Section » Activism
For land’s sake: Farmland preservation in Ohio
My evenings and weekends lately — well, the past few months — have largely been taken up by the annual rounds of food preservation as I dry, freeze, can, pickle, and otherwise put up as much produce from this year as possible. But when I took a day off work recently,
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Report from Taste3: “Culanthropy” in New Orleans with the Culinary Corps
In mid-July, I had the pleasure of attending this year's TASTE3 conference in Napa, California. The conference, which is presented by the Robert Mondavi Winery, is a meeting of minds on the topics of food, wine, and art. Over the span of two days, a stream of chefs, artists,
Carrots, sticks, and crumbs: Making the most of the new Farm Bill, and gearing up for 2012
By Aimee Witteman (cross-posted on Gristmill) Last week, in a stuffy room on Capitol Hill, I joined a couple dozen activists and farmers to discuss the Farm Bill. Why? you ask. Why bother to meet in hot-as-an-oven Washington D.C. to
Defender of the seeds: Q&A with Claire Hope Cummings, author of “Uncertain Peril”
An environmental lawyer for 20 years, including four spent with the USDA, Claire Hope Cummings reports regularly on agriculture and the environment; she has also farmed
Tom Philpott issues a composting call to farms
Two days ago Tom Philpott gave a challenging speech to organic food industry folks at the Organic Summit in Boulder, Co. He has published the text of those remarks as today's Victual
Donate to Iowa Farm Aid fund, including via Edible San Francisco
The vast disaster in Iowa has inspired an Iowa-based coalition of sustainable-ag folks to partner with Farm Aid to develop the Family Farm Disaster Fund specifically for small and independent farmers, including an Iowa-targeted sub-fund. Willie Nelson is coming to Iowa this weekend to kick off the program,
Music for Ethicurean ears: Carbon/Silicon’s “The News”
I've been wanting to launch a series on "Ethicureanish" music, and a friend in England has just turned me on to a great band with which to start. Carbon/Silicon is the project of Mick Jones (formerly of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite) and Tony James (Generation
West Michigan’s small-scale alternative food systems — and the future of such endeavors
Even though Grand Rapids is a mid-size city, it does have a small-town feel — once you’ve been here a while you start to realize everybody pretty much knows everybody else. When I first moved here and asked people who I should talk to about the food system, I heard two names over and over: Tom Cary
Farm Bill organizers regroup in Phoenix
Greetings from smoldering-hot Phoenix. (But it's a dry heat! Right... somehow when it's a million degrees, that caveat becomes less convincing.) It's been a full, exhausting day. One highlight for me was playing fly on the wall during a coming-together of folks who participated in the Farm
Bucking the CAFO tax: A plea for conscientious objection
Here's a number to knock you out of that mid-day stupor: every year, taxpayers shell out between $7.1 billion and $8.2 billion to subsidize or clean up after our nation's 9,900 confined animal feeding operations. That's
When discrimination is more than OK: Time to call our reps about pesticide policy
Update 4/10: We're hearing from our confidential intel sources on the Hill (OK, an action alert I just received) that the deadline for asking your reps to sign the letter mentioned below has been extended until mid-day tomorrow, 4/11. I just called my rep. The feeling of fulfillment is immense... try
“You can almost taste the rose petals”
Food & Water Watch did a funny little April Fool stunt for YouTube, involving some high-end "Potomac Springs" bottled water, as part of their Take Back the Tap
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Smells like a free ride: EPA wants to let CAFOs off on emissions reporting
In an excellent 2000 report titled "The Price We Pay for Corporate Hogs," researcher Marlene Halverson of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy recounts the following
Coming home to industrial ag: A tour of the Central Valley
There’s an image that’s stuck with me from the cross-country drive that my dad and I took last summer. It was one of many late-night stints at the wheel, perhaps 11 p.m., and we were hurtling along through the Utah desert. A sign at the last gas station had warned us of a nearly 100-mile
Severine and “The Greenhorns”: Sowing the seeds of revolution
Have you ever encountered an idealistic young person with such presence that you thought, Whoa — this one might actually succeed in changing the world!? That's the way I felt, anyway, on meeting Severine von Tscharner Fleming a few years ago, back when I was working for UC Berkeley and she was
