- Organic Farming Could Feed The World, If Only We Would Let It (Huffington Post) http://huff.to/28QPs47 A new report argues against critics who claim industrial agriculture is the only way to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population.
- Report: Farming for the Future: Organic and Agroecological Solutions to Feed the World (Friends of the Earth) http://bit.ly/28Os6f6
- How Native American Tribes Saved A Giant, Ancient Squash From Oblivion (NPR) http://n.pr/298Q5Xk
- New Report Highlights Need For Organic Seed Breeding (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) http://bit.ly/2983VaB
- Report: State of Organic Seed, 2016 (Organic Seed Alliance) http://stateoforganicseed.org/
- Nothing Says ‘Hip’ Like Ancient Wheat (NPR) http://n.pr/2901hAj
- Back to the Future – Tapping into Ancient Grains for Food Diversity (Trends in Plant Science) http://bit.ly/28YcbWx
- CSAs that Think Outside the Produce Box (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28ZWfnE
- James Beard Foundation: Announcing The 2016 JBF Leadership Award Recipients http://bit.ly/28P2Bq8
- Florida Couple Sues After Front Yard Garden Is Banned (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28Wf8HV
- Vandana Shiva: The Great Seed Piracy (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/28K14m6
- Why Conserving Crops’ Wild Cousins May Be Critical for Human Survival (AlterNet) http://bit.ly/290Z3VO As global food requirements grow with skyrocketing human population, genes from wild relatives of common corps could play a big role.
- This 700-Year-Old Farming Technique Can Make Super Fertile Soil (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28XBgDC
- Time to invest in agriculture that can survive changing climates. Like, now. (grist) http://bit.ly/28Js2ZT
- Talking With Our Tribe: Kelly Carlisle of Acta Non Verba (Garden Tribe) http://bit.ly/28Mxhvg
- What’s With Wheat? Joel Salatin Tells Us in a New Documentary (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28Y9dr3
- No peaches or apricots? Blame the Northeast’s warm, whacky winter. (grist) http://bit.ly/28JsgjD
- University Farmers Bring Heirloom Purple Wheat Back From Brink of Extinction (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28YcDu5
- “Less Meat, Less Heat”: China’s Plan to Drop Meat Consumption Gets Praise (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/28M35yl New dietary guidelines would reduce the country’s livestock-related carbon emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030
- Those LED Lights in Supermarket Dairy Cases are Making Milk Go Bad (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28ZEN6d
- For some growers, farmers markets just aren’t what they used to be (The Washington Post) http://wapo.st/28PtTRI
- Chicago: Thanks to MightyVine, You Can Having Local Tomatoes, 365 Days a Year (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/29398Ch
- Fried Chicken Was Very, Very Different in the 1700s (Sploid) http://bit.ly/28RCpgq
- An Illustrated History of Fried Chicken in America (First We Feast) http://bit.ly/28NS50Y
- How the Texas BBQ Boom Marginalizes Its African-American Roots (First We Feast) http://bit.ly/28NLsvP National media’s obsession with brisket from Austin undermines the rich legacy of black pitmasters in East Texas.
- Meet the Man Who Introduced Persian Ice Cream to Los Angeles (Munchies) http://bit.ly/28R6a3l
- This City Is Home to 820 Urban Farms and Quickly Becoming America’s Urban Ag Capital (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/28W7ehZ
- A Bike-Powered Local Food Movement Is Heading to a Town Near You (takepart) http://bit.ly/292X7wD
- Meet the Modern Farmer: Robin Emmons (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28XllmP A family crisis turned Robin Emmons into a farmer.
- NYC: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Crazy Cheap in Chinatown (WSJ) http://on.wsj.com/28XtZSE
- San Francisco: The Reason Produce is Cheap in Chinatown (Lucky Peach) http://bit.ly/295aj2q
- Meet Demythe, Winner Of Lithuania’s Goat Beauty Pageant (Huffington Post) http://huff.to/29gJRAB
Hunger, Food Access & Insecurity, Obesity & Malnutrition
- 1 in every 113 human beings is forcibly displaced from their home right now (The Washington Post) http://wapo.st/28NXEQc
- No food, little water for Syrians stranded on Jordan border (Associated Press) http://apne.ws/299tF55
- As Venezuela Erupts Into Chaos, 87 Percent of Its Citizens Can No Longer Afford Food (First We Feast) http://bit.ly/28YEkPY President Nicolás Maduro is now facing the possibility of a recall referendum.
