A New Study Weighs In on Urban Farming
(via Civil Eats) The Center for a Livable Future reviewed 167 studies on urban agriculture (looking mainly at community gardens) and found mixed results. First, the good news: The research links urban farming to better access to fresh foods (at lower prices), potential reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved carbon sequestration, workforce training opportunities, increased property values, and opportunities for community involvement. Read more.
By Hailey Grohman
Charlotte Biltekoff is an associate professor of American Studies and Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the cultural politics of dietary health and the values and beliefs that shape American eating habits.
Charlotte will be a keynote speaker at the 2016 UVM Food Systems Summit on June 14-15. We talked to her about dietary reform movements, transparency, and the meaning of “good” food.
By Sarah Tuff Dunn
A few years ago, Burlington’s Lara Dickson was living high on the hog in graphic and web design, feeding off 20 years of freelance and independent contract work.
Today, the 46-year-old is literally living with the piglets as the one-woman wonder behind Next Chapter Farm, a 15-acre enterprise in West Berlin, Vermont, that she began to help erase irresponsible consumption—and, in its place, frame a healthier food system. Greener acres would be the place to be; farm livin’, the life for Dickson.
“The economies of scale make buying something organic or humanely raised at the co-op or Costco affordable for regular Joes like me, but it traveled many miles to land in my basket or on my plate at a restaurant,” says Dickson. “If I can try to help narrow that gap in some small way by being part of those options, that might be enough, or all I could possibly do. I’d feel good about that.”
We’ve compiled a list of food-related stories making headlines.
Largest U.S. food producers ask Congress to shield lobbying activities
(Excerpt from the Guardian) Some of the largest food producers in the U.S. have successfully petitioned Congress to propose a change to the Freedom of Information Act that would shield their lobbying activities from the scrutiny of the public. Agricultural lobbyists including United Egg Producers, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the National Pork Producers Council have sent a letter to the congressional subcommittee overseeing appropriations for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking to be exempted from FOIA. Read more.
GMO labeling bill won’t be done by July, senator says
(Excerpt from the Des Moines Register) Congressional legislation for labeling food containing genetically modified ingredients won’t be finished before Vermont’s first-in-the-nation labeling law takes effect this summer, Sen. Chuck Grassley said Monday. The Senate failed to advance a bill in March that would have banned states from creating their own genetically modified organism-labeling laws in favor of letting food manufacturers do so voluntarily. Grassley said other approaches considered since then haven’t gained traction. Read more.
Photo by Alexis Baden-Mayer/Flickr
Nearly 30% of New England’s farmers are likely to exit farming over the next decade, and nine out of 10 of those farmers do not have someone else ready to take the reins, according to new analysis of U.S. Census of Agriculture data that was part of a study released this week by American Farmland Trust and Land for Good.
In Vermont, farmers age 65 and older operate 28% of the state’s farms. Of these 2,076 senior farmers, just 9% of them have someone under age 45 managing the farm with them. The study also found that Vermont had 19% fewer young (under age 45) farm operators in 2012 than in 2002, according to a press release issued about the study.
