Take a Bite out of Climate Change » Organic Food & Farming

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Challenging the Supremacy of the Supermarket

Topics:: Blog, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming

Friday, February 5th, 2010, 1:40 PM

Check it out! The UK village of Martin is now producing enough food to feed most of its residents.

The community-based cooperative, called FutureFarms, was the brainchild of Nick Snelgar who organized the first village meeting in 2003. Today, FutureFarms grows 45 types of vegetables and raises free-range animals and is well on the way to helping the village be completely self-sufficient in food.

Makes you realize the power that people have at the grassroots level to make real changes to the food system.

- Kate

Year of Urban Ag Kicks off in Seattle

Topics:: Blog, Food Policy & Politics, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming, Urban Agriculture & Community Gardening

Friday, February 5th, 2010, 1:39 PM

Exciting times for the sustainable food movement in Seattle.

Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Councilmembers just announced a campaign to promote urban agriculture and increase community access to locally grown food.

Dubbed “The Year of Urban Agriculture,” the initiative comes with it’s own nifty web portal, chock full of information and resources and events going on throughout the year.

This campaign comes out of efforts around Seattle City Council Resolution 31019–the Local Food Action Initiative–which was passed in April 2008 and outlined actions to promote local and regional food sustainability and security.

We’re excited that Anna is headed to Seattle for a stop on the DHP book tour. We look forward to meeting the folks behind the policies and no doubt it will be inspiring to be on the ground in a place where so much exciting work is taking place.

–Kate

One More Reason to Eat Local: It’s the Economy, Stupid

Topics:: Blog, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming

Friday, February 5th, 2010, 1:36 PM

One question that comes up when we talk about increasing local food production is: will it boost the local economy and create good jobs? New research from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture shows that it could.

Researchers looked at 10 counties in southwest Iowa and found that increasing fruit and vegetable production could bring “an additional $2.67 million in labor income and the equivalent of 45 farm-level jobs to the region” during Iowa’s typical growing season. Pretty impressive.

This is the kind of research the sustainable, local food movement really needs to push new policies and initiatives forward.

– Kate

“What’s on Your Plate?” Coming to national TV this February 7, 2010!

Topics:: Blog, Food Policy & Politics, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming, Take a Bite News & Events

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010, 10:00 AM

“What’s On Your Plate?” is a new food doc following two eleven-year-old New Yorkers as they explore their place in the food chain. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates.

I had a great time participating in the film—talking with the girls in front of the camera and hanging out behind the camera on the advisory team—and can’t wait to watch the national screening on Sunday, February 7th.

Check it out and join us in the “What’s on Your Plate?” Family Cook-In! to accompany the screening.

Here’s a great toolkit to help you plan a screening and cook-in event:

Indian Farmers in Crisis– Great Reporting on the Green Revolution

Topics:: Biotechnology, Blog, Food Policy & Politics, Organic Food & Farming

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009, 12:36 PM

Read/watch this two-part series by NPR, which illustrates the current crisis facing Indian farmers.

Veteran NPR journalist Daniel Zwerdling gives a brief history of the Green Revolution, which encouraged Indian farmers in the ’60’s and ’70’s to abandon traditional farming methods in favor of input-responsive seeds, that were high-yielding when combined with high levels of chemical use and heavy water irrigation.

According to Zwerdling, “Government studies show that farmers have pumped so much groundwater to irrigate their crops that the water table is dropping dramatically, as much as 3 feet every year… [So farmers] keep hiring the drilling company to come back to their fields, to bore the wells ever deeper…” The soil is being gradually destroyed by the drilling and salt levels. The costs of drilling, and remedying the damage that’s been done, is incredibly expensive– prohibitive, in fact, for many Indian farmers, who are already overwhelmed by their debt and are struggling to support their families.

Read the article and share your thoughts. You can find more resources in the Oakland Institute’s Voices from Africa report or in Vandana Shiva’s writings– both share examples for how we can build solutions in the wake of the Green Revolution.

–Deepa

The Oakland Institute Launches “Voices From Africa”

Topics:: Blog, Food Industry News & Trends, Food Policy & Politics, Hunger & Food Crisis, Organic Food & Farming

Friday, April 10th, 2009, 4:21 PM

The Oakland Institute has created an new online community called Voices From Africa, a supplement to the report on alternatives to the New Green Revolution in Africa. The Oakland Institute Reporter describes Voices from Africa as “a new online clearinghouse to share information on and promote alternatives to the New Green Revolution in Africa. Featuring articles, press releases, commentary, and reports from African NGOs and partner organizations and individuals around the world, Voices from Africa is set up as an interactive web community and will also serve as a resource for media and policy makers to hear the perspective of the African civil society groups on plans for a New Green Revolution in Africa.”

