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Russ Parsons looks beyond the farmers market
In an adaptation of his keynote address at the Small Farms Conference, Russ Parsons praises the farmers market — an institution that has had a "revolutionary effect" — but also calls it "one of the most inefficient business plans ever devised." He notes some of the flaws: they are only open a few hours a week, are often located in out of the way
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Food Corps puts new energy into school lunch programs
You've probably heard about service programs that put volunteer teaching assistants in classrooms of underprivileged schools or put new college graduated into troubled schools. A new program called Food Corps puts a twist in that old formula, sending volunteers into school kitchens and purchasing offices.
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Following the cycle of soil
In a cover article for Ode Magazine, Larry Gallagher describes the planet's soil problem — poor land-use practices destroy soil faster than nature can create it — and examines how farmers and others are trying to solve the problem. He starts with a visit to Ecology Action in California's Mendocino
In search of the self-pollinating almond
Giving bees the brush-off: California almonds, a multi-billion dollar crop, are almost completely dependent on honey bees for pollination. During the short pollination season, a significant fraction of the U.S. honeybee colonies are in the almond orchards — in 2004, for example, sixty percent of
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S.F. restaurants experiment with wine on tap
Kicking the bottle habit: Instead of recycling bins overflowing with empty 750 mL bottles, you'll see reusable wine casks outside a handful of San Francisco restaurants. Long a tradition in Europe, these restaurants — which include such luminaries as Salt House, OTD, Delfina, and Frances — are
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Aquaponics in the S.F. Bay Area
Getting hooked on aquaponics: Aquaponics — the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture — can be a great way to grow food in a small space, with little water and at low cost. In the S.F. Bay Area, a few organizations are building and selling systems. The Oakland-based company Kijiji Grows (kijiji
Bottled water’s energy budget
In a short research paper, two staff members from the Pacific Institute examine how energy is used in the production and distribution of bottled water. Bottle production and transportation are by far the largest energy users, with pre-bottling water processing (filtration and disinfection), filling and
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Strengthening the “weakest link” in the local meat infrastructure
Friend of the Ethicurean Sam Fromartz looks at a new wave of small slaughterhouses that are appearing in Virginia. He focuses on True & Essential Meats of Harrisonburg, a new partnership of former landscape architect Joe Cloud, his mother, and Joel Salatin (of Polyface Inc., who was profiled in Omnivore's
Research shows possible connection between pesticide use and skin cancer
Health researchers have been unable to explain why several studies have found an excess risk of melanoma and other skin cancer for farmers. Farmers spend time in the sun — which is a major risk factor — but could it be something else? New research suggests that exposure to certain pesticides could
Great food with “a side of sustainability” in L.A.
City of angelic eateries: Some prominent restaurants in metro Los Angeles are striving to become more "sustainable" — a term without a legal definition at this moment and all too often used as a meaningless marketing term — through all sorts of new programs. The relocated Grace, for example, will
Tracking the co-evolution of grass and humanity
High on grass: "We live in the age of grass," writes Olivia Judson, a research fellow in biology at Imperial College London, on the New York Times' Opinionator blog. Indeed, some of the crops that helped make humans an agricultural creature and create our complex civilization are grasses: wheat, rice,
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The manurification of America
A perfect shitstorm: On some farms, animal manure can be a valuable asset, a way to improve the soil in the fields. But for today's massive factory farms — and, increasingly, the nation's air and waterways — manure is a huge liability, reports the Post's David A. Fahrenthold. Decomposing manure from
Manure digesters clash with air quality requirements
Cracking down on methane labs: When animal manure decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide (on a mass basis). To avoid these emissions, some are installing manure digesters, in which bacteria convert the waste to methane gas. The methane is then burned in
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Victory for Florida tomato pickers, or a sneaky worker-around?
Many months ago, thanks to a vigorous, multi-level campaign, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) secured pledges from big buyers like Burger King, Subway, McDonald's and Whole Foods to pay an extra penny a pound to Florida's tomato harvesters, bringing the per-bucket wage from 50 to 82 cents. (Workers
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Fertilizer overuse can acidify soil
Another reason to dislike the N-word: Fertilizer overuse creates many problems, like aquatic dead zones, resource depletion and blue-baby syndrome. One impact that
