Farming // Current

Seeds of Hope

In 2008, global food price spikes and four successive hurricanes battered the... more

IFAD
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1 day ago
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“Fair Food: From Field to Table” - The Story of Farm Workers and Fair Food Advocates

Just a week before millions of Americans across the country sit down for their... more

3BLMedia
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4 days ago
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Traceability For All

From http://www.growingproduce.com/ American Western Fruit Grower Magazine writes... more

TOP10PRODUCELLC
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5 days ago
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China in the Driver's Seat

China is now Wisconsin's (and the country's) third-biggest export market, buying more... more

Progresshiv
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5 days ago
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The Benefits of Conservation Tillage

TROTSNEWS
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11 days ago
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Sustainability, localism, community and the dignity of work: In praise of Wendell Berry

hoosierdaddy
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12 days ago
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Secrets The Produce Aisle Keeps - Technology Induced Transparency

@kpix.dayport.com Companies Like Top 10 Produce LLC and Harvestmark are putting... more

TOP10PRODUCELLC
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13 days ago
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The Nitrogen Fix: Breaking a Costly Addiction

"Over the last century, the intensive use of chemical fertilizers has saturated the... more

lookatmypix
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16 days ago
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Leading up to Copenhagen - No Coverage of Livestock and Climate Change

While livestock make up nearly one fifth of all CO2 greenhouse gases, it seems that... more

e_young
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18 days ago
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Botany of Desire: PBS preview

Based on his book, Michael Pollan takes us on a journey exploring the relationship... more

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22 days ago
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Farmers fight climate bill, but warming spells trouble for them

Farm state senators and others soon will get a taste of what their colleagues from... more

Future_America
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23 days ago
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Everyone wants to be a Farmer.

The "Farmville app" for Facebook has quickly become the most popular app of all time... more

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23 days ago
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Undercover Investigation Reveals Cows Suffer for Land O'Lakes

A new undercover investigation inside a Land O'Lakes supplier facility in Pennsylvania has revealed routine neglect and cruelty to cows who are milked for the Fortune 250 company's products. Over the course of several months, the investigation documented deplorable, filthy conditions for cows on the farm, such as pens that were filled with deep excrement (see video and photos), and cows who suffered from ailments and conditions so severe that they collapsed and became "downers" but were not put out of their misery or given veterinary care in a timely manner, if at all.

Land O'Lakes "inspected" the farm as recently as June 2009 and even noted that there were areas in need of cleaning (including the milking parlor walls!) but approved the facility nonetheless.

Cows on dairy factory farms are not given much more than the numbered tag that is punched through their ears to identify them. Read more about what happened to a few of the cows who lived and died miserably at one such farm.

The farm's owner and one of his sons were caught on video electro-shocking cows who were in too much pain to stand up. One of the farmer's sons kicked a cow and jabbed her with the blade of a pocket knife. Both the father and son have now been charged with cruelty to animals.

The dairy industry's standard forms of cruelty also led to suffering for these cows. In order to make milking easier, cows' tails were amputated by tightly binding them with elastic bands, causing the skin and tissue to slowly die and slough off and leaving the animals unable to swat away flies, which, in addition to tormenting the cows, also led to the spread of disease. Tail-docking is unnecessary and cruel, which is why it has been condemned by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Dairy farmers don’t allow cows―whose pregnancies last for nine months, just like human pregnancies―to spend any significant time with their calves, who are taken from their mothers shortly after birth. Cows are intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time, and they have the capacity to worry about the future.

PETA's investigation also reveals cows and calves who were kept in pens and barns whose floors were covered with deep excrement, which caused foot and hoof problems and fostered the spread of disease. Calves rescued from the farm had pneumonia, "manure scald," ringworm, pinkeye, and parasites. Some cows suffered respiratory distress and had pus-filled nasal discharge streaming down their faces. Abscesses were common on the farm—some of them burst and oozed pus, even as cows were being milked, as can be seen in our video.

World-renowned meat and dairy industry expert Dr. Temple Grandin, after reviewing the footage, said, "The conditions are absolutely atrocious. ... It was obvious that the place was seldom cleaned and ... that many sick animals were not receiving veterinary treatment. ... The dairy manager totally NEGLECTED his animals. ... Many animals suffer greatly."