Join the Voices From Africa community today.

Members will be able to create their own account, access articles and documents on these issues, participate in forums, and strategize with policy-makers, activists and other stakeholders from all over the globe. Make your voice heard in this critical debate.

–Deepa

The World in 2101?

Topics:: Biotechnology, Blog, Food Industry News & Trends, Food Policy & Politics, Hunger & Food Crisis, Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:13 PM

The WorldWatch Institute has published a new report which investigates an “imagined future:” State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World highlights the potential fate of the planet if scientists, consumers, producers, and politicians act quickly and effectively now, in 2009, to combat the energy and climate change crises.

According WorldWatch, “The questions addressed in the State of the World 2009 are many: how do we adapt- not just as communities and nations, but as a species-to the warming that is headed our way, no matter what we do now? How will the world deal with the fact that the climate burden will fall heaviest on countries whose contributions to climate change have been the most modest? And even as we struggle to adapt, how does society maintain focus on slashing emissions to a pale shadow of their current levels?”

The report selects specific challenges (land use, energy, emissions, etc.) and proposes innovative alternatives. Some of the Innovations highlighted in the Land Use section are:
>> In Parana, Brazil, farmers have developed organic management systems combined with no-till. No-till plots yielded a third more wheat and soybean than conventional plowed plots and reduced soil erosion by up to 90 percent. (p. 36)
>> In 2005, a Pennsylvania dairy farm invested $1.14 million in a project to process the manure from 800 cows, using a digester and a combined heat and power unit. Now the farm makes a profit using biogas to generate 120 kilowatt-hours of electricity to sell back to the local utility. (p. 41)
>> Both India and China have large national programs to revegetate millions of hectares of forest and grasslands-seen as investments to reduce poverty and protect watersheds. (p. 44)
>> In Morocco, 34 pastoral cooperatives with more than 8,000 members rehabilitated and manage some 450,000 hectares of grazing reserves. (p. 44)
>> In Rajasthan, India, community-led watershed restoration programs have reinstated more than 5,000 traditional johads (rainwater storage tanks) in over 1,000 villages. (p. 44)
>> Some countries are redirecting subsidy payments to agri-environmental payments for ecosystem services, some of which explicitly include carbon storage and emissions reduction. (p. 46)

If you’re interested in reading more, download chapters or purchase a copy of this critical report here.

– Deepa

Lucas from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Addresses UN

Topics:: Blog, Food Policy & Politics, Organic Food & Farming

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009, 2:13 PM

Lucas Benitez, our good friend and ally from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, gave an inspired speech on behalf of farmworkers and laborers at the United Nations on First World United Justice Day on February 10, 2009.

In his speech, he suggested state interventions for aid to farmworkers, while emphasizing the ground-up approach that has made the Immokalee movement so powerful.

He advocated for the dignity and respect of farmworkers around the world, stating, “With this sort of practical and political support from elected leaders, consumers and the corporations that purchase produce will be able to demand a new product from the US agricultural industry — not just good, cheap, and safe food, but fair food, food that respects human rights and doesn’t exploit human beings.

Food is at the very heart of any society. The workers who plant, pick, and pack food throughout the US — and around the world — have yet to receive the respect and honor they so deserve. generations of poverty and degradation. On this day, the very first World Social Justice Day, let us recognize the fundamental dignity of farm labor and the men and women who put the food on our tables.”

Read the entire speech and support the Coalition’s work here.

– Deepa

The Attack on Organic Agriculture–or the more things change, the more they stay the same

Topics:: Biofuels, Biotechnology, Blog, Organic Food & Farming

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009, 3:07 PM

As the new year turned, and Obama’s transition team developed their plan for the agriculture team, George McGovern and Marshall Matz, both now on the board of the World Food Program, weighed in with an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, parroting many of the claims about industrial ag and its pseudo-benefits we’ve been hearing (and debunking) for years.

read their op-ed here and my response below. While my letter to the editor didn’t make it into print, one by George Naylor from the National Family Farming Coalition did.

