tagged w/ Local Farms
-
"It is no longer news that a few powerful corporations have literally occupied the vast majority of human sustenance. The situation is perilous: nearly all of human food production, seeds, food processing and sales, is run by a handful of for-profit firms which, like any capitalist enterprise, function to maximize profit and gain ever-greater market share and control. The question has become: What do we do about this disastrous alignment of pure profit in something so basic and fundamental to human survival?""It is no longer news that a few powerful corporations have literally occupied... more
-
-
We often assume the only way to feed the world's rapidly growing human population is with large-scale industrial agriculture. Many would argue that genetically altering food crops is also necessary to produce large enough quantities on smaller areas to feed the world's people.
But recent scientific research is challenging those assumptions. Our global approaches to agriculture are critical. To begin, close to one billion people are malnourished and many more are finding it difficult to feed their families as food prices increase. But is large-scale industrial farming the answer?
Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation editorial and communications specialist Ian Hanington.
Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.We often assume the only way to feed the world's rapidly growing human population... more
-
-
Is organic food really more expensive than non-organic? Not if you factor in associated costs of the industrial food complex (health care costs related to poor diet, cost of fossil fuels for massive distribution networks...). OneDegreeTV visits Tom Stearns to discuss the "real cost of better foods."
If you're eating organic food in the U.S., there's a good chance it started here, at High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont.Is organic food really more expensive than non-organic? Not if you factor in... more
-
-
by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
Last week, environmentalists and food advocates warily welcomed the news that Walmart plans to expand its local, sustainable food program. The company announced it would double its sales of locally grown food by 2015 and, in new markets, would source from small and midsized producers. Given Walmart’s market share, this announcement is generally understood to be a positive development for the sustainable food movement.
Sustainable food, however, has grown beyond the dictum to eat simply locally and organically grown food. Farms have sprung up on rooftops, home canning of fruits and vegetables has taken off, and composting is de rigueur. A common thread runs through this movement, one with a long tradition in American life—a preference for self-reliance.
“Independence is for Neanderthals”
In her new book, The Resilient Gardener, Chelsea Green author Carol Deppe writes about her garden not just as a local, sustainable source of food, but as a tool for building a sustainable community.
“The resilient gardener knows we have our ups and downs, as individuals, families, societies, and as a species,” she says. “The resilient garden is designed and managed so that when things go wrong, they have less impact.”
Deppe argues that growing staple crops like potatoes, corn, beans, and squash, and learning how to store vegetables and save seeds will help communities thrive, even in times of erratic climates.
“I aim for appropriate self-reliance, not for independence,” she says. “Independence is for Neanderthals.”
Communal eating
Yes! Magazine’s Vicki Robin has been feeding herself only with produce from a friend’s farm and a handful of other necessities sourced within a 10-mile radius of her home—which is on an island in Washington State. She’s been documenting her “10-mile diet” since the beginning of September, and as it came to a close in early October, she wrote: “The overall news is that we are actually on our way to at least partial food self sufficiency on the island, and could get closer with some changes—if we eat what we can grow here and not insist on what cannot grow here….”
From the farm to the city
For Robin, eating locally often meant eating food grown by neighbors. For city-dwellers, “local” is much more flexible. In New York City, for instance, local food at the city’s Greenmarkets can come from more than two hundred miles away, as farmers make weekly drives from upstate New York, Vermont, or southern New Jersey.
Although urban farms have drawn attention as a innovative solution for localizing food production, no one is arguing that a city could feed itself entirely from its rooftops or empty lots. It may not even be wise to dedicate large chunks of city space to agriculture, as Daniel Nairn argues at Grist: Cities need to be dense to promote energy efficiency. Jason Mark, editor of the Earth Island Journal, also writes at Change.org that most urban farms, so far, are not supporting themselves financially.
Sustained by subsidies
For American agriculture across the board, subsidies are a key to financial sustainability. The USDA has funded the growth of corn and soy megafarms in the Midwest, and earnings from outside jobs supplement the incomes of many small or midsized farmers. So far, outside support for urban agriculture has come primarily from private foundations, although earlier this year Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced a bill that would create an Office of Urban Agriculture within the federal agriculture department.
Still, increasing outside funding for urban agriculture may not be the key to sustaining it. “The question of whether farms can become self-sufficient has major implications for the larger drive to create a green economy,” Mark writes. For the green economy to work, it has to be self-reliant.
Mark highlights Dig Deep Farm in the suburbs of San Francisco, CA, as an example.
“To reach profitability, we have to reach a lot of people,” Hank Herrera, one of the farm’s owners, told Mark. “Our goal is to have enough productivity to reach scale, to have the poundage to really feed people.”
To that end, Herrera and his partner, Abeni Ramsey, are looking for more corners of land in the vicinity of their farm to convert into growing space.
