since traditional ways of life have been eliminated by loss of land rights, youth are challenged by poverty, northbound drug trafficking, and alcoholism. Costilla County has the highest rates of diabetes in the state. The 2012 Census states 37.3% of […]

International Conference on Agrarian Reform La Via Campesino, The Peasant's Movement Marabá, 15 April 2016 From 13 to 17 April 2016, in Marabá, Pará, Brazil, more than 130 delegates from 28 countries around the world were brought together as part of La Vía Campesina and allied movements, as part of the International Conference on Agrarian […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdY2jAJfARI] Read our blog post from yesterday for more info! Today the walkers are walking from Garrison to Wappingers Falls.

Walking the 200 miles from Long Island to Albany, protesters stopped at City Hall in New York City last Saturday chanting si se puede. According to Democracy Now!, the protesters are walking in support of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act (more about this from the ACLU), asking that farm workers have the right to collective bargaining, an optional […]

"Back in 2010, the city of Toronto (in Ontario, Canada) decided to launch a program that converts old unused metro buses into mobile grocery stores called Mobile Good Food Markets, and ever since, they've been traveling across the Toronto metropolitan area selling affordable fresh food. They have been especially successful (and helpful) in low income […]

no trespass, no access, no spray

[vimeo 126262573 w=640 h=360] Need More Acres farm owners Nathan and Michelle discuss the necessity of diversified vegetable farms and increasing food access. This is a beautiful and heart-felt little video about a family passionate about the work that they do: providing a multi-farm CSA to 35 families; organizing a community market to make more […]

http://cdn.chinabusinessnews.com/images/1280/1450685214413981-syngenta-once-again-under-shower-of-blessing-by-chemchina.jpg If you thought Monsanto was bad, this could be even worse: Chinese chemical giant ChemChina has begun a $43 billion merger with Swiss-based seed and pesticide company Syngenta to create one of the largest chemical and GMO seed companies in the world. This proposed merger could have huge ramifications in the U.S. and across […]

This just in from the Organic Consumers Association newsletter: DARK Act Comeback? Everybody loves a Comeback Kid—unless that "kid" is the DARK Act. In March, the Senate voted down the DARK Act, the bill that would Deny Americans our Right to Know about GMOs. Since then, Monsanto and its front groups, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) have been […]

http://foodfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/foto.jpg March 17, 2016 Eddie and Dorothy Wise continue to live at the Deluxe Inn in the Rocky Mount area.  As I write this today, they are on the property packing and removing all of their personal belongings.  The Federal Marshals are giving them only one day to remove everything.  One has to wonder how […]

John Collins Food, safety, modernization—all good words. But the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) President Obama signed into law in 2011—giving the Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate how food is grown, harvested and processed (i.e. produced)—places costly burdens on the small farmers who can least afford them. What is the FSMA? Prior […]

On March 17th Washington-state-based independent farm worker union, the Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), began a 28-day tour from Bellingham, WA to the US-Mexico border to galvanize a boycott of Driscoll berries to be undertaken in solidarity with their contract negotiations with their employer and Driscoll-supplier Sakuma Berry. So far, they have: walked 1,090 miles visited 13 […]

[vimeo 121573942 w=500 h=281] “How do you sow the seeds of a better food system?”

  [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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2uT1cZWkY] City of Gold Now In Select Theaters

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

[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.

[vimeo 108598502 w=500 h=281] Evan Marks - Local Legendz We all have a vague sense that humans have a negative impact on the environment, but many of us push the thought to the backs of our minds and continue on with our days. When Evan Marks made that realization, he decided it was time to […]

We're reposting this message from Michelle in California, as sent by Mom's Across America. It's powerful and important. Please take the time to visit, read, and consider signing and sharing the petition at the bottom. Trigger warning: content about birth defects, miscarriage, and infant death. "I lost my baby due to anencephaly.  I was exposed to […]

This could be any small diversified farmer. Greenhorns far and wide, stay updated on this situation. Share it broadly. Make a fuss. Start a conversation. SPREAD THIS FAR AND WIDE. SOCIAL MEDIA NEEDS TO COME TO HIS RESCUE.

The $130 billion Dow-DuPont merger announced last week has rekindled ChemChina’s $44.6 billion bid for Syngenta which, in turn, may provoke a fourth takeover try by Monsanto. If ChemChina prevails, Monsanto is likely to look for a deal with either BASF or Bayer. If they get their way, the world’s Big Six agricultural input companies […]

Maybe you heard that the Climate Summit in Paris had lead to an "landmark deal," and you were as skeptical as we were. Maybe you also wondered how often the word "agriculture" appeared in the climate deal or how indigenous groups were responding to the agreement. Feed your skepticism! Danny Chivers and Jess Worth of The New […]

Does your work connect to land and food? The Harvard Just Food Forum seeks proposals that focus on issues of land justice in the food system. We encourage proposals that highlight entrepreneurial initiatives and insights, lessons learned, successes, and opportunities to create a more just food system. We are especially seeking panels and workshops that […]

[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.

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 […]