Rock & Roll Farm |
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Tuesday! Mar 15 05 // 02:49 pm // permalink What it Costs
The True Cost of Food, an educational movie from the Sierra Club and Free Range Graphics (the people who brought you The Meatrix). ***** Price Tags/Cost Tags from CIAS (Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at U-W Madison). Here you can find PDF’s to print and distribute. Information for several types of food and drink includes food miles, genetic diversity, social and health costs, and environmental impact. Also gives suggestions for “what you can do.” Or, you can try a similar download, Choose Local Organic Food, from MOFFA (Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance). ***** In the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability: ***** The High Cost of Cheap Food John Ikerd Tuesday! Mar 15 05 // 02:03 pm // permalink CFSC Call to Action
A call to action from the Community Food Security Coalition: “[Call] your Congresspeople TUESDAY the 15th and WEDNESDAY the 16th to voice support for low-income people, family farmers, and the environment. The American Friends Service Committee is providing a toll-free number for people who call in on those days: 1-800-247-2971. You will be directed to your Congressperson’s office from there. WHAT’S AT STAKE: Most domestic programs, except Defense and Homeland Security, are at risk of cuts during this budget cycle. The combination of Iraq and the tax cuts has limited funding available for other parts of the budget—and is putting a tight squeeze on many important programs. Every committee will have cuts for programs within its jurisdiction—this is called ‘budget reconciliation,’ and it isn’t pretty. The USDA will have to cut its budget somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion over the next 5 years. The Agriculture Committees will determine where those cuts get made. Any USDA program is open—from subsidies to conservation programs to nutrition programs— and low-income people, family farmers, and the environment are all poised to lose something in this process. Already, proposals have been made to cut Food Stamps and the Conservation Security Program. MESSAGE: 1) Don’t cut programs that benefit low-income Americans, family farmers, and the environment. 2) Support the Feingold-Chaffee amendment to hold new tax cuts accountable to the same limits as new spending (this will help prevent passage of new tax cuts that will reduce revenue available for crucial programs and potentially increase the deficit).” Friday! Mar 11 05 // 01:18 pm // permalink Weekend news purge
On Boxed Macaroni and Cheese and Cream of Mushroom Soup and a Secret Meeting at the Department of Agriculture, from Gettin’ the Right Eats, Bob Waldrop’s Oklahoma Food Blog. ***** Students Seek Food That’s Fresh, Not Fast LA Times, March 9, 2005 ***** At The Annie E. Casey Foundation Reading Room, a report on “the role of community-based institutions—particularly nonprofits and faith communities—in fostering social capital and building healthy communities.” The Role of Social Capital in Building Healthy Communities (PDF) ***** Produce to the People! an article in Wednesday’s SF Gate. “The No. 1 cause of death in West Oakland is heart disease,” says Brahm Ahmadi. “It’s not gunshots; it’s food — the way people eat.” ***** A proposed intentional community in Florida, Bella Via Tuesday! Mar 08 05 // 07:09 pm // permalink Building the Bridge: Linking Food Banking and Community Food Security
“[A] 24 page report (from The Community Food Security Coalition and World Hunger Year) explains how numerous food banks are at the vanguard of community food security efforts in their communities. It includes profiles of and interviews with ten food banks and food bankers engaged in a wide variety of community food security and self-reliance activities. It provides guidance for food banks interested in expanding their activities in these areas.” It can be downloaded at foodsecurity.org or at World Hunger Year Report(pdf) Monday! Mar 07 05 // 07:34 pm // permalink Tax incentives; WTO Export Dumping
American Farmland Trust Action Alert ***** Agriculture Export Dumping Booms during WTO’s First Decade Saturday! Mar 05 05 // 06:24 pm // permalink Because there is a B in both and an N in neither.
