GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food and Ag Update October 8, 2018

 

  • Bayview ‘Growers Market’ provides healthy food options grown by and for the neighborhood (San Francisco Examiner) https://bit.ly/2OjwDtT
  • Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid Stages Its Most Crucial Benefit Concert in a Generation (Billboard) https://bit.ly/2NUx2CC                          “The crisis farmers are in now is even worse than 1985, because there are fewer farms left to lose,” says John Mellencamp, co-founder of Farm Aid. “They have a whole system stacked against them.”
  • What Hurricanes Warn Us About the Future of Food (Medium) https://bit.ly/2OzRBl2                                                                                  Whether from floods or fires or climate change0induced natural disasters, when roads collapse and interstate commerce grinds to a halt, we all find ourselves vulnerably dependent on the food at hand.
  • Wisconsin On Pace To Hit Highest Loss Of Dairy Farms In 4 Years (Wisconsin Public Radio) https://bit.ly/2Mvwr5O                          Fewer dairy herds in Wisconsin due to continued economic pressures
    • Wisconsin dairy farmers, in debt and out of options, turn to GoFundMe for bailout (Journal Sentinel) https://bit.ly/2PSI6xG
  • An Amazing Reaction Happens When a Plant Gets Hurt, Making Them More Similar to Animals (Science Alert) https://bit.ly/2Da3FYW
  • Everyone agrees the country needs new farmers. Trouble is, they can’t afford land (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2xg6EK8   Nearly 100 million acres of US farmland will change hands in the next few years, but most of it will go to investors and developers. Now, two online tools aim to help a new generation of farmers find land and demystify the cost of owning it.
  • Agriculture Has a Sustainability Problem – and It affects Your Business. Here’s Why (Inc.) https://bit.ly/2NBsJwL                           The way you connect to other companies and industries is a web bigger than you ever imagined.
  • In Farm Country, Grappling With the Taboo of Talking about Climate Change (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2KMLOup                Despite the heated political rhetoric on both sides of the issue, the realities of the changing climate are driving farmers of all stripes to take action.
  • New global study reveals the ‘staggering’ loss of forests caused by industrial agriculture (Science) https://bit.ly/2RosG5B

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • CSA Farmers Must Navigate Obstacles to Get Fresh Food to NYC’s Low-Income Tables (City Limits) https://bit.ly/2Oqjord
  • North Carolina Produces 60% of the Country’s Sweet Potatoes. The Crop Is in Trouble. (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2NRxx1i
    • North Carolina supplies the nation’s sweet potatoes. Florence has put this year crop in doubt. (Charlotte Observer) https://bit.ly/2N9Fxpa
  • Racing Against the Harvest, Custom Wheat Cutters Struggle to Stay Relevant (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2R1I9IE                                        For nearly 100 years, itinerant workers known as “Wheaties” have followed the Great Plains wheat trail, cutting ripening grain from south to north. Climate change, global markets, and the depopulation of rural America are now casting doubt on the future of their way of life.

 

Seeds & Cultivars

 

Food Culture & History

  • Luz Calvo Wants to Decolonize Your Plate (East Bay Express) https://bit.ly/2Qaym1M                                                                                      The Oakland resident and ethnic studies professor aims to preserve healing indigenous food traditions through a cookbook and art exhibit.
  • Archaeologists Find Oldest Example of Nutmeg-Spiced Food, Just in Time for Fall (Gizmodo) https://bit.ly/2pDW9M9

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition & Nutrition

  • Calfresh, a ‘lifesaver’ for Bay Area college students struggling to buy groceries (KTVU2) https://bit.ly/2QfiKKm
  • Freezers taped shut, food dangling from ceilings: How food pantries are preparing for Hurricane Florence (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2plWTWt                                                             Food insecurity increases in the wake of devastating storms. And that makes food pantries and their game time decisions more critical than ever.
  • The Scientific Case for Eating Bread (Medium) https://bit.ly/2xnWHcO                                                                                       The widespread vilification of bread isn’t supported by strong research

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Humans, Fish and Other Animals Are Consuming Microfibers in Our Food and Water (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2RA4EVg
    • As Synthetic Microfibers Infiltrate Food, Water and Air, How Can We Prevent Future Release? (Ensia) https://bit.ly/2wHD7I5                                                                          Scientists and manufacturers are looking for ways to keep synthetic microfibers from getting into the environment in the first place
  • Plastic Pollution Is Now Spreading From Ocean Food Chain Into Land Animals, Thanks to This Insect (Science Alert) https://bit.ly/2PWoGb6
  • We Can Ban Plastic Straws, But America’s Eating Habits Are The Real Problem (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PYjJhZ
  • Austin, Texas, Bans Restaurants From Throwing Away Food Waste (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2DSO6Fx                            Eateries will now have to donate or compost leftover food.

 

Healthy Food & Food Safety

  • Medi-Cal Home-Delivers a New Prescription: Healthy Meals (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2xLeDz3                                     California’s Medically Tailored Meals pilot program could lead the medical industry, and especially insurers, to include nutrition as part of overall health care.
  • Jeffrey Sachs: Sugar Addiction Is A Sign Of Our Broken Food System (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2zzuNMY                              The economist and adviser on the UN chief takes aim at large food companies that “peddle food and drink that is bad for people.”
  • Cafeteria Food: What the tray Says About Us (East Bay Express) https://bit.ly/2NM3urT                                                                                        From hospitals to schools, mass-produced meals aren’t what they used to be.
  • Hospitals Take Aim At ‘The Greatest Health Threat Of The 21st Century’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MJ0lDP
    • Global Climate and Health Forum: Call To Action https://bit.ly/2Mq2fsM                                                                                    10 Priorities: #4 Build local, healthy, and sustainable food and agricultural systems.
  • Apples Or Fries With That? When It Comes To Kids Meals, Fries Are Hard To Beat (NPR) https://n.pr/2ImqfMS
  • Cargill recalls 66 tons of ground beef after deadly E. coli 026 outbreak (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2xslz40                              The recall began with 132,000 pounds, and was increased the next day to 66 tons.
    • More than 132,000 pounds of ground beef are being recalled after one death and at least 17 illnesses (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2PVf4NN
  • 5 Million Pounds Of Beef Have Been Recalled Due To Salmonella Risk (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2P7vRwV                                            At least 57 people have become ill following a possible outbreak of salmonella stemming from Arizona-based meat producer JBS Tollenson, Inc.
  • What Sparked An E. Coli Outbreak In Lettuce? Scientists Trace A Surprising Source (NPR) https://n.pr/2PNkVW9

 

Food Fraud, Scandals, Weird & Funny

  • Maine Asks Restaurant To Stop Giving Lobsters Cannabis Before Boiling Them (NPR) https://n.pr/2QYgGYf                                                  The state of Maine has asked the owner of a lobster restaurant to stop giving cannabis to lobsters in order to get them high before they die.

 

Children & School Food

  • More US Children Eating Fast Food, Despite Health Concerns (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Qmkx0t
    • Report: Parents’ Reports of Fast-Food Purchases for Their Children: Have They Improved? (UConn Rudd Center) https://bit.ly/2zytZrZ

 

Labor, Unions & Coops

  • Labor Conditions at Starbucks-Certified Plantation Deemed Analogous to Slavery (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2DwQxNJ
  • Trillion Dollar Company Led By CEO Worth $100+ Billion Gives Workers 25 Cent Raise (Labor 411) https://bit.ly/2DxPKvZ and Amazon raises minimum wage for US and UK employees (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zMnTUZ                                                                      I guess he changed his mind…
  • Amazon training videos coach Whole Foods staff on how to discourage unions (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2DzN7K7The Guardian obtained internal videos sent to Whole Foods management, coaching them on how to watch for unionizing
  • Life as a Farmworker in Yuma’s Lettuce Fields (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2LZxk6o                                                                                       Each winter, the fields of Yuma, Arizona, grow half a billion heads of iceberg lettuce. This is what it’s like to work as a lettuce harvester in those fields.
  • Climate Change Isn’t Just Making It Difficult For Farmworkers. It’s Putting Their Lives In Danger (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2D5kK6o                                                                                  Hotter temperatures can increase heat-related illnesses, reduce paychecks and even kill those who labor outdoors.
  • Disney Resort hotel workers approve a new contract with a $15-an-hour minimum wage (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2OO3Vy1
  • Striking Hotel Workers Say “Slow Season” Is No Excuse for Losing Health Care (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2O3Xeee
  • The Co-op Farming Model Might Help Save America’s Small Farms (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2yb8Eml                                                Amid a nationwide rise in worker-owned businesses of all types, small farms across the country are foregoing traditional farm ownership and reaping the benefits of cooperative farming.

 

Protests

  • Workers across the Midwest arrested at rallies for higher wages, right to unionize (Think Progress) https://bit.ly/2ID0uIc                “Every month is a struggle just to get by.”
  • MeToo’s hidden activists? Working class women (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2R0tD4b                                                                                    Janitors and fast-food workers, not celebrities, are ground zero of the MeToo movement. Time to shift the focus to them
  • The Simple Request of the McDonald’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Protests (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2QM8XN0                                      The strike, like most #MeToo-era advocacy, reveals the those who’ve dealt with workplace misbehavior don’t desire vengeance so much as an acknowledgment of the harm that’s been wrought.
  • McDonald’s workers are about to walk out of their jobs to protest sexual harassment (Vice News) https://bit.ly/2pjR63o
    • McDonald’s Workers Strike Over Sexual Harassment In The Workplace (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Nj3Kyd                          The strike comes after the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund filed 10 sexual harassment complaints on behalf of women employed by the fast-food giant.
    • McDonald’s workers across the United States are on strike to protests sexual harassment (Mic) https://bit.ly/2PVzqXi
  • As Florida chokes on red tide, governor denies environmental malpractice (Seattle Times) https://bit.ly/2OQmBg6        Republican Governor Rick Scott, now running for the US Senate against the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson, nickeled, dimed, slashed and ignored Florida’s environmental protections for almost eight years.
    • Red Tide Protesters Drive Florida Gov. Rick Scott From Campaign Stop (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2PKxUqC           “Red Tide Rick has got to go.” Shouted demonstrators as waves of   dead fish buried beaches.
  • Rock Band Occupies Palm Oil Tanks With Activists Protesting Deforestation (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Of9zw5                                    … activists, including members of Greenpeace and the Indonesian rock band Boomerang, occupied a palm oil refinery owned by Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader to protests deforestation in Indonesia.

 

Pollinators

  • Study: Roundup Weed Killer Could Be Linked To Widespread Bee Deaths (NPR) https://n.pr/2xEvmnz
    • Study: Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) https://n.pr/2xEvmnz

 

Animals

  • The War On Drugs – In Your Bacon (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NvoWBg                                                                                Factory farming risks pushing us into a post antibiotic world, but consumers are demanding change.
  • A deadly pig disease raging in China is bound to spread to other Asian countries, experts warn (Science) https://bit.ly/2CpKN6Y
    • African swine fever (ASF), a deadly virus in pigs and wild oars, continues to spread in China and will almost certainly wreak havoc in other countries in Asia soon.
  • There’s Only One Way For Grass-Fed Cattle To Be A Sustainable Farming Practice (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2CsBvaz            With a growing demand, two Harvard researchers attempt to answer that question.

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • A food hall, run only by women of color and immigrants, is challenging the “boys’ club” of kitchens (Mic) https://bit.ly/2xY1wtz
  • How commercial kitchens support the cottage food industry, helping startups realize their dreams (Inlander) https://bit.ly/2Nw8osO
    • Spokane County Interstate Fair offers free lessons in growing, preparing and preserving food (Inlander) https://bit.ly/2xyvgOd
  • The man who beat Monsanto: ‘They have to pay for not being honest’ (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2IhLxeB
  • Cornell Alliance for Science is a PR Campaign for the Agrichemical Industry (USRTK) https://bit.ly/2Nyi0hW
    • Email communications between Alison Van Eenennaam and Sarah Davidson Evanega (Chemical Industry Documents UCSF) https://bit.ly/2OLkvSq
  • The Pros And Cons Of Food Delivery And Meal Prep Services (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NmQPeN                                                    Is outsourcing your shopping and meal prep really worth the money and environmental impact?
  • Vegan Fast-Food Chain Amy’s Drive Thru to Open Second California Location (Livekindly) https://bit.ly/2QeM1oL
  • Class Action Lawsuit Alleges LaCroix Contains Ingredients Used In Cockroach Insecticide (3 CBS Philly) https://cbsloc.al/2xZQJzQ
  • Nestle says slavery reporting requirements could cost customers (Sydney Morning Herald) https://bit.ly/2C5QY0T
  • Soylent meal replacement gets UK launch (BBC News) https://bbc.in/2DqSxHs                                                                                      Meal replacement drink Soylent will launch in the UK on Thursday with a different formula to its US equivalent.                                  Remember, this is the stuff that was making people sick in the US in 2016
    • Soylent: meal-substitute company admits products making people sick (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2feZU8G                            The California startup announced its meal powder makes people ill just days after finding similar problems with Soylent Bar
  • The Rise of the Zombie Small Businesses (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2MMptOC                                                                                      What your chicken dinner says about wage stagnation, income inequality, and economic sclerosis in the United States
  • Under Trump, CEO Pay Soars While Employee Wages Decrease – And Tax Cuts Could Make the Gap Even Bigger (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2OQlywK
    • Study: Top CEO’s compensation increased 17.6 percent in 2017 (Economic Policy Institute) https://bit.ly/2zmXrB9          The ratio of CEO-to-worker compensation grew 312 to 1
  • Unions Play a Critical Role in Wealth Creation for People of Color, Research Says (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2CilGnA
    • Union Membership Narrows the Racial Wealth Gap for Families of Color (Center for American Progress) https://ampr.gs/2Nm9EJS
  • On the minimum wage one thing is clear: you get what you pay for (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2IgnBZ1                                        Academic studies have provided encouragement for both supporters and opponents of raising the minimum wage. Smart business owners already know the answer

 