Farm ecosystems
Communities sustained by good food practices extend beyond humans to the natural ecosystem of worms and insects that lives in the dirt, helping to enrich and clean it. As Sara Rubin writes at Campus Progress, “A farmer attentive to natural systems will often rejoice over a handful of soil packed with the tiny squirmers, but mostly because it’s packed with microscopic critters, too. An entire ecosystem of beneficial fungi and bacteria and tiny insects can be active below the soil surface.”
That community of underground wrigglers contributes to the resilience of human communities, too. Healthy bugs and bacteria crowd out dangerous pathogens that have led to food-related outbreaks of salmonella, for instance, in the past few years.
Environmentalists should welcome Walmart’s new-found dedication to local foods. It shows that the first battle for a sustainable food system has been won, freeing up time and energy to develop new, exciting projects that will ultimately strengthen communities, not corporations.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the environment by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Mulch for a complete list of articles on environmental issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Pulse, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
Last week, environmentalists and food... more
-
-
by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
Last week, environmentalists and food advocates warily welcomed the news that Walmart plans to expand its local, sustainable food program. The company announced it would double its sales of locally grown food by 2015 and, in new markets, would source from small and midsized producers. Given Walmart’s market share, this announcement is generally understood to be a positive development for the sustainable food movement.
Sustainable food, however, has grown beyond the dictum to eat simply locally and organically grown food. Farms have sprung up on rooftops, home canning of fruits and vegetables has taken off, and composting is de rigueur. A common thread runs through this movement, one with a long tradition in American life—a preference for self-reliance.
“Independence is for Neanderthals”
In her new book, The Resilient Gardener, Chelsea Green author Carol Deppe writes about her garden not just as a local, sustainable source of food, but as a tool for building a sustainable community.
“The resilient gardener knows we have our ups and downs, as individuals, families, societies, and as a species,” she says. “The resilient garden is designed and managed so that when things go wrong, they have less impact.”
Deppe argues that growing staple crops like potatoes, corn, beans, and squash, and learning how to store vegetables and save seeds will help communities thrive, even in times of erratic climates.
“I aim for appropriate self-reliance, not for independence,” she says. “Independence is for Neanderthals.”
Communal eating
Yes! Magazine’s Vicki Robin has been feeding herself only with produce from a friend’s farm and a handful of other necessities sourced within a 10-mile radius of her home—which is on an island in Washington State. She’s been documenting her “10-mile diet” since the beginning of September, and as it came to a close in early October, she wrote: “The overall news is that we are actually on our way to at least partial food self sufficiency on the island, and could get closer with some changes—if we eat what we can grow here and not insist on what cannot grow here….”
From the farm to the city
For Robin, eating locally often meant eating food grown by neighbors. For city-dwellers, “local” is much more flexible. In New York City, for instance, local food at the city’s Greenmarkets can come from more than two hundred miles away, as farmers make weekly drives from upstate New York, Vermont, or southern New Jersey.
Although urban farms have drawn attention as a innovative solution for localizing food production, no one is arguing that a city could feed itself entirely from its rooftops or empty lots. It may not even be wise to dedicate large chunks of city space to agriculture, as Daniel Nairn argues at Grist: Cities need to be dense to promote energy efficiency. Jason Mark, editor of the Earth Island Journal, also writes at Change.org that most urban farms, so far, are not supporting themselves financially.
Sustained by subsidies
For American agriculture across the board, subsidies are a key to financial sustainability. The USDA has funded the growth of corn and soy megafarms in the Midwest, and earnings from outside jobs supplement the incomes of many small or midsized farmers. So far, outside support for urban agriculture has come primarily from private foundations, although earlier this year Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced a bill that would create an Office of Urban Agriculture within the federal agriculture department.
Still, increasing outside funding for urban agriculture may not be the key to sustaining it. “The question of whether farms can become self-sufficient has major implications for the larger drive to create a green economy,” Mark writes. For the green economy to work, it has to be self-reliant.
Mark highlights Dig Deep Farm in the suburbs of San Francisco, CA, as an example.
“To reach profitability, we have to reach a lot of people,” Hank Herrera, one of the farm’s owners, told Mark. “Our goal is to have enough productivity to reach scale, to have the poundage to really feed people.”
To that end, Herrera and his partner, Abeni Ramsey, are looking for more corners of land in the vicinity of their farm to convert into growing space.
Farm ecosystems
Communities sustained by good food practices extend beyond humans to the natural ecosystem of worms and insects that lives in the dirt, helping to enrich and clean it. As Sara Rubin writes at Campus Progress, “A farmer attentive to natural systems will often rejoice over a handful of soil packed with the tiny squirmers, but mostly because it’s packed with microscopic critters, too. An entire ecosystem of beneficial fungi and bacteria and tiny insects can be active below the soil surface.”