Dear Editors:
Thank you for your coverage of the Agriculture Secretary nominee (“Agriculture’s next big challenge” January 4, 2009), but the authors mislead your readers about the real costs of the “commercial agriculture” they claim the new Secretary should celebrate.

Industrial agriculture will lessen–not improve–our ability to feed ourselves and foster sustainable rural communities, especially in the face of a climate unstable future. Organic agriculture, on the other hand, is proving to foster more resilient crops and to sequester greater levels of carbon in the soil.

The authors also claim that industrial agriculture is “key in our becoming less dependent on foreign oil,” while in reality this system of farming does the opposite: Because industrial agriculture is addicted to manmade fertilizers, which require significant natural gas to produce, we are increasingly dependent on imports from countries with natural gas reserves. Organic agriculture, on the other hand, releases us from our foreign oil dependence in the food sector by eliminating our addiction to petroleum-based chemicals and manmade fertilizer.

Finally, the authors perpetuate the myth that organic agriculture cannot feed the world, when new research, including a multi-year study from the University of Michigan, has shown that shifting toward organic agriculture can actually increase yields overall, while creating auxiliary benefits like cleaner water and safer fields for our farm workers and farmers.

Sincerely,
Anna Lappé
Oakland, California

NY Farmers Calendar

Topics:: Blog, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:25 AM

As we move closer to a new year, and get into the holiday spirit, consider gifting one of these beautiful calendars featuring local farmers in New York’s Columbia County. All the profits will benefit farm-to-table education for urban children. This is a great way to celebrate local farmers, raise awareness, and fundraise for children’s education.

Michigan Goes Green

Topics:: Blog, Hunger & Food Crisis, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming, Urban Agriculture & Community Gardening

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008, 11:13 AM

Just got word about this cool new initiative out of Michigan…

The state’s governor recently launched Garden for Growth which allows residents to use “tax-reverted” (aka, unusued, abandoned, overgrown) properties to create community gardens–bringing crunchy, fresh, organic, healthy foods into the heart of the state’s urban communities. Gardeners and curious urbanites can lease vacant lots without the cost burden, and if they are successful, they can decide to purchase their plot to create a permanent garden.

Maybe other states will get inspired by this creative idea for re-zoning urban areas, to ensure greater community access to fresh, healthy foods.

To learn more click here.

Food Fighters in the New York Times

Topics:: Blog, Hunger & Food Crisis, Organic Food & Farming, Take a Bite News & Events

Friday, October 10th, 2008, 9:11 AM

It’s a funny feeling to wake up and, while perusing the homepage of The New York Times , stumble on what feels like your family — pics and profiles of some of the “food fighters” in the movement afoot for healthy, sustainable food for everyone.

Among the people profiled (including Bryant and me) are my dear friends who started Maverick Farms in North Carolina. The crew of Maverick Farms have created one of the most special spots in the country, and the weekend I spent there on the Grub tour was one of the highlights of my whole book jaunt. After a delicious dinner made with freshly picked everything, a reading from passages in Grub, and a rousing tour de force by Molly on the old baby grand in the corner of hte living room, we all nestled down to watch Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers on a sheet hanging down the wall. I remember falling asleep full of wine, good conversation, and sore muscles from time down on the farm: a formula for a good night’s rest.

Other profiles include workers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers who we’re excited to be bringing to New York City for our special end-of-the-year fundraiser on the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

Also, Severine, the awesome force behind Greenhorns, has a great pic and the most impressive fridge.

Check them all out here.

An outtake from our photo shoot on Added Value’s Community Farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

What’s On Your Plate?

Topics:: Local Food, Organic Food & Farming, Take a Bite News & Events

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008, 1:44 PM

Elizabeth, Latham, Bryant, Ludie, and me at the What’s On Your Plate? documentary film wrap dinner.

Community Food and Climate Change Solutions

Topics:: Blog, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008, 12:14 PM

Here at the CFSC conference at a panel on community food solutions to climate change. Heard from Deb Habib from Seeds of Solidarity, a vibrant family farm in Massachusetts. Her farm is completely solar and people powered. No fossil fuel powered machines for Deb.

“Is there enough? We always hear that question,” Deb said. “Of course there is. We on my farm are completely reliant on, and powered on, the sun. And the Earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the planet uses in energy in a whole year.”

Her message of abundance, if we tap into nature, is the message we need to hear. It’s the good news about nature’s ability to be resilient and that will help us address our growing climate crisis.