Food Fraud, Scandals & Weird

  • Seattle sea cucumber poachers reeled in $1.5m (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2NL4rQT                                                                        Washington man faces prison for role in years-long operation to poach and sell 250,000 lb. of poorly understood creature

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • The Navajo Nation Is Experiencing a Water Crisis (Color Lines) https://bit.ly/2xrt6iE                                                                                                  In Indian Country, 26,000 homes lack access to safe water and/or sanitation services.
  • Grand Canyon uranium mining ban upheld as supreme court declines to hear challenge (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Owmmug                                                                                    Court says extraction ban is among cases it refuses to review, in victory for environmental groups and Native American Communities
  • While Nestle extracts millions of liters from their land, residents have no drinking water (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zRXdlH
  • In the Heart of the Corn Belt, an Uphill Battle for Clean Water (Yale Environment 360) https://bit.ly/2Ob6PQu                            Runoff from farms and feedlots has badly polluted Iowa’s waterways, more than half of which do not meet federal quality standards. Now, an unlikely coalition is calling for stricter controls…
  • California’s Looming Water Pollution Problem (Pacific Standard) https://bit.ly/2xws5H0                                                                                            In California’s Central Valley, the oil industry has been dumping wastewater into unlined – and under-regulated – ponds, threatening the state’s limited groundwater the humans who rely on it.
  • Fracking Chemicals Dumped in Allegheny River a Decade Ago Still Showing Up in Mussels (Earth Island Journal) https://bit.ly/2PJ9caa                                                                                          New study shows that strontium is making its way into the food chain
    • Study: Accumulation of Marcellus Formation Oil and Gas Wastewater metals in Freshwater Mussel Shells (Environmental Science & Technology) https://bit.ly/2DdTQcG
    • Study: Sources of Radium Accumulation in Stream Sediments near Disposal Sites in Pennsylvania: Implications for Disposal of Conventional Oil and Gas Wastewater (Environmental Science & Technology) https://bit.ly/2QDNmX6
  • Oil Drillers’ Attempts to Avoid Earthquakes May Make Them Worse (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2zxBj7c                        Shallow wastewater injections – supposedly safer – can cause big, far-flung quakes, study says
  • “Wild, Wonderful” West Virginia’s Decapitated Mountains and Deformed Fish (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2xqpMVw            A scientist documents the poisoning of the state’s waters by the coal industry
  • High And Dry: Swiss Army Airlifts Water To Cows In Drought-Stricken Mountains (NPR) https://n.pr/2Q9Zeim
  • Florence Kills An Estimated 5,500 Pigs, 3.4 Million Chickens And Turkeys In North Carolina (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NXB657                                                                                      There are also farms cut off from vital supplies like animal feed, a state official said.
    • Hurricane Florence Is Turning North Carolina Into A Toxic Stew o Pig Poop, Sewage, and Coal Ash (Vice News) https://bit.ly/2OwLC0b
    • These Photos of Submerged North Carolina Livestock Farms Are Devastating (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2pj4uEX                  Millions of animals have perished.                                                                  And what of contamination from all that chicken litter?
    • Press Release: Sanderson Farms, Inc. Provides Update on Hurricane Florence Damage https://bit.ly/2PGzXMz
    • Even Before Florence’s Floods, North Carolina’s Factory Farms Were Deadly to Their Neighbors (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2xoYyyS                                                                                    …who are disproportionately poor, African American, and Native American.
    • Thousands of Dead Fish Cover North Carolina Roads After Floodwaters Recede (Time) https://ti.me/2DtfVEd
    • Climate Dystopia: When Hurricanes Hit Industrial Agriculture (Medium) https://bit.ly/2R13bqQ

 

Government, Regulations, Policy & Farm Bill

  • China hits back at Trump, adds tariffs to $60B of US made products (NBC News) https://nbcnews.to/2QJg6hh
    • Iowa farming’s $2.2 billion trade loss could ripple through state’s economy (Des Moines Register) https://dmreg.co/2QVh0qK                                                                            You think?
    • Trump’s Tariffs Will Make Food and Clothing Pricier for Americans (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2QLK1Fe
    • Walmart says customers will see higher prices due to Trump’s China tariffs (WJLA Washington DC) https://bit.ly/2xzwicS
  • Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister of Scotland) tells Amazon to ditch slave wages or lose millions in handouts freeze (Daily Record) https://bit.ly/2MVfr9m                                                                                          The First Minister has lost patience with the web giant after their failure to bring fair working standards and pay staff the Living Wage.
  • As aid checks go out, farmers worry bailout won’t be enough (PBS) https://to.pbs.org/2xMHRws                                                        Farmers across the United States will soon begin receiving government checks as part of a billion-dollar bailout to buoy growers experiencing financial strain from President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China.
    • Farmers Say Aid Won’t Cover Tariff Damage (WSJ) https://on.wsj.com/2zyXoCj                                                                              USDA has begun make payments to farmers affected by trade conflicts
  • 5 People Died From Eating Lettuce – But Trump’s FDA Still Won’t Make Farms Test Water For Bacteria (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2NUq7KH                                                                                            For more than a decade, it’s been clear that there’s a gaping hole in America food safety
  • As More Cities Push For Paid Sick Leave, States Push Back (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2xRHr7Y                                                  Twenty-two states bar cities from mandating paid sick leave.
  • Governor Brown Signs Bill Legalizing Street Vending in California (KTLA5) https://bit.ly/2pjw8ls
    • Selling street food is no longer a crime in California, easing fears of jail time and deportation (Mic) https://bit.ly/2MPw46b
  • Federal Court Rules in Favor of North Carolina’s Farmworkers Unions (modern farmer) https://bit.ly/2OYLqqW                                   In 2017, North Carolina’s farm bill included a provision that prevented farmworkers in the state fro organizing.
  • In North Carolina, Big Ag Tells You What Is ‘Milk’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2psjyjL                                                                               New legislation in North Carolina has placed pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to review their rules regarding the labeling of milk and limits the ability of residents to hold big-ag operations accountable for pollution.                                                                                      This sounds a lot like Missouri’s legislation that ‘meat’ can only be used for derived from “… livestock or poultry.”
  • What’s the beef? Missouri’s attempt to silence speech about veggie burgers (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2MVU6fM
  • (New York) City’s Milk Buying Could Help Farmers in Crisis and Workers in Need (City Limits) https://bit.ly/2NrGRIT
  • Bad Farm Policy Contributes to Natural Disasters (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2NpXMGW                                            Unfortunately, the Washington power structure cares little for the environment or working families
  • Congress Leaves Farmers Hanging Right Before The Election (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2DUCCRD                                Negotiators wanted to keep the pressure on by not doing a short-term extension. But it’s rural lawmakers who are feeling the pressure most.
  • The ocean is brown, the crabs are dead and the smell is unbearable. Welcome to Florida (Miami Herald) https://bit.ly/2zT3WvH

 

Food Science, Technology & Nanotechnology

  • Science Reveals How Fruit Keeps A Lid On Ripening Until The Time Is Right (NPR) https://n.pr/2In6THy

 

Poisons

  • Publisher: Roundup Studies Failed to Fully Disclose Monsanto’s Role (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2y0yjhI
    • Monsanto’s Role in Roundup Safety Study Is Corrected by Journal (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2y1yw4h                          Bayer AG’s defense of Roundup weed killer may take a hit after an academic journal said Monsanto Co. didn’t fully disclose its involvement in publishing research finding the herbicide safe.
  • ‘Natural’ Bread Tests Positive for Glyphosate (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2Qk9yEz                                                                                              Of course they do, many Cooperative Extensions recommend using glyphosate as a pre-harvest aid for small grains…
  • Despite knowing PCBs were dangerous, Monsanto kept profiting for decades (Inlander) https://bit.ly/2MQcdDL                              Spokane is now suing, and the ‘Poison Papers’ show why
  • A Drifting Weedkiller Puts Prized Trees At Risk (NPR) https://n.pr/2N80kcq                                                                                  Dicamba drift, again…
GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update September 16, 2018

 

  • This Chef Is Fighting Gentrification With Hot Chicken (Yes!) http://bit.ly/2wGwd5I                                                                                        Tunde Wey’s dinner series – slash – public art project raised $50,000 to address Nashville’s affordable housing crisis
  • ‘Shocked and disappointed’: Pair of researchers say they felt pressed by federal wildlife officials to bury risk on endangered beetle (The Washington Post) https://wapo.st/2wBxImO
  • Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2g0pw9e                                Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said

 

  • Fake news and the “other white meat”: How pork became poultry, and why it matters (Salon) https://bit.ly/2CBioMj                                    The iconic ad campaign changed what we thought we knew about meat, and set the sage for the age of spin.
  • Europe’s meat and dairy production must halve by 2050, expert warns (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mz8HxF                            Policymakers, farmers and consumers face ‘deeply uncomfortable choices’, says author of report advising urgent reduction of unsustainable livestock sector
  • Report: What is the Safe Operating Space for EU livestock? (Rural Investment Support for Europe) https://bit.ly/2Njm1va

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, & Fishing

  • ‘I still have a farm. Yeah, I am a farmer!’ says 113 year old North Dakota woman (Grand Forks Herald) https://bit.ly/2oKDKNy
  • ‘This Is Life or Death for Us’: Mexico’s Farm Movement Rejects New NAFTA Agreement (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2CZ8xQv                                                                                       Donald Trump and Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico’s lame-duck conservative president, are trying to push through new trade deal, but farmers are rising up in opposition
  • Watch how organic farmers use tractor-mounted flamethrowers on weeds and pests (boingboing) https://bit.ly/2x6up6v
  • There’s a ‘Scallop War’ Raging in the English Channel and It’s Getting Violent (Munchies) http://bit.ly/2wCeOvc                          Footage from the clashes between French and British scallop fishers included scenes of boat-bumping, rock-throwing, and inexplicably smoking boats.

 

Food Culture & History

  • After decades, Native American tribes are regaining their fishing rights. But are there any fish left? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NFycC1                                                                                            Like many tribes in the Pacific Northwest, the Yurok had to fight hard to gain fishing rights in their ancestral river. Now they fight to keep it healthy.
  • In Washington, a farm-to-table restaurant tried to serve the best local fish. Instead, it stumbled into a debate over tribal fishing rights (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CR9oCX
  • In Flatbush, Little Caribbean Food Tours Help Preserve West Indian Culture (The Village Voice) http://bit.ly/2oxymgs
  • ‘White People Food’ Is Creating n Unattainable Picture Of Health (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2Q1uCjO                                                There’s a perception in the black community that eating healthy means eating like white people, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
  • The New Era Of Kosher Wines You Should Try For Rosh Hashanah (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2wTwT89                              It’s not your grandparent’s Manischewitz
  • The Bizarre Fad Diet Taking the Far Right by Storm (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2QdzeDv                                                          “Canivorism” advocates claim meat will cure health woes, replenish masculinity – oh, and piss off liberals.
  • According To History, We Can Thank Women For Beer (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2xfgPhO                                                  Beer consumption has been so disproportionately linked with men that it’s easy to forget women were the original brewers. Now, they’re staking their claim again.

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Immigrants, fearing Trump crackdown, drop out of nutrition programs (Politico) https://politi.co/2Cbyg88                                        Both documented and undocumented immigrants fear that accepting federal aid could make them ineligible for a green card if rules are changed.
  • Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America’s groceries (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2wHs9T4
  • We already know climate change will make our crops less nutritious. Now we know how that will impact our health (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Nvj32C                                                  A new study shows this nutrient decline will mean that, by 2050, an additional 175 million people worldwide will be deficient in zinc, and 122 million more won’t be eating enough protein.

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • 6 Photos That Show Just How Ridiculous Plastic Packaging Has Become (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2p43Hrf
  • A Massive Floating Boom Is Supposed To Clean Up The Pacific. Can It Work? (NPR) https://n.pr/2QqeqZz
    • Half of dead baby turtles found by Australian scientists have stomachs full of plastic (Independent) https://ind.pn/2D4J4p4  Study suggests younger reptiles are particularly vulnerable to pollution

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • Thousands of California home cooks have no idea they’re breaking the law every day (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NbDWDV                                                                                          By selling or trading food with neighbors, contributing dishes to the church BBQ fundraiser, or peddling tamales on the street, home cooks violate food sales and safety laws. But new legislation aims to make them “Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operators” instead.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • $100,000 reward offered to find person putting needles in Australia strawberries (Independent) https://ind.pn/2NKj8mK      ‘Someone is trying to sabotage the industry but also in doing that, they are putting babies’ and children’s and families’ lives at risk’
  • Mountain Dew Mistakenly Tells Scotland to Masturbate for ‘Epic Thrills’ (Munchies) http://bit.ly/2wzwMPK                                              Gives a whole new meaning to ‘Do the Dew.’

 

Children & School Food

  • The Problem With School Lunch: How The Wealth Gap Is Shaming Students (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2L4HRwB      The school lunch is symbolic of America’s socioeconomic and food disparities.