PETA is calling on Land O'Lakes to implement and enforce a 12-point animal welfare plan to govern all cooperative members' dairy-farming operations, which will eliminate some of the worst abuses to cows raised for their milk. Write to Land O'Lakes President Christopher Policinski now and urge him to implement the plan today. Of course, the best way for you to help prevent cows from suffering these abuses is to go vegan and stop consuming dairy products. Explore our "Vegetarian Starter Kit" for recipes and tips to get started today.A new undercover investigation inside a Land O'Lakes supplier facility in Pennsylvania... more

animalia_libero
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24 days ago
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A Genetically Modified Proposal

Another fool who doesn't understand the dangers of GM foods...... thank goodness!... more

plusaf
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24 days ago
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Produce Brand Uses Barcodes and Transparency to Promote Social Change

We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single... more

TOP10PRODUCELLC
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25 days ago
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IBM debuts New Food Traceability iPhone App

This is the start of something big... http://top10produce.com/retailerbenefits.aspx

TOP10PRODUCELLC
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26 days ago
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Saving Small Farms

Blog about how technology and consumer ratings will play a critical role in saving... more

TOP10PRODUCELLC
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27 days ago
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Hoop dreams: sustainable agriculture comes to Lake Clifton Park

"This is a great day for city schools," says Tyler Brown, the 24-year-old project manager of Real Food Farm, a new agricultural endeavor located in Lake Clifton Park. On a recent fall day, Brown is working with a group of 30-40 volunteers, students, and construction workers who are building three hoop houses, or high-tunnel greenhouses, on a stretch of land next to Lake Clifton High School. Between the school's parking lot and its track and football field, a semi is dumping a load of compost that has to be spread across three large plots, while three men use a pipe bender to make the skeletons of the hoop houses. The set up, Brown says, should take less than a week. Then, after the first three demonstration models are complete, Civic Works, the city's nonprofit youth-service organization, will build 20 more just beyond the football field. Located in the Herring Run watershed, Lake Clifton High has plenty of ground to spare.

The food grown in these greenhouses--all manner of vegetables and other produce--will be tended by students, educators, volunteers, and individuals training to be master gardeners. The food will be sold and distributed to schools, farmers' markets, and possibly through a CSA (community supported agriculture) that may be set up at Lake Clifton High.

If Real Food Farm is successful--and there's reason to believe it will be considering the success of a similar endeavor in the city called Great Kids Farm ("The New Meal," Feature, June 3)--it could mean the dawn of an agricultural economy within city limits that provides locally produced, fresh food to inner-city neighborhoods. The new greenhouses will offer learning opportunities for students, and if the effort takes off, it could also mean new "green" jobs for city residents.

Three days later, two of the hoop houses are finished. They are huge tunnels, 148 feet long by 20 feet wide. They're much like traditional glass greenhouses, only far less expensive--at $5,000 per house, they're priced at about one quarter of what a smaller glass greenhouses would cost. They're also greener, as they can operate without built-in electric fans and heaters. Inside tunnel number one, it's hot and steamy--more than 20 degrees hotter than it is outside on a recent 68-degree day. Brown demonstrates the house's venting system, which works by spreading overlapping plastic sections open, letting in refreshing gusts of cool autumn air.

"The beauty to this hoop house is that it's extremely simple," Brown says. "Everything can be off a little, it's flexible. So repairs are super easy."

The technology behind the hoop houses comes from Europe, says Tom Handwerker, director of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore's Small Farm Institute, who Brown refers to as the hoop-house guru. Handwerker, who's been working with Real Food Farm, not only brought the technology, he also brought a construction crew--his friends who agreed to work for free.

"I've been able to travel all over the world. This is technology I'm bringing from . . . Madrid, Paris, London," he says, adding that Real Food Farm "should be pulling [its] first crops within six weeks--and this is in the winter. What they'll do is they'll shift as the season shifts so you get the most energy-rich, nutrient-dense foods that are available without needing the heating and cooling. This is very petroleum-free."

"All of the food grown in here, which is going to be spinach, lettuces, cold crops for the fall, are going to be going directly to the kids," Brown adds. "The city school system has agreed to buy our first harvest.""This is a great day for city schools," says Tyler Brown, the 24-year-old project... more