Let’s Cultivate the Web: Farmers, Feeders, and Food Movement Friends

Topics:: Blog, Hunger & Food Crisis, Organic Food & Farming

Monday, September 15th, 2008, 12:51 PM

One of our favorite go-to’s for advice on eating locally, The Eat Well Guide, has published a book!

This may seem a little unexpected from an organization that thrives online, but Cultivating the Web: High Tech Tools for the Sustainable Food Movement brings the online bounty of the sustainable food movement into your hands.

Always with a finger on the pulse, our trusted friends over at Eat Well have pulled together a compendium of go-to resources, whether you’re a city dweller or a country mouse.

Consult Cultivating the Web for blogs for your daily digest, websites for organizations to watch, even strategies for mapping your local food route for your next road trip. For those looking to dive into the local food movement, there’s an inviting section on how to make the most of social networking sites, infiltrate the masses with homemade web videos, start a blog, or create a Flickr account to draw your audience into the movement. And, for those who are daunted by tech tools and gadgets, there’s a glossary.

We’re in this work to fix a broken food system together, and thanks to the Eat Well team, movers and shakers all of them, our voice just got a little louder. You’re just a click away. Move your mouse to www.eatwellguide.org to download your copy today.

–Jeanne and Anna

A Brief Romp through a History of Rural Development

Topics:: Blog, Food Industry News & Trends, Organic Food & Farming

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, 10:09 PM

Jieun, our interpreter, me, and Professor Jin-do Park

For our first meeting, we visit Jin-do Park in his offices near Chungnam National University.

Jin-do Park has worked for more than three decades as an economist on rural development in South Korea. Under the last President, Jin-do Park was an advisor to the national government on agricultural policy, before being so frustrated he started his own institute and regional development foundation, the Korea Regional Development Foundation.

“When I came out of university in the 1970s,” Jin-do Park explained, “Korea was still a rural society.” Nearly 60 percent of the population lived in rural areas. 40 percent of the country’s GDP was from agriculture. In just one generation, the massive push for industrialization has transformed the country.

Today, less than 7 percent of Koreans are farmers and just under 15 percent live in rural areas. One-quarter of South Koreans live in the city of Seoul. Not surprisingly, nearly 100 percent of ingredients for the processed foods most Koreans eat come from outside the country’s borders.

So, I think, if South Korea can renew its countryside, can reknit the farmer and consumer connection, than any of us can.

Hitting the Road: Farmers Movements in South Korea

Topics:: Blog, Organic Food & Farming, Take a Bite News & Events

Monday, August 18th, 2008, 11:22 AM

I’m rushing out the door to the airport — via my trusty local Arecibo car service — where I will hitch a ride to South Korea. I’m headed first to a conference on engagement put on by the Korean publishers of Hope’s Edge and then to Seoul where I will meet with members of a global farmers movement, La Via Campesina, whose work embodies what they call “cool farming” and an alternative to fossil-fuel addicted farming.

I’ll be posting as much as I can from the road, in the meantime, check out the travels of our friends over at the WHO Project (that’d be White House Organic Project) who are jumping on board their veggie-oil-powered bus and winding their way across the country to meet up with the crowds gathering for Slow Food Nation!

Now, before I miss that plane… signing off.

Tasting Pavillion at Slow Food Nation

Topics:: Blog, Organic Food & Farming, Take a Bite News & Events

Friday, August 15th, 2008, 6:54 PM

The line up for the highly-anticipated Green Kitchen at the fast-approaching Slow Food Nation has been released! Chefs from the famous French Laundry and Chez Panisse, as well as authors and cooks from around the world, will take turns demonstrating their savvy skills at the Taste Pavillion at Fort Mason.

On Sunday, August 31, you can catch Anna’s co-author, the culinary maestro Bryant Terry, make his own edible contribution to this landmark tasting event. Check out Eater San Francisco’s coverage of the full line up here.

Bryant and Anna will sign copies of Grub after the cooking demo.

–Jeanne

Michael Pollan at P.F.1 Tonight!

Topics:: Blog, Food Industry News & Trends, Food Policy & Politics, Organic Food & Farming

Friday, August 8th, 2008, 1:14 PM

Want to check out one of New York City’s coolest art museums, the city’s latest urban farm, and see Michael Pollan talk all in one night? Well, tonight is your night: In collaboration with The Horticultural Society of New York, Michael Pollan, will be speaking tonight at P.F.1 (Public Farm One) in Long Island City’s P.S.1, Queens.