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • Study: Minimum Wage Hikes Are Paying Off (New York Magazine) https://nym.ag/2M9CZGZ
    • Study: The New Wave of Local Minimum Wage Policies: Evidence from Six Cities (Institute for Research on Labor and Employment) https://bit.ly/2QejBvE
  • A post-Great Recession overview of labor market trends in the United States and California (Institute for Research on Labor and Employment) https://bit.ly/2NR8kD4
  • Challenging forced labor in immigrant detention centers (Looking South) http://bit.ly/2LWhycl
    • Court allows claims to move forward against private prison company that profits from forced labor of detained immigrants (Southern Poverty Law Center) https://bit.ly/2xbTfT8                     A federal court has ruled that a private court has ruled that a private prison company can be held liable for forcing detained immigrants to work for as little as $1 a day to clean, cook, and maintain an immigration prison it operated in Georgia.
  • Is Prison Labor the Future of Our Food System? (Food First) https://bit.ly/2oQVYg6                                                                                Prisoners are being used to fill the growing shortage of farmworkers – shortages that in large part are caused by the US immigration enforcement system.
  • Founding Farmers’ Restaurant Group Settles a Class Action Lawsuit From Employees for $1.49 Million (Eater) https://bit.ly/2MStH7E
    • Restaurant Group Agrees to $1.49M Pay, Sick Leave Settlement (Bloomberg Law) https://bit.ly/2LVB7kY                        A restaurant group with locations in the Washington, DC, area agreed to pay up to $1.49 million to settle claims it didn’t provide sick leave required by a city law and underpaid tipped employees.
  • A Labor Day tribute to restaurant workers, cooking and serving food they can’t afford to eat (Salon) https://bit.ly/2x1n0oK                I made 12 bucks an hour in a place where the tasting menu cost $400. Capitalism at its worst, but I don’t regret it
  • Your Labor Day reading List: five stories that will help you understand the workers behind what you eat (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NFn8F2
  • Whole Foods workers are moving to unionize. Read the letter sent to employees nationwide (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2MVpbF7                                                                                          “We cannot let Amazon remake the entire North American retail landscape without embracing the full value of its team members.”
  • Thousands Of Marriott Workers To Vote On Multi-City Strike (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MRveL5
    • Hundreds of hotel workers march in San Francisco for better pay (San Francisco Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2O1Wp2i
    • Thousands of Chicago Workers Are Out On the First City Wide Hotel Strike In Over a Century (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2D0YtGz
  • Fed Up With Sexual Harassment, McDonald’s Workers Are Going On Strike (Labor 411) https://bit.ly/2paFPCo                            Emboldened by the #MeToo movement, McDonald’s workers have voted to stage a one-day strike next week at restaurants in 10 cities in hopes of pressuring management to take stronger steps against on-the-job sexual harassment.
  • What History Books Left Out About Depression Era Co-ops (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Os4nlu                                                                                    It would seem that a movement that provided livelihood for more than 300,000 people in California alone would merit discussion in the history books.

 

Protests

 

Pollinators

  • ‘Like nicotine’: Bees develop preference for pesticides, study shows (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2LFcnxc                                      Insects’ acquired taste for pesticide-laced food is similar to nicotine addiction in smokers, say scientists

 

Animals

  • Investigation Exposes Animal Abuse at US Supplier to World’s Largest Meat Company (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2MYUOxQ

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Nestle says slavery reporting requirements could cost customers (Sydney Morning Herald) http://bit.ly/2LQZGj0
  • Bob’s Red Mill Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Glyphosate Weedkiller Contamination (Organic Consumers Association) https://bit.ly/2MVYP62
  • California Farm Bureau sells out farmers, hands John Deere a monopoly over tractor repair (Bongboing) https://bit.ly/2NHsjUG
  • Maine’s small wild blueberry farmers struggle on what they’re raking in (Portland Press Herald) https://bit.ly/2x80QlB                Fierce competition from Canada, a glutted marketplace and inequitable USDA buybacks have made cultivating this iconic Maine crop a brutal business.
  • Price of Maine wild blueberries tumbles to lowest point in more than 30 years (Portland Press Herald) https://bit.ly/2KIY4bd
  • Filipino Fast-Food Giant Jollibee Serves Spaghetti, Burger Steak and Fried Chicken – This Is What Two New Yorkers Made Of It (Independent) https://ind.pn/2xgCyGi
  • How do Whole Foods shoppers feel about Amazon’s $1 trillion milestone? Look at their Yelp reviews – and the foot traffic (The New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2M1FGdr
  • Why Care about Independent, Locally Owned Businesses? (Institute For Local Self-Reliance) https://bit.ly/2oUDFaa
  • Inflation hits 6-year high, wiping out wage gains for the average American (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2uBlicz
  • The Chemical-Free Food Movement Turning Dusty Land Into Fertile Paradise (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Q6xSdP                    It’s called permaculture, and advocates say it could feed the world.
  • Is the Second Farm Crisis Upon Us? (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2N1F1OH                                                                                Farmers across the country are in a state of emergency with diary and grain producers, new farmers, and farmers of color being hit the hardest.
  • The Consolidation of the American Harvest (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2NzjM69
  • Minnesota farmers consider asking for government help as trade war worsens downturn that started years ago (Star Tribune) http://strib.mn/2Nu2OGq                                                                                      The escalating trade war is imposing new burdens on Minnesota’s vast and economically important agricultural sector.
  • The economy my be booming, but early half of Americans can’t make ends meet (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2PtEvFX

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • (Great Britain) More Than a Fifth of Meat Samples From Supermarkets and Restaurants Found to Contain DNA From Animals Not On the Label (Independent) https://ind.pn/2QgZ4qu
  • School Cops Busted for Selling Soda to students (Munchies) http://bit.ly/2NGy81A                                                                                            The side hustle grew out of Connecticut’s ban on soda in public schools.

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • This Is How Much Water it Takes To Make Your Favorite Foods (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2hbfrbn
    • Report: The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Crops and Derived Crop Products (UNESCO-IHE) https://bit.ly/2cXdETw
    • Report: The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Farm Animals and Animal Products (UNESCO-IHE) https://bit.ly/1UXNle3
  • Torrential Rain Triggers Cole Spill In North Carolina (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MBwPj1                                                                            Duke Energy said the collapse displaced about 2,000 cubic yards of ash…
  • How do you make California water wars worse? Get the Trump administration involved (Sacramento Bee) http://bit.ly/2oH0Ftb
  • Pennsylvania: Energy Transfer Partners’ Pipeline Explodes Because of Rain (Earth First Journal) https://bit.ly/2NxTxNE          The pipeline had only been in operation for one week…
  • Pipeline that Exploded in Pennsylvania Part of Push to Build Fracking-Reliant Petrochemical Network (Desmog) https://bit.ly/2CWOIct
  • More than half PA gas wells used ‘secret’ chemicals for fracking or drilling, report says (State Impact Pennsylvania) https://n.pr/2xbDWtI
  • Injecting wastewater underground can cause earthquakes up to 10 kilometers away (Nation of Change) http://bit.ly/2Ced5lD        The important insight of this study is sedimentary rock injection is not a safer alternative to basement injection.
  • Oregon Reaches Critical Drought Levels after Driest Summer West of the Cascades in 40 Years (Willamette Week) https://bit.ly/2MfFpns
  • UN Makes a Bold Move to Protect Marine Life on the High Seas (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2O0qMq0                                   More than 190 nations are hammering out a treaty as industry rushes to cash in
  • Eyes on the High Seas (Anthropocene) https://bit.ly/2x3UeEb        Illegal fishing is getting harder, thanks to public surveillance from space
  • Oyster shells used to end up in landfills. Now, they’re being turned into castles for baby oysters (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Ok7OdW

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • France becomes first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides killing bees (The Telegraph) http://bit.ly/2Pt5lhg
  • A handful of companies control American agriculture. Cory Booker wants to change that (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2oGp8Pc                                                                                              The New Jersey Senator has introduced a bill to halt the mergers and acquisitions that have hamstrung small-scale producers for decades.
  • Congress Finally Can Tell Hemp From Pot (The Atlantic) https://bit.ly/2nhuqQr                                                                                            For almost 50 years, hemp has been lumped together with heroin, LSD, and Ecstasy, but new legislation could soon make the crop legal for farmers still struggling from the loss of tobacco.
  • Court orders ban of top-selling pesticide, says EPA violated law, ignored scientific studies (Chicago Tribune) https://trib.in/2PNk9IS
  • Documents Show Financial Entanglements Between Trump’s USDA Pick and Agribusiness (Texas Observer) https://bit.ly/2OdBjhH                                                                                      Mindy Brashears, a Texas Tech animal scientist nominated by Trump to lead the food safety arm of the USDA, is deeply imbedded in the agribusiness industry.
  • Trump rolls back worker safety rules (Politico) https://politi.co/2wFpE4a                                                                                    ‘We want to protect our workers,’ Trump said in 2017. But his administration has weakened measures designed to keep them safe.
  • Hey, Army Corps of Engineers – Show Us Your Work in Your DAPL Report (Natural Resources Defense Council) https://on.nrdc.org/2NKRB4o
  • Bernie Sanders’ BEZOS Act would tax Amazon for its employees use of federal assistance (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Q7WRgP
  • Hawaii Shows States’ Power to Regulate Pesticides (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2tdhL4u                                                                                                  A new state law banning chlorpyrifons and regulating agrochemical companies is the result of nearly a decade of grassroots community organizing, and the first in the nation.
  • Michigan Legislature Approves Initiatives for $12 Minimum Wage, Paid Sick Leave (Eater) https://bit.ly/2NUZaCk        Republicans aim to keep the issues off the November 6 ballot
  • Why Labor Is Holding Its Applause for Michigan’s Latest “Workers’ Rights” Measures (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2DenX3J
  • (California) Gov. Brown signs bills to block Trump’s offshore oil drilling plan (LA Times) https://lat.ms/2x3CcTo
  • Why an Oakland pop-up restaurant was shut down for being ‘illegal’ (Berkeleyside) http://bit.ly/2wERX1T
  • The House Is Trying to Sneak These Controversial Changes Into the Farm Bill (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2xlrCGz                            Even if the SNAP work requirements don’t make it through, these three wrinkles could.
  • How the Farm Bill Could Keep You from Banning Roundup at Your Kid’s Playground (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2CnDHkm                  A lesser-known provision in the House farm bill would prevent cities and counties from setting their own rules about pesticides on public land. And it would reverse current bans in 155 communities.              And once again, what of states rights?
  • City Official Farm Bill Preemption Letter to Senate Ag Committee (Friends of the Earth) https://bit.ly/2xeFQZB
  • About 2 Million Low-Income Americans Would Lose Benefits Under House Farm Bill, Study Says (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2wTCQSl

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Researchers to Release Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes in Africa for First Time (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2QeJhs6
  • Experts: Non-GMO Certification of GMO-Derived Sweetener Sets a ‘Dangerous Precedent’ (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2x7I3Gd

 

Technology/Food Technology/Nanotechnology

  • This is Roquette Science (Anthropocen) https://bit.ly/2x9dX64       How computerized arugula (aka roquette) farms take over the world

 

Poisons

  • Study: Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) https://bit.ly/2jzDr82
  • These Farmers Switched to Organic After Pesticides Made Their Families Sick (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2KW9etU                                  After seeing parents fall ill from cancer or die, many farmers are switching to organics to protect themselves and their children.
  • How the EPA and the Pentagon Downplayed a Growing Toxic Threat (ProPublica) https://bit.ly/2L5QAza                                                   A family of chemicals – know as PFAS and responsible for marvels like Teflon and critical to the safety of American military bases – has now emerged as a far greater menace than previously disclosed.
  • New Science Shows Bee-Killing Pesticides Are Unnecessary on Most Farms (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2GDcFWU                  Alternatives are available for neonicotinoid insecticide seed coatings, saving farmers money and better protecting the environment.
GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update September 2, 2018

 

  • When The US Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers (NPR) https://n.pr/2PzIlOz
  • The Farm Group that’s Part of Rural America’s Crisis (Open Market Institute) http://bit.ly/2nVNDY3                                              Austin explains how the Iowa Farm Bureau is hurting rural communities.
  • Prevalence trends tell us what did not precipitate the US obesity epidemic (The Lancet) http://bit.ly/2BxqpBd
  • Chef Ron Freeman Wants to Bring Better Ramen to the Incarcerated (NPR) http://bit.ly/2o0c9av                                                    The Los Angeles area chef is on a mission to make his low-sodium ramen a commissary staple.
  • The Organic Food Industry Thrives On Regulation (Other Words) http://bit.ly/2LfBpTy                                                                                    Without strict standards, the organic label would become worthless. So why is the White House rolling them back?
  • One pound of cheese makes nine pounds of whey. Where does it all go? (New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2NkJGaK
  • For Bordeaux’s Winemakers, Rising Temperatures Bring A Reckoning (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2wxAQjj                      France’s famous vintners will need new grapes that can withstand a warmer climate – and produce wine that remains both fine and French.
  • Seaweed: The ‘Superfood’ That Could Help Fight Climate Change (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2wxZTTz

 

Farming, Farmers, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • Berry Farmers Break Free From Big Agriculture (Yes!) http://bit.ly/2LNg1p2                                                                                        These farmworkers created an organic o-op that guarantees fair wages and healthy working conditions while preserving indigenous heritage.
  • Launching the Next Generation of Latinx Farmers in Washington’s Skagit Valley (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/2wk2rDN    The region is home to handful of training programs helping to support new farmers and local food producers.
  • Paying It Forward (Oregon Tilth) http://bit.ly/2MzabN6           Farmers mentoring farmers to make the transition to organic more manageable
  • Farm concerts don’t make farmers any money. So why do farmers host them? (New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2NxU6Us

 

Seeds & Cultivars

  • The Corn of the Future Is Hundreds of Years Old and Makes Its Own Mucus (Smithsonian) http://bit.ly/2BKz03U                                  This rare variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen, which could revolutionize farming

 

Food Culture & History

  • If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2wpE2gL                                                        Intensively farmed meat and dairy are blight, but so are fields of soya and maize. There is another way
  • Before You Try to Decolonize Your Diet, Read This (Yes!) http://bit.ly/2LGdUmG                                                                                              A new book digs into the paradoxes of American Indian diets most people don’t know.

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Federal Court: First Amendment Protects Sharing Food With Homeless People (Forbes) http://bit.ly/2C649yL
  • Hungary Intentionally Denying Food To Asylum-Seekers, Watchdog Groups Say (NPR) https://n.pr/2wiwlIG
  • UK: We’re in a new age of obesity. How did it happen? You’d be surprised (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2ocB1fz                                          It’s not that we’re eating more, that we exercise less, or that we lack willpower. The shaming of overweight people has to stop
  • We already know climate change will make our crops less nutritious. Now we know how that will impact our health (New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2LFfeX9
  • Delay eating breakfast and eat dinner early if you want to lose body fat – new study (The Conversation) http://bit.ly/2wzhs4T
    • Time-restricted eating can overcome the bad effects of faulty genes and unhealthy diet (The Conversation) http://bit.ly/2PpoNMa

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Philadelphia’s Prison System is Fighting Food Waste and Recidivism with an Organic Farm (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/2LAethQ                                                                                              The unique prison program diverts 685 tons of food waste a year into compost and is training inmates to farm without chemicals.
  • Norway Has A Radical Approach To Plastic Pollution, And It’s Working (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2o2G4z2                                    So why isn’t the US following suit?