- 1 in 10 Cal State Students is homeless, study finds (LA Times) http://lat.ms/28KIjxO About one in 10 of California State University’s 460,000 students is homeless, and one in five doesn’t have steady access to enough food…
- CSU shocker: Up to 57,000 students homeless (SF Chronicle) http://bit.ly/28Tc5PY Many ore are hungry, not eating regularly
- Study: Serving Displaced and Food Insecure Students in the CSU (CSU) http://bit.ly/28MCseK
- Food Pantries Address a Growing Hunger Problem at Colleges (NYT) http://nyti.ms/28SY0pQ
- A Striking Number of College Students are Food Insecure. Can Campus Farms Help? (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/28WWMpr A community college in Brooklyn has launched what might be the fires on-site farm-to-pantry college program in the country.
- The numbers are staggering: US is ‘world leader’ in child poverty (Raw Story) http://bit.ly/21qMh32 America’s wealth grew by 60% in the past six year, by over $30 trillion. In approximately the same time, the number of homeless children has also grown by 60%.
- Here’s the surprising reason that malnutrition is rising around the world (The Canary) http://bit.ly/28Mb5Q1
Gleaning, Reuse, Recycling, Composting & Waste
- Garbage in, energy out: creating biofuel from plastic waste (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/294rIpB An Australian startup has found a way to transform end-of-life plastics into bio-crude fuel. But is this a sustainable solution or just pollution displacement? Plastics are made from natural gas in the US and oil in most of the rest of the world…
- The Dirty Truth About Cold-Pressed Juice (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28XliIa The real cost of the juicing fad? Food waste. Tons of it.
Healthy/Safe Food
- Don’t believe the slander: Americans are eating less crap. (grist) http://bit.ly/28XtKsr
- Study: Dietary Intake Among US Adults, 1999-2012 (JAMA) http://bit.ly/28UVPxZ
- Raise a Cup – of Coffee; WHO No Longer Says It Can Cause Cancer (AlterNet)
- Raise a Cup – of Coffee; WHO No Longer Says It Can Cause Cancer (AlterNet) http://bit.ly/2976KaJ
- Burger King’s new ‘Mac ‘n Cheetos’ sticks leave the world gasping in horror (Raw Story) http://bit.ly/290ZhMC
- Do you want to live a longer healthier life? New evidence shows eating this food group can help (The Canary) http://bit.ly/28RqttL
- The Truth About Eating Pink Chicken (epicurious) http://bit.ly/28RefRE
- We Have Terrible News For Anyone Who Eats Chicken (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/28PCzqP
Children & School Food
- How One Groudbreaking Set of Rules is Changing the Food in LA Schools and the System Behind It (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/296CUWU
Labor/Unions/Coops
- $15 Minimum Wage in California: Who Is Affected By The Plan To Raise California’s Minimum Wage? (California Institute For Rural Studies) http://bit.ly/28KUnSy
Business, Social Enterprise & Our Economy
- This Startup Wants You To Have Your Disposable Spoon And Eat It, Too (NPR) http://n.pr/292zSTY
- Nestle Should Not Continue Profiting From Extracting Water From Public Lands (Buzz Flash) http://bit.ly/28ODXHf
- A Bayer and Monsanto Merger Would Be Disastrous for Humans and the Environment (AlterNet) http://bit.ly/28Xc3dl The union of Monsanto’s seeds and Bayer’s herbicides would perfectly position the merged giant to fully exploit a toxic but highly profitable cycle of increasing herbicide use and weed resistance.
- India: Dairy farmers find the going tough (The Hindu) http://bit.ly/290Xasy
- How Organic Agriculture Boosts Local Economies (AlterNet) http://bit.ly/28WBeOx New research has found that “organic hotspots” boos median household incomes by an average of $2,000 and reduce poverty levels by an average of 1.3 percentage points.
Water & Our Oceans
- Hot Mess: States Struggle to deal with Radioactive Fracking Waste (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/28MfRMb Potentially dangerous drilling byproducts are being dumped in landfills throughout the Marcellus Shale the few controls
- High Levels of Toxins Found in Bodies of People Living Near Fracking Sites (Earth Island Journal) http://bit.ly/28Yr2kR
- California Fresh Groundwater Reserves Triple in New Assessment (circle of blue) http://bit.ly/290zfcb Researchers urge caution in underground disposal of oil waste, to protect deep water sources.
