The Huffington Post
by Woody Tasch

“When is enough enough?” Bernie Sanders asked during his filibuster against the Lame Duck tax bill in December. During the speech, he referred to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the world’s richest three people. (If you haven’t been paying attention, they’ve been pushed down to the number two and three spots by Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican telecom tycoon who is now worth $53.5 billion.)

The reference to Gates and Buffett in a speech about Enough was a result of their project called the Giving Pledge, which encourages billionaires to give away more than half their wealth. And while this may not seem immediately relevant to life in the hills of Hardwick or the dales of Dorset, it raises important questions about the meaning of Enough, about ways in which we might, as a society, secede from the cult of He Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins and, maybe, just maybe, about ways to put back into the soil–the soil of the restorative economy and the actual soil–what we take out.

Ask any earthworm. Here are a few data points from Earthworm Economics: Read Full Article »

Posted in Opinion/Editorial

[The following letter was sent to USDA Secretary Vilsack by Chuck Noble, a Bellvue, WA farmer.]

Dear Secretary Vilsack –

Conventional and genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa coexistence is not possible nor practical. Here are some reasons:

The USDA should realize that not all crops can coexist nor should all crops be genetically engineered.

A monopoly is growing in the seed industry which is threatening to destroy independent seed producers.

Technologically, perennial crops, alfalfa and grasses, should not be genetically engineered because they cannot be kept in the fence, human inserted genes must be controlled. Read Full Article »

Posted in Opinion/Editorial

Nicole Bode visits an unpasteurized milk club.

DNAinfo
By Nicole Bode

MANHATTAN — It didn’t look like a batch of groceries that could get someone in trouble.

I inspected the cardboard box full of two half-gallons of milk, two cartons of eggs and a white plastic bag with some chicken livers inside. All of the goods were straight from the farm, including the milk, which was “raw,” or unpasteurized.

As the desire to put more organic and locally-grown food on dining room tables and restaurant menus grows, so too has the raw milk trend, resulting in milkshares like the one I attended. Read Full Article »

Posted in Opinion/Editorial

Washington Post
By Robert Egger

No one goes hungry in America.

1.  Hunger is supposed to happen in other places – in distant countries where droughts or storms or famine compel us to donate money and oblige our government to send relief workers and food aid. In reality, hunger also hits much closer to home.

According to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17.4 million American families – almost 15 percent of U.S. households – are now “food insecure,” an almost 30 percent increase since 2006. This means that, during any given month, they will be out of money, out of food, and forced to miss meals or seek assistance to feed themselves.

Even those who get three meals a day may be malnourished. Americans increasingly eat cheap, sugary foods whose production is underwritten by government subsidies for the corn and dairy industries. Read Full Article »

Posted in Opinion/Editorial

Civil Eats
By Stacy Miller of the Farmers Market Coalition

On October 15th, the trade publication The Packer reported on an issue of growing concern for farmers market vendors and shoppers: grocery chains are copy-catting farmers markets by using “farmers market” signs outside of their stores. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the issue, including retailers that use the term “farmers market” in their name, like Sprouts Farmers Market and Sunflower Farmers Market. Farmers in Washington State interviewed about the phenomenon seemed dismayed that retail chains “want to attract people and give the illusion that there are all these small farmers there.” Read Full Article »

Posted in Opinion/Editorial