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • ICE detainees are supposed to eat nutritious food three times a day – they don’t (The New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2o2cutw
  • Michigan’s Failed Effort to Privatize Prison Kitchens and the Future of Institutional Food (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/2Nvj9Hu      Private companies took over the state’s prison kitchens, inedible and inadequate food was just the tip of the iceberg – now other institutions outsourcing foodservice on notice.                                    Finally! Let’s hope this spreads across the country.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • Will Anyone Be Held at Fault Over Flint? (City Lab) http://bit.ly/2POLF8Q                                                                                              As the Michigan city’s water crisis drags on, the state’s highest-ranking health official faces criminal charges. But he’s still on the job.
  • Top State Health Official to Stand Trial for Flint Water Crisis Role (PBS) https://to.pbs.org/2wiPZUK
  • Official charged with manslaughter over deaths linked to Flint water crisis (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2w0d7YX                    Officials knew of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak months before they told the public, emails show.
  • Oil from BP spill pushed onto shelf off Tampa Bay by underwater currents, study finds (Tampa Bay Times) http://bit.ly/2wsjF21

 

Children & School Food

  • Cuts to Oakland Free Dinner Program Felt by Thousands of Students as School Resumes (KQED News) http://bit.ly/2wELowy
    • After School Supper Is the Latest Casualty of Oakland Unified Budget Cuts (East Bay Express) http://bit.ly/2NCXhKz

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • Farmworkers Are Dying from Extreme Heat (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2MMaOlP                                                                                    There’s a new push to force the government to stop the problem.
  • Facing rising temperatures and pollution, farmworkers are being left behind by Florida lawmakers (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2Nte5nh                                                                                              For years, activists have focused on pesticides and immigration issues. Now, they’re turning to warming temperatures.
  • Farm workers still have to pick fruit in unhealthy air conditions (KIMA TV Yakima, WA) http://bit.ly/2LkqOGK
    • ‘A smokestorm is imminent’ Spokane’s hazardous air now worse than Beijing and Delhi combined (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2w6JPHX                                                                      Surrounded by wildfires, Washington state sees worst air quality in history.
  • Washington (state) has already had nearly 900 wildfires in 2018 (K5News) https://kng5.tv/2nYEDl7
  • Smoke from hundreds of wildfires darkens skies over British Columbia (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) http://bit.ly/2N7PaoV
  • Denver International Airport Workers Will Ask Voters for a $15 Minimum Wage (Westword) http://bit.ly/2C1HDaq
  • Labor Day Surprise: Union membership grows by 81,000 in pro-business Texas (Dallas Morning News) http://bit.ly/2NEK042
  • Small business owners are getting a new incentive to sell (their businesses) to their employees (The Conversation) http://bit.ly/2PksGlk                                                                                              The federal government just made it a lot easier to form an employee owned business.
  • Historic Federal Law Gives Employee Owned Businesses Access to SBA Loans (Nonprofit Quarterly) http://bit.ly/2LNpqgp
  • USDA Grants to Fund Co-op Education for Business Owners in Pacific Northwest (Nonprofit Quarterly) http://bit.ly/2PpzKNx

 

Protests

  • Major prison strike spreads across US and Canada as inmates refuse food (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2P4YNFv                      Prisoners stand against forced labor and other indignities amid reports of action in California, Washington state and Nova Scotia
  • US inmates stage nationwide prison labor strike over ‘modern slavery’ (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2wgJpxZ                            Organizers say prisoners across the country are expected to refuse to work, hold sit-ins and even stage hunger strikes
  • ICE Detainees Join Nationwide Prison Strike, Many Refusing To Eat: Organizers (Newsweek) http://bit.ly/2LyGUNl
  • Prisoners nationwide on strike over poor conditions and forced labor – including firefighting (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2LlqFmB

Incarcerated people are often on the frontlines of natural disaster recovery and relief.

  • Detainee Speaks Out from Hunger Strike in Northwest Detention Center (Democracy Now) http://bit.ly/2oiq3Fn
  • As prison strikes heat up, former inmates talk about horrible stat o labor and incarceration (USA Today) https://usat.ly/2weiune
  • The ‘Modern Day Slavery’ Of Prison Labor Really Does Have A Link To Slavery (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2ojNvSB

 

Pollinators

  • A bee economist explains honey bees’ vital role in growing tasty almonds (The Conversation) http://bit.ly/2NCFJhG
  • Pesticide Touted as Neonicotinoid Replacement Still harms Bees (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2ovIeHy                                                                    As evidence builds that neonicotinoids harm bees and other pollinators and bodies like the EU move to ban them, the agricultural sector is casting about for something to replace what is currently the most used type of insecticide worldwide.

 

Animals

  • Building the Mecca of Heritage Poultry in Kansas (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/2wrt5e8                                                                                    Heritage poultry breeder Frank Reese has been hatching a plan to build the Good Shepherd Institute for two decades. Now, with help from MASS Design Group, it has moved one big step closer to reality.
  • Was Your UTI Triggered By Raw Chicken? (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2NxI4um                                                                                                  A new study says a strain of E. coli “could be causing 30,000 to 40,000” urinary tract infections in the US every year.

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani Talks Greek Yogurt and the American Dream (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2PcJNpn                                                          A Trukish immigrant of Kurdish descent, Mr. Ulukaya brought Greek yogurt to the mainstream. Along the way, he began hiring refugees, a move that drew threats from fringe websites and far-right commentators.
  • 8 Restaurant Chains Agree To End ‘No Poach’ Agreements Under Threat of Lawsuit (NPR) https://n.pr/2PvEylq
  • Krogers Will Phase Out Plastic Bags By 2025 To ‘Protect Our Planet’ (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2BEvB6m
    • Miami Beach Wants to Expand Its Ban on Plastic Straws (Miami New Times) http://bit.ly/2MNjurZ
    • San Francisco bans plastic straws, joining these California cities (The San Diego Union-Tribune) http://bit.ly/2BCbHsE
      • American Airlines Joins Efforts To Eliminate Plastic Straws, Stirrers (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2CcTfr2
  • Bayer’s Monsanto faces 8,000 lawsuits on glyphosate (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2BLQNY9
    • Along with Monsanto, Chemical Giant Bayer Inherits Its Pests (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2MxGFre                                                  From dicamba drama to crop-chomping caterpillars.
  • Profiting Off Poison (Other Words) http://bit.ly/2P6AkQm              A court found that Monsanto knew its signature Roundup chemical could cause cancer, but sold it anyway.
  • Vietnam demands Monsanto pays compensation for Agent Orange victims (Yahoo News) https://yhoo.it/2P5UDgC and Monsanto court ruling bolsters the hope for millions of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims (Viêt Nam News) http://bit.ly/2C926K9
  • General Mills Faces Lawsuit Over Glyphosate in Cereals (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2wyDmG6                                                  Monsanto’s – and now Bayer’s – glyphosate problem is also a headache for General Mills. The Cheerios maker could face a class action lawsuit alleging the company failed to warn consumers about traces of the controversial herbicide in its products.
  • General Mills To Remove ‘Natural’ Label From Granola Bars After Glyphosate Lawsuit (Forbes) http://bit.ly/2wwVb8C
  • The federal government markets prison business as the “best-kept secret” (Vox) http://bit.ly/2P3VDly                                                      The Department of Justice says prison labor is good for a company’s bottom line.
  • The UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries program trade name) Services Business Group: The Onshore Advantage (UNICOR) http://bit.ly/2MN7jLL
  • Pigs Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering From North Carolina’s Industrial Hog Farms (Truthout) http://bit.ly/2MP8ASB
  • Lab-Grown Meat and Traditional Meat Producers Turn to Government to Solve Industry Disputes (Interesting Engineering) http://bit.ly/2MNv3Qd
  • A Weekend In and Around Hudson, Massachusetts (Modern Farmer) http://bit.ly/2LGmbr0                                                                        “Local first” is the mantra in this progressive small town…

 

  • Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Corporations That Pay CEOs Hundreds of Times More Than Workers, Study Shows (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/2PjNDNj                                                                  Author says the findings should fuel the movement to “use the power of the public purse to crack down on corporations that refuse to share the wealth.”
  • Study: Executive Excess 2018: How Taxpayers Subsidize Giant Corporate Pay Gaps (Institute for Policy Studies) http://bit.ly/2Pl9dRH

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Safe Drinking Water for All (NYT) https://nyti.ms/2Lf6jeL      California lawmakers are considering a plan to help poor communities afflicted by contaminated water. It could be a model for the nation.
  • Study: National trend in drinking water quality violations (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) http://bit.ly/2OViwHF
  • Tax on California water revived to clean up drinking water – but it’s voluntary (Sacramento Bee) http://bit.ly/2BFE1e2
  • Detroit turns off every public school’s drinking water due to high levels of lead, copper (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2PrtODX        For Michigan, it’s just the latest turn in the state’s ongoing water crisis.
  • Pueblo (CO) City Schools disables or repairs nearly 50 water fountains due to lead (KRDO TV) http://bit.ly/2N4tb5t
  • Kansans drank contaminated water for years. The state didn’t tell them. (The Wichita Eagle) http://bit.ly/2PK9tKK
  • Why a New Fisheries Bill Is Being Dubbed the “Empty Oceans Act” (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2oeYP2t                                              Five ways H.R. 200 could “undercut the important role science plays in management decisions.”
  • Corporate Food Brands Drive the Massive Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico (Truthout) http://bit.ly/2C1PVPn
    • Report: Flunking The Planet: Scoring America’s Food Companies on Sustainable Meat (Mighty Earth) http://bit.ly/2N5eL58

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • ‘We’ve Made History’: Ireland Joins France, Germany and Bulgaria in Banning Fracking (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2wCthXZ      Ireland is set to ban onshore fracking after its Senate passed legislation on Wednesday that outlawed the controversial drilling technique.
  • New ‘Groundbreaking’ Bill Would Put Firm Pause on Out-of-Control Food Industry Mega-Mergers (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/2N00MxC                                                                    “Consolidation has now reached a point where the top four firms in almost every sector of the food and agriculture economy have acquired abusive levels of market power,” said Sen. Cory Booker, who introduced the legislation
  • Why is Trump slashing the USDA’s independent research arm? Look at its findings (The New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2Ll4WLG
  • Department of Labor Gives Federal Contractors a License to Discriminate (Truthout) http://bit.ly/2PUHIiP
  • Agriculture Department Will Pay $4.7 Billion To Farers Hit In Trade War (NPR) https://n.pr/2MTb1DX
    • USDA to buy $1.2B in goods, offer $5B in aid to farmers hurt by trade war (ABC News) https://abcn.ws/2ojnOle
    • The Winners and Losers of Trump’s Tariff Bailout (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2PN8WrI                                                                    The president is about to shower some farmers with extra subsidies. Guess who gets chosen.
  • Dairy Farmers Say Denting Supply Management In NAFTA Deal Would Be ‘Devastating’ (KTIC) http://bit.ly/2wtq3qe
  • Feds extract penalties in crashes that killed five migrant farm workers (The New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2MsiwCi
  • Victory! Court Rejects Trump Administration’s Claim That Organic Animal Standards Withdrawal Cannot Be Challenged (Center For Food Safety) http://bit.ly/2MLpJwH
  • Virginia regulator won’t revoke pipelines’ water permits despite major environmental violations (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2OZ63CY                                                                              Extensive damage to streams and other water sources fails to sway Virginia regulators.
  • As Florida chokes on red tide, governor denies environmental malpractice (The Seattle Times) http://bit.ly/2olLpkY
    • Red Tide’s continuing toll: The 554 dead manatees in 2018 already surpasses last year’s total (Tampa Bay Times) http://bit.ly/2wv5aLs
  • California Moves to Ban Fishing Nets Blamed for Killing Numerous Species (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2PXkbxS
  • Southern Cities Are Passing Paid Sick Leave – But Republicans Won’t Let Them Have It (In These Times) http://bit.ly/2ok0bJa
  • Santa Rosa City Council Unanimously Bans Roundup at City Parks (Organic Consumers Association) http://bit.ly/2MPOckt
  • Berkeley’s new urban agriculture ordinance encourages residents to grow their own food (Berkeleyside) http://bit.ly/2wxyIrV
  • Proposed Farm Bill amendment could negate local food laws in Maine (Bangor Daily News) http://bit.ly/2LnZl72
    • R. 4879 – Protect Interstate Commerce Act of 2018, Sponsor: Rep. King, Steve http://bit.ly/2MxKQ67                                                  To prevent States and local jurisdictions from interfering with the production and distribution of agricultural product in interstate or foreign commerce, and for other purposes                                              What of States Rights?
  • Districts of House Negotiators Get $9.3 Billion In Farm and Food Aid (Daily Yonder) http://bit.ly/2wu8cii                                                    Forty-seven members of the House of Representatives are serving on a committee to hammer out a farm bill compromise with the Senate. They represent 1.7 million households that receive nutrition benefits and 230,000 farms that receive farm payments.

