Diet of Pickles, Rice and Potatoes: What the Crop?

Industrial Farming's Link to the Food Crisis

The recent issues with food scarcity around the world highlight the weaknesses that has been introduced by industrial farming. Always looking for ways to make the operation more profitable leads towards engineering diversity out of the food network. International corporations with loyalty only to their own interests invest capital where land and labor is cheapest but sell the produce where it will garner the highest return, taking food out of countries that can least afford to lose this sustenance. From the loss of local farms to the loss of variety on our dinner tables and even the loss of natural habitats and animal species industrial farming seem a soulless entity with no concern to the land resources it is ravishing and leaving wasted.

What happens in times of natural disaster or economic crisis when the diversity of our food network has been compromised? Read on for some current examples.

Food Riots Speak Loudly

Food riots around the world over the soaring costs of basic foods have brought the issue of poverty to a boiling point. World Bank President Robert Zoellick has said the surging costs could mean "seven lost years" in the fight against worldwide poverty.

"While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it is getting more and more difficult every day," Zoellick said late last week in a speech opening meetings with finance ministers. (Read more...)

When Importing Goes Bad TOKYO, May 16 (Reuters) - Japan could find itself dining on rice, pickles and potatoes if global food supplies keep tightening and imports are cut off, the government warned on Friday.

Just 39 percent of food in Japan is produced at home, the lowest percentage among the major industrialised countries, raising alarm among officials over food security as supplies fall and prices soar. (Read more...)

Sustainable Agriculture Depends on Diversity

(SciDevNet) A variety of factors work against maintaining agricultural biodiversity. But among the most important is a lack of knowledge and awareness of agricultural diversity's intrinsic value to society, and its potential for development. Sustainable agricultural systems depend on a diversity of species to withstand attacks — from present and future diseases, pests, climate and other environmental changes — as well as unpredictable social, economic and market demands. (Read more...)

Monoagriculture and monocrops have other side effects. Reducing diversity in plant life also affects the wildlife that lives in the farming regions. Many native bird species are being driven to extinction because of loss of diverse food sources. (Read more...)

Vanishing Food Resources

(Green Living Tips) In the USA, only 5% of the apple varieties that existed 200 years ago still remain. In the UK, 90% of vegetable varieties have disappeared over the last century.

We are basically driving many of our food resources to extinction on purpose. Market control, aesthetics and shelf life reign over diversity and taste these days. Hybrid varieties are developed by companies for pest resistance, fast growth and uniformity; then marketed to a such a degree that traditional varieties lose popularity and disappear. They are also bred for qualities related to easy machine harvesting, long distance transport and refrigeration.

The seeds you buy at your nursery, even the fruit and vegetables you purchase from organic farms are likely to be these hybrid varieties. Another disturbing issue is just a handful of companies control the majority of the world's seed production and as a result, farmers and home gardeners are basically held to ransom. (Read more...)

Making a difference

There are people working to preserve biodiversity and also the heritage that plants hold. One for example is Seed Savers Exchange. Seed Savers Exchange was founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, after her terminally-ill grandfather gave them the seeds of two garden plants, Grandpa Ott's Morning Glory and German Pink Tomato, that his parents brought from Bavaria when they immigrated to St. Lucas, Iowa in the 1870s.

SSE organization is saving the world’s diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity. Few gardeners comprehend the true scope of their garden heritage or how much is in immediate danger of being lost forever.

Another very interesting organization Kokopelli Seed Foundation promotes charitable donations of organic, heirloom seeds and seed-saving education to fight hunger in Third World poor countries. For an excellent and extensive article on the importance of biodiversity and dangers of monoagriculture, please read A Short History of Plant Breeding, from the early Beginnings up to modern Biotechnology by Jean Pierre Berlan, translation by Bernard Declercq featured on the Kokopelli site.

What you can do:

As a consumer: Look at labels and buy local. Local markets selling locally grown food strengthens the community. Shop farmers markets, buy and enjoy unique varieties and encourage the farmers you buy from to grow diverse crops. Consider a closer relationship with your food grower by joining a CSA - consumer supported agriculture coop. (CSA started in Japan and was called Teikei meaning "putting the farmer's face on food.") Encourage your local green grocer to shop locally to stock his or her market by letting them know you would prefer locally grown food.

Help the third world by donating to organizations like Action Against Hunger, Kokopelli Seed Foundation, OxFam, and Heifer International. Check Charity Navigator to find a charity that ranks highly in responsible use of funds.

Plant a Garden of Heirlooms and share the bounty of food and seeds with others: The Heirloom Vegetable Gardener's Assistant

Write and/or call the office of the President, your congresspersons and senators and encourage them to support a farm bill that builds stronger farm communites and builds a healthier environment.

Read more about what you can do about food security at OneWorld.org. Also read EDF, Grist and Center for Rural Affairs. Watch the show and read the site: World in Peril.

