Young farmers hold forum with Congressman Tipton to discuss access to farming, water
On Friday, over 25 Southwest Colorado farmers and farm advocates took time out of a busy harvest day to meet with Republican Congressman Scott Tipton to share hopes and concerns for the future of farming in the Southwest. The forum, organized by NYFC and hosted by the farmers of James Ranch in Durango, was held […]
FoodCorps – Supporting Farm to School Programs Across the US
Many of us in the farming world know exactly where our food comes from – we grow it, we raise it, and we buy it locally. However, much of our society has lost touch with the food they consume—where it comes from, how it is grown, even how it is cooked. With processed foods lining […]
Spotlight Charlottesville: Local Food Communities
For those interested in agriculture and food, it is impossible to escape the inundation of buzzwords surrounding the latest agricultural/food movements. Words such as “locavore,” “local food community,” “community food systems,” and “food heritage” are sprinkled heartily throughout most articles on sustainability and agriculture, though the majority of people cannot envision the realization of these […]
Filmmaker Dan Susman on Filming the Urban Agriculture Revolution
I’m from farm country. Well, sort of. I grew up outside of Omaha, Nebraska in a little town called Elkhorn. We had a big yellow house with two towering maples out front, an old barn, and a couple acres of land. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t farmers—although my parents showed me at a very […]
New USDA Report Analyzes Local Food Distribution
A recent report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) discusses the distribution practices of eight producer networks and their partners distributing locally-grown food to retail and food service customers. This report shows how these networks take advantage of the growing consumer demand for local foods while, at the same time, creating […]
FoodCorps Opens Applications for 2012 School Food Change-Makers
FoodCorps, a national organization that works to address food issues in underserved communities, has called for applications for its second annual class of service members. The organization will be hiring up to one hundred people for positions in 12 states across the country. The 2012 corps will work full-time for one year in school food […]
Proposed farm-to-WIC program to enable greater access to fresh produce
Changes in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are allowing new partnerships between local farmers and WIC outlets. WIC aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption by distributing cash vouchers to low-income women with children to buy produce. The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) recently conducted a survey of […]
Restaurants Offer Local Farmers a Growing Market
There is welcome news for those of us entering the field of farming–a new study by the National Restaurant Association shows that local and sustainably-grown ingredients will be some of the most popular food served in restaurants this year. Locally-raised meats and seafood ranked number one on the list of the hottest menu trends, followed […]
USDA Report Shows Local Farms Earned $4.8 Billion in 2008
A new report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service, “Direct and Intermediated Marketing of Local Foods in the United States,” has some important implications for those interested in farming or marketing local foods to consumers. The USDA studied local farm production and sales during 2008, then compared farms that sell directly to customers with those […]
Studies Show More Americans Are Purchasing Organic
Two recent studies show that the market for local and organic products is growing rapidly. Both reports document that the local foods movement has been growing steadily for more than a decade, and farmers’ markets have been at the forefront of this growth. Even though some of the best-known markets are in big cities like […]