 

Poisons

  • Environmentally-Caused Disease Crisis? Pesticide Damage to DNA Found ‘Programmed’ Into Future Generations (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2OQTCsG
    • Study: Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (NIH) http://bit.ly/2OQU8H8
  • West Texas Vineyards Blasted By Herbicide Drift From Nearby Cotton Fields (NPR) https://n.pr/2PtPhgd

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update August 20, 2018

 

  • Former Tyson Foods CEO Brings Chicken Farming To Rwanda – But Can It Last? (NPR) https://n.pr/2Myg8Wt
  • Americans Eat Too Much Free Food at Work, US Government Warns (Newsweek) https://bit.ly/2nv8Urv
    • Large study finds workplace foods contribute to unhealthy eating (EurekAlert) https://bit.ly/2LN7Vgj                              Employees eat more than 1,000 calories a week at work and most of it is obtained for free
  • (UK) McDonald’s to cut cheeseburgers and chocolate milk from Happy Meal menu (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2w7VUMr

 

 

Farming, Farmers, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • Calgary urban farm questions why the government needs all of its land for ring road (The Star) http://bit.ly/2N2Typs

 

Seeds & Cultivars

 

Food and Culture

  • Tracing the Overlooked Legacy of the Silk Road’s Fruits and Nuts (Atlas Obscura) http://bit.ly/2MoqFrb                                                            A new archaeobotanical study is helping shift the historical record.
  • Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak (PLOS One) http://bit.ly/2BsPo8J
  • World Champion Squirrel Cook-Off (Atlas Obscura) http://bit.ly/2ONjfe3                                                                                                An ardent celebration of a humble source of protein.
  • Climate Change Threatens Midwest’s Wild Rice, A Staple For Native Americans (NPR) https://n.pr/2nkWWQY
  • Our 14,400 Year Old Relationship with Bread (Scientific American) http://bit.ly/2Miyqit                                                                        New evidence from Jordan is challenging what we thought we knew about hunter gatherer diets
  • Delicious Purple Beans Connected One Chef to Her Family’s Culinary Past (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2L0eknL

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Create a Brexit-ready food cupboard? Many can’t afford their next meal (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2B5kOlG                                  The leave camp is selling hardship as a badge of honor. That’s because its proponents won’t be the ones facing shortages
  • UK: “They hadn’t eaten all day: food banks tackle (summer) holiday hunger (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mo1X9B
    • Food banks shouldn’t even exist. Don’t let them become the new normal (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MhxKtX                  (Food) Benefit cuts and an unjust social order have left hundreds of thousands hungry in one of the richest countries in the world       Does this all sound familiar?
  • California Protects Low-Income (SNAP) Access to Farmers Markets (Capitol and Main) http://bit.ly/2MDQkvo

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Earth Has a Hidden Plastic Problem – Scientists Are Hunting It Down (Scientific American) http://bit.ly/2nI1WPR                      Trillions of tiny particles generated by our plastic-reliant society are polluting environments worldwide

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • Baby Food Tests Find 68 Percent Contain ‘Worrisome’ Levels of Heavy Metals (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2Po6mYP                        Testing published by Consumer Reports found “concerning levels’ of toxic metals in popular US baby and toddler food.
  • These bars are made with “100 percent natural whole gain oats” – and glyphosate (New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2Pos0MT    Consumers don’t expect chemicals in their natural foods, says the latest lawsuit accusing a “natural” product of dirty dealing.
  • The Roundup Chemical Found Responsible for Cancer Might Also Be in Your Cereal (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/2vNZCLQ    Glyphosate – deemed “probably carcinogenic” – sticks around on snack and breakfast foods.
  • Roundup for Breakfast? Weed Killer Found in Kids’ Cereals, Other Oat-Based Foods (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2PbqaPd
  • Glyphosate Pre-Harvest Aid in Small-Grains (North Dakota State University) http://bit.ly/2BoYzXP
  • Glyphosate Used to Kill and Prepare Crops for Harvest (The Cornucopia Institute) http://bit.ly/2OOl6ix
  • ‘This Is Very Strange.’ An Illness Outbreak Possibly Related to an Ohio Chipotle Remains a Mystery Two Weeks Later (Newsweek) https://ti.me/2M9o9oN

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • Hungry Thief Wanted After Nearly $100,000 Worth Of Ramen Noodles Stolen (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2KZBASG

 

Children & School Food

  • Study: Children have better nutrition when they live near forests (Nation of Change) http://bit.ly/2MjW4v3                                                  The data show that forests aren’t just correlated with improvements in people’s diets. We show that forests cause these improvements.
  • Adolescents’ cooking skills strongly predict future nutrition well-being (EurekAlert) https://bit.ly/2Mf8LHp                                  Confidence in cooking ability led to fewer fast food meals, more meals as a family, and more frequent preparation of meals with vegetables in adulthood, according to a new study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
  • The Problem With School Lunch: How The Wealth Gap Is Shaming Students (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2LaEc0b                The school lunch is symbolic of America’s socioeconomic and food disparities.

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • Demanding Wide-Reaching Reforms and an End to Slavery, Inmates in 17 States Plan Prison Strike (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/2wdwWeD                                                                                  “Every single field and industry is affected on some level by prisons, from our license plates to the fast food that we eat to the stores that we shop at.”
  • Ben & Jerry’s ‘Milk With Dignity’ {act With Farmworkers Seems To Be Paying Off (NPR) https://n.pr/2MnRAna
  • Arkansas’ minimum wage fight will be on the ballot in November (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2MqbwG7                                          Arkansas’ current minimum wage is $8.50.
  • Trump’s visa crackdown is hitting Maryland’s crab industry hard (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2Plnn5Z                                            Businesses on the coast are reeling.

 

Animals

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Stop Meat Companies from Rigging the Grass-fed Market (Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy) http://bit.ly/2Mrlzuo
  • Chipotle is adding bacon to the menu, and it reveals how drastically the chain has had to change in the wake of its E. coli scandal (Business Insider) https://read.bi/2nP6rbp
  • Man Who Fought Monsanto Will Leave a Lasting Legacy (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OxDj3W                                                                        When Dewayne “Lee” Johnson was awarded $389 million for damages related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he didn’t just triumph over Monsanto. He also may have created a path forward for thousands of similar plaintiffs.
  • What does the Monsanto verdict means for thousands of pending cases? (Food, Agriculture, and the Environment) http://bit.ly/2BoZhnX
  • Why were damages in Monsanto’s Roundup trial so high? Not only is the giant liable, but it cause harm deliberately (New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2MNSCVM
  • How Monsanto Plants Stories, Suppresses Science & Silences Dissent to See a Cancer-Linked Chemical (Democracy Now) http://bit.ly/2MLR2DF
  • Monsanto Cancer Ruling Sparks Backlash Around the Globe (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2PeTjsX
    • Australian farmers body says Roundup cancer ruling is ‘in blatant ignorance’ of science (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2Mp25G0                                                                        (Australian) National Farmers’ Federation says US court ruling that weedkiller causes cancer sets a ‘reckless precedent’
  • Monsanto loses another court case over its widely used weed killer (SF Chronicle) http://bit.ly/2OGLrPz                                                The (CA) state supreme Court rejected a challenge by Monsanto Co. on Wednesday to California’s decision to list the main ingredient in its Roundup herbicide as a cause of cancer…
  • Homebase to review sale of Monsanto weed killer after US cancer Verdict (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MhJeMV            Roundup was ruled by a Californian jury to have caused Dewayne Johnson’s Lymphoma
  • US bosses new earn 312 times the average worker’s wage, figures show (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2MlrxNB
  • Where even Walmart won’t go: how Dollar General took over rural America (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mmapq8
  • Inside Mexico’s Anti-Capitalist Marketplaces (In These Times) http://bit.ly/2MvV4mZ                                                                                        How some Mexicans re using barter and alternative currencies to build an economy beyond profit.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Police Chief Defends Use Of Taser On Elderly Woman Cutting Flowers (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2nKTOyo                            Martha Al-Bishara, 87, was carrying a knife to cut dandelions and didn’t understand the officers’ orders, her family said.
  • A Restaurant In Maine Replaced Their Crinkle-Cut Fries With Straight Fries And Angry Customers Are New Harassing Them (BuzzFeed) http://bit.ly/2PjiNVV                                                                      One angry diner even threatened to physically fight one of the owners. Really?

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Australia: Calls for environmental water entitlements to be sold to drought affected farmers (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2vJhesa  Politicians and farmers say water should be diverted to crops to keep hers alive
  • Salting the earth: North Dakota farmers struggle with a toxic byproduct of the oil boom (NBC News) https://nbcnews.to/2MM8PLd                                                                          The state of North Dakota doesn’t even know how many acres of cropland have been damage by saltwater spills, a byproduct of the local oil boom.
  • Current List of Saltwater Spills in North Dakota 2008 – Current, Last Updated: August 9, 2018 https://nbcnews.to/2MM8PLd          To date there are 871 reported saltwater spills since January 2, 2008
  • Fracking is destroying US water supply, warns shocking new study (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2MY3DE0
    • Study: The intensification of the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing (Science Advances) http://bit.ly/2nQwgYW
    • Fracking Water Use Skyrockets, Creating 1,440 More Toxic Wastewater (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2vLTKm4
    • Water use for fracking has risen by up to 770 percent since 2011 (phys.org) http://bit.ly/2Bg5r9T
  • Roundup Chemical Linked To Cancer Used To Kill Weeds In The (Sacramento, San Joaquin) Delta (CBS Sacramento) https://cbsloc.al/2BuLkow
    • Glyohosate Sprayed on GMO Crops Linked to lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Bloom (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/2nIhiEi
  • Florida Declares State Of Emergency As Red Tide Spreads (Huffington Post) http://bit.ly/2MqISDN                                                  The harmful algae bloom has fouled the state’s waters for months.
  • Pollution is slowing the melting of Arctic sea ice, for now (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/2MMxnUc                                                            Human carbon pollution is melting the Arctic, but aerosol pollution is slowing it down

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • This Small Caribbean Island (Dominica) Is Waging A Big War Against Plastic (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2MJfhCG      Dominica’s government plans to ban plastic and Styrofoam food containers and utensils by 2019.
  • Five Red Flags for Food, Farming and Fair Trade Under the UK’s New Brexit Plan (Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy) http://bit.ly/2Mz9DpI
  • How a Pair of Kentucky Pols Are About to Legalize Hemp (Politico) https://politi.co/2ARhzhF                                                                The non-psychoactive sister plant of marijuana is a favorite with farmers, and it will get a lot easier to grow if Congress removes it from the list of banned drugs. The DEA is not happy.
  • Report detailing lead poisoning in young children on army bases draws fire from lawmakers (Think Progress) http://bit.ly/2vTGaNL                                                                                          More than 1,000 young children living on army bases were found to have elevated lead levels.
  • Stalling Trump’s ‘Illegal Rubber-Stamp’ of Keystone XL, Federal Court Orders Full Environmental Review (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/2MUWnsn                                                                                        “This is a huge win for the landowners and Tribal Nation members whose water and environment would be forever threatened by this dangerous tar sands project.”
  • It’s official: This fall America will harvest more soybeans than ever. But who’s buying? (New Food Economy) http://bit.ly/2OB7bMS
  • Trump Quietly OK’s Bioengineered Farming on Wildlife Refuges (The Nation) http://bit.ly/2OGgjjl                                                                      By rescinding an Obama-era regulation, the administration is giving a green light to agribusiness on protected lands.
  • Why the Trump Administration is Going to War with the Wine Industry (Vice) https://bit.ly/2Oy0yuS                                                        The Treasury Department is going after US businesses that both import and export wine. Buckle up and hoard the pinot.
  • San Antonio passes paid sick leave ordinance, joining Austin in fight against top Texas Republicans (The Texas Tribune) http://bit.ly/2MkJOKO                                                                                              A similar measure passed by Austin earlier this year is tied up in court. And dozens of Republican state lawmakers have lined up against the ordinance.

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Regulate new GE techniques? US (never) vs. EU (Yes) (Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy) http://bit.ly/2MHr1si
    • The USDA reorganizes for its “customers,” throws science under the bus (Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy) http://bit.ly/2MIzITz
    • Risk associated with off-target plant genome editing and methods for its limitation (Emerging Topics In Life Sciences) http://bit.ly/2MHFMf2

 

Technology/Food Technology/Nanotechnology

 

Poisons

  • Toxic neighbor: Monsanto and the poisoned town (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2vuSshE                                                                                       Almost a century ago, Monsanto opened a chemical factory in Anniston, Alabama. Mathieu Asselin spent years photographing this damaged landscape – including a creek where the waters run red.
  • 3M knew about the dangers of PFOA and PFOS decades ago, internal documents show (The Intercept) https://bit.ly/2M8yywO

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Grow Calgary Relocation Press Release

Grow Calgary has been informed by Alberta Infrastructure that the organizations current site of operation must me vacated by December 31st, 2018 in order to make way for the Calgary West Ring Road (C-WRR) development beginning in Spring 2019, particularly the C-WRR / TransCanada Highway (TCH) interchange. Grow Calgary’s stance on the matter is not one of resistance. Grow Calgary does not object to Alberta Infrastructures request to relocate and acknowledges the request as fair and within the authority of Alberta Infrastructure. Grow Calgary is eager to collaborate with Alberta Infrastructure to find a new location to continue the operation of an urban community farm. However, before Grow Calgary puts effort and resources into relocating, the organization is requesting Alberta Infrastructure provide a more detailed explanation of how the parcel of land Grow Calgary occupies will be utilized in the development process of the C-WRR. Current drawings of the C-WRR / TCH interchange do not appear to show the Grow Calgary site directly impacted by the proposed development. Grow Calgary’s request is to receive more information as to why they have been ordered to relocate as their current site does not appear to be in the way of the proposed development. Grow Calgary is motivated by a desire to achieve a deeper understanding of the necessity of their relocation. To participate in the dialogue or to learn more about Grow Calgary’s stance on the relocation send an email to farm@growcalgary.ca.38888296_1845604935487793_7084158520181915648_o

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update August 12, 2018

 

