Ethan's Farm and Food Roundup

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has changed its planting and gardening temperature map of the United States for the first time in over two decades, to reflect a warming climate that allows gardeners to grow previously vulnerable plants in new areas. The new map is based on recent warmer average temperatures and is completely interactive in an online database.

Do you know where your chickens and eggs are coming from? Do you know the difference between terms like cage free, free range, and pastured poultry? This Grist article seeks to clear up some of the confusion about the true origin of your food, and give you a better idea of what you are buying at the supermarket. And learn lots more about food labels on our site.

Supporting local food could be a jump-start to our economy, and pending plans all around the country are helping to make this possible. The “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative seeks to connect consumers with local farmers growing their food, and other markets are helping small farming operations to find central markets to sell their products. If these plans gain strength, we could see noticeable effects on both our economy and the agricultural system, says Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan.

The debate about the sale of raw unpasteurized milk to the public goes on, even as a recent campylobacter outbreak is investigated at a Pennsylvania dairy farm. The outbreak illustrates the popularity of raw, unpasteurized milk despite strong warnings from public health officials about the potential danger. Do you, or would you, drink raw milk?

Large factory farms threaten more than just the food market for local family farmers. Factory farm waste that is deposited into lagoons and streams on site can have a very serious impact on surrounding operations, and some small farms have seen increased stillborn births as a result of contaminated water. Darvin Bentlage, a cattle and wheat farmer in Missouri, has seen this first hand.

In an effort to battle the rising age of farmers, Rogue Community College in southeastern Oregon is offering for-credit internships for students that work on local farms. Working in partnership with the Rogue Farm Corps, the program hopes to reintroduce young farmers back into the local agriculture scene in the Rogue Valley.

The rise of urban farming means the size of your garden may become a bigger factor in the overall cost of your home. With the potential for fresh organic produce right out of your own backyard, city-dwellers may soon consider small yards for gardening a luxury.

Go Rural – Local food study surveys farmers in the Midwest

The Local Food Linkages Project is surveying producers in rural Missouri and Nebraska to identify opportunities for marketing food closer to home. This collaborative study between the University of Missouri Extension and the University of Nebraska will assess the potential of local/regional food systems, targeting eight Missouri counties in the northern Ozarks, five Missouri counties in the Old Trails Region, and five counties in Southeast Nebraska. For farmers and consumers in this area, check out the project details to learn how you can be involved.

According to the USDA Economic Research Service, average farm-direct sales are lower in rural areas than in urban areas. One goal of the Food Linkages Project is to determine the economic benefits of local/regional food systems in rural areas. As highlighted in Farm Aid’s Rebuilding America’s Economy with Family-Farm Centered Food Systems, local/regional food systems support economies, communities and farmers. In this report, stories from around the country demonstrate the power of local/regional spending and investing.

The Principle Investigator of the Local Food Linkages Project is Dr. Mary Hendrickson, Extension Associate Professor in the University of Missouri Department of Rural Sociology and Director of University of Missouri Extension’s Food Circles Networking Project. Mary was featured as Farm Aid’s Farmer Hero in January 2010 for her critical work highlighting corporate concentration and market abuses in the agricultural sector.

For more information about how the University of Missouri Extension is working to develop local food systems in rural areas, see the full story.

Posted by Kat.

Factory farms still threaten family farmers

With the rise of the Good Food Movement, it's sometimes easy to forget that family farmers still face tremendous pressure from industrial, corporate-controlled agriculture. Having just returned from a trip to the middle of the country, I can tell you that large-scale, confined animal production agriculture is still going strong. A recent TV news report from Missouri tells a family farmer's story about what it's like to have a large-scale pork operation as your neighbor. Click here to watch Darvin Bentlage, who raises wheat and cattle in Golden City, Missouri, tell his story. As Darvin says, unless these operations are regulated, family farmers will suffer. So too will our natural resources.

Farm Aid Music Monday, Starring John Mellencamp

Music Monday today features Farm Aid board artist John Mellencamp. We're very excited that our HOMEGROWN Chili was served at yesterday's Super Bowl, bringing hungry football fans family farmer food (and the first organic concessions item sold at a Super Bowl). In honor of that, and since the Super Bowl was in Indianapolis, I thought celebrating with proud Hoosier John Mellencamp was in order.

The video playlist below includes John's entire performance from Farm Aid 2011:



Find more Farm Aid videos on our YouTube channel.