That community of underground wrigglers contributes to the resilience of human communities, too. Healthy bugs and bacteria crowd out dangerous pathogens that have led to food-related outbreaks of salmonella, for instance, in the past few years.
Environmentalists should welcome Walmart’s new-found dedication to local foods. It shows that the first battle for a sustainable food system has been won, freeing up time and energy to develop new, exciting projects that will ultimately strengthen communities, not corporations.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the environment by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Mulch for a complete list of articles on environmental issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Pulse, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
Last week, environmentalists and food... more
-
-
"As we enter into autumn, it's time to start harvesting all the delicious fruits and vegetables that have been growing all summer. Even if you didn't raise a garden this year, you can harvest fruits and vegetables for the freshest fare possible thanks to small farms that open their crops up for do-it-yourself gathering.
What is a Pick-Your-Own Farm?
A pick-your-own farm is what it states: a local farm that allows visitors to come in, walk the rows, and collect their own fruits and vegetables fresh off the vine, tree, bush and so on. You can gather up exactly the produce that looks best to you, in just the amounts you want."
The article explains five reasons to visit a pick-your-own farm:
-You're Supporting Local Farmers
-Kids Learn About Where Food Comes From
-You Get The Freshest Possible Food for the Fewest Miles
-The Farms Are Often Organic
-It's Simply Fun!
Go to the link to read more about each one of these reasons.
Here is the link to find your local farm:
PickYourOwn.org.
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/"As we enter into autumn, it's time to start harvesting all the delicious... more
-
-
"When consumers buy something organic, often they’re also buying into the picture on the package—the cow grazing in a bucolic pasture or a farmer gathering goods by hand from a small field.
Yet as the market for organic and natural foods has dramatically increased over the past few decades, and large megastores like Walmart and Costco have gotten into the organic business, the open fields and small farms have given way to factories and feedlots. “Industrial organic” seems like an oxymoron, but as large corporations acquire or control small brands, organic production has had to rise to the challenge. And that means mass production.
The organic label still requires that foods are grown without synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides, hormones, and fertilizers, and for the most part, this is better for the environment. But it also means that some of the ideals of the organic movement—eating seasonally and locally, fair treatment for workers, and small-scale production—are almost unheard of when it comes to supplying for the masses.
To meet the demand for organic goods, many of the large producers must import their goods from around the world, calling into question the environmental practices of many organic brands.
I like to support small companies and producers, but it can be hard to tell which companies genuinely are small, and which are simply subsidiaries of larger companies. A useful chart put together by Phil Howard, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, helped me to decipher who owns whom."
End of excerpt.
Very informative and a bit disappointing, Colgate owns Tom's of maine, Kraft owns Back to nature which also owns Philip Morris and more of this list at the article.
Like the article says:"large scale doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve changed their product or commitment to being organic..."
if you can support local, small organic farms which saves food miles, is better for the environment and saves you from bad surprises that challenge your ethics.
Join Organic, restoring Nature's balance and health:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/"When consumers buy something organic, often they’re also buying into the... more
-
-
Area fine-dining restaurants are embracing a new service that brings them garden-fresh, locally produced fruits and vegetables without damaging their bottom line. “The onions are so sweet they taste like candy,” enthused Molinari’s server Mindy Clause, explaining a smoked chicken and onion pizzette appetizer special to a customer on a recent evening.
Her boss, Molinari’s owner, Randal Johnson, is one of several area chefs working with Fresh Fork Market, a service aimed at connecting farmers with restaurateurs.
“We order two days before it’s delivered. It’s harvested and delivered within just a few hours,” said Johnson, who taste tests his shipment when it arrives.
Fresh Fork Market, which serves only restaurants, originated last year in a competition between eight Ohio schools at an entrepreneurship consortium.
“We won the challenge and went back to school to fine tune our ideas,” explained Trevor Clatterbuck, who graduated in the spring from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in business management. His classmates and partners in the effort are Bob Gavlak, supplier relations; Matt Suzugyi, operations manager; and Kyle Napierkowsi, bookkeeper.
The men designed a Web site and signed a couple of dozen farms to list their produce. Each farm describes its produce, including details like whether it’s organic, and has the option of adding photos of what they grow. The chefs order directly from the Web site or by phone. Their just-harvested orders are picked up from the farms by Fresh Fork vans and delivered to the restaurants three times a week. Fresh Fork keeps no inventory.
“I am a Fresh Fork fanatic,” said Richy Cunningham, chef at Sara’s Place in Gates Mills. “For a lot of reasons, people these days are much more interested in eating local and supporting the local economy. Our customers are loving it.”
Cunningham said he’s getting green beans, lettuce, eggplants and other items grown within 50 miles of his restaurant and harvested hours before being delivered.
More at link >>Area fine-dining restaurants are embracing a new service that brings them... more
-
-
Nettle
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