  • The Inspiring Women Reshaping the Food System (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OIdqPT                                                                                        From farmworkers and graziers to entrepreneurs and advocates, these women are leading the change for more just and sustainable food.
  • Meet the Once-Homeless Chef Using Food to Fight Poverty (Vice) https://bit.ly/2Oau3Cx                                                                            “You can’t do anything positive with your life unless you’re stabilized, and you can’t be stabilized on an empty stomach.”
  • What Are We Getting from Voluntary Sustainability Standards for Coffee? (Center for Global Development) https://bit.ly/2w1xMLx
  • LA’s Incentive for Urban Farming Fails to Take Root (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2AsNIvr                                                                                          Hardly any lots have received a tax break so far under the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones program.
  • Why Are So Many Migrants Leaving Guatemala? A Crisis in the Coffee Industry Is One Reason (Time) https://ti.me/2vbs74N
  • The Chinese Are Eating More Meat Than Ever Before and the Planet Can’t Keep p (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2vlZX8d              “In the end, per capita meat consumption in China is still half that of the United States.”
  • How Factory Farm Pollution Harms the Quality of Life in rural Communities (In These Times) https://bit.ly/2O8uMnL
  • Why the Midwest’s Food System is Failing (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2OGRbcU                                                                                          The heavily agricultural states in the middle of the country aren’t actually feeding their people. But the 2018 Farm Bill offers an opportunity to change that.
  • Do Fair Trade Labels Actually Mean Anything? (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2M19niZ                                                                                        How to know if what you’re purchasing helps that poor person of color in the brand’s marketing.
  • How an Obsession with Fruit Took Me on the Adventure of a Lifetime (National Geographic) https://on.natgeo.com/2vjZVxF
    • This Adventurer Risked His Life to Discover Good Food (National Geographic) https://bit.ly/2GP8OTb                            David Fairchild brought lemons, Japanese cherry trees, and decent beer to the U.S.
  • 4 Environmental Activists Are Killed Every Week So We Can Have Snacks, Meat and Coffee (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Mt06gO                                                                                          “We don’t want to any more bloodshed,” said the child of one slain land defender.
  • How Brexit will kill the sandwich (Politico) https://politi.co/2vL1UKW                                                                                The UK imports a lot of meat, cheese and salad from Europe to satisfy its lunchtime cravings.
  • Not just a fad: the surprising, gut wrenching truth about gluten (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Mqsujy                                                      While just 1% of the UK is allergic to the proteins that cause coeliac disease, many others suffer with gluten related digestive problems. Some researchers believe mass produced food is to blame
  • Study: Glyposate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance (US National Institute of Health) https://bit.ly/2jzDr82
  • Fertilizer destroys plant microbiome’s ability to protect against disease (UC Berkeley) https://bit.ly/2LEkDTi                            Nitrogen based fertilizer is synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen and natural gas which are poisons. We use nitrogen gas to preserve foods in Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP, think about that baby lettuce from Trader Joe’s that lasts so long) Which kills microorganisms. And we are all aware that petrochemicals are poisons…
  • ‘I Still Have Hope’ (Grub Street) https://grb.st/2njeb5m                    How one New York – trained chef is bouncing back – and helping Puerto Rico – after Hurricane Maria.

 

Farmers, Farming, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • Venezuela’s Marching Campesinos Meet Maduro, Denounce Corruption & Revolutionary ‘Reversals’ (Venzuelanalysis) https://bit.ly/2n7HebW
  • American Farmers Want Trade Partners Not Handouts – An Agricultural Economist Explains (100 Days in Appalachia) https://bit.ly/2vflQ9c
  • Hawaii was once a local milk mecca. On Oahu, there’s just one dairy left (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2MjkxzF                      How Oahu’s last dairy, Naked Cow Dairy, beat the odds – one wheel of squid ink brie at a time.
  • In A Record Year, Almond Growers Are Nervous (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2M1OaGE
    • Almond Farmers Are Reeling From Chinese Tariffs (WSJ) https://on.wsj.com/2M3hdFJ                                                                    Prices for California almonds have fallen by more than 10% over past two months
  • Trump’s Tariffs Are Screwing Farmers. Many Still Won’t Blame Him. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KBcVnw                                “We’re just hoping this doesn’t last a long time.”

 

Seeds & Cultivars

 

Food and Culture

  • Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2OL88mP
  • Restoring culturally relevant food systems to Native American and Immigrant populations (UC Berkeley) https://bit.ly/2vsW815
  • For many Muslim grocery shoppers, a shifting definition of ‘halal’ (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2OIIT4t
  • In Oakland’s most exciting restaurants, incredible food and social activism go hand in hand (Mic) https://bit.ly/2KnHNHU
  • People Have Reacted Accordingly to Mayonnaise Flavored Ice Cream’s Debut (Time) https://ti.me/2mQLZGB

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Low – Income Americans on SNAP Still Can’t Afford to Eat Healthy (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2uTRAjT                                        Federal nutrition assistance only covers about half the amount it would cost a family to follow the federal guidelines for a healthy diet.
  • Food Aid Doesn’t Cover the Price of Food in Almost Every County in America (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2CI0mmr
  • How the Other Half Eats (City Lab) https://bit.ly/2Oz1gIW        SNAP benefits add up to $1.86 per person, per meal. Here’s what that looks like.
  • A Pioneering Massachusetts Program Helps Low Income Residents Eat Healthier and Supports Local Farmers (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2O3FAnb                                                                                        The Healthy Incentives Program connects SNAP to farmers’ markets and boosts the local economy.
  • New York State Reaches Agreement to Keep SNAP Benefits Working at Farmers Markets Nationwide (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2OOtoI5
    • Farmers’ Market SNAP Crisis Gets ‘Emergency Support,’ But No Long Term Fix (Grub Street) https://grb.st/2JLnbZX
  • How “Greens, Beets, and Tomatoes” Turned Around This Historically Black Church (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2OtwfoO  “I was frustrated with the dynamic of seeing the food that we needed and not being able to afford it.”
  • Reducing food insecurity among households with children is still a challenge for the United States (Brookings Institution) https://brook.gs/2OkSe1Z
  • How the Lack of Affordable Vegetables is Creating a Billion-Dollar Obesity Epidemic in South Africa (Inter Press Service) https://bit.ly/2OZ9biY
    • Report: At the Bottom Of The Food Chain: Small Operators Versus Multinational Corporations In The Food Systems Of Brazil, Mexico And South Africa (DST-NRF Center of Excellence in Food Security) https://bit.ly/2MGUWxT

 

Gleaning, Foraging, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • Hungry for change: urban foragers take the law into their own hands (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2vLfDRU                                Municipal parks are generally off limits to foragers, but in Seattle there’s a newfound hunger to maintain this tradition in cities
  • Only a third of plastic food packaging can be recycled, councils say (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2ADJKjZ                                              Scrap ‘smorgasbord’ of plastics used in packaging, town hall chiefs tell manufacturers

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • With Culinary Medicine, Doctors Are Finally Learning About Food (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LvF7JG                                            It picks up where basic (and brief) med school nutrition education leaves off, and it’s making doctors better at their jobs.
  • Chefs Serve Hospital Food That’s Better for Patients, Employees – and the Planet (Foodtank) https://bit.ly/2MC71nV
  • This Cheesecake Factory Burrito Is Equal To 7 Sausage McMuffins (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2KGhAo0                              If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, this might just ruin your day.
  • Cattle operation may have caused #. Coli outbreak linked to romaine, FDA says (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2vuC0eZ    Monday’s announcement is the first indication that the agency suspects water contamination from animal agriculture may have been the outbreak’s original source.
  • Chicken’s Salmonella Problem Is Worse Than You Think (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2O9BPwD                                                                          And cooking the shit out of it won’t necessarily protect you.
  • Almost Every Kind of Wild Fish Is Infected with Worms (Vice) https://bit.ly/2OIeFyr                                                                                          Ever have a nice meal at a fancy restaurant, plop down $75 for a wild seafood dinner, then get home and open the container of leftovers to see worms wriggling out of your fillet? It may be better to go with farm-raised fish after all.
  • Live Worms Slither Out of Half Eaten Fish Dish, Restaurant Somehow Mad at Customer (Vice) https://bit.ly/2nc7vGk                    A Jersey Shore restaurant is upset with a diner for putting them on blast.
  • Even More Snacks Are Being Recalled Over the Salmonella Fears Affecting Goldfish and Ritz Crackers (Time) https://ti.me/2NTaDlE
  • Almond Milk Recalled For Possible Cow’s Milk Contamination (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2O8Rr3c                                                “Milk inadvertently was entered into the processing equipment for almond milk,” said a spokeswoman for HP Hood, maker of Blue Diamond Vanilla Breeze.
  • Premade Wraps and Salads Sold at Trader Joe’s, Walgreen’s, and Kroger Contaminated With Parasite (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2ARhZoa

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • Man sues McDonald’s, Coca-Cola over alleged spiking of drink with heroin replacement (The Hill) https://bit.ly/2LTUhfi
    • McDonald’s Apologizes to Woman For Serving Her Cleaning Solution Instead of Coffee (Time) https://ti.me/2Mefygl
  • Rogue Goats Take Over Idaho Neighborhood (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2O6ugqA                                                                                        These goats on the lam were supposed to be working when they were found eating up a quiet suburban street.

 

Education

  • Bring back home economics class because our kids lack basic life skills (Dallas Daily News) https://bit.ly/2nezftU

 

Children & School Food

  • Breastfeeding is about health; formula is about profits (Marin Independent Journal) https://bayareane.ws/2O7rzom                Health experts say toddler formula is unnecessary, and some argue it could be harmful to growing kids.
  • The Breastfeeding Boom, The Baby Formula Industry Is Turning To Toddlers (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2B0MkjY

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • The Supreme Court Just Helped Chipotle Boot 2, 814 Workers From a Wage Theft Lawsuit (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2B7XxQ6                                                                                            A judge’s order shows the real-world effects of the court’s decision to let employers force workers to give up their right to class-action lawsuits.
  • A Popeye’s worker says she was fired after she blew the whistle on unsanitary conditions (Yahoo) https://yhoo.it/2LTDCsi
  • Hotel Workers Back New Law (California) Ending Secrecy in Harassment Cases (Capitol & Main) https://bit.ly/2nfHiXc            Non-disclosure agreements have become targets for #MeToo advocates, since they bar women from discussing their stories of workplace sexual harassment. Proposed California legislation could change that.
  • People over profit: Famed Seattle fish market sold to longtime employees – instead of highest bidder (Daily Kos) https://bit.ly/2KkoUFz

 

Protests

  • Tomato Canning as Protest: How a Community Resisted Corporate Farming (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2OT2wXC                                    A Missouri town’s summer ritual brings much needed support to small family operations.

 

Animals

  • In Wisconsin and Minnesota, goats are used to combat invasive species (Wisconsin Gazette) https://bit.ly/2O2Gj8k

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • Plant Based Food Sales Hit $3.3 Billion Last year – And Will Only Grow From Here (One Green Planet) https://bit.ly/2Ko1H5K
  • Smithfield Foods Ordered To pay Millions In Damages To Neighbors Of Hog Farms (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LQ7TJ3                                                                                            The North Carolina farms “generate many times more sewage than entire towns.”
  • Nestlé misled consumers about GMOs in its food products lawsuit alleges (Money Watch) https://cbsn.ws/2nmU06N      Nestlé is facing a federal class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging it sold products labeled as having “No GMO Ingredients” with genetically modified organisms.
  • Mission accomplished? Once scarce, the Impossible Burger has hit the mainstream (SF Chronicle) https://bit.ly/2AXd3hh
  • Chipotle Slapped With Lawsuits Following Ohio Foodborne Illness Outbreak (Eater) https://bit.ly/2LZ9X0C                              Nearly 400 people have reported falling ill
  • Robert Reich: Almost 80% of US workers live from paycheck to paycheck. Here’s why (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2LRC2Hq          America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a ‘good jobs’ crisis – where too much employment is insecure, and poorly paid
  • How Many Workers Must Live In Poverty For McDonald’s CEO To Make $21.8 Million? (Forbes) https://bit.ly/2vATYeZ
    • 52 Percent of Fast Food Workers Need Government Assistance to Make Ends Meet (Eater) https://bit.ly/2Mg0Gya
    • Why Companies Fear Disclosing CEO-to-Worker Pay (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2rwBRIf
    • (US) CEOs earn 361 times more than the average US worker – union report (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2vyygIE
    • European CEO pay ratios highest in UK, France and Germany (Board Agenda) https://bit.ly/2vfRumY                                                      CEO pay is 94 times in the UK, 91 times in France, 89 times in Germany, 71 times in the Netherlands, and 40 times in Sweden’s largest companies
  • As Workers’ Wages Continue to Fall Under Trump, Analysis Shows CEO Pay Is Way Higher Than Typically Reported (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2Kq1sXO                                            “The data is out: CEOs are cashing in their huge benefits from the [Trump tax cuts], meanwhile workers’ wages are declining and Americans are struggling to afford rising healthcare premiums.”

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

  • Lawsuit Alleges that Canada Dry Ginger Ale Contains No Actual Ginger (Vice) https://bit.ly/2M11YAl                                                                  If the plaintiff’s claims are true, ‘high fructose corn syrup ale’ might be a more accurate name for the drink.

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Farmers are drawing groundwater from the giant Ogallala Aquifer faster than nature replaces it (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2OjBDL9
  • Fracking industry is cannibalizing its own production, increasing spill risks (Nation of Change) https://bit.ly/2KLGMJK                      How will this turn out? Don’t ask the industry experts because they admit they have no idea.
  • Reminder of ‘How Often Fracking Pipelines Blow Up’: 7 Hospitalized After Series of Explosions in Texas (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2AC6gcO                                                                      The incidents occurred in a region that “is crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines” and where fossil fuel production is “booming”
  • Here’s How Toxic Tap Water Can Send You Scrambling for Something Safe to Drink – and Why It Might Become the New Normal (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2Mdnl2p                                              Toledo was the first large US city where toxic algae blooms made tap water unsafe to drink. But it may not be the last.
  • Fish Are Losing Their Sense of Smell (Nexus Media) https://bit.ly/2vkobj3                                                                                                  At stake? Their survival and the livelihoods that depend on them.