Ethan's Farm and Food Roundup

A man-made cross plant that grows both tomatoes and potatoes has given Kenyan farmers something to smile about. The plant allows farmers to maximize their land use and cut down on input costs for raising both tomatoes and potatoes on different plots of land. Farmers say the cross plant doesn't hinder the quality of the produce in any way.

Is it fair to say that urban farming is the future of our food system? Maybe not the whole solution for the future, but there is certainly a role to be played by high-rise greenhouses and rooftop gardens. If food prices continue to increase, buying local in an urban setting might mean a short walk across the street. What do you think about vertical farms popping up in our future cities?

Washington State is endorsing a bill that will require that all GE foods are labeled appropriately by 2014. "People have the right to know what they're eating," explained Senator Maralyn Chase. As the bill unfolds and comes to light, it may be combined with a GMO labeling bill and presented as a package.

Concern about the origin of meat is growing. People are willing to pay more for meat that was grown eating organic food, had ample living space, sufficient time outdoors, and was not fed antibiotics or growth hormones. Over time, we may see a growing trend of butchers and restaurants displaying close relationships with the farms and farmers that raised their food.

Who says sleeping in comfort is just something for humans? Cows in Ohio were given dual chamber waterbeds to sleep in at night. Since the instillation, the cow's milk quality has greatly increased and the waterbeds have helped to reduce somatic cell count that can lead to a painful utter disease called mastitis. The end result? Happy cows and even happier farmers.

And a final bit of farm and food news: Farm Aid's headed to the Super Bowl! Visit our site for more information on the farmers that are making it possible for us to serve HOMEGROWN Chili and for recipes to make your own if you're not headed to Indianapolis yourself.

Farm Aid Music Monday, Starring Neil Young

Today's Music Monday features Farm Aid board artist Neil Young. Over the past forty-plus years, Neil has played with a variety of amazing artists, but what has his fans (including those of us in the office) buzzing right now is new music he's making with Crazy Horse. As I write this, if you go to NeilYoung.com, you'll see a 37-minute video featuring shots of audio gear while new music by Neil Young and Crazy Horse plays.

It got us thinking back to 2003, which is the last time Neil Young and Crazy Horse played at a Farm Aid concert. Here's a video of them playing, "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)":



And since I've technically posted that video before, here's a bonus Neil Young video from Farm Aid 2005 where he performed "When God Made Me" off his Prairie Wind album:



Will we see Neil Young and Crazy Horse at Farm Aid 2012? Only time will tell — stay tuned.

Find more Farm Aid videos on our YouTube channel and get the above videos on DVD at FarmAid.org/shop.

Introducing a new generation of food and farm leaders!

FoodCorps, an offshoot of the AmeriCorps program, was launched in 2011 with the goals of addressing childhood obesity in limited-resource communities while training the next generation of food and farm leaders.

The 50 inaugural service members have been hard at work over the past six months, providing hands-on nutrition education, establishing and tending school gardens and making farm to school connections in public school cafeterias across the country.

In just a short time, these young leaders have already reached 20,000 children in 10 states – a huge accomplishment as FoodCorps begins its second round of recruitment this month, with hopes of expanding the number of service members involved and the number of children and states reached through the program.

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Erika VanDyke, one of the first class of FoodCorps members, working in her hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Erika and I met as part of the FoodCorps mentorship program, and we’ll continue to have monthly phone calls for the remainder of her term, swapping stories about our work and gaining a new friend in the food system in the process. I was instantly impressed by Erika’s positive energy and by her commitment to food justice and her community.

I asked Erika to share a bit about her experience so far, and here’s what she had to say:

“FoodCorps has given me a chance to make tangible change in the community I grew up in. It's incredibly rewarding to watch kids get excited about healthy food. Hearing "Miss Erika, look! I ate my celery and carrots today!" makes this an experience I wish everyone could have. I can't wait until the ground thaws and we can start getting kids' hands dirty in their own school gardens. By giving students the opportunity to learn about where their food comes from by helping it grow, we make them part of the good food movement. Maybe school gardens will inspire the kids to become farmers someday, but at the very least, they will instill a new appreciation for the work of those who grow our food.”

We couldn’t agree more about the transformational power of getting your hands dirty, and are so thrilled to know so many children will find deeper value in the work of family farmers and a deeper connection to good food through the FoodCorps effort. We are proud to be connected to such a fantastic program and a stellar young leader like Erika!

To learn more about the FoodCorps program, check out their website or watch their video (produced by Ian Cheney, co-creator of King Corn) on YouTube here.