Gristmill: No Country for Poor (Wo)Men

Heifer International: Causes and Remedies for the Food Crisis - Dr. Jim DeVries, Heifer’s Vice President of Programs says, "it is becoming apparent that the industrial farming system is not sustainable. In the West, decentralizing production, with an increase in the number of family-sized farms or large family-operated farms that use methods that recycle agricultural byproducts would help improve the negative impacts of industrial agricultural production."

OFE articles: Biodiversity: why should you care?; The Big Story is Food; It May be Corny, but it ain't that Green

As a small farm farmer: Get more involved in connections between farmers and consumers by considering a Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) business model for your farm. Work with local green grocers to develop markets for unique crops. Also develop new markets with the growing number of organically inclined restaurants that could become regular customers for unique food crops. Contact an heirloom seed organization and explore growing a wider variety of crops.

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Invest Green - New Program for Organic and Sustainable Farmers

Looking for a new route to green your venture capitalism? Consider this.

Robert Karp, former director of Practical Farmers of Iowa, is launching a new program to help farmers committed to organic and sustainable agriculture start, maintain and grow their operations by linking them with socially motivated investors who will purchase the farmland they need and lease it to them on long-term, renewable leases with an option to buy. Mission: Promote organic and sustainable farming operations through investing What: A program designed for experienced organic and sustainable farmers who need additional land or need help maintaining their existing land base. I will help farmers who meet the criteria link up with a socially motivated investor who will purchase the farmland needed and lease it to the farmer on a long-term (up to fifteen-year), renewable lease. The lease will include an option to buy at a fair market value if the investor ever wants to sell the land. A conservation easement may also be put on the land to prevent non-farm development. The program is being piloted in 2008 through this Call for Pre-Applications. Who: Farmers may apply who can demonstrate a commitment to the core principles of organic/sustainable agriculture, have stable markets, and have been in business at least five years. Farmers should be able to offer, at minimum, a starting rental rate that is 4% of the land cost. (See detailed farmer criteria under #‘s 2 and 3 below). Where: The Call for Pre-Applications is being widely distributed in six states: Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. When: Read carefully the document below and send in a short letter as soon as possible, but no later than June 15, 2008, describing your farm and the investment you are proposing. New Spirit Ventures.pdf For more information for farmers and investors contact: Robert Karp New Spirit Ventures, LLC W2811 Friemoth Road East Troy, WI 53120 orgfarminvest@centurytel.net 414-477-1170 Bio: Robert Karp Robert Karp has been a social entrepreneur in the local food movement for over fifteen years. He has helped start community supported agriculture projects (CSA’s), farmers’ markets, institutional buying projects and farmer-buyer-consumer cooperatives. He has led many educational efforts focused on helping farmers and wholesale food buyers build relationships and helped start the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” marketing campaign which now has chapters in over 25 states. Robert accomplished much of this while working for a non-profit farm organization called Practical Farmers of Iowa, where he served as Executive Director from 2001 to 2006. Originally from Janesville, Robert currently lives in Milwaukee and works on a freelance basis with a wide array of community-based organizations and businesses that are working to create a new future for the food system. ******* More for Opportunities for Farmers: Beginning Farmer Programs Local Producer Loan Program - Through the Local Producer Loan Program, Whole Foods Market makes $10 million available annually for low interest loans to small local producers. Eligible products include agricultural crops, value-added food products, and other all-natural grocery items. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Visit their site for specific information. More about CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) Buzz it up

The Big Story is Food: Cash Cows and Cowboy Starter Kits

Is it true that government farm subsidies are going to the wealthy and not to the family farms of America? What is the outcome of the subsidies? Why are Americans going hungry? We are facing instability in the US jobs market, foreclosures in the US housing market, and the US family farm is being overlooked by Congress yet again when we need family farms as much as they need the help of the subsidies. But where are the subsidies going? Bill Moyers: "What was supposed to be a temporary financial safety net for imperiled family farmers has become a huge boondoggle for a fraction of wealthy farmers, including landowners who've never gotten close enough to a barn to slip on the manure. But you don't have to take my word for it. Listen to a team of journalists from the Washington Post (Expose - Farm Subsidies) —which by the way, won six Pulitzer prizes this week." The Center for Rural Affairs asserts that, "The single most effective thing Congress could do to strengthen family farms is to stop subsidizing mega farms to drive their neighbors out of business by bidding land away from them. The 2007 Farm Bill should set an enforceable payment limits on loan deficiency payments, marketing loan gains, and all other income support payments. This limit should be strictly applied to everyone, regardless of how many corporations they create. The bill should eliminate loopholes that allow large operations to receive millions in loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains through generic certificates or by forfeiting commodities to USDA to pay off loans." The only way that Congress will ever care about rural development and family farming in general is if rural America builds connections with Urban and Suburban America to join forces in a common cause: the stability of our food basket. If our bread basket is empty, we cannot and we must not simply "eat cake" produced from grains grown in Argentina. We must remember and support the families that built our country by the sweat of the brow with their hands on the plow.