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • Which retailers profit from food stamps? Journalists have been asking for years – and we may never know (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2M8I3Ad
  • US government failing millions by paying below $15 an hour, study finds (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MCD0nZ
  • Court Orders EPA To Ban Chlorpyrifos, A Pesticide Linked To Brain Damage In Kids (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2AXun5X      Pediatricians warned that keeping it on the market put “all children at risk.”
  • Court bans popular farm pesticide defended by Trump. What it means for farms, workers, kids (Sacramento Bee) https://bit.ly/2vtJL4X
  • The Zombie Guest Worker Bill (Capitol & Main) https://bit.ly/2m2l4ax                                                                              Republican immigration reform proposals may be dead, but Republican guest worker proposals live on.
  • Growing Pains: Guest Farm Workers Face Exploitation, Dangerous Conditions – Part I (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2vtMUS3                                                                                        Many migrant workers in California on H-2A temporary agricultural visas are forced to contend with unsafe working conditions, wage theft and other labor law violations.
  • Growing Pains: Guest Farm Workers Face Exploitation, Dangerous Conditions – Part II (Capital & Main) https://bit.ly/2vtNn6L                                                                                              The influx of migrant agricultural workers brought to the US on temporary visas means increased competition for resident laborers – and less bargaining power.
  • Trump Administration Lifts Ban On GMOs, Bee Killing Chemicals In Wildlife Refuges (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2OHAy0S      The Defenders of Wildlife CEO called the decision to scrap the Obama-era policy “an insult to our national wildlife refuges and the wildlife that rely on them.”
  • Trump administration lifts ban on pesticides linked to declining bee numbers (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2n9KDqE        Environmentalists say lifting the restriction poses a grave threat to pollinating insects
  • House Farm Bill Would Increase Food Insecurity and Hardship (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) https://bit.ly/2O2mFcj
    • Paul Ryan Is Holding the Farm Bill Hostage Over Food Stamps (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2n2NQby                                                The House will only approve a farm bill that squeezes SNAP recipients; the Senate won’t let that happen
  • In Latest Attempt to Harm Struggling Families, Trump Urges Lawmakers to Push One Million Americans Off Food Stamp Program (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2OGjQyM                          “So weird the Trump administration isn’t putting work requirements on its capital gains tax cut.”
  • A Closer Look at Who Benefits from SNAP: State by State Fact Sheets (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) https://bit.ly/2z0bA8m
  • Survey: Nearly Tow-Thirds of Americans Oppose Cuts to SNAP Program (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) https://bit.ly/2M07TCj                                                                                Majorities also support investing resources in new farmers
  • Why punitive work-hours tests in SNAP and Medicaid would harm workers and do nothing to raise employment (Economic Policy Institute) https://bit.ly/2LTQgYd
  • Trump’s ag relief program will benefit factory farms, not family farmers (Wisconsin Gazette) https://bit.ly/2AHsxpU

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Despite Ban and New Labels, Study Reveals ‘Large-Scale Illegal Presence’ of GMOs in India’s Food Supply (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2vCRfBM                                                                                        “We were shocked to know the scale in which GM foods have penetrated the Indian market.”
  • Selective fertilization with phosphite allows unhindered growth of cotton plants expressing ptxD gene while suppressing weeds (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2nb04im

 

Technology/Food Technology/Nanotechnology

  • How scientists are hijacking plant skeletons to make lab-grown steaks (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NZDwwu
  • Growers Are Beaming Over The Success Of Lasers To Stave Off Thieving Birds (NPR) https://n.pr/2Ot0wUQ

 

Poisons

  • Wind-Blown Pesticides An Issue In Courtrooms, Communities Across US (Harvest Public Media) https://bit.ly/2nue1Ik
  • Federal Suit Alleges Companies Knew Dicamba Would Drift, Monsanto Created monopoly (Harvest Public Media) https://bit.ly/2vZjxXw
    • Drift damage from dicamba estimated on more than a million acres this year (Wisconsin Gazette) https://bit.ly/2LTPvOF
  • Monsanto ordered to pay $289m as jury rules weedkiller caused man’s cancer (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2MbCJvO
    • Monsanto ‘bullied scientists’ and hid weedkiller cancer risk, lawyer tells court (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2zn8f4j
    • First trial alleging Monsanto’s Roundup causes cancer goes to jury (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2nmiUDl
    • Doe Monsanto’s Roundup cause cancer? Trial highlights the difficulty of proving a link (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2LTjBD2

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Jenny’s Food & Ag Update August 1, 2018

 

  • Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America’s groceries (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2KpWsTg                                                      Food justice activist Karen Washington wants to us to move away from the term ‘food desert’, which doesn’t take into account the systemic racism permeating America’s food system
  • What’s Worse Than Palm Oil for the Environment? Other Vegetable Oils, IUCN Study Finds (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2NvaS6V
  • Rural Americans’ struggles against factory farm pollution find traction in court (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2MID5pP
  • UK imports salad from US, Spain and Poland as heat wave hits crops (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2uxxTgQ                                Wholesale prices soar by more than 30% and farmers have to renegotiate with supermarkets
  • Foreign beef can legally be labeled “{Product of U.S.A.” It’s killing America’s grass fed industry. (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NVqyAz
  • Crops Are Dying. Forests Are Burning. This Summer’s Heat Wave Has Fueled Natural Disasters Around the World. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2uXvHjK
  • Trump’s USDA announces $12 billion in farmer relief from his tariffs. But What are we going to do with all these soybeans? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2K34DUX
  • What’s in America’s freezer? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2Lqx5Wm                                                                                  America has millions of pounds of frozen meat and produce in cold storage. As tariffs threaten to curb international trade, those coffers are about to get a lot more crowded. Here’s a look at what they hold right now.

 

Farming, Farmers, Ranching, Herding, Fishing & Production

  • The Farm Group that’s Part of Rural America’s Crisis (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2L8Ah86                                                                                        With a massive budget from its insurance activities and its policy emphasis on industrial-scale farming, the Iowa Farm Bureau isn’t helping rural communities.
  • Struggling Farmers Turn Excess Milk Into Cheese And Yogurt For the Hungry (NPR) https://n.pr/2NRK8wK
  • Farmers hit hard by Trump’s policies on trade, immigration (CBS News) https://cbsn.ws/2AdmTeL
    • Want to understand the border crisis? Look to American corn policy (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2v5s0YC
    • Trump’s EU Deal Wont Do a Thing to Help Soybean Farmers (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Lt6TKF                                                The union represents a relatively tiny market for our soy. And that’s not all.
  • Skyscrapers Full of Lettuce Promise an Eco-Friendly Alternative to Outdoor Farming. There’s Just One Problem. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2mBOSLq

 

Seeds & Cultivars

  • Squash Is a Mediocre Vegetable. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2vawkpv                                                      Meet the chef whose recipe starts with a seed.
  • A Brief History of the Feral Blackberry (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Lvsy59                                                                                           The Himalayan blackberry was introduced to North America as a food crop. Like a Gremlin doused with water, it escaped its confinement and became almost impossible to eradicate.

 

Food and Culture

  • 14,000 – Year – Old Piece of Bread Rewrites the History Of Baking and Farming (NPR) https://n.pr/2Ah0MUW
    • Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) https://bit.ly/2LqQVg6
  • Dara Cooper Is Reclaiming Black Foodways (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2IWvu4s                                                                                            The co-founder of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance seeks community based solutions to address racial equity, food sovereignty, and land injustice.
  • Organic reach: Food sovereignty moves to the web (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2rHFR6L                                                                    Colonial contact brought foreign food and disease to tribal nations. Now, a digital generation is reconnecting with tradition.
  • A Community of Slave Descendants Is Protecting Unique Food Traditions from Rising Seas (Yes!) https://bit.ly/2Ojl034                      One chef is raising the profile of Gullah/Geechee cuisine to help maintain the Nation’s cultural identity.

 

Hunger, Food Access & Security, Obesity, Malnutrition, and Nutrition

  • Hundreds of Farmers Markets May Stop Accepting Food Stamps (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2NfPqln                                                       An administrative screw-up could keep thousands of low-income Americans from buying healthy food with WNAP benefits.
  • Disaster SNAP: Food Stamp Program Has Special Role After Fires, Floods (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2mOWNoE                    The nutrition program that has been a contentious part of this year’s farm bill isn’t just for low-income Americans. It also kicks in when families housing, jobs or possessions during natural disasters.
  • In Alaska, Changes to SNAP Could Spell Disaster (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2uukw1Z                                                                                                In a state where 14 percent of the population rely on food stamps, it’s cheaper for a family to buy a 12-pack of soda than a gallon of milk.
  • Thirteen years after Katrina, one year after the flood, New Orleans’s food pantries struggle to stay afloat (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2vcsHzz

 

Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste

  • How Luxury Hotels and Restaurants in Developing Countries Fight Food Waste (NPR) https://n.pr/2O7ramL
  • More Recycling Won’t Solve Plastic Pollution (Scientific American) https://bit.ly/2u7hBeD                                                                      It’s a lie that wasteful consumers cause the problem and changing our individual habit can fix it.

 

Healthy/Food Safety

  • Not Just An Apple A Day: California Doctors Start Prescribing Medically Tailored Meals (WBUR) https://wbur.fm/2KWJP6T
    • With Culinary Medicine, Doctors Are Finally Learning About Food (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LvF7JG                                      It picks up where basic (and brief) med school nutrition education leaves off, and it’s making doctors better at their jobs.
  • Conceptual Change Model(ing) the way for future food safety education (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2udR0NS
  • At Least 4 More States Report Infections Linked to Tainted McDonald’s Salads (NTDTV) https://bit.ly/2uyzXVX
  • Dozens of Salads And Wraps May Contain A Fecal Parasite, USDA Warns (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2vaYwcy                        The beef, pork, and poultry items were recently sold at stores like Kroger, Trader Joe’s, and Walgreens.
  • Put The Honey Smacks Down, CDC Warns After Salmonella Outbreak (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LbvZgc                              100 people have fallen ill after eating the popular Kellogg’s cereal.
  • Ritz and Goldfish Crackers Recalled Due to Possibly Contaminated Whey Powder (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2OoVv0q

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird/Funny

  • What Can We Do About Fish Fraud? (Medium) https://bit.ly/2lYDV6n                                                                                    Greed and laziness got us here – there’s a better way forward
  • Former Starkist SVP Stephen Hodge pleads guilty to price-fixing charge (Under Current News) https://bit.ly/2uonsgz
  • Three chicken producers that control 90 percent of the market are accused of price-fixing – again (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2CWN31w

 

Children & School Food

 

Labor/Unions/Coops

  • While Richest Enjoy ‘Yachts That Have Tiny Yachts Inside,’ Estimated 400,000 People in US Suffering Under ‘Modern Slavery’ (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2mzCUBT                          “This is truly staggering statistic and demonstrates just how substantial this issue is globally.”
  • Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2u7aJxI                                                                As unions warn of serious injuries, plans to take speed limits off the lines at pig plants are causing anxiety
  • I’ve Worked for Tips for 60 Years. DC Council Should Listen to the Voters Who Want to Raise My Wages (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2NzsNsB                                                                                            Even with tips, a minimum wage of $3.89 isn’t enough to live on.

 

Pollinators

  • Honeybees Finding It Harder to Eat At America’s Bee Hot Spot (NTDTV) https://bit.ly/2KYrLth
    • Study: Past role and future outlook of the Conservation Reserve Program for supporting honey bees in the Great Pains (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://bit.ly/2KGlQYS

 

Animals

  • As Milk Production Cools in Summer, Farmers Try to Help Cows Take the Heat (NPR) https://n.pr/2K46wRk
    • Sunscreen for cows: UK farmers struggle to cope with heat wave (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2Nab9LA                        Traditional farming shows its benefits as stone barns and hedgerows provide cattle with relief from the heat

 

Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy

  • WeWork will no longer serve meat at events or expense meal with it (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2um5ScU                                          The workspace company gave environmental reasons for banning meat from all budgets, including their upcoming festival
  • Emissions Impossible: How Big Meat and Dairy Are Heating Up the Planet (Common Dreams) https://bit.ly/2LDCqsV              Together, the world’s top five meat and dairy corporations are now responsible for more annual greenhouse gas emissions than Exxon, Shell or BP
  • Report: Emissions impossible: How big meat and dairy are heating up the planet (GRAIN) https://bit.ly/2NruOac
  • Walmart to sell Japanese supermarket unit Seiyu (Nikkei Asian Review) https://s.nikkei.com/2N96t8L                                                            US giant reviews global strategy as it takes on Amazon
  • Why Is Ice Cream So Expensive? Here’s What the Artisanal Kind Requires. (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2L9OpOx
    • Living lean on premium ice cream (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2NPBKi4                                                                                  How Van Leeuwen built a mini-empire on self-indulgence and self-restraint
  • Chicken mega-farms are how we’ll feed the UK, says poultry industry head (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2tMGsVF                    British consumers eat chicken twice a week. Are large farms the only way forward?
  • Aviva Paley is Cooking Up Second Chances with Kitchens for Good (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2J1Nnz0                                                    This changemaker oversees job training, hunger relief, and food recue programs for a social enterprise kitchen that teaches everything from ‘knife skills to life skills.’
  • SNAP is a Boon to Urban and Rural Economies. Proposed Farm Bill Changes Could Cripple Them. (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2KyU7tD                                                                                Changes to the SNAP program in the House version of the farm bill could lead to a crippling economic domino effect that often starts at the local grocery store.

 

Food Fraud/Scandals/Weird

 

Water & Our Oceans

  • Flint’s Water-Related Death Toll Keeps Rising (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2LEAgJj
    • Watchdog (Inspector General) Blasts EPA’s Response to Flint Water Crisis in Blistering Report (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2vezDfA
    • Report: Management Weaknesses Delayed Response to Flint Water Crisis (EPA Inspector General) https://bit.ly/2uWNXKe  Supervisors in the Region 5 office are singled out for their inaction.
  • This Blue Collar Hamptons Town Has Dealt With 4 Tainted Water Crises In 2 Years (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2mLFJjo                    A toxic chemical tainted one water well. Then another. Then another. Now black sediment spews from the taps.
  • Don’t Drink the Water: DC Warns Thousands of Contamination Risk (NBC Washington) https://bit.ly/2JjMSR9                                    The advisory sparked fear and confusion among some city residents, who asked why they learned of the problem on social media and from news reports rather than from DC Water or the city government
  • The amazing return of the starfish: species triumphs over melting disease (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2tu7TU0                                      After a mysterious ‘mass mortality event’ turned ochre stars to goo, experts say rapid evolution may have saved the creatures.
  • Researchers Mapped “Marine Wilderness” for the First Time Ever – And the Outcome Is Bleak (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Lw1r9Z                                                                                        Only 13 percent of the ocean, at the most, can be considered “wilderness.”

