npr: Hybridization – an open source platform for sharing natural seed diversity

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npr: Hybridization – an open source platform for sharing natural seed diversity

Scientists and food activists are launching a campaign to promote seeds that can be freely shared, rather than protected through patents and licenses. They call it the Open Source Seed Initiative.

It’s inspired by the example of open source software, which is freely available for anyone to use but cannot legally be converted into anyone’s proprietary product.

Joe Kloppenburg says turning seeds into private property has contributed to the rise of big seed companies that in turn promote ever-bigger, more specialized farms. “The problem is concentration, and the narrow set of uses to which the technology and the breeding are being put,”

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An online conference, The 2014 Food Revolution Summit serves up a star panel of experts & celebrities to provides the truth about GMOs and dangerous chemicals — and how carbs, gluten, fat, and sugar affect your weight, energy, sleep and the planet.

http://foodrevolution.org/summit/

Immerse yourself – your Corporate Skills best utilized in sustainable agriculture

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Immerse yourself – your Corporate Skills best utilized in sustainable agriculture

Greener Pastures:  Corporate Skills for Sustainable Jobs – by Kristen A. Schmitt

“While I am aware that there is still much to learn, one thing I am certain about is that my professional background and experience have a major place within reprogramming our food system. It will allow me to contribute within the evolving agricultural landscape, compete within the available green job market, and push back against the corporate giants while also creating a sustainable environmentally friendly food system – and I hope that it will persuade more corporate Americans to make the switch, too.”

Tell Congress you have a right to know GMOs: Oppose the DARK act

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Tell Congress you have a right to know GMOs: Oppose the DARK act

Big Ag is taking their fight national – trying to put a gag-order on your right to know if products contain Genetically Engineered (GE) crops.  

Not banning the GE crops, instead requiring labeling is all that is being asked by the general public.  Instead, to protect financial interests of a few, heavy hands are doing the opposite and controlling your interest, and right to know.

The bill, which we’re calling the “Deny Americans the Right-to-Know Act (DARK Act),” would:

  • Prevent states from adopting their own GE labeling laws.
  • Block any attempt by states to make it illegal for food companies to put a “natural” label on products that contain GE ingredients.
  • Prevent the Food and Drug Administration from requiring companies to label GE ingredients and instead continue a failed “voluntary” labeling policy.

http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1881/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=13694&track=FRN

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TV – “Years of living Dangerously” explores food system concerns.

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/blog/3070/years-of-eating-dangerously#

From Showtime series – Years of Living Dangerously:  It turns out that we’ve been living and eating dangerously. Where and how food is grown, processed, distributed, and even discarded is a huge part of the climate crisis, but with the right incentives and practices food can be a big part of the climate solution. Here’s what you can do:

  • Eat fresh, unprocessed foods
  • Buy local and in-season
  • Choose organic foods
  • Eliminate industrial meat and dairy consumption; opt instead for pasture-raised products
  • Reduce food waste and compost at home, at school, and at work

Environmentalist Jan Schlichtmann is On Growing Business Radio

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Environmentalist Jan Schlichtmann is On Growing Business Radio

For four decades, globally acclaimed environmentalist Jan Schlichtmann has helped define how corporations are held accountable for environmental and human impact. Jan is best known for his suit against W. R. Grace and Beatice Co. the basis of the book and movie “A Civil Action”.

Most recently, Jan has established Oceanic Innovation Center, a revolutionary biomimicry fishery & hatchery on the state fish pier in Gloucester.  A game changing innovation for decimated fishing fleets & associated working water-fronts, Jan’s entrepreneurial venture replicates how different trophic levels of sealife naturally clean water & cycle nutrients in a closed loop system, redefining how aquaculture can produce cleaner & healthier sea proteins.

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For every one dollar increase in (local) agricultural sales, personal income rose by 22 cents over the course of five years.

The motto ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ has long been a guiding tenet of the sustainable food movement. But does acting locally really make a difference and if so, what kind of difference? That’s just what a team of economists set out to explore in the study Linkages Between Community-Focused Agriculture, Farm Sales, and Regional Growth, published in Economic Development Quarterly (2014). Their results revealed that yes, direct farm-to-customer-sales in the form of farmer’s markets and farm visits do make a difference – but what kind of difference depends where the farms are located and on how well local communities have built up an supply chain to support this kind of local buying.

http://foodtank.com/news/2014/04/think-global-buy-local-a-new-study-looks-at-the-impact-of-buying-local-prod

Don’t fear – mainstream Organics is here! Yikes – Wal-Mart betting on Organics?

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Don’t fear – mainstream Organics is here! Yikes – Wal-Mart betting on Organics?

With Wal-Mart “trying to make organic food more accessible to its budget-conscious shoppers” many (of us) cringe with fears conjured from the days of big-box stores destroying mom & pops shops.  That said, if only 5% of our food is sourced locally in the Northeast, aren’t big businesses already controlling our food system?  And, on the flip-side, considering Organics is only 4% marketshare, we have to look at this evolution from big-box as a huge step forward in promoting consumer awareness and setting stage for what could be next…

Acting as the proving ground for early adopters, consumers of Organic food have long paid ultra premiums & proved a growing market demand for better sustenance. Now, the true opportunity for “better quality real-food” is from regional production of local, artisanal foods as industrialized Organics (no doubt better than conventional production for many reasons) will not hold-water with consumers becoming increasingly more aware of their food system and demanding more transparency & traceability in tow.

Proactive antibiotic abuse in feedlot animals could cripple human health

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Proactive antibiotic abuse in feedlot animals could cripple human health

Saving our antibiotics:

99.9% of land protein produced in the States is from within Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO).  These feedlot animals consume 80% of total annual US antibiotic usage.  Federated mostly in low level doses to promote artificial growth and/or to proactively address illnesses common to exposure to other feedlot animals, only a small percentage of these “germ killers” are actually used on animals for therapeutic practice.  As Sir Alexander Fleming warned with the advent of penicillin, administration in slow and small doses will establish microbial immunities (superbugs). Bolstering these immunities, for germs & not us, through our food system has done just that!  If we maintain business as usual, we’ll only continue to expedite the superbug epidemic.

So – be afraid, be very afraid as we may be returning to a life where antibiotics have very limited effectiveness even with increased doses & potency. 

http://www.nrdc.org/food/saving-antibiotics.asp

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Food Hubs:  Heart of the local food movement Northeast…

The growth of the local food movement over the past several years is no subject to debate. Farmers markets are an oft-cited indicator, and Massachusetts is a poster child for the trend. According to the state’s Department of Agricultural Resources, the total number of markets rose 36 percent between 2005 and 2012.

http://www.ecori.org/massachusetts-econ/2014/2/8/food-hubs-heart-of-local-food-movement.html

A “food hub,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is an entity that combines production, aggregation, distribution and marketing of local produce in order to help small and mid-sized farmers reach markets that would be logistically difficult, if not impossible, for them to access on their own.  In other words, food hubs help facilitate local food transactions by connecting the links in the supply chain — inputs, farmers, processors, aggregators, distributors, outlets, consumers and scrap.