The urban farm installation will serve as a mouth-watering backdrop for Pollan, author of most recently In Defense of Food, who will talk about the importance of seeing the world from a “plant’s point of view.”

Ground-Breaking Lecture from Nobel Prize Winner on Diet and Climate

Topics:: Food Policy & Politics, Meat Industry, Organic Food & Farming

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008, 11:31 AM

We were so excited to learn that Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC and joint-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will deliver the Compassion in World Farming’s annual Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture, named after the organization’s founder, this September, in London.

In the talk, “Global Warming: The Impact of Meat Production and Consumption on Climate Change,” Pachauri will focus on industrial farming’s impact on the environment and the impact of our industrialized diet on climate.

In London in September? Get your tickets now: here.

You can read more about the impact of agriculture on climate change in CIWF’s report ‘Global Warning: Climate change and Farm Animal Welfare.’

We’ll report more in September!

P.F. 1: A Farm Grows in Queens

Topics:: Blog, Local Food, Organic Food & Farming

Friday, August 1st, 2008, 10:20 AM

If you are in New York and you haven’t had a chance to check out P.F. 1 (Public Farm 1), I suggest you get there quickly to behold the wonders of a project that introduces sustainable urban farming to sustainable architecture. Housed in the courtyard of P.S. 1 in Long Island City, WORK Architecture’s P.F. 1 is the winning project of the museum’s 2008 Young Architects Program. The farm itself is a “folded plane” made of cardboard tubes that serve as a base for produce and plants to grow from. The structure is built out of entirely recycled materials, is completely solar powered, and uses captured rain water in its irrigation system. Revelers at P.S. 1’s legendary summer Saturday Warm Up party dance beneath the shade of the columns, admiring the potted herbs and ripening peppers “creating a sense of community around the shared experience of growing food.” In my experience, fresh produce makes people pretty happy, and if a farm can grow in Queens, maybe one can grow on your fire escape too. –Jeanne

P.F. 1 planters

The planters on the farm

Patrons of the party mingle at the farm

Patrons of the Warm Up party mingle at the farm

Come out, get your produce on

Organic Valley’s Kickapoo Country Fair

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming, Take a Bite News & Events

Thursday, July 31st, 2008, 6:12 AM

We had an amazing time over the weekend in La Farge, Wisconsin at the Organic Valley country fair.

If you don’t know ‘em, Organic Valley is one of the most successful stories of cooperation in this county. Started in 1988 with seven visionary Wisconsin farmers, Organic Valley now boasts 127 produce farmers, 937 dairy farm families, 146 beef, 87 egg, and 26 pork producers, 14 juice and 12 soy producers, and 3 poultry growers.

Pretty amazing for a rag-tag group of young farmers!

This was the coops 20th anniversary and the fifth time they invited the local (and not-so-local) community to celebrate organic family farming.

Here are some pics from the weekend, including a shot of Viroqua Food Coop. If you ever find yourself two and a half hours from Madison and in need of a good meal, head to the coop and stay at the lovely Viroqua Heritage Inn B&B.

Workshop with Frances Moore Lappé at Organic Valley

We the Farmers Bus

Viroqua Food Coop

Sunflower Biodiesel Demonstration

Proud to be a Farmer

Organic Valley Festival

Obama Poster at Organic Valley Festival

Visiting New Forest Farms

Topics:: Forests, Organic Food & Farming

Monday, July 28th, 2008, 9:25 PM

Mark Shepard of New Forest Farms

Rosehips

Back in the Saddle

Topics:: Blog, Forests, Organic Food & Farming

Friday, July 11th, 2008, 8:53 AM

I returned to the U.S. with images of 18-course G8 Summit dinners swimming in my head and the food price crisis continuing seemingly unabated. [See my mother, Frances Moore Lappe, on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman breaking it down.]

I also returned to read my colleague, farmer Jim Goodman’s, powerful reporting on the floods that swept through his community. [Read his diary at Living La Vida Locavore from Daily Kos blogger Jill Richardson.]

Meanwhile, though mainstream papers like the Financial Times are calling for a moratorium on corn-based ethanol, our country’s headlong rush and multi-billion financing of this environmental and social blunder continues unabated. [I talk about this with some esteemed colleagues and media heroine Laura Flanders on Grit.tv. Check out the conversation on Grit.tv and let us know what you think!]

