Pennsylvania dairy farmer Brenda Cochran says, “The underlying crisis afflicting rural America–rural poverty–is a result of federal agriculture, dairy, food and trade policies that do not provide farmers a fair price–one that covers our costs of production. Farmers do not need NAFTA–we need a fair price–and…
By Michael Carolan, Colorado State University Name all the billion-dollar crops grown in the U.S. Midwest. The answer: Corn, soybeans and cranberries. Wait, what? Roughly 60 percent of the U.S. cranberry crop is produced in Wisconsin, generating close to US$1 billion in revenue and 4,000…
By Fair Farms Now Naturally Sunkissed Farm Finds their Groove through Trial and Error School teachers by day and regenerative farmers by night, Brett and Megan Hines haven’t followed a linear path to establish Naturally Sunkissed Farm. The young couple currently boasts a productive vegetable farm…
By Matt Agorist Wisconsin just quietly passed a bill that will allow farmers in the state to grow industrial hemp which will inevitably lead to economic growth and a hemp revolution. On April 2, 2009, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 was introduced in the…
By Karl Zimmerer, Pennsylvania State University One day last March I talked with Juliana and Elisa, a mother and daughter who farmed just outside the city of Huánuco, Peru. Although they had only one acre of land in this mountainous landscape, they grew dozens of…
By Heather Callaghan, Editor I stand with Michael Schmidt. I love him, a mass food freedom community loves him and I’m pretty sure our hundreds of thousands of readers love him. If you’ve seen his face before it was probably alongside a wine glass filled to the…
By Jason Erickson Apparently the right to feed yourself and your family is indeed not a fundamental one, as a Florida attorney previously declared. A longstanding battle between 17-year homeowners at the Village of Miami Shores, Tom Carroll and Hermine Ricketts, appears to have reached…
By Vic Bishop It’s tough to say when our societal values shifted so dramatically, but for some reason now, government at large has decided that charity for the homeless is a crime. In a society with such stunning abundance, efforts to feed the homeless are…
By Jessica Corbett “The fight for market share is achieved at the expense of the weakest links in the chain: farmers, and workers.” As the European Commission considers a proposed mega-merger between Bayer and Monsanto, new research published Tuesday illustrates how corporations are monopolizing the global food system—jeopardizing…
Can small-scale farming in the modern age really generate enough income for the average family to make an honest living? For Jean-Martin Fortier and his wife, Maude-Hélène Desroches, it does. The Canadian couple grows beets, broccoli, salad greens, carrots, and various other types of produce…
By Catherine J. Frompovich The food industry is extremely innovative at reducing waste products and salvaging any last bit of animal tissue aka meat. Transglutaminase is an animal-blood enzyme used as “meat glue” to create a prime filet steak, which many cooks and eaters can’t…
By Tess Pennington There are many different types of emergencies that can have long-term repercussions on our way of life. One of those impacts is on our food system. Due to our aging infrastructure and roadways, emergencies can stall the delivery of goods, leaving a…
By Joe Jarvis Two years ago I moved to Florida from Massachusetts. When people found out I was moving, they would often immediately remark, “Get ready for the brutal heat and humidity!” It was their first instinct to bring up any possible negative about moving…
By Heather Callaghan, Editor A Slovenian and an Australian sip a Coca-Cola at the same time, although worlds apart. The latter enjoys a typical formula. But the former’s is exploding with elevated sugar content and fructo-glucose. The Coke in Prague might dance a more muted jig on the taste…
By Michael Maharrey Maine Gov. Paul LePage has called for a special emergency session of the legislature to roll back a food sovereignty bill he signed into law earlier this year, after the federal government threatened to take over meat and poultry inspection in the…
By Alex Pietrowski A growing amount of anger and outrage against Monsanto has culminated in a number class action lawsuits being filed against the agrochemcial giant. At issue now are the devastating effects of dicamba, a potent herbicide formulated for genetically modified seed. The product has…
By Heather Callaghan, Editor States like Oregon, California, Texas, Montana and Iowa just simultaneously nuked the ability to have seed laws. Claws of Big Ag found puppeteering legislators. With little to no fanfare at all, the states passed “seed preemption laws” that essentially shut down public discourse on seeds…
Programs to Help Aspiring Farmers Bring Vision to Fruition If you’ve ever fantasized about becoming a farmer, you’re certainly not alone. Many of us idealize what it might be like to live off the land, working in concert with nature to grow food that will…
As Millennials age and replace the Baby Boomers as the food industry’s main consumers, a new American diet that rejects processed foods is becoming increasingly popular and shifting the current supply chain. At present, only 15 percent of U.S. farmable land is devoted to growing…
By Justin Rhodes Do seeds carry a story – can they connect us to our past? At Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa, it ALL started with two seeds. Now, they collect and exchanges 30,000 varieties! Hear how it all got started and be inspired to save…
