Archive for March, 2009

Creamery Family Talks Disaster

Friday, March 13th, 2009

Co-op dairy struggles to make payments in midst of financial meltdown

Cecilia Parsons
Capital Press

Blake and Stephanie Alexandre’s EcoDairy Farms is one of the 50 Humboldt Creamery dairies facing tough times due to the financial shake up of the long-time milk processor.

Humboldt Creamery CEO Rich Ghilarducci abruptly resigned Feb. 20, and the revelation that the co-op’s financial statements are inaccurate has shocked North Coast dairy families. Read Full Article »

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Despite Legal Setback, Raw Almond Fight Continues

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

The Cornucopia Institute

The dismissal, on technical grounds, by a federal court judge on Monday of a lawsuit challenging the USDA’s raw almond pasteurization mandate will likely not end the controversy.

“The court’s decision sidestepped the merits and substance of the lawsuit,” said Will Fantle of The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based family farm research group and organizer of the almond lawsuit.

The USDA’s lack of legal authority to enact the controversial raw almond regulation and its fumbling of the rule’s implementation were among major substantive claims detailed in the lawsuit – none of which the court has yet to rule on. Eighteen California almond farmers and wholesale nut handlers had filed the suit against the USDA last September. Read Full Article »

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Growing Power in an Urban Food Desert

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Yes! Magazine
by Roger Bybee

Will Allen is bringing farming and fresh foods back into city neighborhoods.

At the northern outskirts of Milwaukee, in a neighborhood of boxy post-WWII homes near the sprawling Park Lawn housing project, stand 14 greenhouses arrayed on two acres of land. This is Growing Power, the only land within the Milwaukee city limits zoned as farmland.

Founded by MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellow Will Allen, Growing Power is an active farm producing tons of food each year, a food distribution hub, and a training center. It’s also the home base for an expanding network of similar community food centers, including a Chicago branch run by Allen’s daughter, Erika. Growing Power is in what Allen calls a “food desert,” a part of the city devoid of full-service grocery stores but lined with fast-food joints, liquor stores, and convenience stores selling mostly soda and sweets. Growing Power is an oasis in that desert. Read Full Article »

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Eat Local – Even in Winter

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Many farmers’ markets no longer shut down in cold weather.

By Amy Farnsworth | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Pawtucket, R.I. – Inside a long corridor of a renovated mill on a cold January morning, a young brown-haired woman slices handmade ricotta and feta cheeses and lays them out on wooden cheese boards. Around her, baskets of fresh bread and homemade pies line rows of tables and locally harvested oysters poke through clusters of ice.

Although ice and snow cover the sidewalks outside, the cheerful sounds of a string band warm the makeshift marketplace in Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, R.I.

The scene at the Rhode Island Wintertime Farmers’ Market is not unlike those found in towns and villages across the country each spring and summer. What’s unusual here and in growing numbers of communities is what was once small and seasonal is now bigger and year-round, a response to the growing demand nationwide for locally grown and locally produced foods.

The movement has spawned a word – locavore Read Full Article »

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Despite Economy, Organic Farming Conference Proves Successful

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Farm and Dairy

SPRING VALLEY, Wis. – During this economic recession, when many other industries have dropping numbers, organic food is still increasing in both sales and recognition.

This proved true in more ways than one at the nation’s largest organic farming conference, hosted by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. Read Full Article »

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