Thursday I went to a farm auction. Farm auctions are surprisingly like Indie Rock shows. No, really. 1. Everyone crowds around a guy with a microphone, and it’s pretty difficult to understand what he’s saying. There are some notable differences. Like, everyone drives a pickup. Everyone. And I’d bet most of them eat venison. Besides the large farming equipment, trucks and a bulldozer, most of the items up for auction were old tools and workshop fixtures. I saw a workbench go for a buck. We tried for this cool hand cultivator, but it got snatched up before we even had the chance. Maybe next time. You can bet I’ll be going to these things whenever I get the chance. Deb said it was a valuable part of my farm experience. I’m assuming she wasn’t including the food from the lunch truck in her assessment. Mmmm… hot dogs and burned coffee. Saturday! Mar 05 05 // 05:58 pm // permalink Conservatives Propose Factory Farm Waste Subsidies
Fine tuning needed, say some, to be fair to small farms “In her veto message last November, Governor Granholm, a Democrat, said the subsidy was a tax giveaway to CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations), which often damage the state’s waterways with toxic concentrations of manure waste and frequently violate state environmental laws. Like last year’s legislation, the new package’s waste management subsidy would extend low-interest loans and property tax breaks to livestock operations that install methane digester systems. These systems turn liquefied manure into electricity, bedding for dairy cows, gardening compost, and other products. CAFOs typically generate 10,000 to 90,000 gallons of liquified manure per day.” “Industrial-scale farmers and many Republican lawmakers support the subsidy for methane digesters, arguing that the technology can address environmental consequences of CAFOs while saving farms and farmland by lowering business costs and possibly generating new revenue streams. But some observers say the real question the revived subsidy proposal raises is how best to encourage both proper manure disposal methods and increased renewable energy production without further tilting the playing field toward these large-scale factory farms. CAFOs, they say, cause economic problems in rural areas by elbowing smaller family farms out of the market and saddling rural communities with industrial-scale odor and pollution problems.” “Opponents of the subsidies say they have little quarrel with the potential benefits of methane digesters. But they insist that taxpayers, rightly concerned about water and air quality, should not be forced to subsidize the poor planning of factory farmers who expanded their herds significantly without simultaneously expanding environmental protections. They fear that Michigan will use public money to enhance the profits of these highly polluting industrial operations…” Thursday! Mar 03 05 // 07:10 pm // permalink NYS Publications on CSAs and other Food Projects
Two reports (pdf) from Hunger Action of New York State. “Profiles of Model CSA Projects in NY State” gives detailed stories of nine CSA’s that have reached out to include low-income members. “Reaching Out” is a report based on the results of Hunger Action’s survey of CSA farmers. Thursday! Mar 03 05 // 06:57 pm // permalink Cleaning Up Factory Farms
“The Bush administration’s regulations to limit water pollution from factory farms violate the Clean Water Act and must be revised, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The court found the regulations failed to ensure that factory farms would be held accountable for discharging animal wastes into the nation’s waters.” “The regulations require [concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)] to apply for discharge permits under the Clean Water Act every five years and develop nutrient management plans to manage and limit pollution – or otherwise demonstrate that they have no potential for discharge.” “The Bush administration said the rules balanced environmental protection with the concerns of a competitive and economically important industry. But the court described the regulations as “arbitrary and capricious” and said the Clean Water Act “demands regulation in fact, not only in principle.”
Wednesday! Mar 02 05 // 07:52 pm // permalink Building Bridges: Linking Public Health and the Sustainable Ag Movement
“The Building Bridges project of Prevention Institute is trying to create opportunities to promote a just and sustainable food system by making connections between public health and the sustainable agriculture movement. The Institute explores these connections in a September 2004 report titled Cultivating Common Ground: Linking Health and Sustainable Agriculture (PDF) The report documents links between agriculture and health, identifies overlapping issues that provide opportunities for collaboration, notes issues that need to be resolved before engaging in partnerships, and makes recommendations for developing a collaborative movement. The report also explains that the time is ripe to connect agriculture and health and lists 10 reasons why, including: everyone cares about health, good eating habits are key to preventing chronic disease, concern over rising obesity levels, and health disparities across race and income level that are related to the food system.” [ATTRA] |
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