This is not out of charity but out of the knowledge that locally provided goods are far superior in multiple ways to those transported over long distances from mega-corporate farms. Not only is the quality of the product better, but the local commerce is better for the local community. Strong local communities equal a stronger America. What is that phrase??? Oh yeah, "all politics are local." Apparently not, if the farm bill subsidizes corporate farming to the harm of the family farm.

It's time for all Americans to realize that the pain of the rural American is the sign of a "heart" problem. We must all gain an understanding that the pain of the rural American is the pain of every American. City-folks wake up! The milk you drink for breakfast doesn't come from a carton and cereal doesn't come from a plastic bag.

Learn more about it: USDA - America's Farm Bill 2007 Current Updates: House Committee on Agriculture - Farm Bill Bill Moyers Journal, PBS, investigates the effect of the Farm Bill. Nature Conservancy Magazine: Read about the history of the farm bill, Green Fields. Plenty Magazine: The Farm Bill Explained - What's at stake for all of us Grist: Crunch Time for the Farm Bill Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill by Daniel Imhoff and Michael Pollan Blog for Rural America: The 2008 Farm Bill, A Slap in the Face Wikipedia: U.S. Farm Bill Take Action: Send a message to your Congressperson and Senators Buzz it up

Biodiversity. Why should you care?

Biodiversity is a term we hear a lot lately in the news. We are told that it is important, but what exactly is biodiversity? And why should you care? The ecosystem of our planet is an intricately woven fabric of life with many interdependencies. The greater the magnitude of biodiversity the healthier our ecosystem is. The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as: "the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems." The Encyclopedia of the Earth describes the importance of this concept: "Biological diversity is of fundamental importance to the functioning of all natural and human-engineered ecosystems, and by extension to the ecosystem services that nature provides free of charge to human society. Living organisms play central roles in the cycles of major elements (carbon, nitrogen, and so on) and water in the environment, and diversity specifically is important in that these cycles require numerous interacting species." With the advent of "out-sourcing" our farming from local farms to corporate farming in the US and around the world, we have inadvertently diminished the biodiversity of our food. Corporate farming has aimed towards efficiency in supplying the foods we crave. This leads to finding food varieties that package well and are sturdy for the storage and transportation required to bring it across the many miles it often has to travel. Unique but more tender fruits and vegetables are either squeezed out by sturdier varieties or are more highly priced therefore economically squeezed out of the market. The efficiencies of corporate farming have poured ever increasing amounts of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers onto the land. This actually acts to diminish diversity and depletes the viability of the soil causing the need for more and more chemicals to force the land to produce. It also breaks the natural interaction that is produced by healthy biodiversity. We also lose in other ways when we out-source local farming to corporate farms. We lose the individuals that have helped build our nation and feed the world - the family farms. Family farms are struggling because we are buying our corporate-grown food at corporate stores which by-pass the local farmer. More and more, this food is coming from beyond our national borders where regulations are more lax. We are putting our food basket at risk by importing which puts the control of food in the hands of others and by farming in monocrops which weakens the ability of our food sources to withstand stress. We are in essence breaking down our human-diversity by allowing this to happen. If you think there is nothing you can do about this, think again. Your purse strings are your strongest vote. Buy local and buy responsibly grown food. Learn more about what you can do to encourage biodiversity: The Center for Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History is a great resource for finding out about the subject. Read the module: Living with Biodiversity found on the AMHN site. This is a great place to start gaining understanding of the subject as it relates to your everyday life. Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Promote Biodiversity. Watch the following video and see what one person can do.

Only 17 but he is a Super-Hero of the Local Market

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Water, H2O = Life!

The only resource more precious than the air we breath, is the water we drink. The American Museum of Natural History, subject of the movie, A Night at the Museum starring Ben Stiller, is hosting a "must-see" exhibit: H2O=Life. If you will be visiting New York City between April 19 - May 25, 2008 a visit to the museum will be well worth the time. Tip: check out the NYC City Pass for discounts on several great outings including the American Museum of Natural History. If you don't buy the pass before you get to the museum, you can purchase it there and then you will also have discounts to some other must-see NYC attractions. The H2O website is itself interesting. You will learn a lot from reading it and it is beautifully illustrated. If you have never been to the museum you are in for a real treat. Just don't expect to view the entire museum in a day...week, or even a month. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes. You will only leave when your feet give out! I love this place. Description from the AMNH website:

Water unites us

Every language has a word for water; no living thing exists without water. It soothes the spirit and sustains the body; its beauty inspires art and music. Employed by cultures around the world in rituals and ceremonies, water bathes us from birth to death. Water is essential to life as we know it. And as it cycles from the air to the land to the sea and back again, water shapes our planet—and nearly every aspect of our lives.