Day One: Climate Change Insights

Topics:: Blog, Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, June 19th, 2008, 7:27 AM

Here in Modena the sun is out and the mellow town streets are filled with people — young and old, businessmen and teens — many biking casually down the tree-lined bike paths. (Maybe some of them are even riding the free bikes the city makes available to anyone who wants ‘em and I’m wondering why t American cities haven’t figured out how to be so livable?)

In case it was still unclear to me, I really knew I was at a different kind of conference when our box lunches included hunks of parmesan (we’re near the home of the stuff–Parma), mini bottles of the best balsamic vinegar I’ve ever had (also a specialty of the region), and spelt pasta with sprigs of fresh mint and basil. (All organic, of course). Plus, the beautiful green boxes, and the seemingly plastic containers inside of them, were all made from recyclable materials.

I spent most of today at a special session with experts from around the world presenting some of the most recent evidence about the adaptation and mitigation benefits of organic farming for climate change.

From Claude Aubert of the Association of French Members of IFOAM, we heard about the comparative energy intensity of industrial versus organic animal production. His estimate? Producing 1kg of “conventional” lamb emits thirty times more greenhouse gas emissions than producing the same amount of protein in organic soy.

Paul Hepperly, of the Rodale Institute, shared some of the Institute’s research measuring how much more energy is required in industrial agriculture in the production of synthetic fertilizer compared with the climate-friendly sources of fertility for organic farming.

Tobias Bandel from Soil & More International presented his firm’s initiative to create a system of carbon credits for compost made from green waste. Because compost decreases the methane that would otherwise be emitted from waste and because compost adds fertility to the soil allowing farmers to eschew greenhouse gas emitting fertilizer, Soil & More has been able to secure carbon credits for their composting process. Among its other big customers, Soil & More works with Cape Town to compost 70,000 pounds of municipal green waste a day, transforming it into high-quality compost. Not only does this process save the city money, because it cuts down on the waste the city has to deal with, but the compost saves the city in another way: Cape Town had been importing its compost; now it’s making its own.

Greetings from Modena, Italy!

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008, 8:34 AM

It’s not supposed to be rainy this time of year in Modena, Italy (about an hour outside of Bologna), but it has been for weeks and it was when we arrived yesterday afternoon.

As many of the farmers have already mentioned here at the 16th annual International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, climate change isn’t just something you read about in books: You see it in your fields. One old friend I bumped into here described the fields of wheat she saw surrounding the roads on the way into town yesterday. The muggy weather and the rain has bent the stalks so much it looks as if elephants had sat down in the middle of the fields.

Last night an opening ceremony began for this gathering of people from more than 70 countries in Modena’s beautiful town square. The mayor and the provincial leader of this region of Italy greeted us, singing the praises of organic agriculture and small-scale farming. (I tried to imagine their U.S.-equivalents doing the same).

This morning, in a high-ceilinged white tent, with at least 700 others, I listened as Vandana Shiva, Carlo Petrini (founder of Slow Food) and others described IFOAM’s four tenets of Care, Ecology, Health, and Fairness. This afternoon, I’m heading to the second half of a workshop series on climate change and agriculture.

Good Farm Movement

Topics:: Blog, Organic Food & Farming

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008, 1:52 PM

A picture is worth a thousand words, so think the folks over at the Good Farm Movement.

Organic Farming & Carbon Sequestration

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, May 15th, 2008, 5:56 PM

A really great interview with Rodale Institute’s Timothy LaSalle on OnPoint about carbon sequestration and organic farming. A great follow up to our Q&A with him. I’m headed down to Rodale next week. Looking forward to seeing this for myself.

Farming: The Original Green Collar Job

Topics:: Food Policy & Politics, Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, April 24th, 2008, 12:33 PM

The candidates are overlooking the ultimate green-collar job
First posted on Grist.org | 22 Apr 2008
Amid the din of the Pennsylvania primary and Earth Day, it seems a fitting time to talk about where the Democratic candidates stand when it comes to Mother Earth. [more]

Yogis for a Sustainable Diet: Sharing a Message from Yoga Journal

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, April 24th, 2008, 9:29 AM

Yoga Journal takes on the Earth Day hype by offering its yoginis clear advice about how to make a difference when it comes to the food on your plate. See our site for more ideas.