- Clean water should be a basic human right. Why are we charging so much for it? (grist) http://bit.ly/28VFgrs
- A New Interactive Map Reveals How 6,500 Factory Farms Are Putting North Carolinians at Risk (AlterNet) http://bit.ly/28XeMQP “For far too long, North Carolinians have been kept in the dark about the true impact these industrial factory farms are having on communities and waterways.”
- Lawsuit Filed Against 3M for Dumping Toxic Chemicals Into the Tennessee River (EcoWatch) http://bit.ly/293E2ZJ
- Delta management plan tossed by judge (San Jose Mercury News) http://bayareane.ws/28VkcxY
- Update: (California) Delta Plan Litigation Comments (Restore The Delta) http://bit.ly/28Wq2SS FAQs, Research & Important Links
- Detroit Is Turning Vacant Lots Into Sponges for Storm Water (City Lab) http://bit.ly/28Z6ZCZ
- Northeast fishermen face their worst foe yet: climate change (FERN) http://bit.ly/293Bc7m
- Unprecedented Bleaching Event Portends Mass Death of World’s Coral Ecosystems (Common Dreams) http://bit.ly/28NgLMA ‘It’s time to shift this conversation to what we can do to conserve these amazing organisms in the face of this unprecedented global bleaching event’
- Collapse of kelp (California) forest imperils North Coast ocean ecosystem (Press Democrat) http://bit.ly/28Qg3ik
- Dutch prototype clean-up boom brings Pacific plastics solution a step closer (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/291Vtsj
Government/Regulation/Policy/Farm Bill
- EU Appeals Committee Says No to Glyphosate Re-License (Sustainable Pulse) http://bit.ly/28Xr7Xp
- German government agrees to ban fracking after years of dispute (The Guardian) http://bit.ly/28TY05I
- This (UK) government guide is being slammed for promoting industry wealth over public health (The Canary) http://bit.ly/28L9c5I
- The US Take Action To Minimize Animal Testing (Huffington Post) http://huff.to/292zrJd Animal activists are praising the first update to a substance-testing law in over 20 years.
- USDA Says Paul LePage’s Food Stamp Freakout Will Harm Children (Huffington Post) http://huff.to/28Or8z7 The governor of Maine Threatened to drop food stamps if the feds won’t let him prevent poor people from buying candy and soda.
- Victory!! Pesticide Contamination Prohibited fro Organic Production (Center For Food Safety) http://bit.ly/28R6j6I
GMOs/Cloning/Food Technology/Synthetic Biology/Nanotechnology
- Vermont’s GMO labeling law: DuPont, Syngenta fight disclosure of internal studies (Brattleboro Reformer) http://bit.ly/28YaM6o
- Here come GMO labels! (grist) http://bit.ly/28UVVFJ
- Silicon Valley’s Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes And Sizzles Like Meat (NPR) http://n.pr/292A8C7
- Famous Blooding Meatless Burger Previews at Jardiniere (SF Eater) http://bit.ly/28LqxKG
- Wit A Zap, Scientists Create Low-Fat Chocolate (NPR) http://n.pr/298QQQ7
Poisons
- Fracking produces tons of radioactive waste. What should we do with it? (grist) http://bit.ly/28KPo67
- The Developing World Is Awash In Pesticides. Does It Have To Be? (ensia) http://bit.ly/28WDXHJ Herbicides, insecticides and fungicides threaten the environment and human healthy in many parts of the world. But research is pointing to a better approach.
Pollinators
- Truck Full of Dead Bees Delivered to the EPA (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28WiNH6 The Keep Hives Alive Tour, a traveling protest of farmers, agriculture scientists, and activists, has been traveling around the country bringing its message to the masses.
Animals
- Can New USDA Organic Standards for Animals Close the Welfare Gap? (Civil Eats) http://bit.ly/29iyZlv
- A French Sailor. A Spanish Hen. A Global Adventure. (modern farmer) http://bit.ly/28Xsjcd
- Perdue to pay for growers’ animal-welfare improvements (Politico) http://politi.co/290zzHK
- Why Perdue Will Grow Happier (and Maybe Healthier) Chickens (National Geographic) http://on.natgeo.com/28YsNye
- Perdue Aims to Make Chickens Happier and More Comfortable (NYT) http://nyti.ms/290uaBQ
- Seagulls Are Now Carrying One of the World’s Deadliest Superbugs (Mother Jones) http://bit.ly/28QdDMz And they can migrate thousands of miles and drop it on our doorstep