 

Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill

  • White House Threatened to Economically Cripple Ecuador for Promoting Breastfeeding (Vanity Fair) https://bit.ly/2ztpHUR        Mustn’t upset Big Baby Food!
  • Infant Formula Makers Sweetened Mother’s Milk Of Politics With $60 Million In Lobbying Funds (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2zV1jvz
  • Trump Puts Corporate Profits Over Babies’ Health (Truthout) https://bit.ly/2AmtCD0
  • Trump’s “Plan” to Appease Farmers With $12 Billion Amounts to “Gold Crutches” (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2K1FZUE      According to many GOP legislators, farmers, and farm groups.
  • USDA Rolls Out Trade Aid (Progressive Farmer) https://bit.ly/2uVmkBl                                                                                    Trump Administration details one time aid programs to help farmers facing tariff pains
  • Trump’s $12 Billion Bailout Is a “Very Pricey Bandage Over a Deeper Wound” (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2va6Toc
  • Trump Boasted To Farers He Opened European Market. Europe: No, He Didn’t (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2LSHTJ4                Other than soybeans, agricultural products are off the table, the European Commission says.
  • FDA Is About To Ban Almond Milk From Being Called ‘Milk’ (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2JGq4Lr
    • Sorry, Scott Gottlieb: FDA shouldn’t be allowed to redefine “milk,” no matter what the dairy lobby wants (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2OpzLkO                                                          The FDA chief knows consumers can tell cow’s milk from soymilk. A look at agency history suggests the new on words is about catering to industry interests.
  • Cow or Cashew? (Progressive Farmer) https://bit.ly/2LXV23w      FDA Commissioner details agency’s plans for labeling dairy, plant based foods
  • Trump’s new plan to consolidate federal food safety efforts won’t work. Here’s why (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2tteCh2
  • CDC Just Retracted Its Farmer Suicide Data. That Could Be Terrible News for Farmers. (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2lZukfC  The numbers “might be inaccurate” as a result of coding errors.
  • Trump’s USDA Is Killing Rules That Organic Food Makers Want (Bloomberg) https://bloom.bg/2ucD6LP                                                  The organic industry has sought out government oversight to reassure consumers. Now some worry that deregulation could chip away at that confidence.
  • House Republicans Pass Hostile ‘Empty Oceans Act’ (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2L8pXwR                                                                                         For the last 40 years, the Magnuson-Stevens Act has been our nation’s primary defense against overfishing.
  • House Republicans Vote To Gut Lauded Law That Saved America’s Fisheries (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2Nb8jpF        Meanwhile the Trump administration is eyeing whether to open marine national monuments to commercial fishing.
  • How Big Soda Strong-Armed California Into Banning Soda Taxes (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2udMga3                                                        The beverage industry forced the state assembly into a “last-minute, quid pro quo deal.”
  • Mandatory labels with simple disclosures reduced fears of GE foods in Vermont (The Conversation) https://bit.ly/2MSUj3N
  • Welcome to Tampa, Where Feral Chickens Are High on the Pecking Order (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2JMGe5Q                        A city ordinance protects the free-ranging fowl – for better or worse.
  • A Texas lawsuit hinges on this question: What, exactly, are “pickles”? (New Food Economy) https://bit.ly/2vdq0O7
  • Feds get a little queasy over new Seattle policy to disclose active investigations (Food Safety News) https://bit.ly/2KRL0V5
  • Young and Beginning Farmers: Don’t Abandon Us in the Farm Bill (Civil Eats) https://bit.ly/2zhDDRtAs Congress seeks to pass a unified version of the farm bill, some programs that support new farmers are at risk.
  • This farm bill deregulates the rich and policies the poor (High Country News) https://bit.ly/2mPX6ji

 

GMOs/CRISPR/Cloning/Synthetic Biology

  • Organic Consumers Association: Whole Foods Fails Consumers Again by Delaying GMO Labeling (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2OkyRGl                                                                                          The company’s GMO labeling promise is more about saving face than about real transparency.
  • Impossible Burger and the Road to Consumer Distrust (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2KRHmtG                                                              For anyone who wonders why consumers aren’t inspired to trust the GMO industry, consider the bizarre statement from Impossible Food Chief Communications Officer…

 

Poisons

  • Opening arguments begin in lawsuit over Roundup weed killer (abc7) https://abc7ne.ws/2uiNbXv                                                          Opening statements began in superior court in San Francisco on Monday in the trial for the first of thousands of lawsuits against Monsanto alleging its weed killer product Roundup causes cancer.
  • Organic Consumers Association: Landmark New Study Is Best Hope for Ridding World of Monsato’s Dangerous Weedkiller (AlterNet) https://bit.ly/2AiABNy                                                                        A major study has found that the EPA’s ‘safe’ levels of Roundup weedkiller is food aren’t so safe after all.
  • Bayer Bought Monsanto and Is Now Stuck With Its Biggest Headache (Mother Jones) https://bit.ly/2Mzdnnw                                    A blockbuster herbicide (dicamba) is still causing trouble across farm country.
  • New Dicamba Drift Estimate: 1.1 Million Acres Damaged Already in 2018 (EcoWatch) https://bit.ly/2uVvkGj
    • Reports From Dicamba’s Drift Across America (Modern Farmer) https://bit.ly/2Oog4Kd
    • When Drift Hits Home (Progressive Farmer) https://bit.ly/2mxfBsJ                                                                              Dicamba moves beyond bean fields and into the public eye
  • Is The ‘Dirty Dozen’ Food List Really So Dirty After All? (Huffington Post) https://bit.ly/2L2gwyZ
    • Study: Dietary Exposure to Pesticide Residues from Commodities Alleged to Contain the Highest Contamination Levels (Journal of Toxicology) https://bit.ly/2dPn31g
    • USDA Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) Database https://bit.ly/2N5iaNC
  • Where have all our insects gone? (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2KnDr4x                                                                                          There is a crisis in the countryside – and a massive decline in insect numbers could have significant consequences for the environment

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Volunteer Orientation Summary

The August 3rd Event is this Friday and we will be hosting 900 Youth on our Farm. 

The location of this event is at the Grow Calgary Farm: 10319 West valley Road SW.

Please ensure that you can get to this location at 11 am and be prepared to stay there until 4pm. Bring your own snack, drinking water and hat to cover from the sun for the day! Also make sure to not wear T-shirts with any offensive language or logos. 

Volunteers will assist during rotation times (every 45min-1 hour) so groups can transition easily. 

August 3rd Itinerary

-Arrive at 11am 

-In the 1-hour frame we will designate station rotation points to volunteers. A physical print out of the map will be provided to you. The different stations are marked by number signs for you to orient the youth to the correct spot. 

-Students will arrive at 12pm. Each bus contains appx 10 youth with 4 church leaders

-Some Volunteers will assist near the parking lot with sign-in once the groups arrive. The sheet with each group and their group leaders should be provided to you (volunteers) by our Farm Operations Manager the day of. 

-Volunteers will go to their designated spots after sign in to guide groups with station rotation. Each station will have a farm manager to guide students with tasks for the stations. Volunteers can assist with that in between rotation if they desire. 

-Rotate groups until 1.30pm. Head to the area between 9 and 10 labelled on the map at 1.30pm for a big group picture with the 900 youth, staff, and other volunteers during the event. After the picture and video we will head back to the designated spots.

-Around 3 to 3.30pm, volunteers and farm managers will escort the youth to the buses at our parking lot for departure. We will do this 6 groups at a time, as there are 17 groups of roughly 40 youth during the event.

-By 4pm we wrap up everything and you are ready to leave.  

***Lunch/Break time TBA: During the break time you are allowed to snack and take a washroom break, as we have portable washrooms on the farm. The Youth will head out the farm property for a pizza break. IMG_0828.PNG

 

GrowCalgary Blog Posts

Grow Calgary + Microhome Design / Build Competition

Grow Calgary is an NPO that operates an urban community farm located south of the TransCanada Highway, 1 km West of Canada Olympic Park. 2018 is the 70th Anniversary of the United Nation’s Human Rights Declaration, and we supportthe fundamental principles of Article 25:  the universal right to food and shelter, or what we like to call “Snack in the Shack”. Grow Calgary supports local charities and food security initiatives by donating 100% of the fresh produce we harvestto social agencies that have food access programs for their clients. Additionally, we provide educational opportunities to youth and low-income families on how to grow and cultivate food. Over 22,000 volunteers have contributed energy to the farm and over 10,000 youth (K-12) have accessed Grow Calgary’s free programming. 

 Addressing the enormous demand for affordable housing, we support and develop sustainable, affordable, and compassionate housing initiatives. This summer we are hosting Canada’s 1st Microhome Design/Build Competition in an effort to bring applied research, attention, visibility and engagement to good design around affordable, energy and resource efficient, aesthetically pleasing microhomes and to create an opportunity for designers to feature their microhome design concepts. 

 A microhome is a small dwelling typically between 100 SF to 500 SF The microhome movement is a commitment to minimalistic, sustainable, and affordable living. Traditional housing is excessive in its nature and the utilization of space tends to reflect the desire of materialistic possession, rather than nurture an efficient living environment. When downsizing to a microhome, the excessive non-essential aspects of traditional dwellings are cut out, which reduces theenvironmental footprint of the dwellings construction and operation. Building on to the benefits, a smaller house is significantly more affordable and the financial investment to own a microhome is comparable to buying a car. 

 Unfortunately, microhomes do not have a place within the provincial building code and local zoning bylaws. Through Grow Calgary’s competition we want to showcase the viability of a microhome as a sustainable, affordable, comfortable, compassionate living space and to make a case for a re-evaluation of how microhomes fit within the local and provincial regulatory framework.

 On the 15th of September, Grow Calgary is hosting an open exhibition to showcase Microhomes that have been constructed by our committed teams as part of Canada’s 1st Microhome Design/Build Competition. There will be over 10 unique homes, each with a different take on the optimal utilization of 100 SF of living space.

All members of trade associations, the housing construction sector, developers, social agencies that deal directly with homeless populations, affordable housing advocates, the general public and the media are welcome to attend, free of charge.

The Competition

We’ve put out a challenge to builders and designers around the province to create a microhome that is innovative, transportable, replicable, and most importantly livable. There are three classes of competition, the micro, the tiny, and the design class.

• Micro Class​– submit a temporary structure under 100 SF, to be built entirely on site
• Tiny Class​– submit a temporary structure between under 400 SF, can be built off site
• Design Class​– submit the conceptual plans and design drawings for a microhome

 

Right now we have 10 teams from around Alberta, each working to develop a unique microhome. All of the microhomes will be on display to the public on the 15th of September on our farm. There will be a celebrity judging panel critiquing the homes and selecting a champion for each class.

Call for Competitors

We’re still accepting new competitors and if you feel you’re able to design and put together a microhome in two months you’re more than welcome to join the competition. We are able to provide manpower as we have a number of “free-agent” volunteers waiting to get involved.

Call for Sponsors

In an effort to be sustainable and cost effective, the majority of our teams are building their homes mostly out of repurposed material. Any organization or individual who is willing to donate building material will be recognized as a sponsor to the competition. We are also on the lookout for financial sponsors. Organizations are able to sponsor the competition as a whole or sponsor one of our individual teams. Sponsors will be recognized with a permanent name plate on the sponsored microhome(s), logo/name included on competition related promotional material, and will be given the opportunityto present promotional material on the day of the exhibition.

Contact Information

For more information on how to get involved email microhome@growcalgary.ca and visit www.growcalgary.ca.

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Summer 2018, Volunteer

Summer Excitement!

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There’s so many awesome things happening on the farm right now, it’s hard to stay up to date! We’re about to break it down for you in this post!

Events & Volunteer Opportunities:

Grow Calgary is integrating itself heavily in events this summer! We have just completed an event packed stampede week, and we’re looking forward to what the rest of summer has in store for the Grow Team! More details about any of these events listed below can be found on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter Pages!

Every Saturday & Sunday: Family Open Farm Days, Microhome Construction, and Open Volunteer Hours, all happening at 1pm-4pm at the Grow Calgary farm site!

Sundays: Bee Hive Tours – We have partnered with ABC Bees to have hives on our farm to promote the health of bees as a species, and to aid us in successful crops! Come visit us on our farm site at 1-2pm, and 2-3pm for an exclusive bee tour!

If you wish to visit us at another time outside the allotted 1pm-4pm on Saturday or Sunday, please message us on any social media platform or email us at least 24 hours prior to your expected arrival! This allows for us to meet any required accommodations you may have, and ensure our amazing staff are expecting you on the farm!

Tuesday July 17th: YYC Free Market Event – We’re going to be boothing at this event, make sure you come on down and say hi to us! The project promotes accessible materials and sustainability! Hosted in Kensington, Calgary.

Saturday July 21st: Yoga at the Farm – Grow Calgary is hosting this event with the help of the wonderful yoga instructor, Candice Archer! It is going to be a morning of yoga, relaxation, farm learning, and community bonding! Event is on our farm from 9am-1pm, bring your own yoga mat, lunch, and family and/or friends!

August 3rd: Grow Calgary’s Biggest Event Ever! – We’re calling volunteers! If you are available from 11am-4pm on August 3rd and would like sign up information please fill out this google form! We are also hosting a volunteer orientation on July 29th in preparation for the event, which will include an exclusive farm tour! Google Form Link Here!

There will be another post with job opportunities coming soon! As well as updates on new and longstanding partnerships, microhome competition information, and first hand views at the farm lifestyle from our very own farm managers!

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