By Connor Sullivan
Since 2010, Ron Finley has been a prominent figure in the urban food system, after he began growing organic produce on a barren public property next to his home in South Los Angeles, California. Finley has been producing pumpkin, kale, sunflowers, and various fruits and vegetables that community residents cannot otherwise buy in their food desert neighborhood.
The UVM Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), which combines the wisdom of ecological and social sciences with the practice of growing food, is launching new research projects in Central America and Vermont, and a new graduate certificate, following a prestigious grant of over $500,000 from the European Thought for Food Initiative.
Ernesto Méndez, right, takes note of production practices of organic peanut producers, left, in Bolivia.
By Cheryl Herrick
As we look ahead to our work in the fields this spring, summer, and fall, we’re again thinking a lot about water. Agricultural water quality is a hugely important issue both in and out of Vermont, and newly in focus now as Vermont’s Required Agricultural Practices have taken effect.
A hands-on watering systems workshop for livestock farmers.
By Caroline Lee
The New York Times recently published an article detailing why Perdue Farms, one of the country’s largest poultry producers, is choosing to adopt more humane growing practices in the form of slow-growth chicken breeds. These slow-growth chickens could be seen as a big triumph for animal welfare groups around the country. As more and more consumers become aware of the health and ethical implications of inhumane animal treatment, more and more trends similar to Perdue’s shift toward slow-growth chickens are becoming popular in food production.
Photo: Rob Tucker/Flickr
By Shane Rogers
Green Mountain Farm to School
For farmers everywhere, there are a million things to worry about on any given day—weather, pests, soil, the sheer amount of work that needs to be done—to name only a few. However, for many farmers, added on top of this laundry list of tasks is finding a market to get the products they’re growing into the hands they have grown it for.
“It’s easy to grow the stuff, the hard part is figuring out the outlet […],” says Molly Willard of Willow Brook Farm in Peacham.
