Agribusiness stocks rose sharply today, following the announcement this morning of a new technique that transforms conventionally raised produce into organic, instantly and at almost no cost.

The family of Springfield Farm, whose ancestors first settled the land in the 1600s, wowed me with the contemporary food network they’ve helped build.

Since emerging as an independent program, the Eat Well team has been working feverishly to develop some new tools to make it easier for North Americans to find good food. Among the new developments, all of which should be on the internets in time for summer:

I am fortunate to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where year-round we can eat foods produced within 100 miles of our homes, feast on a diverse, abundant range of organic fruits and vegetables and ethically-raised animals, and are not too surprised to pass Alice Waters while doing our weekly farmers market shopping.

…Being a close community, they passed me on to their neighbors at Visser Family Farms, where I talked to Kathy Visser and was able to order two legs of lamb for our holiday feast, along with a box of organic Pink Lady apples from their neighbor’s farm.

Special to The Ethicurean, by Barry Foy
Reactions ranged from bewilderment to outrage at Ethicurean.com today, following news that the food watchdog had fallen victim to a hostile takeover by chemical/genetics giant Monsanto Corp.
Monsanto’s announcement was upbeat: “We are pleased to welcome Ethicurean.com into the Monsanto family (The Stuff of Life: We Own It…for the Children®). […]

Only a few miles outside the town of Mount Vernon, in Washington State’s Skagit Valley, the Diaz-Elliott family recently embarked on a bold experiment in local food sourcing. In hopes of reducing their carbon footprint by minimizing the distance that food must travel to reach their dinner table, this independent-minded clan has sworn to go no farther than their own refrigerator for the ingredients of their next year’s worth of meals…. But he takes a philosophical view: “The way I figure it,” he says, “if God had meant humans to eat wheat and other cereals, He would have given us teeth that are suited to grinding, like horses have…. Not all the Diaz-Elliotts’ neighbors are impressed with the family’s crusade; some suggest that their “locavoreanism” may be going too far…. In a notable example of this green-ward drift, the Ford Motor Company announced on Monday that it will offer, as optional equipment on its 2009 Excursion and Expedition SUVs, a small built-in refrigerator, to enable environmentally conscious owners to adhere to locavore principles no matter how far from home they wander.

A while back I wrote that the USDA was stealing the term Naturally Grown. Well, they have done so. No need to listen to comments from the people. No need to wait for the rule to be implemented. They just went ahead and stopped the use of Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) on meat labels. I hate saying “I told you so,” I really do, especially since I’m the one, along with all CNG farmers and consumers, who’s taking a beating here…

Advocates for farm bill reform have worked for well over a year in an effort to secure meaningful payment limits on farm program subsides. On Thursday we lost a vote in the U.S. Senate on the Dorgan-Grassley payment limits amendment despite garnering 56 votes. (Find out how your senator voted here.) The leadership had previously consented to an agreement that required all reform amendments to obtain a super-majority of 60 votes to pass. Here’s a round-up of the responses from various reform groups.

We’ve got a new series for you, contributed by Barry Foy of The Devil’s Food Dictionary, that “pioneering culinary reference work consisting entirely of lies.” Barry has selected a few definitions — out of his 800 or so mouth-puckeringly tart entries — that we think we will amuse Ethicurean readers.

Double whammy: Rural communities can lose population from net outmigration or from a death rate that out paces the birth rate…. (Daily Yonder)One Stoplight, One Doctor: Not every doctor can remove an appendix, take out tonsils and perform an C-section, but in this one-stoplight, rural community in Idaho, one doctor really does do it all…. (Peoria Journal Star)From the Horses Mouth: House Agriculture Committee Chair, Collin Peterson, says it without qualification, ” “I’m not for payment limits…. (Glencoe News)Meat Fight: It’s not likely to become law, but some Senators are poised to fight the good fight in favor of family livestock producers and against multinational and vertically integrated packers. (Clarion Ledger)Ethanol by Another Name: If we don’t have enough corn to feed the growing demand for ethanol, maybe we can feed demand with trees.

A roundup of news about farming and rural areas.

The day I became a farmer was not, as one might imagine, the cool April day I started work as an intern at Guidestone Farm in Colorado. Nor did I not think of myself as a farmer the day I learned how to milk a cow. Getting up before dawn to pick peas did not make me a farmer; neither did bucking fresh bales of hay until the stack reached above my head. Farming is hard work, but hard work alone does not make one a farmer.

A round-up of the most important news regarding farm and rural America. Contributed by our friends at the Center for Rural Affairs.