Yogis for a Sustainable Diet

Amid all the hype surrounding Earth Day, a yogi can’t help but wonder how much he or she, acting individually, can make a difference. Of course, the answer is that every choice counts, including riding your bike to work, composting, recycling, and consuming less. However, the factor that can reduce your carbon footprint most dramatically is the choice that you make three times daily: what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

In a 2006 United Nations study, meat consumption was cited as one of the most significant factors in global warming: Scientists declared that raising animals for food is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector. And according to a 2005 University of Chicago study, adopting a vegetarian diet can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year. (In comparison, trading a standard car for a hybrid cuts about one ton.) Aside from the undeniable environmental benefits of eating such a diet, yogis may also consider the ahimsic benefits: A vegetarian diet spares the lives of more than 100 innocent beings per year.

This week, make a significant impact on your carbon footprint by establishing a plan to go veg several days a week (if not completely). Get guidance and some great recipes from this free Vegetarian Starter Kit from the editors of Vegetarian Times and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Patronize restaurants that tread lightly on the earth, or consider growing your own organic fruits and veggies in a backyard or rooftop garden. Finally, inspire us with your in-progress plans, or make a pledge to reduce your carbon footprint. Happy Earth Day!

Namaste,
Andrea Kowalski

UN to World: “No More Business as Usual”

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008, 9:25 AM

The UNESCO report released today includes some bold words.

“Business as usual is no longer an option,” says the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology.

In its review of the past fifty years of agricultural science and technology, the report authors–representing five United Nations agencies–conclude that though these innovations may have increased productivity, “the sharing of benefits has been far from equitable” and “progress has been achieved in many cases at a high social and environmental cost.”

Factor those costs into the “productivity” measurement and I would question whether it makes sense to use that word at all to describe the last half-century of industrial agriculture. After all, anything can be productive, depending on what you (and what you don’t) measure.

The report recommends that agricultural science place greater emphasis on safeguarding natural resources and on “agroecological” practices, such as using natural fertilizers and traditional seeds, intensifying natural processes and reducing the distance between agricultural production and the consumer.

Celebrating Organic Farmers: The New Climate Change Heroes

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Monday, April 14th, 2008, 9:50 AM

The last time I was at Gustavino’s for a fundraiser a waiter accidentally dumped a Filet Mignon on my back. This time around the experience was a little less harrowing and a lot more vegetarian.

The first-ever NOFA-NY fundraiser went off swimmingly with beautiful organic gardenias sprouting up from the center of the tables and 200 guests dining on an all-local, all-organic feast.

I got to trade organic enthusiasm with Ellen Gustafson and Lauren Bush–the minds behind the FEED bag, which enters Whole Foods with a bang this Earth Day–and talk about the importance of getting kids onto the land and into the garden with Lake Bell and Keisha Whitaker.

It was a kick to be on the luncheon panel with local chef Peter Hoffman, organic farming guru and poet Scott Chaskey, and holistic doctor Woody Merrel.

Kathy Lawrence, the opera-singing, Chinese-language teaching, perennial gardening, former Executive Director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and founder of Just Food, was there to pepper us with such easy questions as: What’s so wrong with our food system? And, can organic really feed the world?

You can hear emcee Christie Brinkley’s organic enthusiasm on this Entertainment Tonight segment taped on the fly at the event.

It was also great to see the enthusiasm for robust, organic farming. Plus, any chance I get to hear Christie Brinkley call Kathy Lawrence “Mother Nature’s BFF” is a good day.

Learn more about NOFA-NY and ways you can support their work, or find NOFA-NY sister organizations near you.

Helpful How-To’s from Howdini

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Thursday, April 10th, 2008, 10:35 PM

How To Tell If Packaged Food Is Organic:
Confused about what all those organic labels really mean?
I break it down for you.

How To Buy Eco-Friendly Local Foods:
Tips for reducing the distance from seed-to-plate.

If You Plant It (Organic), They Will Come: A Milestone in Certified Organic Acreage

Topics:: Organic Food & Farming

Saturday, April 5th, 2008, 12:19 PM

For more than a decade, organic food has been the fastest growing sector in the food industry. With billions in annual sales, organic is no longer hippie fringe; it’s downright mainstream. In response to mounting consumer demand for organic, organic farmers are increasing their acreage big time. California Certified Organic Farmers, one of the nation’s oldest third-party organic certifiers, just announced that it passed half a million certified acres and reported 129 percent growth in its certified organic acreage in just the last two years. With less than 2 percent of U.S. cropland is organic, we still have a long way to go, but at least we can toast this happy landmark!