Milking a loophole for all their worth: Some conventional dairy farmers are rushing to convert their herds to organic, before new USDA rules take effect that would require them to feed their cows 100% organic feed during the transition period. Currently, they can feed them an 80-20 mix of organic and nonorganic feed, and with feed costs inflated by ethanol demands, that’s a real financial savings, especially since farmers can’t recoup the higher costs with higher prices for organic milk until they’re done transitioning. (With luck, the 2007 Farm Bill might include some incentives to offset transitioning expenses.) Those who have read Samuel Fromartz’s excellent book “Organic, Inc.” will recognize the septuagenarian blueberry farmer whose quixotic quest triggered the rule change. New York Times
Parched in the Outback: Somehow, despite trawling world news every day, we haven’t been up to date on the Australian water crisis. A friend sent us a link to a Melbourne blog/website that has an eye-opening, beautiful post about what the author calls “The Farm Tragedies — they’re unrelentingly bleak, unsentimentally reported, and utterly heartbreaking. …I feel as if I’m reading a chapter of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, where it’s veered off and made a path through an Australian farm. There are accounts of farmer suicides, appeals for funds so that food can be bought for starving farm animals — even sheep dogs are dying — and ongoing alarming stories about de-salination and the lack of availability of water for irrigation.” Read it, and consider joining in the Adopt-A-Sheep program mentioned. Yamazaki’s Notebook
Money follows the power: When the Republicans controlled Congress, agriculture political action committees (PACs) gave twice as much to Republicans as Democrats. Now that the balance has shifted, the money has shifted, with Democrats receiving about 25% more. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has gone from favoring Republicans 2 to 1 to favoring Democrats 4 to 1 (it is a Farm Bill year, after all, and they need their “access”). Wallace’s Farmer
Grassroots in the Green Mountain State: Agriculture is a key part of Vermont’s economy, and so there is a lot of interest in the Farm Bill debate. The topic has been coming up at the Town Hall meetings, and Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders have been visiting with Vermont residents to hear their ideas and needs. Even the next generation is getting involved, with high school students presenting their environmental concepts to the Vermont House and Senate Agriculture Committees. The New Farm
Strawberry daiquiris are good for you: Researchers have accidentally found that adding ethanol — the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits — boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries. Don’t know how the last sentence made it past the editors, but we love it: “The study did not address whether adding a little cocktail umbrella enhanced the effects.” Reuters
Shooting locavores in a barrel: Making fun of locavores as picky eaters and elitists – fun for the entire family! NY Daily News
Deen Watch: Even the North Carolina Council of Churches is pressuring Paula Deen about her Smithfield endorsement over its anti-union practices. Riverkeepers Alliance, time for you to get a few pokes in. New York Times
Stop wasting the ocean’s fish on animal feed: Humans catch 30 million tons of small, wild fish — 36% of the world’s catch — and grind them up into fish meal and oil to feed chicken, fish, and pigs. (Alternet) Serendipitously, the Times-News reports that an Idaho researcher is looking into whether fly larvae raised on cow manure are a viable alternative to fish meal for farmed fish.
Sen. Kohl (D-WI) submits legislation to repeal ban on interstate meat sales (Wisconsin Ag Connection)
The University of Vermont holds a “Going Local Colloquium” (Burlington Free Press)
NIH will review contractor’s work on bisphenol A risks (Washington Post)
Melamine has been found in pig feed at American Hog Farm in Ceres, CA (AllAboutFeed)
Food, Farming, & Food Politics events calendar
Humor:
April 20th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Humans “grind [fish] up into fish meal and oil to feed chicken, fish, and pigs”
The sad part about doing this is that feeding fish to pigs makes for piss poor pork. Literally it smells fishy. There is a solution, switch the pigs to a corn diet for the last month and that is how some fish feeding farmers do it to avoid the stench of dead fish in their pork. Of course, they could just raise their pigs on pasture skipping the problem all together, making for better pastures, happier pigs and healthier pork…
Cheers
-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org