Visit Water, H2O = Life and drink in the experience!

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College where Green is more than Ivy on the Walls.

What do kids learn in college these days? If they attend St John Fisher College they have the opportunity to learn how to reduce their carbon footprint and that of their college as well. I present to you a guest Essayist who really "gets it". College employee, Linda Seavy, Recycling Committee Co-chair and office manager of the college library, is a woman with ingenuity and insight. Linda joined the College's Recycling Committee because she believed that everyone who cares about the environment should participate. She is now a co-chair of the committee. This year alone, the committee has been able to implement many new things including the first paper-free recycling guidelines campaign; participation in a nationwide recycling contest; the creation of a website, Fisher Goes Green, to provide information on how everyone can help the environment and efforts are underway to start a student environmental club. Click on the link to read her essay as published in the Cardinal Courier Online, college newspaper of St John Fisher College, Rochester, NY. Guest Essayist: All students should take part in efforts - Viewpoint College Sustainability Report Card. College campuses across the United States and Canada are stepping up green practices and policies, with more than two out of three schools showing improved performance over the last year, according to the new College Sustainability Report Card 2008. Buzz it up

Big Sky, Open Prairie, Too much Ozone?

Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play, And seldom is heard, A discouraging word, And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Contrary to the peaceful refrains of its state song, western Kansas, big sky and open prairie, has been found to have unhealthy levels of ozone during the summer months. How you ask? Are the prairie dogs kicking up trouble? Oh no, not at all. The ozone is apparently wafting over from Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Karen Dillon, of The Kansas City Star, wrote in her article Here’s a surprise: Air pollution in Western Kansas published on March 26, 2008 that "government data show that during summer months, ozone sometimes hit unhealthy levels." Environmental problems are rarely self-contained to a single offending location but, as these studies have shown, the nasty habits of one population can float to near or not-so-nearby neighbors. The same has been seen with groundwater pollution, and more obvious in visable river and streamway pollution. All of us on planet Earth share the natural resources. The air we breath circulates around the entire planet. The oceans move in currents to every shore on the globe. As big as the problem is, the answer starts with each individual person making the right decisions daily to live sustainably and eco-responsibly. It's like any looming task. It can only be conquered by positive effort, one step at a time. Twelve-Step programs teach that the first step to positive change is realizing you have a problem. I propose that all who dwell together on planet Earth, need to take a walk down "Twelve-step Lane". Serge Prengel, personal life coach, has undertaken a re-writing of the traditional Twelve Steps in his workbook, Proactive Change: 12 Steps Workbook. Serge offers the book as a free download. He has taken the 12 Steps which originate with Alcoholic Anonymous and adapted by numerous other self-help programs and put them in clear terms to which we can all relate. Serge writes this about step one:

A new beginning Somebody once said: If the only tool you have is a hammer, you try to solve everything by hammering. Well, if the hammer is not solving the problem, it may very well be time to try something else. The problem is, you may feel the hammer really should be working...that it will actually work if you just try a little longer... There's nothing wrong with persistence, but Step One introduces another consideration: accountability. It is not enough to say: I believe it will work one day if I just keep trying. You need to set goals and deadlines. Not for the sake of putting pressure on yourself...but in order to face the reality of what is happening. Step one looks squarely at reality.

We must each take the first step, look squarely at reality, and acknowledge that we are wasteful and thoughtless towards our home, the Earth which we all share and will leave as a legacy to generations to come. It was not until I started writing this blog about sustainable living that I began to truly see how wasteful my own lifestyle was, even though I felt I was fairly responsible. As I research the topic, the veil is being peeled away from my eyes. There is so much to do, but it all starts here with me and with you. First, acknowlege that there is a problem and that you are part of the cause of the problem. What we have been doing to "solve" our environmental and climate problems have not been working. If we keep doing the same things we will continue to get the same results. It's time to get committed and get creative. We can solve this problem. We can change the future of our planet and our decendents who must live on the Earth that we leave them. Repeat after me:

I am a consume-a-holic. I am addicted to fast food and disposable products and thoughtlessly consume resources without considering the negative impact I am having on the environment and all those who live with me on this earth. I have been in denial, but now I recognize that pollution and over-consumption is MY problem too and our ecosystem is suffering. Step one of twelve steps: "I recognize that it makes no sense to keep trying to solve my problems with 'solutions' that aren't working." I will find one thing this week that I can do that will make a positive change!

Now, don't you feel better? Now take some action. Check out Annie Leonard's 10 Little and Big Things You can Do for a start. While you are there, take some time to watch her video The Story of Stuff. Pick one thing you will do differently this week. And then do it again next week. Develop earth-positive habits and reduce your carbon footprint! Buzz it up